Lucy
Adams

Lucy Adams, CEO of Disruptive HR, talks about some of the biggest challenges facing leaders and HR today:

- How to lead, manage, engage and develop people in the 21st century
- How to create fresh and workable people solutions that meet the demands of a disrupted world
- How to manage change and to build resilience.

She also provides insights into how business leaders can drive and manage difficult and complex change - how to keep your people engaged and how to build greater leadership resilience.

Lucy typically does around 30 keynote speeches a year - and has recently worked with companies such as HSBC, Siemens, Accenture, The Guardian, RBS, NAB, KPMG, Fujitsu, Old Mutual, Swiss Re, BASF and Easyjet - as well as numerous conferences.

Current work

Lucy Adams created The Disruptive HR Agency after having held senior level HR roles in a variety of sectors, most recently at the BBC. She grew frustrated with the lack of innovation and fresh thinking in the profession and wanted to find new ways of tackling old problems. She now runs the agency to help HR Directors and business leaders to do things differently.

Lucy Adams was the BBC’s HR Director during one of its most turbulent periods. Responsible for all aspects of employee relations, reward, training and development, she reduced the BBC management by over 30%, saving the organisation 25 million pounds a year. In her five year tenure Lucy saw four DGs come and go, oversaw the move to the Salford site and coped with numerous, very public crises including executive pay-offs and the Savile scandal. This alongside the everyday work of talent retention, development and remuneration, HR policy, and the challenges of delivering multiple changes in a publicly-funded organisation working in a highly commercial, fast-moving sector with over 20,000 employees.

Previous experience

Positions: Prior to working at the BBC, Lucy was Group HR Director at Serco, the government services business covering transport to nuclear facilities to schools. Lucy was in position during a period of extensive expansion and acquisition for the business, incorporating new employees and cultures. Prior to Serco Lucy worked for the law firm Eversheds. Lucy Adams is now CEO of The Disruptive HR Agency - aimed at helping organisations bring their approaches to people leadership into the 21st century. Lucy challenges business leaders and HR professionals to reappraise their approaches and to consider how relevant and productive they are in a disrupted world. She offers new ideas and practical innovative approaches that the more progressive companies are already adopting.