His experience includes managing a $500 million budget; grown a business 10-fold in just three years; leading teams delivering of 1% of all UK recruitment; being the Global Head of Consulting for a people and talent strategy organisation; Managing Director for a £120 million t/o recruitment outsourcing business; and European Head of Talent for Yahoo!.

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”. It has since been recognised by The Financial Times as one of their best business books to read, and was an Amazon top 3 best seller.

Leading a business is hard at the best of times, but today’s leaders have to navigate a complex maze of critical issues, such as:

– Leadership in times of uncertainty and change

– Lack of focus

– Talent attraction and retention

– Future-Proofing the workforce

– Hybrid working

– Innovation and creativity

Failing to address these issues can lead to a spiral of decline, a disengaged workforce, missed opportunities, and a softening of your competitive edge. The stakes are high, but the cost of inaction is higher. In a landscape marked by rapid change and fierce competition, standing still is not an option. The future waits for no one.

Russell can help you not only be future ready but future proof.

RUSSELL BECK – KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Russell’s keynote talks revolve around the world of work, people strategy and leadership.  He specialises in the future of work, leading and managing teams, future skills, innovation and creativity.  Every talk is created to meet your situation and your requirements

RUSSELL BECK – TOPICS OF INTEREST

– The Future of Work

– People Strategy

– Leadership

– Leadership Development

– Leading and Managing Teams

– Attraction and Retention

– Future Skills

– Hiring the ‘Right’ People

– Innovation and Creativity

– Employee Engagement and Motivation

– Meaning and Purpose

– EVP/Employer Branding

– Talent Management

– Futureproofing Your Career

– Belonging As The Way to Unlock Inclusion and Diversity

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 – KEYNOTE TALKS

Unlocking The Future: Navigating the Changing Uncertainties to Future-Proof Your Business and Your Career

Consider these two headlines: firstly, that the financial reality is that few of us can afford to retire, and secondly, that robots and AI are destroying the very jobs we need to make a living. How can these two realities be compatible?

The business landscape is full of hazards, with globalisation, technology, changing consumer choices, talent shortages, and politics all making it harder to create and maintain success. It’s all up in the air; happening all at once and to all of us. From any perspective, shouldn’t we seek to understand what is happening so we can a prepare ourselves?

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

– A practical understanding of the megatrends playing out in the world today and their potential threats and opportunities

– Given the megatrends, a series of actionable measures you can implement to future-proof your business, examined through the perspectives of:
How businesses can adapt considering strategy, size, and focus together with flexibility, hybrid working, and the office
How, given the future realities of talent attraction and retention, organisations’ people strategies can respond
With technologies relentless encroachment, a smart analysis of the skills businesses will need in the future, and how selection methods can adapt to identify them
Business sustainability considered from the internal context of innovation and creativity and the external context of the climate

– Actionable steps you can take to seek to future-proof your career.

Revolutionising Attraction and Retention: A Blueprint For Talent Sustainability in the Post-Pandemic Era

Nearly three years into the cost-of-living crisis, UK job vacancies remain 15% higher than pre-pandemic levels. In the USA, there are two unemployed people for every three open vacancies. It is without a doubt a seller’s market, and it looks as if it will stay this way. By 2030, it is estimated that 1 in 10 jobs could remain permanently unfiled. If your business is reliant on people to get things down, this is an existential thread.

Talent strategies need a rethink. The pandemic changed people’s view of work and life, forcing everyone to consider what is “worth it”. Compensation is one of the our 6C’s ©, and is part of the solution, but humans crave much more than just a financial transaction: they crave interaction, or a Career, Cause, Community, Culture, and a Company that understands them.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

– Insight into the reality of the employment market and why it will remain a sellers’ market for years to come

– An overview of our 6C © model that enables talent strategies to be future ready

– Practical and tangible tips on how to implement each step

Unlocking Meaningful Work: Leveraging Purpose-Led Leadership to Drive Productivity, Innovation, and Wellbeing In Your Organisation

Author Fyodor Dostoevsky noted that it was never the hardness of a task that destroys a human, it is far easier just to make the task futile “to the point of absurdity”. He was building on something the Gods had known for aeons; since Zeus condemned Sisyphus to an eternity of useless, unending futility, we have known that doing something we know to be pointless is a punishment worse than death.

Hopefully employees can tell you what they do, how they will do it, and why they will do it. It is estimated that 40% of workers across Europe believe their job makes no meaningful contribution to society whatsoever. In a world where there is always someone willing to pay more than us, “meaning is the new money, and those who find meaning in their work are more productive, have greater retention, are healthier, and are more innovative.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

– An overview of why humans crave meaning and the benefit to businesses of providing meaningful work

– Considerations on why creating meaningful work is so hard

– A business case on the benefits of creating meaning and purpose

– Practical steps you can take to help everyone find their golden thread at work and embed meaning into the workplace

Fostering Belonging: Cultivating Inclusive Environments to Harness the True Power of Diversity in Your Organisation

There is no argument about whether diversity delivers business benefit. As McKinsey stated, “a lack of diversity is a penalty to business”. We have, however, been looking through the kaleidoscope from the wrong end. Our root problem is not diversity, it is belonging, and it is only by creating a sense of belonging for all of our employees, where each feels safe to be themselves without judgement, that we can create inclusion and unlock the benefits of a diverse workforce.

McKinsey also said that 51% of employees have left a business because they didn’t feel a sense of belonging at work.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

– A demonstration of how belonging can unlock the benefits of diversity and inclusion

– The neuroscience behind connections

– A business case on the benefits of creating belonging

– An action plan on how you can embed belonging across the employee life cycle

Clients include: Astra Zeneca, BT, Cambridge University Press and Assessments, Carlisle Support Services, Catalent, Charity Retail Association, Chartered Accountant’s Ireland, CIMA, Crimestoppers, dnata, Institute of Leadership, Irish Business and Employers Confederation, The NHS, Top Employers Institute, Railpen, Safelives, Top Employers Institute, Vistage, Vodafone

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.