Maria James

Maria James is a leadership and trust specialist with more than 20 years of experience across Deloitte, Virgin and Vodafone. She is the creator of The Doughnut Principle™: Earn, Protect, Rebuild, a practical framework shaped by two very different worlds: large-scale organisational change and military service under pressure.

Her work helps leaders see the gap between what they intend and what others experience. Through immersive workshops and speaking, she explores how everyday leadership behaviour affects trust, credibility and performance, particularly during change, uncertainty and increased scrutiny.

Maria’s career has included supporting a $2 billion merger, leading People, Culture and Communications in India, and driving organisation-wide behavioural change. She has worked with leaders and teams through periods of significant transformation where clarity, consistency and leadership behaviour influence whether change is understood, adopted and sustained.

The military experience behind her thinking was forged in Basra, during a hostile deployment with the Royal Military Police marked by small-arms fire and RPG attacks. Working through an interpreter, Maria mentored the Iraqi Police Service in community policing, a new concept within a male-dominated environment where authority could not be assumed. Her contribution helped improve public perceptions of the police and build confidence between officers and local communities. She received a Military Commendation for the impact of her work across Basra.