2023 AESC Global Conference - London

Matthew Syed is an author and highly acclaimed speaker in the field of high performance. He has written seven best-selling books on the subject of mindset and high performance – Bounce, Black Box Thinking, Rebel Ideas, The Greatest, and his celebrated children’s books, What Do You Think?, You Are Awesome and Dare To Be You – and has worked with many leading organisations to build a mindset of continuous improvement. He is also a multi-award-winning journalist for The Times and The Sunday Times and presenter of the popular BBC Radio 4 programme, Sideways, currently in its sixth series. Matthew is a regular contributor to television and radio and, in his previous career, was the England table tennis number one for almost a decade.

In his most recent best seller – Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking - Matthew argues that individual intelligence is no longer enough to solve today’s complex problems; to truly succeed we must harness the power of 'cognitive diversity'. Rebel Ideas uncovers the best-kept secrets of the world's most successful teams, bringing insights from psychology, anthropology and data science, whilst drawing on a dazzling range of intriguing case-studies.

Matthew’s work explores a thought-provoking approach to high performance in the context of a complex and fast-changing world. By understanding the intimate connection between mindset and high performance, organisations can unlock untapped potential in individuals and teams, driving innovation and agility to secure
a future-proofed environment. A TEDx video of Matthew speaking about growth mindset can be viewed on YouTube.

Matthew is also co-founder of Matthew Syed Consulting (MSC); the company has worked with an impressive portfolio of clients to build growth mindset cultures and drive higher performance in individuals, teams and organisations. Matthew Syed Consulting’s cutting-edge thought leadership programme and digital learning tools are becoming a catalyst for real and lasting change within business and the public sector.

Matthew also works very closely with the education sector to help improve mindsets in schools and young people. He is an active founding member of the charity Greenhouse Sports and an ambassador for the PiXL Educational Foundation.

To find out more about Matthew’s work, visit: www.matthewsyed.co.uk or contact his team at team@matthewsyed.co.uk.

Tamara Box is a partner and immediate past (July 2023) Managing Partner, EME at Reed Smith LLP.

Tamara is a non-executive director on the Boards of Interpath Advisory and Hanover Investors, a Trustee of Chartered Management Institute and Chair of CMI Women, a trustee of gynaecological cancer charity Eve Appeal, an Advisory Board member of charity Theirworld, an Advisory Board member of LSE’s The Inclusion Initiative and a founding member of the Steering Committee of 30% Club.

Tamara has twice been named a Financial News “50 Most influential Lawyers” (2022, 2023) and was Large Law Firm Leader of the Year at Women and Diversity in Law Awards, 2023.

Dr Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj is an Associate Professor in Entrepreneurial Leadership and Diversity at HEC Paris in Qatar.

Shaheena is an expert in DEI, women’s leadership, and innovation. She works with public organizations, NGOs and private business leaders globally including FTSE100 and Fortune 500 to help them transform their cultures and strengthen workplace cultures.

She has worked on gender leadership policy for the UK Government and EU, participated in the Chatham House Gender Program. Between 2015 – 2018 she produced benchmarking reports on women in leadership across 52 countries leading to leadership policy reports for Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings.

Shaheena, who holds a PhD in Family Business Management from the UK’s Brunel Business School, and she has attended education programs at Harvard Business School and Manchester Business School. She served as the chairperson of the Aga Khan Education Board from 2015 – 2021 with the remit for UK and Europe. Shaheena is on the advisory board for Qatar Women’s Engineering Association and Chair of the Women’s Council for the French Chamber of Commerce in Qatar. Shaheena is on the advisory board for Bright Network a UK based company supporting student recruitment.

Being a regular contributor to Forbes, she has also participated in BBC News, Yahoo News, CGTN, BBC Radio, The Financial Times, HR Journal, The Times and Management Today. Shaheena is a regular Forbes contributor and has co-authored three books: Futureproof your career, how to lead and succeed in the new normal (2021) (Bloomsbury Press) Championing Women Leadership Beyond Sponsorship (2018) (Palgrave MacMillan), Succession in Asian Family Firms (2005) (Palgrave MacMillan). Her latest book Take the Lead – Women and Innovation published by Kogan Page is due out in March 2024.

Gian Power is a globally renowned keynote speaker whose work on storytelling and mental wellbeing has reached audiences in over 300+ of the world’s largest companies spanning more than 100 countries.

Gian is the Founder & CEO of TLC Lions using the power of storytelling to transform workplaces globally. Through his unique storytelling approach, Gian has worked with large multinationals including Google, Amazon and Rolls-Royce and his methodology is now reaching over 15 million people in the skies where you can find his content onboard all Emirates and Virgin Atlantic flights. His work has been recognised by Forbes, the BBC, Business Insider and is backed by the UK Government and No 10 Downing Street. Gian is also a proud ambassador for the Missing People charity.

Gian recognises that everyone has a story and he has dedicated his life to supporting others in understanding and sharing their story, so it can become their greatest strength.

Toby is the Talent Intelligence Leader at Worldwide Amazon Stores, leading a diverse global team of economists, consultants, business analysts and researchers in talent intelligence. Previously, Global Head of Talent Intelligence and Executive Recruitment Research at Royal Philips, the Dutch health technology group.

Named by Recruiter Magazine as one of the 11 Most Influential In-house Recruiters in 2017 and has consistently ranked every year from 2019 until 2022 (there was no ranking for 2018) and is an international speaker on sourcing, executive research and talent intelligence.

Toby is the founder of the Talent Intelligence Collective, a Talent Intelligence Mentor at Udder and a co-host of the Talent Intelligence Collective Podcast.

Toby is also the author of "Talent Intelligence: Use Business and People Data to Drive Organizational Performance".

Karen Greenbaum is CEO of the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC), the global association representing the nearly $20b profession worldwide. AESC is dedicated to strengthening leadership worldwide. AESC’s rigorous Code of Professional Practice guides its members, spanning 1,400+ offices in 70+ countries and beyond, to serve as strategic advisors on behalf of their clients. AESC Members are best positioned to provide companies with a competitive advantage—the ability to find, attract and develop the best talent in the world and ensure that executives are successfully integrated.

Ms. Greenbaum is an experienced business leader having served as the President and COO for the $1 billion US business of Mercer Consulting/MMC, a Fortune 200 company and later as COO for Nixon Peabody LLP a nearly $500 million global 100 law firm. She also served as an executive search consultant and partner before being selected as President and CEO of AESC.

Ms. Greenbaum is committed to diverse leadership, representing AESC as an official member of the 30% Club, a global group of Chairs and CEOs committed to board diversity and The Committee of 200, a global non-profit focused on advancing women in business. AESC recognizes that diversity is a business imperative. As trusted advisors to those companies that drive economies, lead innovation, and compete across vital sectors and geographies, AESC members know first-hand the power of diverse corporate leadership.