Ed Oakley

After receiving a masters degree in engineering from Stanford University, and two years with Bell Labs, Ed Oakley spent 13 years in the computer industry, mostly with HP, managing as many as 300 people and 28 worldwide teams.
Being challenged as an engineer in his first management role, he realized quickly that the people issues were the most difficult for most managers. Ed has been on a continuing quest over the last 30 years to understand how to bring out the best in people, teams and organizations – and to share the learnings in a way that makes a difference.

Ed is Founder and CEO of Enlightened Leadership Solutions, Inc.(www.enleadership.com), a consulting and learning firm focused on balancing the “hard” and “soft,” the processes and the people, to deliver measurable results. Ed’s engineering orientation insists on practical, simple solutions – an exceptional strength of Enlightened Leadership Solutions. Ed founded the firm in 1987. A few years later, he co-authored the best selling business book "Enlightened Leadership: Getting To The Heart Of Change" (Simon & Schuster), now in its 32nd printing.

His latest book is Leadership Made Simple: Practical Solutions to Your Greatest Management Challenges. Over 250,000 of his books are in print.

He is also co-author of the audio and video learning series, "Making Managers Into Leaders®," which is also the name of a public seminar that his team delivered to some 25,000 managers over an eight year period.

Ed Oakley is an avid pilot and enjoys adventure. He has trekked to the Mt. Everest base camp on one side of the world and to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro on the other, adding significant color to his story-rich communication style. Ed is a well-known keynote speaker, facilitator and consultant. He holds the National Speaker's Association's Certified Speaking Professional award, which is achieved by only 8% of its thousands of members. He has worked with managers from some 67 countries – having thoroughly tested his concepts and tools across many different cultures.

His work has been particularly well received by organizations challenged with major change initiatives or where excellent managers want to become better leaders. His expertise is “making leadership simple” and “making managers into leaders”
Knowing the difference his organization’s work has done directly for 50,000 managers in thousands of organizations, their people, as well as their families, Ed is now on a quest to directly impact 100,000 managers/owners over the next five years. He has launched an online venture to accomplish that, Making Managers into Leaders Institute.

He is passionate about making the greatest difference possible on the planet while he is still here.

Websites include: www.enleadership.com/blog, www.makingmanagersintoleaders.com (private membership site), as well as the primary company site, www.enleadership.com.