René Carayol‘s strengths-based leadership philosophy SPIKE is a journey of self-discovery, positively changing your views of yourself and your teams. In his work, he shares the magic and simplicity of the compelling SPIKE philosophy; in the world of SPIKE, there are no losers, everyone has something they are great at.

He has built his reputation on getting to know the culture of businesses better than they know themselves, and providing solutions no matter how big or small the problem.

He is the host of the Spike Chats podcast, where he has spoken about leadership, women in leadership, engagement, fear, uncertainty, collaboration, reputation, smart working, ethics, and political leaders. Guests have included Hayley Mulenda, Elham Fardad, Steph Wicken, Shalimar Adorno, and Paul Kearney.

René has also been a regular face on our TV screens, presenting Pay Off Your Mortgage in Two Years (2006), and Did They Pay Off Their Mortgage in Two Years? (2007) for the BBC. He has also appeared on BBC Radio 5  Live, presented the Channel 4 film The Man From the Met, has been a press review for Sky Breakfast News, and an expert witness on Mind of a Millionaire.

He is the co-author of the bestselling Corporate Voodoo (2001), and My Voodoo (2002) books along with David Firth. In 2017, he released his first solo book, Spike – What Are You Great At, which shows how we can unleash our inherent strengths and realise our true potential. He has also written columns for The Sunday Telegraph’s supplement ‘Business Reporter’.

In 2004, he was awarded an MBE for his outstanding contribution to the business community, and more recently he was recognised with an honorary doctorate by the University of Roehampton.

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP COACH

René has been mentored throughout the years by the very best corporate leaders from around the world, and because they were so different from him, this diversity has become a unique and essential part of his coaching philosophy. He has now acquired a reputation for providing advice and support for CEOs in the Fortune 500 and FTSE 100. His focus is on inspirational leadership and the positive impact of an inclusive culture on the business.

“As leaders work their way up the business, it can start to feel quite lonely. The way forward can be quite confusing, and we can feel isolated. It helps to have someone in your corner who has your back, and your future, on their mind.”

He provides offsite retreats, monthly coaching sessions, and one-to-one coaching sessions for a period of 12 months or more.

René works with individuals and teams to develop and harness the power of collaboration to develop leadership skills and maximise performance. High-performing executive teams are distinguished by their ability to function at a high level for a long period of time in the most efficient manner possible.

Through his leadership coaching sessions, he targets areas including accountability, challenge, collaboration, empathy, inclusion, speaking up and out, stretch targets, team building, transparency, and unconditional support.

René’s bespoke leadership development programmes cover leadership, culture, and collaboration in an interactive fashion, enabling all members of the leadership team to play an active part. Attendees will learn to:

– Understand each other’s strengths and compensate for each other’s limitations

– Care about each other during team meetings and social events, as well as what is going on outside of work

– Hold each other accountable; it’s not ok to let each other down

– Strive for excellence. The acceptance of average devalues and disrespects talent

– Flexibility and adaptability. Changes must been seen as opportunities

– Celebrate often as the team pressed towards new goals

Nearly all performance management systems and employee appraisal systems are designed towards identifying weaknesses or areas for development. Consequently, every employee becomes fixated on raising their weaknesses to a decent level. This means most are not confident enough to breakout on their own and focus on honing their strengths to a higher standard.

As a strength based leadership expert, his experience of working with some of the best leaders from around the world – Bill Clinton, Mikael Gorbachev, Sir Richard Branson – has shown him that nobody is flawless.

He believes there is no universal solution for supporting a CEO or leader, as each one is as individual as their fingerprints. Rene has gained stories from the frontline consisting of exciting adventures, emotional anecdotes, and enough drama to excite any audience.

He also works with individuals, leaders, teams, and wider organisations on empathetic leadership, emotional intelligence in the workplace, growth mindset, corporate transformation, authentic leadership, corporate leadership, authentic transformational leadership, motivational leadership, collaborative leadership,

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

René’s experience as a motivational keynote speaker is unmatched. Specialising in delivering authentic and passionate performances, he demonstrates just how captivating an emotionally intelligent approach can be. He is a firm believer that every setback is a learning opportunity that we need to experience to reach our goals. René is the speaker who has seen it and done it all before; he enables leaders to understand how to empower, motivate, and connect with their teams.

SPEAKING TOPICS

– Inspirational Leadership

– Resilient Leadership

– High Performance

– Collaboration

– Culture

– Business Transformation

KEYNOTE TALKS

Culture Is More Powerful Than Strategy: In most western developed economies, business leaders spend their time preparing and articulating the strategy for the business. Whilst this is key to its success, business culture is just as important. Businesses need to learn how to fuel and oxygenate their culture, ensuring it is fit for purpose and a key competitive advantage. René shares his extensive experience, telling his inspiring stories whilst challenging everyone to think again about culture.

Manage a Little Less: Lead a Little More: The world of work has gone through the most fundamental of changes, and we will never return to the traditional way of running businesses. Demographic shifts, changes in global power structures, and disruptive innovation have completely changed the business landscape. René delivers real case stories that will make an authentic approach to leadership both understandable and entertaining.

Collaboration Is the New Leadership: No one leader can make all the tough calls on their own anymore. In today’s unforgiven markets, each leader requires the support of a diverse and well performing team. Building a collaborative culture demands a new approach to leadership and a change in mindset. René shares stories from the front line to the boardroom, sharing stories of abject failure, and of those who have stalled, but also those who have succeeded.

Extraordinary Times Demands Extraordinary Leadership: This must become the era where we look for the best people for the team to lead appropriately. What is needed in these turbulent times is the feeling that our boss cares for us and supports us in times of uncertainty. They need to do this with no hierarchy; today, being the leader doesn’t mean behaving like the ‘boss’.

His other workshop and keynote titles include:

– Inspirational Leadership: Time to Thrive

– The Power of Psychological Safety

– Smash the Silos

– SPIKE: What Are You Great At?

Below: See René’s Inspirational Leadership Keynote at World Credit Union Conference – 2024 Boston, USA

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Focus on Strengths: Find out how high-performance teams identify and unleash the unique strengths of each individual.

The Power of Collaboration: Discover strategies on how to develop a more collaborative culture and breakout of the ‘silo mentality’, as nothing is best done alone.

How Leadership Drives Business Performance: Everyone can be a leader if they choose to be; a leadership is a mindset and an attitude, not a job title.

How to Lead in Times of Uncertainty: How being authentic and emotionally intelligent can help leaders foster trust and drive team performances in times of transformation.

CLIENTS

Accenture, Almirall, Apple, Arsenal, Asda, Barclays, BBC Children in Need, Boehringer Ingelheim, British Airways, Burberry, CityFibre, ConvaTec, Co-op, the Crown Estate, De Beers, Deloitte, DHL, Dow Jones, EY, Goldman Sachs, Google, GSK, HM Government, HSBC, IBM, Ikea, the Marketing Academy, MarshMcLennan, McDonalds, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, Nandos, Nedbank, P&G, Pepsi, Sainsburys, Sandoz, Unilever, Unite Students, Virgin, VISA, Vodafone, VW, Warner Media, the World Bank

René has worked with the who’s who of leaders, including:

– Jim Yong Kim at the World Bank

– Antony Jenkins at Barclays Bank

– Ross McEwan at the Royal Bank of Scotland

– Akinwumi Adesina at the African Development Bank

– Lord Ian Maclaurin at Tesco

– Neville Isdell at Coca Cola

– Ian Livingston at BT

– Carly Fiorina at HP

– Philippa Rodriguez at AstraZeneca

– Mike Coupe at Sainsburys

– Allan Leighton at Selfridges

– Angela Ahrendts at Burberry

– Clare Barclay at Microsoft

– Polly Cochrane at Warner Bros

– Sir Richard Branson at Virgin

He has also worked with former UK Prime Ministers Sir Tony Blair and David Cameron; former US Secretary of State Colin Powell; Ghana President John Mahama; and former Botswana President Festus Mogae.

Call +44 1753 439 289 or email Great British Speakers now to book international leadership speaker René Carayol for your corporate event.

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