Lucy Adams is the founding partner of "The Disruptive HR Agency " aimed at helping organisations to bring their approaches to people leadership into the 21st century. Lucy provides challenges to provoke different ways of thinking and offers new models and fresh insights to support future business needs. She is a popular keynote speaker and blogger.
Lucy was the BBC‘s HR Director during one of its most turbulent periods. Responsible for all aspects of employee relations, reward, training and development, she reduced the BBC management by over 30%, saving the organisation £25m a year. In her five year tenure Lucy saw four DGs come and go, oversaw the move to the Salford site and coped with numerous, very public crises including executive pay-offs and the Savile scandal. This alongside the everyday work of talent retention, development and remuneration, HR policy, and the challenges of a publicly-funded organisation working in a highly commercial, fast-moving sector with over 20,000 employees.
In her speeches, Lucy challenges leaders and HR professionals to reappraise their approaches and to consider how relevant and productive they are in a disrupted world. In an uncertain world, many accepted ideas of leadership aren‘t up to the job so by looking at everything from management theory to neuroscience Lucy considers fresh perspectives on leadership, employee engagement and management organisation. She also addresses how businesses can deal with public scrutiny and adverse publicity, and the nature of leadership and change in organisations.
Prior to working at the BBC, Lucy was Group HR Director at Serco, the government services business covering transport to nuclear facilities to schools. It was a period of extensive expansion and acquisition for the business, incorporating new employees and cultures. Prior to that appointment Lucy worked for the law firm Eversheds.