Simon Walker (academic)

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Education

Walker attended Felsted School.. He studied MA Zoology at Christ Church, Oxford 1990-93 where he remains the co-holder of the Oxford and Cambridge university long jump record, set in 1993. He completed BTh, Theology at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford 1994-7, and later MTh, Applied Thology at Regents Park, Oxford, 1999-2001.

Theological Career

Walker trained as a vicar at Wycliffe Hall, part of Oxford University 1994-7, where he later taught in 2004-10. He was ordained in Oxford Cathedral and served his curacy at Christ Church, Abingdon between 1997-2000.

Human Ecology Theory

Walker developed a theory of human interaction, which he referred to as Human Ecology Theory. He set out the main elements of the theory in a self-published monograph titled A Brief Introduction to the Theory of Human Ecology.

Undefended Leader

From his theory of Human Ecology, Walker developed a theory of leadership called Undefended Leadership. He explored this in an eponymous trilogy of books, with volumes entitled Leading Out of Who You Are, Leading with Nothing to Lose, and Leading with Everything to Give, published between 2007 and 2009. He writes under the pen name Simon P Walker.

Walker taught this theory to leaders in the professional services, educational and voluntary sectors through the Undefended Leader courses between 2003 and 2011.

Influence in the Netherlands

In 2015, a small institute was established in the Netherlands to teach the Undefended Leader courses, called the Instituut voor Undefended Leadership.

Translation of the Undefended Leader trilogy into Dutch was completed by 2025.

Walker's influence on Dutch leaders can be seen in their writings on the impact of Undefended Leadership.

Influence in Academia

Walker was awarded a DProf by Public Works from Winchester University for contribution to adult education between 1997-2013. He is also an Associate Fellow of Bristol University Graduate School of Education.

Walker has published a number of books, available to both an academic and lay readership.

Undefended Leadership is taught on the Doctor of Leadership Programme, Portland Seminary, Oregon.

Academic Research

Walker has published academic papers on:

Hermeneutics, personhood and theological language

On the evolution of coaching and a model he called The Ecology of Coaching

The cognitive, social and mental health implications of the self-regulation of Steering Cognition

The impact of day and boarding education on the development of critical social-emotional skills

Walker wrote the professional doctorate, 'Becoming Undefended: Developing leaders who are freed from fear' in 2014, and was awarded his doctorate for contribution to professional practice in 2014 from the University of Winchester.

Between 2011 and 2014, Walker and his colleague Jo Walker led quantitative research studies across over 25 schools in the UK to develop the empirical basis for the social-emotional tracking tool AS Tracking.

From their research, they crystalised a distinctive model of cognitive-affective-social self-regulation, which they called steering cognition.  The model of steering cognition underpins the measurement used in STEER Tracking. The model and method was peer-reviewed. in 2024.

Impact on Leadership Thinking

A number of leadership thinkers have reflected on Walker's theories of leadership in blogs and interviews such as Distinct Reflections, Mike the Mentor, Affective Leadership, and The Art of Unpacking.

Impact on Coaching Theory and Practice

Walker developed a model of coaching, derived from his Human Ecology Theory, called Coaching Signatures. It is now an established coach profiling tool, through which professional executive coaches are accredited in their practice.

Adamson and Brendgen wrote of the Coaching Signatures Profile in 2022:

“There are many paths to discovering what qualities of the self we each bring to our professional and personal lives. For example, the Coaching Signatures Profile (CSP) (Stevens 2014), which was derived from Walker’s (2009) Human Ecology Theory, suggests that we view our life as an ecological system. Unlike many psychometric tools, the CSP is based on the creation of an inner visual landscape, a metaphor for the coach’s mental construct or way of being in their professional life. The CSP generates eight different coaching styles and measures the emergent relational space between the coach and coachee."

Impact on Education

Walker hosted a conference as part of the 2019 Oxford Literary Festival, Educating the Human Mind in a Robotic Age.

The Education technology company Walker co-founded, STEER Education, won the 2021 Bett award for Leadership and Management Solutions for its tool STEER Tracking.

Users of STEER Tracking describe it as a pioneering tool that supports their pastoral care.

STEER Education

In 2015, Simon Walker and Jo Walker launched AS Tracking (now called STEER Tracking), a tool comprised of an assessment and action plans, that measures and targets pupils' steering cognition (self-regulation). It was first piloted in 2016 in schools such as Thomas's London Day Schools, Wellington College and Monkton Combe School.

The company that developed STEER Tracking is now called STEER Education and offers STEER Tracking and various additional modules, such as the Footprints curriculum to UK and international schools.

STEER's data on the wellbeing and mental health of young people in the UK has been reported in The Guardian and The Telegraph.

STEER Tracking won the 2021 Bett award for Leadership and Management Solutions.

The model of steering cognition and the method behind STEER Tracking became peer-reviewed in 2024.

References

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