Heider graduated from Harvard College in 1960, and he was awarded a Ph. D. in Clinical Psychology from Duke University in 1968. He returned to Lawrence in 1971-1973, then again in 1987.
He served in the Massachusetts National Guard after training in the tank corps of the U. S. Army. He worked at the Veterans’ Administration and the Menninger Foundation in Topeka. For one of his many jobs he worked at the Jayhawk Theatre, now Liberty Hall, in the summer of 1951.
John Heider is a seminal figure in the Human Potential Movement. He worked at Esalen Institute, founded the Human Potential School of Mendocino, and led personal growth and training groups for over 40 years. He wrote The Tao of Leadership in 1985; since then it has been translated into 10 languages