Our story
Bridging the gap between personal and professional development.
Birth of an idea
How do you create a culture committed to Excellence?
A simple answer had eluded Bob Buckley for 15 years. It’s hard work. It takes effort. And initiative. It requires Leadership. Not just from the top, but from every level. If only he knew then what he knew now. And with that, an idea was born.
What if he could create a series of books and podcasts that would inspire Excellence? A valuable resource for early career professionals. It would bridge the gap between higher education, and that first leadership position.
In many ways, he would be creating something for a younger version of himself.
Looking ahead (2024—2030)
A world class institute that inspires Leadership at every level.
Twelve Scholars continues to help leaders step up and create a culture committed to Excellence. Never losing focus. Helping future leaders, build better behaviours.
The Essential Scholar (2023—)
A serious alternative to the established qualification.
After the success of Make Excellence Your Mission, we wanted to raise the game. We wanted to reimagine what a modern leadership development programme should look like. We wanted to do things differently—truly differentiate ourselves.
We had ‘pilot scholars’ testing three different learning platforms to ensure the best user experience. We filmed every lesson as a bite-size tutorial. And published the course curriculum as a beautifully bound set of notes.
(We even designed custom packaging for your tactile teaching tool to arrive in!)
We worked backwards to create a five-stage process for you to follow. We included one-to-one support as an optional extra. Buy now—add coaching later. And introduced a simple scholar promise.
“Advance your leadership skills in 30 days—or your money back.”
We believe this course will have a profound impact on your leadership journey. Transforming you, your team and your organisation.
The Essential Scholar is now available.
A new leadership course (2022)
A practical leadership programme that redefined expectations.
What essential skills are required to lead in a post-covid world? Over the course of 14 consecutive days, we took 200 people through a 7-day leadership course. Yes, that’s right. We trained 100 people every day for 14 consecutive days!
Working with the client, proving the material. Going back to drawing board. Revising. Revisiting—endless revisions. We developed a simple format that proved popular.
The programme was called ‘Make Excellence Your Mission’.
Participants demonstrated they could create positive change in the workplace. And they were the getting results. The course had created a highly engaged workforce—at every level. Even people who didn’t attend the course now wanted in. It was a defining moment.
Consultancy & Interim Management (2021-22)
A significant impact with four simple words.
After the pandemic, Bob received a phone call to help a client with their latest leadership challenge. Getting back to ‘normal’. It was too good to turn down.
It was an opportunity to make a difference—with four simple words. A chance to test and refine our ideas. Gain practical experience. And to be honest, after 18 months of isolation, it was great to personally get back to ‘normal’. A big thanks to everyone who made us feel welcome.
Video tutorials (2021—)
A pandemic pivot to pursue a new business model.
How was it for you?
We completed our second print publication during lockdown. (Thanks in large due to forward planning and good fortune). But unwilling to compromise on standards—or lawfully meet people in public—we decided to park the third edition.
Sunk costs were running high. The original plan was proving too much of a challenge. The world was changing. We started to experiment online.
We hosted Tuesday Tutorials at 12 noon, delivered training over Zoom, presented at networking events, and uploaded book reviews to YouTube. Our ideas started to gain traction.
We began creating our own online leadership course. We developed an old idea based on four simple words. We didn’t know it at the time, but this would prove the turning point for Twelve Scholars.
Weekly newsletter (2020—)
A weekly newsletter that takes a lighter look at leadership.
Although we started writing The Sunday Scholar much earlier, it wasn’t until 2020 that we started to take it seriously. During those pandemic times, it gave us a creative output, an opportunity to share our thoughts and engage with our readers.
We started to develop our ideas. And test our thinking. What works. And what doesn’t. See what resonates. We joined an online writing course. And improved our writing skills. We quickly learned that a discipline to write better headlines and write better copy would spill over to other creative projects.
The Sunday Scholar would later become a podcast. Each episode following the same format as the email newsletter. Topped and tailed with a piano jazz stinger.
Printed Journal (2019—)
A premium printed publication.
Twelve Scholars soon became a series of printed publications. The concept was simple. Explore one aspect of personal development every issue. A new issue every quarter. And charge a subscription fee. (How hard could that be?)
Inspired by Monocle and Brand B, we had high expectations. It would sit comfortably next to Harvard Business Review on the bookshelves.
Available in digital, audio and print. Yep, there would also be a complementary podcast. And a digital version. (Although we hadn’t quite worked that bit out).
We assembled a small team. And decided the best way to create content was to interview 12 inspiring leaders every issue. They would become our ‘featured scholars’.
The first interview was Jennie Johnson in March 2019. She was amazing. The first edition of Twelve Scholars Journal was launched in December 2019. Just before the pandemic arrived.
Podcasting (2018—)
A new adventure—all the gear, no idea.
Podcasts on personal development were nothing new. Bob had been listening to audio tracks by Stephen Covey, Jim Rohn and Brian Tracy for many years. But what would it take to create his own podcast?
Inspired by Seth Godin, Bob launched his first ‘Twelve Scholars’ podcast. He soon discovered there’s more to podcasting than pressing record and hitting publish. Leadership, project management, storytelling skills are all required.
Bob also learned that ‘perfectionism’ was his specialist subject. Editing would eventually become second nature—and an invaluable skill.
LET’s keep in touch
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