I run the HR tech start-up TalUpp where we have brought together all the elements of effective leadership development on a mobile platform to help develop emerging leaders thrive in a volatile and uncertain world. I am a psychologist by background and have worked in leadership development, diversity and talent management all my career. It’s a field I am very passionate about.

I have always had a curiosity about how things work and believe that the best HR solutions are based on data and evidence. I enjoy being able to dive deeper into a subject and have been lucky to be able to dip back into periods of research throughout my career such a when I ran the Women in Leadership Research Hub for IBM’s Smarter Workforce Institute or when I wrote my books, the most recent of which is Accelerated Leadership Development. How to Turn your Top Talent into Leaders.

The future of work is already here, and it is at times volatile and disruptive. By working with organisations on topics such as developing leaders for tomorrow, creating agile work cultures and millennial engagement and restlessness, it all seemed to lead back to one topic: accelerated leadership development.

I became very interested in the topic and wanted to understand it in as much depth as possible. I was delighted that over 40 of the HR industry’s leading practitioners, along with a group of inspiring millennials, contributed to the book. I was keen to make sure that Accelerated Leadership Development is not only about an interesting concept but that the book guides readers through the implementation of it, too.

The book provides a step-by-step guide of accelerated leadership development and sets out the 7 elements that every company needs to take into account when developing and implementing their accelerated leadership development strategy. The ‘In Practice’ sections in each chapter provide practical examples of how some of the world’s most notable organisations address various elements of accelerated leadership development and finishes off with coaching tips for individuals and organisational design tips for HR practitioners. I wrote the book with both emerging leaders and HR practitioners in mind; it become clear early on that successful accelerated leadership development relies on an effective partnership of both the accelerated leaders and their organisation.