Lucy Adams

Lucy Adams 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. She also faced a torrent of personal and professional criticism as the broadcaster dealt with a series of crises. In her five-year tenure Lucy saw four Director General’s come and go, oversaw the move to the Salford site and coped with numerous, very public crises including executive payoffs and the Savile scandal.

She is now the CEO Disruptive HR. The agency seeks to challenge the status quo, reimagine traditional practices, and inspire leaders and HR professionals to approach their roles with renewed vision and energy. Lucy has spent the last eight years working with HR teams and leaders from some of the world’s top brands. She combines her strategic HR expertise with practical implementation, and advocates for an innovative yet grounded approach which aims to put the “human” back into Human Resources.

In speeches, Lucy discusses how to deliver real change within a large, complex organisation, and why it isn’t always popular, balancing the need for quick decisions with possible moral backlash about severance, and issues relating to employee engagement. She states that in an uncertain world, many accepted ideas of leadership aren’t up to the job and by looking at everything from management theory to neuroscience she considers fresh perspectives on leadership, employee engagement and management organisation. Lucy also addresses how businesses can deal with public scrutiny and adverse publicity, and the nature of leadership and change in organisations.

Lucy is the author of HR Disrupted, which shows practical ways to innovate approaches to leading people in a disrupted world. Her book The HR Change Toolkit, is a handbook showing HR professionals how to go about making the change to create a function fit for world-leading 21st century organisations.

Prior to working at the BBC, Lucy was Group HR Director at Serco, the government services business, covering everything from transport to nuclear facilities. She was in position during a period of extensive expansion and acquisition for the business, incorporating new employees and cultures. Prior to Serco Lucy worked for the law firm Eversheds.