Nigel Girling

Nigel’s career defies a single narrative. He began life as a professional musician before moving into business, becoming a director of a wine retail and shipping firm and later the CEO of a leadership consultancy. Along the way, his path was reshaped by serious health diagnoses that prompted him to rethink how he spent his time and energy. Rather than slowing him down, these experiences sharpened his focus on learning, leadership and what really matters.

Following his first diagnosis in 1999, Nigel moved into education as a part time lecturer in business and management. Discovering that he was, in fact, still very much alive, he went on to become Head of a Business School and, in 2011, was appointed CEO of The National Centre for Strategic Leadership. After a second diagnosis in 2013, he oversaw the sale of the organisation to Babington Group in 2015, while also serving on the steering board of a UK Government Task Force from 2011 to 2020.

Nigel joined Inspirational Group in 2019 to refresh and modernise leadership content, introduce new thinking and strengthen academic underpinning. What began as a short engagement quickly grew into something much bigger. He went on to build IG’s professional qualifications school, securing accreditation across a wide range of programmes from GCSE level through to postgraduate and Master’s qualifications.

Over the past six years, Nigel has been extraordinarily prolific. He has filmed more than 200 tutorial videos, written close to 300 articles, blogs and web pieces, and recorded numerous podcasts. Although he officially “retired” in 2024, his continued involvement reflects both his passion for leadership education and IG’s reluctance to let him go.

Nigel’s expertise spans leadership, cognitive science, behavioural psychology, organisational effectiveness and learning design. He is inspired by thinkers such as Peter Drucker, by courageous political leadership, and by a lifelong love of fiction, particularly crime, fantasy and science fiction.

His favourite quote captures his approach to work and life:
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. Peter Drucker

Outside of work, Nigel lives on the North Norfolk coast, where he still plays guitar most days and indulges a deep love of cooking. Each year, he chooses a new cuisine to explore, experimenting with flavours from around the world, from Thai and Moroccan to Cajun and modern fusion.

Nigel enjoys working at IG because it allows him to keep doing what matters most to him: finding new ways to inspire leaders. He is particularly proud of IG’s commitment to charitable support and values the collective of people he works alongside, describing it as a place rich in talent, perspective and care.