jULIA MIDDLETON
Founder Common Purpose & Women Emerging
Julia Middleton is the host of the Women Emerging podcast and a best-selling author of “If that’s leading, I’m in” as well as two previous books: "Leading beyond Authority" and "Cultural Intelligence". She is deeply committed to helping people from all backgrounds to develop as leaders and speaks regularly about leadership to audiences around the world.
In 2020, Julia launched Women Emerging and went on to lead an Expedition of 24 women to find 'an approach to leadership that resonates with women'. She now leads expeditions with women all over the world based on the findings from the first expedition.
Prior to that, Julia was founder and, for over thirty years, Chief Executive of Common Purpose, which grew to become one of the biggest leadership development organisations in the world.
Julia is also an Ambassador for the Aurora Prize based in Armenia, on the boards of Alfanar Venture Philanthropy in the Arab World and Equality Now which operates globally, and on the Advisory Councils of Fundacao Dom Cabral in Brazil and Synapse in Pakistan.
Born in London and brought up in New York, Julia was educated at French Lycées and graduated from the London School of Economics. She is married, with five children and lots of grandchildren.