Stephen Brookes

Stephen is a senior fellow in public policy and management and specialises in leadership and organisational development. For six years, he was the  Programme Director for the MSc in Healthcare Management, which was relaunched in 2017 as the MSc International Healthcare Leadership and is a regular contributor to the full time and Global MBA.  Stephen has a unique blend of experience at a senior level in the police, central and regional government, and local government. He also has a sound academic background, having completed his PhD in 2004 and increasingly publishing in academic journals and books and presenting papers at conferences. Immediately prior to his appointment at MBS Stephen was the Home Office Director for the Government Office for the East Midlands, which he undertook for almost six years. During this time Stephen had considerable experience in working with partnerships and supporting both performance improvement programmes and in facilitating and leading change. 

He was a police officer for thirty years.  He was awarded the Queens Police Medal in the Jubilee Birthday Honours in June 2002 for distinguished police service and is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

In May 2006, shortly after his appointment at MBS, Stephen was successful in securing funding from the ESRC in the 2006/07 Seminar Series Competition. A series of five seminars took place, concluding in March 2008, which set a public leadership challenge across a range of public sector disciplines. The overall aim was to identify the challenges and consistencies across the public sector from the various reform programmes and the impact that these reforms have on collective public leadership. Stephen has co-edited two books.  His first sole authored book was published in January 2016.  "The Selfless Leader", published by Palgrave Macmillan is focused on the importance of collective leadership and how learning for leadership is aligned with practice.   Stephen regularly provides international leadership and organisational development to middle and senior managers from across the public sector . 

His  research has considered the concept of collective leadership and governance, and in identifying the impact of performance regimes on public sector organisations and the potential that exists for such organisations to create and demonstrate public value.  Current research interests continue to include public leadership.  He is also the co-lead for the University of Manchester for the N8 Universities Policing Reserch Partnership.  Stephen is the Editor of the International Journal of Public Leadership, which is published by Emerald.

Further information

Executive Education

Stephen regularly undertakes both accredited and non accredited Executive Education in the general area of Leadership.  This includes leadership in the public, private and third sector.  He has also taught extensively in an International context.