Stephen was born and educated in Sydney, Australia.
He studied law and psychology at Sydney University and worked as a lawyer in Sydney for several years. He did a postgraduate degree in law at Oxford University in the U.K. Stephen then joined the World Bank where he worked for several decades in many capacities and held various management positions, including Director of the Southern Africa Department from 1990 to 1994 and Director of the Africa Region from 1994 to 1996. From 1996 to 2000, Stephen was the Program Director, Knowledge Management at the World Bank. Stephen was a member of the Quality Council V of the Conference Board from 1993 to 1996.
Stephen is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (U.K.). He has published a novel and a volume of poetry.
He is an organizational storyteller extraordinaire, and is the author of the acclaimed books, The Secret Language of Leadership and The Leader's Guide to Storytelling. From 1996 to 2000, Stephen was the Program Director, Knowledge Management at the World Bank where he spearheaded the organizational knowledge sharing program.
He now works with organizations in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia on knowledge management and organizational storytelling. His clients include scores of Fortune 500 companies.
In April 2003, Stephen was ranked as one of the world's Top Two Hundred Business Gurus by Davenport & Prusak, What's The Big Idea?
The Secret Language of Leadership: How Leaders Inspire Action Through Narrative
The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative