Julia Mary Middleton (' Morland; 21 April 1958) is the founder o
Women Emerging
in the UK. She is also the founder and former chief executive officer of

Common Purpose The doctrine of common purpose, common design, joint enterprise, joint criminal enterprise or parasitic accessory liability is a common law legal doctrine that imputes criminal liability to the participants in a criminal enterprise for all reaso ...

, an international charity that runs leadership development programmes. She is a campaigner for the progression of diverse leaders in

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.

Early life and education

Born in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

, London, Middleton is the daughter of Agnes () and Eric Morland. Middleton was educated at the

lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

Français in France and New York before earning an Economics degree from the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

Career

In 1980, Middleton began her career at the

Industrial Society In sociology, industrial society is a society driven by the use of technology and machinery to enable mass production, supporting a large population with a high capacity for division of labour. Such a structure developed in the Western world i ...

, where she created Head Start, a programme providing high school dropouts with training and advice from prospective employers. In the autumn of 1988, Middleton formed Common Purpose, an organization that hosts leadership development courses. The group runs local leadership courses in cities across the world, as well as global programmes for leaders from over 100 countries across six continents. In 2020, Middleton formed another organisation, Women Emerging, and in 2022, she launched the Women Emerging Expedition, to find an approach to leadership that resonates with women. She also launched a podcast which documents the experiences of the women taking part in the programme. Middleton is a member of the board of trustees for Alfanar, a

venture philanthropy Venture philanthropy is a type of impact investment that takes concepts and techniques from venture capital finance and business management and applies them to achieving philanthropic goals. The term was first used in 1969 by John D. Rockefeller I ...

fund, the International Advisory Council for

Fundação Dom Cabral Established in 1976, Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC) is a Brazilian business school. FDC, a nonprofit institution, was created out of the Extension Center at the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais. Approximately 40,000 executives from mi ...

, and is a Goodwill Ambassador of the Aurora Forum. She was also involved in the founding of the Media Standards Trust, a charity that runs Journalisted, a free online journalist portfolio,

DEMOS Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * plural for Demo (computer programming) ...

, a UK-based

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

, and Impetus Trust, which develops venture philanthropy in the UK. In 2019, Middleton handed over the role of CEO of Common Purpose, although she is still involved in the organisation. In 2020, she founded a social initiative called ‘’Women Emerging from Isolation’’.

Literature

In 1982, Middleton wrote a book called ''Quality Circles'', published by the Industrial Society in London. She also wrote the foreword to the book ''How to be an even better chair: Sensible Advice from the Public & Charity Sectors'', written by Sophie Petit-Zeman. In February 2007, Middleton's book ''Beyond Authority: Leadership in a Changing World'' was published by Palgrave Macmillan, and she recorded a meet-the-author video. In 2010, it was translated into Hungarian and published by HVG Konyvek. In 2014, Middleton wrote "Cultural Intelligence: CQ: The Competitive Edge for Leaders Crossing Borders" published by Bloomsbury and she recorded a video about why she wrote it. In late 2014, a paperback version was published for the Indian market.

Personal life

Julia Middleton married Rupert Middleton in 1984; they have two sons and three daughters.

References

External links