Topic: Inspirational Leadership

Chris Roebuck

Chris Roebuck has over 25 years experience in roles developing leaders’ performance to enable their organisations to be more successful. In these roles he has developed many internal speakers and employed many external speakers to deliver this. He’s watched speakers, reviewed feedback, studied the psychology and neuroscience of how speakers can deliver behavioural change and action post events.

Chris now uses this experience, via a simple 3 step system, to make his keynotes impactful, interacting with audiences to unleash the power of their own experience to inspire them to action that delivers what their organisation wants across multiple objectives.

Audiences consistently say hearing Chris is the first time leadership really resonated and gave them simple practical steps to take action and deliver what their organisation needs more effectively:

“I have read books and listened to talks on leadership over many years but without doubt yours was the most inspirational and sensible approach that gave absolute clarity.” – Col Helen Singh – Senior UK National Health Service Leader and Commanding Officer, 254 Reserve Hospital, British Army. Veteran of service in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“A consistent theme from the audience was that they had heard leadership speakers before but it was the first time it was explained in a way that made sense and gave them a practical road map for success.” Programme Director, Nations Future Leaders, Royal Academy of Management, Oman.

In addition Chris combination of financial training, personal leadership experience in the military, in senior roles in business and public sector, as Hon Visiting Professor or Transformational Leadership and one of HRs Most Influential Thinkers 10 times in annual awards give him unique insight as a global expert on achieving organisational success via high performance leadership.

Using his insights, through over 200 inspirational keynotes he has helped over 21,000 leaders from over 650 organisations globally be more successful to beat their objectives, beat their challenges, build the future, engages employees, boost wellbeing and retention and potentially add 10% to bottom line for free.

Chris worked on the top team at London Underground, the London subway, leading the creation of a partnership culture during a part privatisation and restructure working with management, employees and Government. He then helped KPMG set up a leadership enterprise and led Management Development at HSBC Investment Bank. His work there was so impactful he was asked to join UBS to help build a strategic leadership team of 500 for the newly created global bank as Global Head of Leadership. The creation of UBS is now a Harvard Case study.

Chris subsequently helped the UK National Health Service, 1.4m staff, create their first nationwide talent and leadership identification systems and was commissioned to write a report for UK Government on developing leadership in NHS.

Chris also helps even expert professional leaders get better, delivering a 1 Day Masterclass on “Leadership Integrity” to 300 senior military officers and civil servants at the UK Defence Academy and also to speak on leadership at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

He was co author of first book on strategic leadership development, has published 4 books on leadership one of which was translated into 11 languages. He has developed senior executives from multiple sectors as Hon Visiting Professor of Transformational Leadership at Bayes Business School. Chris was on a UK Government Expert panel on boosting Employee Engagement across sectors via the Engage for Success report and initiative. His insights have been quoted by over 160 other leadership and business experts in their articles and professional journal publications. He was awarded Companionship of the Chartered Management Institute in recognition of his work developing leadership globally.

Chris has written over 100 articles including for Newsweek, CEO and CFO magazines, HR Magazine, Health Service Journal and others. He has been quoted as a business leadership expert globally in the Harvard Business Review China, FT, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Business Week, and many other titles and has done over 350 TV interviews on leadership and business on BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC and other channels. His “Perspectives from the Top” podcast has listeners in over 60 countries.

Tim Smit

Sir Tim Smit KBE was born in Holland on 25 September 1954. He read Archaeology and Anthropology at Durham University. Tim worked for ten years in the music industry as composer/producer in both rock music and opera. In 1987 Tim moved to Cornwall he and John Nelson together ‘discovered’ and then restored the Lost Gardens of Heligan. Tim remains a Director of the gardens to the present day.

Tim is Executive Vice-Chairman, and Co-founder of the Award winning Eden Project near St Austell in Cornwall. Eden began as a dream in 1995 and opened its doors to the public in 2000, since when more than 18 million people have come to see what was once a sterile pit turned into a cradle of life containing world-class horticulture and startling architecture symbolic of human endeavour.  Eden has contributed over £1.7 billion into the Cornish economy.  Eden is proud of its success in changing people’s perception of the potential for and the application of science, by communicating and interpreting scientific concepts through the use of art, drama and storytelling as well as living up to its mission to take a pivotal role in local regeneration. It demonstrates once and for all that sustainability is not about sandals and nut cutlets, it is about good business practice and the citizenship values of the future.

Tim is a Trustee, Patron and Board Member of a number of statutory and voluntary bodies both locally and nationally. He has received a variety of national awards including The Royal Society of Arts Albert Medal (2003).

In 2002 he was awarded an Honorary CBE in the New Years Honours List and In January 2011 he was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Her Majesty the Queen in recognition of his services to public engagement with science.  This appointment was made substantive in June 2012 when he became a British Citizen.

He has received Honorary Doctorates and Fellowships from a number of Universities. Tim was voted ‘Great Briton of 2007’ in the Environment category of the Morgan Stanley Great Britons Awards.

In 2011 Tim was given a special award at the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, which recognises the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement.  Tim has taken part in a quantity of television and radio programmes and has been the subject of ‘This is Your Life’ and a guest on ‘Desert Island Discs’. He is a regular speaker at conferences, dinners, Awards Ceremonies and other events.

Tim is the author of books about both Heligan and Eden and he has contributed to publications on a wide variety of subjects. He lives in Lostwithiel, Cornwall and in his free time he enjoys reading, film, music and art.