Sir John Henry Douglas Whitmore, 2nd Baronet (16 October 1937 – 28 April 2017) was a pioneer of the executive coaching industry, an author and British racing driver.

Family life and background

John Whitmore was born on 16 October 1937, the son of Sir

Francis Whitmore Colonel Sir Francis Henry Douglas Charlton Whitmore, 1st Baronet (20 April 1872 – 12 June 1962) was a British military officer and landowner. Family home He was the son of Thomas Whitmore, an officer in the Royal Horse Guards. Thomas had inhe ...

and Ellis Johnsen. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town o ...

and Cirencester Agricultural College. He inherited The Orsett Estate Company at

Orsett Orsett is a village, former civil parish and ecclesiastical parish located within Thurrock unitary district in Essex, England, situated around 5 km north-east of Grays. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1771. History It has historic ...

, Essex, in 1962, on the death of his father. The inheritance included the family seat of

Orsett Hall Orsett Hall was a 17th-century Grade II listed building in Orsett, Essex (de-listed on 10 March 2008). It was set in of parkland and was the centre of the Orsett Hall agricultural estate. The house was destroyed by fire on 11 May 2007 and rebuil ...

, from the grounds of which he used to take off and land his plane. In 1968, he sold the house to his friends, Tony and Val Morgan. He married twice, first to Ella Gunilla Hansson, from whom he was divorced in 1969, and later to Diana Becchetti. He had a child from each marriage. He died on 28 April 2017.

Early career (in motor racing)

In his first year in the competition, 1961, Whitmore won the British Saloon Car Championship in his BMC Mini Minor. In 1963 he drove again in the BSCC and came second in the championship in a

Mini Cooper Mini Cooper may refer to: *Cars of the original Mini series called the "Mini Cooper", made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors 1961–1971, and 1990–2000 *Cars of the Mini (marque), including a number of different models produced ...

, finishing just two points behind

Jack Sears Jack Sears (16 February 1930 – 6 August 2016) was a British race and rally driver, and was one of the principal organisers of the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon. Biography Sears was popularly known as "Gentleman Jack". His son David is a ...

. In 1965 he won the

European Touring Car Championship The European Touring Car Championship was an international touring car racing series organised by the FIA. It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004. In 2005 it was superseded by the World ...

in a

Lotus Cortina Lotus Cortina is the commonly used term for the Ford Cortina Lotus, a high-performance sports saloon, which was produced in the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1970 by Ford in collaboration with Lotus Cars. The original version, which was based on ...

(KPU392C). He won by finishing first in his class in 8 of the 9 1965 ETCC races (and finishing first overall in 6 of the races). Sir John drove in the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

for five years between 1959 and 1966. In the

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. A ...

he finished tenth overall and second in class along with

Jim Clark James Clark Jr. OBE (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965. A versatile driver, he competed in sports cars, touring cars and in the Indianap ...

in the

Border Reivers Border reivers were raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scottish and English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their v ...

Lotus Elite The Lotus Elite name has been used for two production vehicles and one concept vehicle developed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. The first generation Elite Type 14 was produced from 1957 until 1963 and the second ...

. In

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

(with Innes Ireland) and

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo ...

(with Frank Gardner) he raced in a works

Ford GT40 The Ford GT40 is a high-performance endurance racing car commissioned by the Ford Motor Company. It grew out of the "Ford GT" (for Grand Touring) project, an effort to compete in European long-distance sports car races, against Ferrari, which ...

, but had to retire from the race both years with mechanical problems. At the end of 1966 he retired from racing. He returned later in life to driving in historic car events such as the

Goodwood Revival The Goodwood Revival is a three-day festival held each September at Goodwood Circuit since 1998 for the types of racing cars and motorcycles that would have competed during the circuit's original period—1948–1966. History The first Revival t ...

Racing record

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.) † Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Later career (in business and coaching)

Sir John Whitmore, Nigel Cumberland, Philip Beddows, Bonnie Chan and Krishna Kumar

After leaving racing and the world of motor-sports, he became interested in

transpersonal psychology Transpersonal psychology, or spiritual psychology, is a sub-field or school of psychology that integrates the spiritual and transcendent aspects of the human experience with the framework of modern psychology. The '' transpersonal'' is defined ...

and its emphasis on the principle of will, intention, or responsibility. He went on to apply his learning and skills first to the world of sport and then to

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not separ ...

. In 1970, he studied at the

Esalen Institute The Esalen Institute, commonly called Esalen, is a non-profit American retreat center and intentional community in Big Sur, California, which focuses on humanistic alternative education. The institute played a key role in the Human Potenti ...

in Slates Hot Springs, California, with the likes of William Schutz (creator of team development model FIRO-B), and then trained with Harvard educationalist and tennis expert

Timothy Gallwey W. Timothy Gallwey (born 1938 in San Francisco) is an author who has written a series of books in which he has set forth a methodology for coaching and for the development of personal and professional excellence in a variety of fields that he call ...

, who created the Inner Game methodology of performance coaching. Sir John founded the Inner Game in Britain in 1979 with a small team of Inner Game coaches trained by Gallwey. Initially they coached tennis players and golfers but they soon realized the value for leaders and managers of organizations. At this point Sir John coined the term "performance coaching" - this was the birth of the modern coaching movement as we know it. In the early 1980s he and partners founded Performance Consultants, the leading global provider of coaching, leadership development and performance improvement. Sir John and his colleagues spent much of the 1980s developing the methodology, concepts, and techniques for performance improvement in organizations and showed it was possible to improve performance, increase learning and enjoyment, and find a sense of purpose in work. Sir John is regarded as the pioneer in the field of

business coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a '' coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''co ...

. Along with

Tim Gallwey W. Timothy Gallwey (born 1938 in San Francisco) is an author who has written a series of books in which he has set forth a methodology for coaching and for the development of personal and professional excellence in a variety of fields that he call ...

, Laura Whitworth and Thomas J. Leonard, he is credited with launching modern coaching in the 1970s. For some people, Sir John will always be best known as the co-creator of the

GROW model The GROW model (or process) is a simple method for goal setting and problem solving. It was developed in the United Kingdom and has been used extensively in corporate coaching from the late 1980s and 1990s. Stages of GROW There are a number of diff ...

, one of the most established and successful coaching models. He presented at numerous conferences around the world and contributed to many other books such as ''Challenging Coaching'' and ''Coaching at Work''. In the 1990s, Sir John was a co-founder, along with Eric Parsloe, David Clutterbuck, David Megginson and Julie Hay, of the

European Mentoring and Coaching Council The European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) provides coaching and mentoring professional accreditation, as well as support and guidance to the coaching and mentoring profession and for its members. It is one of a small number of such ...

(EMCC). Sir John was involved with the Professional and Personal Coaches Association (PPCA), an organization that merged in 1998 with the International Coach Federation (ICF). He served as a Trustee for the ICF Foundation until his death in 2017.

Awards

Whitmore received a number of awards outside his career in motor racing, including: * A Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association of Coaching ("IAC") in 2013, presented to him by the IAC President, Krishna Kumar; and

Bibliography

Whitmore wrote a book titled ''Coaching for Performance''. published by

Nicholas Brealey Publishing John Murray is a British publisher, known for the authors it has published in its long history including, Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Byron, Charles Lyell, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Herman Melville, Edward Whymper, Thomas Malt ...

. It contains details of his coaching model, known as the

. The first four editions sold a million copies in 23 languages. The fifth edition was published in 2017. Whitmore also wrote the foreword to and is extensively quoted in a book called ''Nine: Briefing from Deep Space'' which was published in 2005. The book is based upon interviews with extraterrestrial beings which a group of people including Whitmore, as well as Phyllis Schlemmer and

Uri Geller Uri Geller ( ; he, אורי גלר; born 20 December 1946) is an Israeli-British illusionist, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic. He is known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other i ...

, claimed to have had over a number of years. The book and Whitmore himself have been quoted and spoken about on a number of websites which explore such claims.

Media coverage

Sir John has been interviewed numerous times. Some examples include: * By ''Coaching at Work'' magazine * At the European Commission * In ''Coaching Magazine'' * In a journal titled ''Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice''https://ai.wu.ac.at/~kaiser/Coachingjournal/791925930_content-1.pdf The Evolution of Coaching: An interview with Sir John Whitmore

References

External links

The European Mentoring and Coaching Council co-Founded by Sir John Whitmore

Performance Consultants International, the company founded by Sir John Whitmore.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitmore, John 1937 births 2017 deaths People from Orsett English racing drivers People educated at Eton College British Touring Car Championship drivers British Touring Car Championship Champions Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers European Touring Car Championship drivers English sports coaches English male non-fiction writers English self-help writers 12 Hours of Reims drivers