James Reed (entrepreneur)

James A. Reed MBA is the Chairman of the Reed group of companies.

James A. Reed MA MBA FCIPD (born on 12th April 1963 in Woking, Surrey) is the Chairman of the Reed Global group of companies, which comprises Reed Specialist Recruitment, Reed Learning, Reed in Partnership and Reed Online. He is also co-author, alongside Paul G. Stoltz, of Put Your Mindset to Work, published May 2011.

Early Life

James graduated from Oxford University in 1984 with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) and subsequently gained an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

James enjoyed a varied early career, which included being assistant to Gordon Roddick, the Chairman of the Body Shop plc, and working as a media planner/buyer for Saatchi & Saatchi plc.

In 1987/1988, he worked for Afghanaid and Help the Aged, coordinating relief and development programmes in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Soviet-occupied Afghanistan.

James also spent more than three years with the BBC, where he worked as an Assistant Producer on documentaries and factual programmes.

Career at Reed

In 1991 James joined Reed, the recruitment specialist, that was founded by his father, Sir Alec, in 1960. James became Chief Executive in 1997 and was appointed Chairman in 2004.

The company has grown significantly over the last 50 years and now spans Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Reed employs over 3,300 people in over 450 offices worldwide, and delivers recruitment services across 30 different specialisms (June 2011). In January 2010, Reed was named as preferred bidder to deliver the Government's Backing Young Britain campaign.

James in the recession of 2008/2009 initiated the Keep Britain Working campaign, which aimed to promote innovative ways to preserve and create jobs. The campaign was backed by a broad range of businesses, the Mayor of London, all three of the main political parties, the British Chambers of Commerce and the Trades Union Congress.

James is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and was formerly an Associate of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit and a member of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)'s business-led Taskforce on Race Equality and Diversity in the Private Sector.

3G Mindset

Put Your Mindset to Work, a book co-authored by James Reed and Paul G. Stoltz, was published by Portfolio Penguin in May 2011. The book reveals that 97% of employers would put mindset ahead of skill set when recruiting. It goes on to identify and describe the key traits that make up the winning mindset, called the 3G Mindset. The accompanying website offers the 3G Panorama, the world's number one tool for assessing mindset.

Speeches

James has spoken at numerous conferences and seminars, and has twice been the keynote speaker at the CIPD’s annual recruitment conference.

James spoke at the Smith Institute’s launch of “Starting Them Young – Creating a Culture of Enterprise for All” at Number 11 Downing Street in November 2004. He also spoke on the subject of "Building a Resilient Workforce" at an event hosted by the Smith Institute at the British Academy in April 2009 and to several Schools and Academies about the winning mindset in June 2010.

reed.co.uk is the UK's number one job site and largest job site in Europe and because of this, James was invited to speak about how the Internet has transformed recruitment at the 6th Annual London Connects Conference in June 2006. Continuing on this theme, James speaks regularly about Innovation in recruitment and retention, the transformational power of the internet and building a resilient workforce to a variety of audiences.

Personal Life

He is married to Nicola and they live in London with their six children. James enjoys running, horse riding, football and mountaineering, and has participated in two of Reed’s annual Alpine Leadership Challenges - led by the renowned Alpinist Stefan Gatt.

References

• Warrell, Helen & Rigby, Elizabeth., Give prisoners better chance to find work, say company chiefs, Financial Times, 4th October 2011
• Espinoza, Javier., Mindset Trumps Skillset When Filling Jobs, Wall Street Journal, 9th August 2011
• Cottell, Colin., It works, when you put your mind to it, Recruiter Magazine, 27th July 2011
• The first place to start is people, as the performance of individuals and teams is critical to success, HR Magazine, 22nd July 2011
• Jacobs, Emma., 20 Questions: James Reed, Financial Times, 21st July 2011
• Make mindset the recruitment norm, says Reed, Recruiter Magazine, 10th June 2011
• Chynoweth, Carly., Attitude is worth more than skills, The Sunday Times, 6th June 2011
• Paton, Nic., Graduate careers: In calmer waters, but it's not all plain sailing, The Guardian, 4th June 2011
• How to triple your chances of winning the job, City AM, 2nd June 2011
• Tyler, Richard., Employers hire attitude over skills, The Daily Telegraph, 31st May 2011
• Webb, Neil, The Mindset Revolution, BA Magazine, 25th May 2011
• Teather, David., Alec and James Reed: recruitment is just the job for father and son, Guardian, 3rd June 2010

External links

• reed.co.uk
• Reed Global
• Reed Learning
• Reed in Partnership
• 3G Mindset
• Jobo Africa
• Keep Britain Working
• Ethiopiaid
• The Big Give