Welcome to Canny Conversations, the podcast where everything starts with a conversation.
Hosted by Safaraz Ali MBE, entrepreneur, investor and advocate for social mobility, Canny Conversations creates space for business leaders, entrepreneurs and changemakers to go beyond the headlines.
It is where we explore not only what people have achieved, but what they have learnt, what they believe and what they think needs to change.
Today’s guest is James Reed CBE, Chairman and Chief Executive of Reed.
Few business leaders are as closely connected to the name above the door as James. Reed is not simply the company he leads. It is also his family name, his personal brand and a business legacy that began when his father, the late Sir Alec Reed, founded the company in 1960 with just £75.
Before joining the family business, James studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford, completed his MBA at Harvard Business School and worked as an Assistant Producer at the BBC.
He joined Reed in 1992, initially leading its operations. He became Chief Executive in 1997 and Chairman in 2004.
Under his leadership, Reed has developed from a traditional recruitment company into a global group with a turnover of more than £1 billion. Today, its work spans specialist recruitment, technology, learning, employability and public services.
Reed.co.uk was launched in 1995 as the first recruitment website created by a recruitment agency in the UK. It has since grown into one of the country’s leading employment platforms, connecting millions of people with opportunities each year.
Through Reed in Partnership, the group also delivers major government-funded services across employment, skills, health and other areas of public life. Its work supports people facing unemployment, poor health, economic inactivity and other barriers that can prevent them from moving forward.
For James, work is about far more than earning a living. Reed’s stated purpose is simple: improving lives through work.
That belief has also shaped his contribution beyond recruitment.
James is Chair of Big Give and The Reed Foundation. Big Give uses match funding to multiply charitable donations and has raised hundreds of millions of pounds for good causes.
The Reed Foundation also owns 18 per cent of the Reed business. This means that part of the value created by the company is permanently connected to charitable impact.
In the 2023 New Year Honours, James was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, receiving a CBE for his services to business and charity.
He is also President-Elect of the Chartered Management Institute and a bestselling author. His books include Put Your Mindset to Work, Why You?, The 7 Second CV, Life’s Work and his latest book, Karma Capitalism.
In Karma Capitalism, James argues that purpose should not be treated as a marketing exercise or an annual corporate report. He believes it should be built into the ownership and structure of a business.
He describes this model as a PhilCo, a philanthropic-minded company where at least ten per cent of the business is owned by a charitable foundation.
James has also been an active voice during some of the most difficult periods for the British labour market. He created the Keep Britain Working campaign during the financial crisis and relaunched it during the pandemic to help protect jobs and livelihoods.
Today, the world of work is changing again.
Artificial intelligence is transforming recruitment, reducing some entry-level opportunities and challenging the traditional first steps through which people learn, grow and build careers.
In this Canny Conversation, James talks about the current jobs market, the impact of AI and what happens when technology begins to change the career ladder itself.
He discusses the continuing importance of human judgement in recruitment, the responsibilities attached to delivering government contracts and how organisations can make sure that targets never become more important than the people being supported.
He also explores personal brand and company brand, what it means when your surname is above the door and whether the person at the top should be the organisation’s chief controller or its chief builder of trust.
This is a conversation about recruitment, but it is also about much more.
It is about the future of work, the purpose of business, the balance between profit and social impact, and the responsibility of leaders to build something that can survive beyond them.
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