Jim Meehan

Jim Meehan was born in Liverpool in the United Kingdom in 1942in the middle of World War Two. After studying philosophy and theology at Oscott College he joined the Rover Manufacturig Company and spent almost 24 years on a global basis selecting suitable people, optimizing their potential and resolving people problems in the workploace using the science of psychology.

While with Rover he attended Aston University where he obtained his professional qualifications as a human resources specialist and was designated a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development. He also graduated from the Open University, majoring in psychology followed by gaining a distinction in the applications of psychology at Wolverhampton University which was followed by a Masters of Science degree in in applied psychology. He was designated a Chartered British Psychologist and a Chartered Scientist.

In 1991 he went to the United States as the director of psychological services for Talent Plus a start-up global human resources consultancy. There he worked with one of the founders of the company, Dr. William E. Hall who acted as his mentor and passed over to him his life's work in positive psychology, strength psychology and success psychology. At Talent Plus he specialized in international leader selection and development and left in 2015. He and his wife Maureen returned to the the United Kingdom to be close to their daughter, Larissa and their grandson, Amir.

Apart from his interest in people he also had another life interest, namely, rhyming verse. At primary school he remembers his teachers reading The Inchkape Rock by Robert Southey and The Daffodils by William Shakespeare which he can still recite by word today and he was fascinated by the songs of Burl Ives, Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald. At secondary school and college he counted William Blake, A.E. Housman, Dylan Thomas and W.H.Auden among his favorite poets and he collected all the records of Buddy Holly and The Beaatles. He was always doodling his thoughts and feelings in rhyming verse.

It was Dr. Hall who noticed some of his doodles and encouraged him to polish them up and publish them. Armless Hugs is the culmination of his doodles.