GRAHAM STICKLAND
Graham Stickland is a global leadership strategist and operations executive with decades of experience leading teams across Asia, Europe, and the U.S. Drawing on his real-world management career, Graham developed CONTACT: Timeless Stories and Strategies for Management, a clear, human-centered framework for building trust, strengthening communication, and improving team performance. His book brings together field-tested leadership behaviors, cross-cultural insights, and practical tools that help managers at every level create healthier, more effective workplaces. Graham’s work empowers leaders to communicate with clarity, give feedback with confidence, and build teams people actually want to be part of.
"I've known Graham for years and been a repeat client of Contact Consulting in a number of different roles in the luxury industry. I never found anyone with a better understanding of group dynamics, motivation and leadership."
--Christopher Zanardi-Landi, Executive Vice-President, Louis Vuitton 2012-2017
"Great management is built on great conversations and inside-out awareness. I love that Contact shows you how to do both!"
--Maureen Lippe, Media Powerhouse/Entrepreneur, former Vogue and Harper's Bazaar Editor, and author of Radical Reinvention
"Stickland replaces control with connection, offering practical strategies-clear agreements, courageous conversations, and outcome-focused autonomy-that lift performance across cultures and time zones."
--Brendan Hall, International Keynote Speaker, author of Team Spirit, and winning captain, Clipper Round the World Yacht Race 2009-2010
"Finally, there is a book that recognises employment is a give and take relationship with the emphasis on give. Stickland makes it clear, today's talent chooses you just as much, if not more, than you choose them. Contact translates that reality into REAL expectations for the modern workplace."
--Chris Olshan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Luxury Council
Contact is a modern field guide for managers who lead in the Employee-Centric Era.
Drawing on decades of global work, Graham Stickland shows how today's best managers stop over-controlling and start enabling-creating environments where people feel safe, trusted, and motivated to do their best work. Through vivid stories and practical moves, he translates big ideas into everyday habits: let go so others can step up, design opportunity (not threat) environments, run better conversations, coach with simple loops, align teams around purpose, and build healthy cultures that perform without burnout.
Organised in four parts (It Really Is All About Others; Connect and Build Strong Relationships; Team Up, Level Up; and Simplify, Don't Complexify), the book replaces command-and-control with repeatable rhythms any manager can use.