René Carayol MBE is one of the world’s leading executive coaches.
A passionate and inspiring speaker, René Carayol is an expert on leadership, culture, and transformation. He has advised world leaders including Tony Blair and Mikhail Gorbachev, as well as some of the most powerful CEOs in the world. His work has a strong focus on diversity and inclusion.
A question that René is often asked is: “are leaders born, or are leaders made?”. In his experience, the answer is neither; leaders are found. The best indicator of tomorrow’s leaders is who can influence and persuade without authority. René has had the privilege of ‘finding’ many leaders over the years.
René was given some advice early in his career: that he would benefit from having a Black male mentor who had served on boards and been a chairman, but at that time none of those existed in the UK.
On joining the board of Pepsi in 1992, he became their first Black Board Director. And again, on joining the board of IPC magazine in 1995. In 2001 he was appointed to the Board of the Inland Revenue as it merged with Customs and...René Carayol MBE is one of the world’s leading executive coaches.
A passionate and inspiring speaker, René Carayol is an expert on leadership, culture, and transformation. He has advised world leaders including Tony Blair and Mikhail Gorbachev, as well as some of the most powerful CEOs in the world. His work has a strong focus on diversity and inclusion.
A question that René is often asked is: “are leaders born, or are leaders made?”. In his experience, the answer is neither; leaders are found. The best indicator of tomorrow’s leaders is who can influence and persuade without authority. René has had the privilege of ‘finding’ many leaders over the years.
René was given some advice early in his career: that he would benefit from having a Black male mentor who had served on boards and been a chairman, but at that time none of those existed in the UK.
On joining the board of Pepsi in 1992, he became their first Black Board Director. And again, on joining the board of IPC magazine in 1995. In 2001 he was appointed to the Board of the Inland Revenue as it merged with Customs and Excise to become HMRC.
At that time, there were no diversity or inclusion programmes, but René found it exhilarating to be in a ground-breaking and pioneering role. It was where he first met the burden of being a role model, which energised him to be the best that he could be.
René is a co-author of the bestselling books Corporate Voodoo and My Voodoo. His most recent book, SPIKE, focuses on identifying the things that we excel at to build self-esteem and confidence.
The range of René’s experience and audience is vast. He is a regular guest of BBC Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live, ITV, Sky, Channel 4 and BBC TV as a business commentator. He is a regular contributor to various publications and broadsheets on the subjects of leadership and business transformation.
Rene received an MBE in 2004 for his outstanding contribution to the business community.moreless
Global Leadership Keynote Speaker & Chief Executive
Mar 2000
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Present
London, UK
René is a top executive and leadership coach; inclusion and BLM keynote speaker; advisor to CEOs and heads of state, as well as a bestselling author and commentator. His work focuses on diversity and inclusion, allyship and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Executive Vice President of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
May 2021
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Present
Medallia is an employee and customer experience management company headquartered in California with offices worldwide including in London, Munich, Paris and New York. Medallia’s supplies its software to retail, hospitality, financial services and business-to-business companies around the globe.
Inspired Leadership Network is a conference and events company that focuses on leadership. The network runs across the UK and Africa with a growing presence in emerging markets.
First published in 1791, The Observer is a British newspaper, and the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. It is the sister publication of The Guardian, and The Guardian Weekly.
Time Inc. UK is owned by Future plc and was previously known as IPC Media. The publishing company has a rich history of delivering quality content through its well-known magazines including Horse & Hound, Country Life, Marie Claire, Wallpaper, NME, Ideal Home, Woman & Home, TV Times, Woman’s Weekly and Decanter.
PepsiCo
Systems Director
1992
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1995
London, UK
PepsiCo is a multinational food, snack and beverage organisation that oversees the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of their products. The company is headquartered in New York and was established in 1965 after a merger between Pepsi-Cola Company and Frito-Lay, Inc.
Black Executives is a membership organisation that offers members a host of benefits designed to accelerate their careers, including media training, mentoring, networking events and digital reputation management.
Computercenter assists its corporate and public sector customers in sourcing, transforming and managing their IT infrastructure. The company employs more than 18,000 staff and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The Inland Revenue was a British government department in charge of tax collecting. It amalgamated with Her Majesty's Customs and Excise in April 2005 to establish HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Formed in 1945, the International Money Fund is located in Washington D.C. and is an international financial institution. Comprising of 190 countries, the body collaborate on matters including financial stability, global money cooperation, international trade and sustainable economic growth.
The African Development Bank was founded in 1964 and is comprised of three entities: the African Development Fund, the African Development Bank, and the Nigeria Trust Fund. The mission of the bank is to reduce poverty and enhance living standards in Africa.
UK Prime Minister's Strategy Unit
Advisor & Leadership Support
London, UK
The Prime Minister's Strategy Unit was formed by Tony Blair and operated within the UK Cabinet Office between 2002 and 2010. The unit was established to support the UK Prime Minister with strategic advice on policy and key priorities.
The United Nations is an international organisation established to maintain peace, security and good relations between nations. It was formed in 1945 after the Second World War and strives to improve living standards, encourage social progress and protect human rights.
The World Bank is an international financial institution that aims to reduce poverty around the world by providing grants and loans to economically developing or underdeveloped nations.
In his podcast series ‘Lead or be led’ René Carayol draws from his own experiences, and encourages listeners to realise their true potential with his strengths-based leadership approach. Click on the link to view all episodes.
Inclusion Expert - 'The week that shook the Royals'
London, UK
René acted as an Inclusion Expert, dealing with the fallout from the controversial Oprah interview featuring Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle.
The Money Programme
Presenter
London, UK
The Money Programme was a finance and business programme aired on BBC Two between April 1966 and November 2010. René presented the 'The Fall of BP's Sun King' special, investigating the real cause of Lord John Browne's resignation from BP.
Click on the Belong logo to view all the articles René Carayol has written for the Belong Weekly newsletter, a unique take on inclusive leadership today.
SPIKE is an acronym for Strengths Positively Identified Kick-start Excellence. In his book ‘SPIKE: What Are You Great At?’ René explores the idea that everyone has something great to offer, a skill or strength that they can capitalise on. In the world of SPIKE there are no losers.
As a reaction to the success of ‘Corporate Voodoo’, René and David Firth released a second book entitled ‘My Voodoo: A Practical Guide to Unleashing the Magic in You and Your Work’ that serves as a practical guide to implementing the ‘Corporate Voodoo’ principles in both work and life.
René co-authored the bestselling book ‘Corporate Voodoo: Business Principles for Mavericks and Magicians’, where he discusses breaking old habits and behaviour in order to catapult into the future. René and David Firth write about how businesses must adapt to a dynamic, fast-moving economy instead of relying on old habits.
René was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his outstanding contribution to the business community in Her Majesty The Queen's New Year Honours List 2004.
René Carayol, UK business guru and media personality, spoke on Leadership and Organisational Cultural to The Marketing Academy’s Australia Leaders' Programme and leading industry professionals
René talks about leadership at the InnoTown Conference, where he elaborates on principles from his book ‘SPIKE: What Are You Great At’. He shares the idea that everyone is or can be a leader and that everyone has a skill or strength to share with the world.
