About Manuel – my version

Manuel Knight was born on November 20, 1964 in Perry Holmes, a ghetto in Atlanta, Georgia where he grew up with his 3 siblings and his single mother. His upbringing can be summarized as surviving by making do with what was a few steps below the bare minimum.

Manuel graduated from S.H. Archer High School in 1982 with passing grades. At the age of seventeen, Manuel joined the Army where he remained for a little over eleven years, from September 1982 to December 1993. He spent most of his time in the Army at Ray Barracks, Friedberg in Germany.

Manuel participated in the Gulf War as a member of Task Force Spartans, 5/18 Inf. Bn. 3rd Armored Division. This was a very difficult time for Manuel with many experiences that tested him as a person.

During his time in the Army, he competed extensively in martial arts. Both on the military and German tours. As a member of the Thunder Dragons he won a number of titles including World Champion on the military tour. As a member of the German Power Team, on the German tour, he won several district championships and also the Open Swiss Championship. In the army the sport was called karate and on the German tour it was called Kickboxing.

During his first years in Sweden, Manuel Knight began to hold spontaneous talks with the youth. These talks were about the importance of staying away from violence and crime. It is these talks that later developed into lectures, which were soon sought after by schools all over the country and a career as a speaker developed. He received, among other things, the John Hron Foundation scholarship for his commitment to youth.

During the same period, Manuel Knight supported himself by working in several different jobs such as dock worker, seasonal employee at the post office, extra staff at a Montessori school and more.

In 1999, Manuel Knight began his consulting career at Livslinjen, a Gothenburg-based consulting company that later changed its name to Dill World AB. During his time at Livslinjen / Dill World AB, he worked as an organizational consultant with many different companies, management teams and teams.

In January 2005, he left his employment at Dill World AB and started his own company Sinkfield&Co. AB, later called Manuel Knight Academy. With seminars as a foundation, Manuel began to develop his working method “The Corn Philosophy”, a working method that summarizes his many years of experience and accumulated knowledge from having met hundreds of companies, management teams and teams.

In 2011, Manuel Knight received the Stora Talarpriset with the jury’s motivation, “Manuel Knight is a world-class lecturer. With a big and warm heart and genuine commitment, he shows the way to real change, improvement and success for people and organizations. A meeting with Manuel is a wake-up call for our inherent strengths and leaves a lasting impression”.

With The Corn Philosophy as a foundation, Manuel Knight Academy is hired by companies all over the world, but mainly in Sweden and Europe. Companies that want to improve their leadership, team spirit, motivation, change management skills and other topics that affect performance.