Academic Role

Richard joined the full-time faculty at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University 3 years ago, where he lectures on leadership, power and politics, and organizational change. He was a core faculty member at the London Business School (LBS) for 22 years during which time he was consistently one of its highest rated, most innovative and award-winning teachers. He has taught for Columbia Business School for 13 years and over 20 other business schools around the world.

Across his time in academia, he has taught core organizational behavior and leadership courses, electives on organizational change, power and politics, and inter-personal dynamics as well as on flagship Executive Education open programs and custom programs for more than 90 Kellogg and LBS global clients in the UK and across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, focusing on leadership, organizational change, culture, power and politics, team dynamics and building resilience.

Richard has also been identified as one of the most entrepreneurial course creators having created two, highly successful electives (‘Paths to Power’ and ‘Inter-Personal Dynamics’); student field trips to UK, France, Peru and Mexico; and the London Core Application Practicum consulting program for technology, media and telecoms, and government, healthcare and the third sector. He has also designed, launched and co-directed two Executive Education open programs, ‘Professional Services: Strategic Client Relationships’ and ‘Leading Change’.

Consulting Role

For the past 23 years, Richard has been a Director of the consulting firm, Stokes & Jolly Ltd, with offices in the UK and, recently, the US.

He coaches senior leaders; facilitates senior group processes; delivers keynote addresses; runs senior development programs; and works on a diverse set of consulting assignments.

His clients are located in a broad range of geographies and industries, and he has consulted with leading companies in 41 countries. His main focus is working with professional and financial services firms, family-owned businesses, technology firms, and creative industries on external projects around more effective client relationships and internal projects around strategy, leadership, culture, resilience, organizational change and succession management.

Recent assignments include:

• Being the trusted advisor to a large insure-tech firm, advising the CEO on strategy, structure and culture and facilitating the senior team
• Coaching three contiguous global heads of a magic circle law firm over 15 years, facilitating Exco meetings and delivering leadership and client relationship programs for partners
• Becoming the first non-family director of a large US consumer goods family business, advising the two families who own the business on how to continue momentum across the generations
• Designing and delivering a global client relationship program to help the most senior client leaders at a big four professional services firm build trusted advisor relationships
• Helping the leading commercial property firm in London to ensure a smooth transition from the founder to the next generation of leaders, including the selection of the new CEO and the retention and development of the entire senior team
• Working with the internal diversity team at a US law firm to embed inclusion and equity into the culture and working practices across the firm
• Working with the leading UK wealth management firm to develop its Exco team members, clarify the behaviors needed to drive success in the next phase of its growth and help the next level of leaders develop these capabilities
• Running an annual ‘Mini-MBA’ program for a global advertising agency to help its senior managers develop greater commercial awareness to build more strategic, embedded client relationships
• Working with the Exco of one of the largest global asset management firms to build more collaboration across boundaries within the firm
• Helping a private equity firm develop the capabilities of its emerging leaders at origination and board membership
• Facilitating the Exco of a big four accounting firm to explore the future of professional services and how they should evolve their business
• Running programs internationally for a global insurance firm to develop personal and organizational resilience amongst its executives at a time of major industry change