Curriculum Vitae

Michael Johnstone is co-founder and Executive Director of Vantage Point Consulting, an Australian company specializing in individual, organizational and leadership development. 

 

Together with his partner, Maxime Fern, he consults to business and government in Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States, working with senior executives, top teams and other groups of managers to identify talent and link leadership, people, strategy and purpose. 

 

Recent projects include the Deputy CEO Leadership Program for the Australian Public Service Commission, BHP, Minerals Australia, the Australian Treasury, the Scottish Government and, internationally Google, the Global Leadership Institute (Israel), Wexner Foundation (New York and Israel), Cobel Darou (Iran) and Sistema Italia and Bank Intesa San Paolo Italy. Previous clients include Westpac Banking, BT Financial, Australian Securities and Investment Commission and the Australian National University and internationally, Abbot Laboratories, AT&T, Perkin Elmer and Faulding Asia Pacific.

 

Michael was faculty to The Art and Practice of Leadership Development at Harvard’s JFK School of Government from 2000 - 2015, has been faculty at The Australia and New Zealand School of Government’s Executive MPA; a coach to many CEOs and senior executives; and a frequent contributor to leadership forums and conferences. He is currently a lead faculty member of the Australian Adaptive Leadership Institute (AALI) and a member of the Adaptive Leadership Network (ALN) Faculty Advisory Group in the United States.

 

Michael has training and prior experience in psychology, youth work, family therapy, local government, tertiary teaching and research and community development and urban planning. He has previously held a variety of professional roles; has been an executive level manager; a freelance researcher and therapist in private practice.

 

Michael has a BA from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, an M. Soc. Sci. (cum laude) from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem and a PhD from the Australian National University. Dr. Johnstone is a member of the Australian Psychological Society and is a Chartered Management Consultant (MIMC, CMC). He has lived and worked in several countries including New Zealand (where he was born), Israel, Malaysia and England and now calls Australia and Italy home.

 

Here is an excerpt from our colleague and mentor Marty Linsky, Faculty, Harvard, Kennedy School of Government, Executive Education and Co-founder Cambridge Leadership Associates 

 

‘For more than a decade, my colleague Ron Heifetz and I were privileged to partner with Maxime Fern and Michael Johnstone as core faculty at the Harvard Kennedy School for The Art and Practice of Leadership Development, an intensive executive education experience which annually convenes outstanding leadership consultants, teachers, and trainers from all over the world. Michael and Maxime brought brilliant facilitation, intellectual rigor, and a generous spirit to the program. They were collaborators and thought partners and became dear friends. I continue to learn from them’.