John is a thought leader and keynote speaker at world events on Competitive Advantage through Leadership and Innovation. He is a Fellow (Visiting) of the University of Birmingham Business School. His courses on Creativity for Competitive Advantage are mandatory for all International MBA students. He also runs Executive MBA programmes on Creativity, Innovation and Leadership at Sheffield University. He lectures at other leading Universities in Europe, and the Far East (the University of Hong Kong and National University of Singapore). Rainford is an alumnus of the Kellogg Business School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago. His vision is to create an Innovation Academy to help people use their creativity as a way of developing their potential, in terms of business or on a personal level.