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Russell Beck’s drive is inspired by the belief that people are the only USP of any organisation.
Widely acknowledged as a thought leader in people and leadership, Russell Beck blends an engineer’s desire for knowledge, an inquisitive need for evidence and a belief that things can be better with an inspirational, charismatic and thought-provoking style. He connects dots in an informative way to help organisations take tangible actions to unlock the potential and productivity of their most expensive asset, their people. Often acting as a catalyst, he captivates people, motivating them to think differently, providing the impetus to change and transform, and enabling them to move quicker and further than they previously thought possible.
He provides inspirational and analytical insight into moving any organisation forward with giant steps.
Contact Great British Speakers today to book HR, employment and career speaker Russell Beck for your next corporate event or call +44 1753 439289.
Russell Beck draws on a diverse background having worked as an engineering project leader with client projects in 26 countries and as a leader in the recruitment industry for the past 2 decades.
Here his experience includes being the Global Head of Consulting for a people and talent strategy organisation; Managing Director for a £120m t/o recruitment outsourcing business; European Head of Talent for Yahoo!; and managing delivery teams that (for example) delivered over 1% of all UK recruitment in 2009.
During this work he has consulted with and supported leadership teams of companies of all sizes from SME’s, FTSE 100 to Fortune 500.
In February 2024, Russell published his book The World of Work To 2030, a practical guide to future-proofing your business and your career. Of the book, David Plink, the CEO of Top Employer Institute, said it was “a much-needed and highly inspiring perspective”.
– Overcoming the great resignation
– The challenges and opportunities of a multi-generational workforce
– The Future of work
– How to embed meaning and purpose
– Productivity, wellness and sleep
– Enabling teams
Russell Beck keynotes include; Vodafone’s internal 2025 outlook conference which was live-streamed to all employees globally; CIMA, CII, Skillnet, ACAS, the Irish Government’s future of work and CIPD conferences. He consults directly with businesses including GSK, John Lewis Partnerships, Cambridge University, Top Employers Institute, the NHS, Prologis, Railpen, BT and many others.
As a piece of feedback, the lead organiser for the Vodafone event said:
“Russell’s session was an absolute blockbuster. Extremely engaging, passionate, educational, and most importantly for such an important subject- fun! His incredible public speaking performance coupled with knowledge and passion for the topic resulted in a very engaged audience, receiving rave reviews, and has become one of the most requested sessions for a re-watch. The lessons from his talk are being explored and we are looking for new ways to share his session for maximum impact across the whole of Vodafone.”
Russell Beck has a 1st class Electronic and Communication Engineering degree and a Masters through research both from Bath University and a Diploma in Business Studies from Henley.
The number of vacancies in the UK is currently over 1.1 million – 50% higher than the pre-pandemic peak. By definition, anyone with talent is in demand. It is a seller’s market and it shows – 40% of employees are at least “somewhat” likely to change jobs in the next 6 months.
Covid has caused monumental changes to every aspect of life – work is no different – and the Great Resignation is upon us. Organisations are responding in classic ways: Pret recently joined Sainsbury’s, Costa Coffee, Morisons, Aldi (etc) in raising pay to £10 an hour; entry-level lawyers command £150,000 starting salaries. Pay is absolutely a key employee driver, but focusing here makes work transactional and of course undifferentiated, the main impact being that entry pay remains broadly identical for each role.
Humans crave interaction. Almost half of the workers admit they do not find their careers fulfilling.
Covid has forced a great reset in how we view work and life and made us all consider what is “worth it” and “what is the point.” Employees want what we call the 4 C’s – career, cause, community and culture.
Money is important, but you will likely never have enough. It is only by focusing on and being true to the C’s that you can build a sustainable (and cost-effective) future. A future where your people want to work and do their best each and every day.
Russell Beck, Talk Delivery platforms:
This subject can be delivered in a variety of ways, as a keynote or seminar to inspire and challenge leaders and managers; as an interactive workshop to help localise the thoughts and ideas and start to apply the learnings; as consultancy support to help implement activities and as coaching and mentoring support to help leaders take action.
Takeaways will vary based upon the intervention but would include: a clear articulation of the challenge; the business case for change; analysis of what employees want and methods of identifying the local needs; practical ways in which each of the 4 C’s can be implemented and cations that can be taken.
“UK employers are still woefully unprepared for the impact workforce demographics will have on their businesses.” – CIPD and CMI
There are already five generations in the workplace, with employees separated in age by 50 years or more.
‘They’ say that Millennials are flighty, expectant and demanding; that the older generations don’t understand technology, are slow and bureaucratic.
In-between you have the forgotten generation, Gen X, diplomatically interfacing to the analogue Baby Boomers and the totally digital Millennials, who are just about managing whilst trying to juggle every aspect of life at once.
If all that wasn’t enough, here comes Gen Z or ‘Generation Truth,’ who are more likely to call you ‘mate’ than ‘Sir,’ who want feedback every 5 minutes, for whom everything is but a click away.
None of this is wrong or right, it just is. We have to understand the generations for some very simple reasons: they are our workforce, they are our customers, they are our relatives.
If we don’t understand or can’t relate to them then how on earth will we succeed together?
Pulling on the latest research and background information, this session considers all of these aspects and more. Looking at the different behavioural traits, together with the political, cultural and technological factors that impacted each, we will consider where their strengths lie, the respective value propositions to enhance engagement and motivation, and explain why things can just blow up without you even realising why.
Feedback from a recent attendee (board member) in Novartis stated:
“If you go to only one session this year, make sure it’s this one. Russell is an exciting, engaging speaker and captivates his audience from his first word to his last. This will be the best time you can spend if you want to know what makes your colleagues tick. This seminar helped me to understand the motivation, the values and the beliefs of my team and I raved about this presentation for months afterwards. This is by far the best presentation I have ever seen.
Russell Beck, Talk Delivery platforms:
This subject can be delivered in a variety of ways, as a keynote or seminar to inspire and challenge leaders and managers; as an interactive workshop to help localise the thoughts and ideas and start to apply the learnings; as consultancy support to help implement activities and as coaching and mentoring support to help leaders take action.
Takeaways will vary based upon the intervention but would include: a clear articulation of the challenge; the business case for change; analysis of how our formative years impact our approach to and outlook on life and work; the motivational factors for each generation and where inter-generational conflict can occur.
A Chat with Russell Beck
As part of our ‘Chat with…’ series at Great British Speakers, our Director Jane Farnham sat down with Russell Beck to discuss his work as an employment expert and leadership consultant. Watch the full interview HERE.
“Great effort today Russell, a pleasure to listen to a professional at work”
“I have attended two seminars delivered and presented by Russell and found them both to realistic and up to date with the challenges faced today with managing, recruiting and retaining people. The content is clear, delivery is excellent and the forum is targeted at the right audience who can share ideas and experiences. Well worth the time to listen to these topics”
“First class seminar. Speaker, subject, content, first class. In fact I have been to many of these and this ranks top 3 I have been to in the last 10 years.”
“Seminar was really good and Russell is a powerful presenter! After having worked with different companies and even being involved in employee satisfaction surveys, don’t think I have seen any company analysing the workforce in this manner.”