Richard
Gerver

Speaker Profile
Richard Gerver has been described as one of the most inspirational leaders of his generation. He argues, however, that great leadership is about serving the needs of the people that work for you and rely upon you. The three core principles that underpin Gerver's philosophy are communication, empowerment and impact.
Gerver is one of the most celebrated speakers in the world. His insights into change, leadership and education are unique thanks to his own extraordinary journey, which has seen him go from being a an award winning school principal to board member of two international businesses, including Cordant, the largest recruitment group in Europe. He is a best-selling author, award winning speaker and advisor to governments, high performing corporate and sporting organisations.
On leaving his 20 year career in education he has worked to explore the links between great leadership, human potential, change and innovation. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by The University of Derby in the UK where he now sits on the Court.
He has twice been named 'Business Speaker of the Year' and has written three critically acclaimed best-selling books: The number one best sellers, Simple Thinking (Capstone/Wiley) and Change; Learn to Love it, Learn to Lead it (Portfolio Penguin) and also Creating Tomorrow’s Schools Today (Bloomsbury) which is widely regarded as one of the most seminal books ever written in education. His books have been translated into a number of languages, reflecting his international reach including Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Spanish and Italian.
He regularly advises governments and major corporations globally and has worked with organisations as diverse as Google, UK Sport, Visa, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Deloitte, Harrods, Puig, the LMA, Telefonica and The IBO.
He has also worked with elite and professional sports organizations on self-leadership and change including; Olympic and Paralympic coaches, managers and coaches in the English Premier League Soccer, Golf and Professional Cricket. He has also recently started working with the British Music Industry to help them develop a capacity for forward proactive and sustainable change.
Gerver is a regular media commentator who is often seen or heard on the BBC and often works as a writer in the print media. His work has been profiled everywhere from REDES on Spanish television to the pages of newspapers on every continent.
His speeches are always passionate, provocative and humorous; thanks to his natural and honest style, which draws on his own experiences and meetings, to humanize often challenging and complex issues. He is passionate about people, their potential and the future. It is his ability to bring the authenticity and uniqueness of his own journey that has helped to win him the global acclaim, which has led to his plaudits and his invitations to speak on the most recognised stages, including TED and the RSA.
Whatever sector Gerver works in, his principals remain the same: Organisations need to remember that systems and structures change nothing, people do and that to ensure that we get the best from those we work with, lead and serve, we must be committed to developing the communication, understanding and actions that lead to a culture of empowerment resulting in a long term demonstrable impact.
Topics
Speaker Topics
- Change: Leading and Sustaining a Culture of Organisational Change
- Out of The Ordinary - The Grangeton Story
- Beyond the Pane
- Culture Shock: How to lead organisational change
- From Hoodie to Hero – Harnessing the Power of the Next Generation
- The New Education Age: It's more about the future and less about the past
- Developing, Implementing and Sustaining a Culture of Innovation
- Lead Happy!
- Schools for the 21st Century
- Tiggernometry: Adding Bounce to Your Life
- Creating Tomorrow's Schools Today
- Leading into the Unknown
Related Categories
Topic Synopses
Change: Leading and Sustaining a Culture of Organisational ChangeIn this unique session, Gerver explores why change and uncertainty become so challenging for so many. Links to risk aversion and a need for safety, security and control, hamper and stifle so many people and organisations. Gerver argues that we must understand why it is that so many of us develop an aversion to change as we grow and how we must change our mindsets and motivations as a result. He explains why it is so important that we focus on developing the capacity of our people not only to accept change but to be active participants in it, if we are to evolve cultures of sustainable change and development. We need to develop cultures where responsibilities and accountabilities are shared, where ideas and momentum can spring from anywhere and where traditional hierarchies morph to facilitate self-leadership and real collaboration. Gerver will explore the importance of creativity, curiosity and confidence in understanding how to embrace change in uncertain times, and why we must shift the paradigm to understand that change is not a program or a strategy, but is ever present in the organic nature of the 21st Century.
He will use his unique perspective as an educator, a leader and a high-performance mentor to provoke new thinking about change, which he believes is a core factor in defining our future successes on human and organisational levels.
Culture Shock: How to lead organisational change
In a world obsessed with outcomes, where everything is high risk, high speed and high pressure; how can we even begin to lead our teams through times of accelerating change? How do we find ways to communicate, empower and explore new approaches? Richard will explore the key themes of future visioning, development and leadership, using his experiences of leading a complex organisation on the verge of failure through a massive cultural shift to a point of global recognition.
- Learn how to provide the vision and the rationale for change through effective leadership techniques.
- Discover how to help your staff regain their childhood creativity, imagination and enthusiasm.
- Find out how to create and maintain an energetic, dynamic, flexible and adaptable culture.
From Hoodie to Hero - Harnessing the Power of the Next Generation
Our children have been written off as knife-wielding drunks with a disregard for society, citizenship or hard work. This session explores the world our kids live in and examines the roles we play as educators and business leaders in making the most of their extraordinary potential. From Hoodie to Hero is essential for anyone parenting children or managing an employee under 25 years old. The future is better than we think!
The New Education Age: It's more about the future and less about the past
The mass education system that the vast majority of us experience was created for a different time and place; it was created to control and maintain structures, systems and stability. For generations it worked reasonably efficiently; people knew what routes led to what kind of lives; professional, blue or white collar. An education that led to a higher qualification guaranteed certain opportunities and life choices for example.
Times have changed; economic shifts, social and environmental upheaval and most importantly the rise and exponential development of new technologies have left society breathless and ill prepared for the challenges that face our local, national and global futures.
Education defines the success of a society's ability to control and manage change yet education has changed little since the extraordinary shift in the way life is led in the 21st century, as a result we are caught in a world where people are scared and often paralysed by the prospect of change, we are being overwhelmed by crises of global proportions around the economy, the environment and socio ethnic cohesion.
The world has created the most sophisticated generation of consumers we have ever seen; the 'on demand' generation. To them, much of what the formal education system offers is out-dated and irrelevant.
If we are to prepare our children for their futures, education needs to radically rethink its purpose, its approach and its values. In his keynote presentation, Richard Gerver will explore the challenges we face, the questions we need to ask and the routes we need to take if our legacy for our young is to be one of success and empowerment.
Developing, Implementing and Sustaining a Culture of Innovation
This one-day workshop will be focused on deepening attendees' understanding of innovation and creativity, particularly in the context of leading a culture shift that develops continuous and self-led innovation in an organisation. It will work on the three core principles of communication, empowerment and impact.
During the day, delegates will:
• develop a deeper understanding of why employees often resist change and innovation, regarding the process as something that must be 'endured' rather than embraced.
• learn how we can change that perception through the communication of vision into action.
• explore the nature of transformational leadership and transformational mindsets through people management techniques.
• learn how to reframe performance management and professional development structures to promote a culture of embedded innovation, shared ownership and accountability.
• learn how to stimulate and maintain a focus on future thinking and innovation when under pressure and scrutiny.
• learn how to sustain innovative cultures through the development of internal action research methodologies.
The workshop will encourage delegates to explore the human elements of organisational culture shift and change. It will show attendees that without focus on developing the contexts and capacities of people within an organisation to lead change and innovation, systems and structures cannot take root, embed or ultimately lead to sustainable transformation.
Richard will use his experience as an educator, leader and advisor to lead delegates through that process. He will help them to develop clear people management and development strategies that they can deploy immediately to implement a culture shift that will result in successful, creative organisations. Delegates will gain a number of insights into the mindsets and philosophies of business leaders such as Eric Schmidt and Steve Wozniak.
Ultimately the day will lead to a confident understanding that success starts with a focused investment in time, human capital and capacity.
Lead Happy!
Recent surveys of employee satisfaction in both the US and Europe show that most people see happiness rather than financial reward as the most important factor in their working lives, citing shared, clear and tangible vision and values as the crucial defining factors. At the heart of any successful leadership and management strategy must be a sense of empowerment felt by every member of the team; that starts with a strong shared and implemented vision. In this speech Richard shares his experience of leading and managing vision development and transforming organisations through employee empowerment.
Schools for the 21st Century
In his keynote Richard will urge us all to focus in on our moral imperative as educators; to prepare our children for their futures. He will explore the challenges that our students face now and in their adult lives, challenging us to look beyond conventional thinking and practice and to ask questions of a new paradigm; he will highlight the need for leadership, a new type of strategic thinking and a new professional mindset. He will look at the notions of creativity, risk, skills and knowledge and will share his thoughts on how we make learning matter to the most sophisticated generation of consumers the world has ever produced. Richard believes in practice not theory and as such, will also share some of the work he and his staff developed at the world famous Grange School. The keynote will explore new ideas and thinking linking the future of education with organisations such as Pixar and Harley Davidson. Provocative, amusing and dynamic; Richard's presentation will leave people with challenging and inspirational pathways for the educational journey ahead.
Tiggernometry: Adding Bounce to Your Life
How to stay positive in a negative world. The world is changing faster than ever. Keeping up is exhausting. A lot of people get stuck in moan mode - a rut of 'sameness' where the days and weeks flash by in a blur. Staying positive is a massive challenge. It requires energy. Tigger manages it and the good news is that it's totally achievable. And this session aims to tell you how! Richard can cover life, change, energy, habits, thinking styles, education, business and how to retain your bounce in a turbulent world.
Creating Tomorrow's Schools Today
This keynote, based on Richard's best selling book, explores the process of curriculum design, provoking the questions that schools need to generate if they are to develop curriculum approaches that are fit for the future. It explores skills based approaches that are rich in context and purpose. He can share his experiences of developing a curriculum that became a powerful model for the QCA reviews at KS3 and Primary, The 2020 report and The Alexander Report. The session can be tailored to focus on BIG THINKING or THE GRANGE MODEL including planning methodology or a mixture of the two. The sessions can be designed to be highly interactive and can also involve the opportunity for colleagues to question Richard about his experiences and the Grange Methodology. These sessions can also include insights into leading a community through Curriculum transformation.
Leading into the Unknown
This session explores the development of education systems fit for purpose in the future. It looks at the issues facing schools and colleges today: behaviour, standards, testing and curriculum. Richard offers his unique perspective and insights into the challenges that face us all in leading our children into the unknown.
Out of The Ordinary - The Grangeton Story
An inspirational journey that charts the phenomenal rise and transformation of Grange Primary School into one of the world's most celebrated education establishments. Highlighting the highs and lows, Richard shares his experiences and the innovations that lead to the school's extraordinary success; hear about the town run by the kids that includes a TV Studio, Radio Station, Café and Museum, The University and the Curriculum that is helping to define future models around the world.
Beyond the Pane
In a world where the last 20 years has seen the development of the internet, social networking and a rising fear for the planet and the economic future of its people. It has been virtually impossible for us to stop running long enough to take a breath and plan for tomorrow in a proactive and purposeful way. The impact of change on us has been exhausting. This session explores the future, our part in it and how we get the best from our people.
Simplicity: An Uncomplicated Guide to Success
Renowned for his highly accessible and common sense take on complex issues around change and human leadership, Richard brings his pragmatic, insightful and people centric experiences to the exploration of success; what it is and how we can achieve it. This exciting and dynamic speech will leave audiences inspired and more importantly empowered, with the belief that they can; individually and as part of an organisation. How they develop strategies that will ultimately lead to real success and achievement. Based on the research and messages in his highly anticipated new book of the same name, Richard's session will leave participants with a real clarity of the mind-sets, behaviours and attributes needed to aim higher and achieve more.
Using his unique storytelling style, Richard brings incredible energy, insight and eloquence to what has been traditionally seen as a complex and often academic process. He will share the key learning that he has gained from years of working, firstly to develop one of the world’s most celebrated education transformations to his work with some of the planet’s most successful people and organisations across every sector. Based on experience and practice, never theory, the authenticity of his session will leave people with new views on risk, communication, collaboration and ultimately what it takes to be successful.
Change: Leading and Sustaining a Culture of Organisational Change
In this unique session, Richard explores why change and uncertainty becomes so challenging for so many; links to risk aversion, a need for safety, security and control, hamper and stifle so many people and organisations. Richard argues that we must understand why it is that so many of us develop an aversion to change as we grow and how we must change our mind-sets and motivations as a result. He explains why it is so important that we focus on developing the capacity of our people not only to accept change but to be active participants in it, if we are to evolve cultures of sustainable change and development. Cultures where responsibilities and accountabilities are shared, where ideas and momentum can spring from anywhere and where traditional hierarchies morph to facilitate self-leadership and real collaboration.
He explores the power of creativity, curiosity and confidence to understand how to embrace change in uncertain times and just why we must shift the paradigm to understand that change is not a program or a strategy but is an ever present in the organic nature of the 21st Century. He will use his unique perspective as an educator, a leader and a high performance mentor to provoke new thinking about change as a core factor in defining our future successes on human and organisational levels.
Thrive: The Currency of the High Roller
Over the last ten years, Richard has been working with some of the world’s most successful sports and business organisations; from Olympic and Paralympic coaches to football league managers, golf pros and cricket teams. His work has been centred on developing resilience in athletes. It is work that he has translated into his work in high performing corporate environments where the ability to risk, learn and develop are vital. Richard argues that it is often some of the most naturally gifted who struggle most with resilience and that having the confidence to fail and to overcome major adversity is critical if we are to get the best out ourselves and our people. In this session, Richard will use his unique insights into human development and success to help audiences understand what holds people back and how to unlock their full potential.
"Too many have dispensed with generosity in order to practice charity."
Albert Camus
"Very professional and very helpful. Nothing was too much trouble! Very prompt responses to any questions we had."
Sanitarium
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