Communication when the stakes are real
John's diplomatic experience includes hostage releases, prisoner exchanges and national trade deals: situations where the way a message is received can matter as much as the argument itself. His work has involved building relationships with governments, navigating different cultures and finding a way forward when the people across the table have very different priorities.
During his Foreign Office service from 1999 to 2011, his roles included Deputy HM Ambassador, HM Consul, Trainer and Corporate Services Director. He lived and worked across 38 countries, providing support and consultancy to British embassies overseas, with postings and assignments including Malaysia, Venezuela and Ukraine.
Negotiation, trust and crisis response
In Venezuela, John led the UK team in negotiations with the government on consular arrangements, including a revised visa regime and prisoner visiting policy. Between 2006 and 2009, 58 British prisoners were transferred back to the UK. It was a practical demonstration that progress depends on understanding the concerns and decision-making needs of the people involved, not simply making a stronger case.
He also coordinated consular evacuations during plane crashes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and political crises. His work deploying and running incident management teams in Venezuela earned a Foreign Office Award for Crisis Management. These experiences demanded clear communication, judgement under pressure and the ability to establish trust quickly.
Business experience beyond diplomacy
John founded Consularcare in 2013, building a specialist travel assistance business from concept to multi-million-pound revenue before its sale in 2018. That gave him first-hand experience of winning clients, building teams, managing operations and taking a business through growth and exit.
His later work included government liaison at International SOS, business consulting and graduate training at CGI, and pandemic-response consultancy with the Department of Health and Social Care at the UK Health Security Agency. Across those settings, the common thread was making complex work understandable and bringing people with different responsibilities into a workable agreement.
Turning experience into Humanistics
John developed Humanistics to describe recurring patterns in how people communicate, make decisions and respond to pressure. His work with founders and leadership teams explores the friction between a strategy on paper and the way people actually work together.
His writing includes The Organisation Code, The Diplomat's Code and Humanistics: The Science of Human Systems Through the Lens of Patterns. Accorded brings that pattern language into everyday professional communication, helping users consider the recipient's perspective before a call, an introduction or a follow-up.
The aim is practical understanding, not a fixed label or a promise about another person's behaviour. A useful pattern gives you a better starting point for a conversation, while leaving room to listen, check and adapt.