James Reed James Reed

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**James Reed MA MBA FCIPD** is the chairman of the REED Group of companies, which comprises of REED Specialist Recruitment, REED Learning, REED In Partnership and REED Online. James graduated from Oxford University in 1984 with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) andsubsequently gained an MBA from the Harvard Business School. James enjoyed a varied early career, which included being assistant to Gordon Roddick, 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, which was founded by his father Sir Alec Reed in 1960. James became Chief Executive in 1997 and was appointed Chairman in 2004. The company has grown significantly over the past 50 years and now spans Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. REED employs over 2900 people in over 410 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. In the recession years of 2008/2009, James Reed 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. Put Your Mindset to work was awarded the CMI Management Book of the Year Award in the Commuter’s Read category. It is due out in a second edition in August 2013. The accompanying website offers the 3G panorama, the world's number one tool for assessing mindset.

James Reed's Profile