CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 1 2023 19 Mar22259 Connection and Flexibility With a leadership career spanning 25 years, Alastair Wallace MSc MInstLM FCMI FLPI is passionate about doing things faster, better, and cheaper at every level in business. We find out more about him and his company, Brainfood Ltd as he receives recognition in the CEO of the Year Awards 2022. Founded in 2009 after a successful career in leadership and consulting in organisations including KPMG, Centrica, The AA, Hemsley Fraser, and Halifax Bank, Brainfood Ltd is all about helping leaders through ‘learning that works’. Their CEO, Alastair Wallace, is renowned for real world leadership development that gets results. He trains individuals and groups, challenging them to optimise their potential as leaders. “Fostering flexibility and directness with a healthy dose of pragmatism and fun is core to how I work,” he enthuses. “I have a keen interest in the human brain and its biological and social interactions. Understanding neuroscience and psychology is vital to get the best out of people, particularly given the constantly changing business context we operate in.” Alastair has been fortunate to work in over 20 different countries with an extremely broad mixture of organisations. “In the last 25 years, I have successfully developed over 22,000 leaders and managers in 78 different global organisations from junior supervisors all the way up to CEO and board level. It has been an adventure and an honour to gain insights into diverse organisations from steel smelting in South Africa to luxury retail in Singapore one week, then museum and finance leadership teams the next.” For Alastair, leadership is about connection and flexibility and he recognises that one leadership style does not fit all situations. Truly understanding what makes people tick and getting under the skin of the organisation is vital to long-term success and consistent good results. He prides himself on critical thinking and making learning simple so it sticks. “If you can remember it easily, you can apply it easily,” he states. “The principles and psychology of habit change are particularly important for the work I do.” It’s clear to see that learning and self-development is a passion of Alastair’s. “I love to learn more about the challenges facing today’s leaders, so I welcome opportunities to listen to and participate in podcasts, discussions, and events to find out about the unique situations others are facing and share my experiences.” And there have certainly been major challenges that business leaders have faced of late. The growth of digital working and the impact of the current financial climate as the world moves out of the pandemic crisis has irrevocably changed the way that companies need to lead teams. “Covid-19 necessitated a complete re-think of how service is delivered and a swift pivot to deploying virtual technologies,” Alastair continues. “Learning and behaviour change can be especially challenging when leaders are unused to a virtual environment, so it was a complete reeducation for everyone.” With a lack of reliable evaluation data in the effectiveness of virtual leadership training, Alastair had to develop a clear perspective on making it work. This required experimentation and, fortunately, many of the core principles he adopted face-to-face also applied to the virtual environment. He is confident a blended learning approach is the right one. Having the flexibility to do virtual well is a key component of how Brainfood successfully navigated the pandemic, and how other companies can survive too. A further challenge that Alastair sees leaders encounter regularly is recruitment and the search for talent. Having adopted an evidence-based and practical approach to selection using psychometrics and ability testing, structured interviewing, and ‘real-world’ simulation assessment, he firmly believes that investment and intelligence upfront in rigorous selection activities will save organisations a lot of time and money. “The US Labor Organisation estimates the price of a poor hire is about 30% of their first year’s earnings. My client experience tells me the cost is often much greater than this when you factor in the ‘hidden damage’ that is done. Recruiting for values and behaviours, as well as relevant technical experience is critical to get the best person for the role.” Recently, Alastair was recognised for his pioneering work at Brainfood with the coveted award of CEO of the Year 2022 Award - London. He adds this to his professional accreditations and fellowships from the Learning & Performance Institute, Chartered Management Institute and Institute for Leadership & Management. As he looks to the future, Alastair is excited about a new project launching in 2023 which pulls together his 25 years of global leadership development experience plus the latest psychology and exciting neuroscience to crystallize the DNA of successful team leadership. “Called ‘Leadership Hacked’ this is the gold standard in leadership development,” he beams proudly. “I thoroughly enjoyed developing and researching this training programme. It is my life’s work and I can’t wait to see the impact it has! Get in touch to find out more.” Contact: Alastair Wallace Company: Brainfood Ltd www.brainfooduk.com Nov 764
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