About Us

Organisational development experts: the talentsmoothie team

Unlike many generalist management consultancies or “me too” research agencies, we have high-level practitioner experience. In other words, we’ve been there and done it. We know what works – and why.

Here’s some background to our principals:

“Most companies don’t sell themselves as well as they should – they need much more compelling employee value propositions”	Justine James – knows what makes graduates tick Justine has a deep understanding of the way graduates think and what they want from work. For 12 years, she held senior management and consulting roles in top professional services firms and a niche HR consultancy. She has consulted to BG Group, ING, BP, GSK, E.ON, Tesco, Enterprise Rent-a-Car and BHP Billiton. Justine’s experience running graduate recruitment for PricewaterhouseCoopers gives her real insights into the issues facing graduates and the employers hoping to hire them. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD), a member of the AGR development task group and an associate of CRAC (The Career Development Organisation). Justine is also a keen sailor, having sailed round the world at the age of 22 (the youngest on a boat of 14 crew).
“My experience tells me that to be successful, an organisation needs to be an inspiring place to work.”	Sally Bibb – considers change the status quo Sally is an expert in organisational development and change, with a practitioner’s understanding of how change happens, what works and what doesn’t. She has spent 15 years working with people from different generations and cultures in Europe, USA and Asia. She has written and contributed to five books exploring the relationship between people and the organisations they work for and writes regular articles for the management and general press. Before she co-founded talentsmoothie, Sally held senior roles in organisational change, HR, and learning and development at The Economist Group, publisher of The Economist newspaper, BT and Cable and Wireless. She holds an MSc in Change Agent Skills and Strategies. Sally is a Member of the CIPD and an associate of CRF (Corporate Research Forum).
“I see frustration among Gen Y and their employers caused by a mis-match in how they see the world.”	Simon Walker – could lead your team to the arctic (and back!) Simon is an expert in leadership, team and organisational development and has been CEO of two SMEs. Before setting up talentsmoothie, he co-founded and built a successful leadership consultancy where he could put into practice what he preached. He worked at every level within large organisations all over the world including BT, Microsoft, Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse, Savills and Anglian Water Group. Simon has led teams on polar expeditions and round-the-world yacht races. Before setting up his leadership consultancy, he was MD of a well-known sports marketing business for seven years. Simon is regularly invited to speak on leadership and team building in complex and challenging environments and was featured in Fast Company Magazine’s ‘Who’s fast 2001′ selection of 16 business leaders.
“Harness the collective intelligence of all generations in order to make a difference.”	Ed Fox is an expert in Generation Y and cross-generational working Born in 1980, Ed revels in scraping into generation Y and being part of the first year of graduates from this new generation to enter the workplace. Although distinctly Generation Y in his approach and style, he benefits from being on the cusp of Generation X and recognises the tensions that can arise from the subtle differences in approach and style that the different generations have. Ed’s experience of managing Generation Y started in financial services where he managed the graduate fast-track programme. During the last four years he has specialised in talent management and leadership development, particularly in developing, engaging and helping generation Y be understood in organisations. He pioneered an innovative graduate programme that challenged conventional thinking and produced the best engagement results (including revenue increases) ever seen in the organisation. Ed’s passion, energy and enthusiasm to develop the strengths and talents of this generation has been recognised by several accolades. Ed has worked as a reciprocal mentor, advisor and consultant with talentsmoothie for the past two years. He also works as a coach, and brings a unique perspective that enables organisations to get the best out of all generations. He is CIPD accredited and is currently studying for accreditation as a Chartered Occupational Psychologist.
“Mental resilience, conviction and stamina to complete the journey are key to successful organisation change”	Bertie Tonks – delivers value where it counts Bertie knows what it takes to drive sustainable change through an organisation because that’s what he does. He has worked successfully as a senior internal specialist across a broad range of industry sectors including, Finance, Retail, Media, Oil & Gas, Leisure and Property. His career illustrates his ability to combine a genuine passion and expertise for change and organisation development to deliver truly meaningful results. He’s as comfortable working with teams on an oil & gas platform as he is facilitating change within the boardroom and has exceptional ability to engage the hearts and minds of all those he works with.
“Be open to the best of what everyone, everywhere has to offer and involve everybody so they understand how they can make a difference”	Jan Abbey – passionate about her work coaching individuals and teams Jan has a background is in leadership development and executive coaching in a wide range of business sectors. The combination of her consultancy, coaching and her management and operational experience (in the aviation industry) provide an excellent platform for helping clients manage change, achieve more of their potential, improve their impact and effectiveness and increase the performance of their teams. She is an experienced coach and developer of talent and has a strong belief in the enormous potential of each individual. Jan holds a BA Honours degree in business and is an accredited coach with the Association for Coaching. She is accredited in the Schroder leadership competency model and is a qualified MBTI® practitioner. Her multi-sector experience along with her extensive international work enables her to coach leaders and teams for the challenges that face global business today
“Knowing how managers think is a step towards better leadership”	Professor Eugene Sadler-Smith – top academic researcher into managers’ thinking Eugene is Director of the Centre of Management Learning and Development, School of Management, University of Surrey. He heads talentsmoothie’s generational impact research project. After a successful career in HR development in the gas industry he became a university lecturer in 1994. Eugene is particularly interested in managers’ thinking and learning styles and their impact on learning and performance in the workplace. As well as his talentsmoothie work, his current research and teaching interests centre upon intuition and expertise in management development. Eugene’s research has been published widely in leading peer-reviewed journals including The Academy of Management Executive, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Organization Studies, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Human Resource Management Journal and Management Learning.
“If you don’t get Gen Y yet, relax! I’ll help you.”	Lamorna Trahair – talentsmoothie’s Gen Y At just 24, Lamorna keeps the talentsmoothie team in touch with Generation Y and its aspirations. That can mean facing some uncomfortable truths but it keeps us real! Like many of her peers, she’s engaged in lots of projects, rather than just “having a job”. Lamorna and her partners at the League of Adventurists won the 2007 Shell LiveWire Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. They organise a number of innovative events including the Mongol Rally, a charity road-trip from London to Mongolia. Lamorna now spends much of her time working with FRANK water who fund sustainable clean water projects in developing countries across the world. She has also worked with the Volvo Ocean Race and the Global Challenge round the world yacht races, producing their websites and media. If it’s digital, she gets it and knows how to live life to the full in both the real and virtual worlds.