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Derek Deasy

Senior Affiliate Professor of Organisational Behaviour

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Additional Information
Research Areas
  • Leadership
  • Group Dynamics
  • Personal Development
Teaching Areas
  • Psychological Issues in Management (MBA)
  • Leadership Development (Executive Education)

Biography

Derek is Senior Affiliate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD. His interests include leadership development, burnout and resilience, the impact of emotionally demanding tasks on work groups.
Derek Deasy is co-directing INSEAD Coaching Certificate and the Essentials of Coaching programmes. He directs the Advanced Programme in Coaching Groups.

His research and practice in these areas are informed by a systems-psychodynamics approach that takes into account how group tasks, organizational structures and cultures are affected by, and affect, individuals’ experience at and of work.

Derek works regularly in leadership development programmes for high potentials and senior executives at INSEAD, and has contributed to open and in-company executive Programs, as well as to the full time MBAs, at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, and at IMD in Switzerland. He has given input on the psychodynamics of organisations to the Clinical Psychology doctoral programme at Trinity College, Dublin. He also has a varied coaching and consulting practice, currently including individual work with corporate leaders and work with teams in the technology sector and in entrepreneurial ventures.

Derek brings to all his work a particular focus on the personal benefits and costs of authenticity, effectiveness and success. He supports executives in developing functional approaches to self-care and resilience when dealing with jobs and tasks that require personal presence and intense emotional investment. Over the past decade, he has worked with corporations and executives in a wide range of sectors including construction, pharmaceuticals, fashion, technology and professional services.

Prior to and alongside his work in executive education and development, Derek spent many years working as a Director in health care delivery. His particular area of expertise was child sexual abuse. He led a multidisciplinary team offering forensic and therapeutic services to vulnerable children and their families. His work in this arena taught him the importance of sound management and effective self-care in service delivery.

Derek holds a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Trinity College, Dublin, and BA and MA degrees in Psychology from University College Dublin. He also trained at the Tavistock Clinic in London gaining a Masters in Organisational Consultancy. In 2011 he was granted the title of Honorary Associate Professor of the Institute of Work, Health and Organisation with the University of Nottingham. He consults regularly to group relations conferences in Europe and the United States. He is married and has three young sons.