Harvey-Jones, John Henry (1924- )

English industrial executive, motivational speaker, and author. As chair of ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries) 1982-87, Harvey-Jones became only the second non-chemist to reach the chair and was largely responsible for reshaping the company. He was knighted in 1985, and became chairperson of Parallax Enterprises in 1987. He is now more widely famous for his television persona, the ‘Troubleshooter’. His publications include his autobiography, Getting It Together (1991), Managing To Survive (1993), and All Together Now (1994).

Harvey-Jones's management views have been broadcast in several UK television productions, notably the BBC's ‘Troubleshooter’, a series of business programmes in which he visited companies and advised them on how to improve efficiency. He also presented the Richard Dimbleby Lecture, ‘Does Industry Matter?’ for the BBC in 1986.

Harvey-Jones was voted Britain's Most Impressive Industrialist by company directors interviewed for the Market and Opinion Research International (MORI) Captains of Industry Survey in 1985; he received the title of Industrialist of the Year in 1988 for the third consecutive year and in 1992 was awarded the title Motivator of the Year. He believes that the key to business strength is in ‘speed rather than direction’; once a company is moving it can ‘veer and tack’ as opportunities present themselves.

Harvey-Jones was born in Kent, England, and educated at Tormore School, Upper Deal, Kent, before going to the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, England. At the outbreak of World War II he started active service as a midshipman and then served on submarines in Europe and Australia. In 1945 the Navy sent him to Cambridge, England, where he qualified as a Russian and German interpreter to work in Naval Intelligence - for which he was awarded a Member (of the Order) of the British Empire (MBE) in 1952. He resigned from the Navy in 1956 with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

He joined ICI in 1956 as a work study officer, becoming chair of the Heavy Organic Chemicals division in 1970, director of the Fibres Products division in 1975, deputy chair in 1978 and chair in 1982. He held his position until 1987, and turned the company from a loss-making business into a profitable one.