Chris Roebuck

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Chris Roebuck speaks to 400 safety leaders of the UK Offshore Energy Industry in Aberdeen, September 2022

Chris Roebuck
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Speaker and author
Websitechrisroebuck.live

Chris Roebuck is a British economist, focusing on leadership and organisational performance. He was honorary visiting professor of transformational leadership at Cass Business School in London, a position he has held between 2009 and 2021.[1][2] He advises organisations on maximising performance through effective leadership, in particular developing entrepreneurial leadership.[3][4]

Roebuck has held senior human resource and organisational transformation roles at London Underground, KPMG, HSBC, and UBS.[citation needed] In 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021 he was nominated by HR Magazine as one of HRs Most Influential Thinkers.[5] Roebuck advises the Chartered Management Institute,[6] and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, business groups such as the Corporate Leadership Council, and the media, writing for Newsweek and being quoted in major publications such as The Times, Wall Street Journal and he is interviewed on leadership and business issues by the BBC and other television channels.[7]

Education[edit]

Roebuck studied economics and geography at University College London where he chaired the Students Union commercial enterprises committee, whose operations turned over in excess of £1m in 1976 and employed 32 staff.[citation needed] He later chaired the Union Council, overseeing the constitutional governance process, elections, and negotiations with the UCL senior leadership team and provost.[citation needed] Roebuck graduated in 1977.[citation needed]

Military service[edit]

Roebuck served with the Royal Engineer sub unit of the University of London Officers' Training Corps and was commissioned into the Territorial Army. During this period he led the team that blew up the 150 ft high chimney at the old pottery at Sandford near Wareham in Dorset to make way for a new housing estate. Roebuck was subsequently commissioned into the regular Army Royal Engineers via the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was the Best Young Officer on his Course at the Royal School of Military Engineering. During his service in Germany, Roebuck developed the modern pipe fascine, now used by the British Army in operations globally to rapidly cross small gaps and obstacles that restrict the mobility of armoured and other units.[citation needed]

Career[edit]

After leaving the Army, Roebuck used his knowledge of leadership to help SMEs (small and medium enterprises) develop their leadership capability as he found they often lack resources or knowledge to achieve this. He frequently worked with entrepreneurs, helping them develop better leadership skills. This later fed into his work with larger organisations, particularly UBS, around developing entrepreneurial leadership.[citation needed]

In 1992 he received his MBA from Cass Business School in London. His dissertation on organisational communication was featured in The Times, on BBC Television and was published worldwide in the International Journal of Strategic Management.[8]


In 1999, Roebuck was invited to be a member of an expert panel on improving leadership in British business in order to enhance competitiveness, reporting to the UK government.[9]

At UBS, Roebuck and colleagues led the delivery of a new development and leadership strategy for the bank's top 500 leaders. They subsequently co-ordinated the strategy via the business divisions for the other 70,000 employees.[10] This underpinned a new corporate alignment, culture and brand, improving the bottom line and the position of UBS in the global banking rankings through entrepreneurial leadership. In 2004, he was appointed global head of talent and leadership. The project at UBS progressed well with top management support and, as a result, in 2005 UBS won the title "Best Company for Leaders Europe"[11] and the "Best New Corporate University" awards, the "Corporate University Best Practice" and "Excellence" awards in 2006/2007,[12] and was ranked one of the top 10 best companies in Europe in 2007.

The UBS talent and leadership initiative now forms a key part of a Harvard Business School case study "UBS: Towards the Integrated Firm" on supporting strategic business change, realignment and improvement via talent and leadership activity.[13] This case is also reviewed from the organisational culture and performance perspective.[14]

Roebuck was part of the expert group developing the 2009 report on Employee Engagement "Engaging for Success" for the UK government to improve performance in British business. He also subsequently worked on its implementation. In 2011 he was commissioned by the King's Fund, the UKs leading health sector think tank, to deliver a report and recommendations on developing leadership in the NHS to enhance patient care for their commission to the UK government.[15]

Public speaking and masterclasses[edit]

Roebuck presents on Accelerating Success at corporate leadership and strategy events, for organisations such as KPMG, Tata Communications, BASF, Cardinal Health, Reuters, Huawei, BD Pharma, UK and UAE Prime Ministers Offices, UK and Myanmar Red Cross, CASC - Chinese Space Programme, for international conferences, such as World Retail Congress and Global DIY Summits, for business schools in UK and globally and to professional and management groups such as Project Management Institute, NHS chief executives, the Institute of Directors CEO Summit, Confederation of British Industry and the All Party Parliamentary Committee on Management.[16]

Publications[edit]

Roebuck has written books on leadership, communication and delegation. His book on "hands-on" leadership was a global bestseller, translated into 11 languages and was used as a best practice guide by the American Management Association.[17]

He had regular columns in CEO[18] and HR magazines for a number of years[19] and has written for publications such as Health Service Journal,[20] Governance magazine,[21] Management Today,[22] The Law Society Gazette,[23] Chartered Institute of Management Accountants Magazine,[24] and other business titles.[citation needed]

His work has been quoted globally, for example in the UK national press, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal,[25] The Washington Post,[26] Time,[27] Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, Le Monde, Times of India,[28] Vancouver Sun and more than 50 other business titles.[citation needed]

In May 2014, Roebuck published a combined guide to both organisational and individual leadership introducing a new model of leadership in his new book Lead to Succeed - The Only Leadership Book You Need.[29]

TV Interviews[edit]

Roebuck has been regularly interviewed on multiple TV channels as a business leadership expert since 2009, primarily with BBC for whom he has done over 240 live interviews as of April 2024. Combined with other channels such as CNN, CNBC, ITV, Sky, SF1, Al Jazeera and TRT (Turkish English language channel) his interview is in excess of 370 as of April 2024.

He comments on varied aspects of business leadership and its impact on organisational success, eg safety issues at Boeing, events at Tesla and culture problems in banks.

Honours[edit]

In December 2011, Roebuck became a Freeman of the City of London.[30] In March 2018 he was awarded Companionship of the Chartered Management Institute in recognition of his work developing business leadership.[31]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Cass Professor honoured by Chartered Institute of Management". Cass Business School - City, University of London. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  2. ^ Lane, Edwin (16 February 2010). "Why bankers are still making millions". BBC News.
  3. ^ "About Chris - Chris Roebuck". chrisroebuck.co. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  4. ^ Authorities, Leading. "Chris Roebuck - Keynote Speakers - LAI". LAI. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  5. ^ "Chris Roebuck, Visiting professor of transformational leadership, Cass Business School" HR Most Influential
  6. ^ "Professor Chris Roebuck (Visiting) | Chartered Management Institute". Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  7. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/news/?q=chris%20roebuck[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ Roebuck, Chris (1996). "Constructive feedback: Key to higher performance and commitment". Long Range Planning. 29 (3): 328–336. doi:10.1016/0024-6301(96)00028-3.
  9. ^ ""Leadership and Management in the Changing Economy" Ideopolis International" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  10. ^ Business-driven integrated talent strategy Archived 25 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ "En dansk blog om mode, skønhed og livsstil". www.internalcommshub.com. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  12. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 April 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ "UBS: Towards the Integrated Firm". hbr.org. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  14. ^ UBS Case Study Archived 25 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/document.rm?id=9114 King's Fund
  16. ^ List of speaking appearances, www.chrisroebuck.co
  17. ^ results, search (19 November 1999). Effective Leadership. AMACOM. ISBN 978-0814470596.
  18. ^ "Chris Roebuck" The Chief Executive
  19. ^ "Chris Roebuck" Archived 5 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine HR Magazine
  20. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  21. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  23. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  24. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  25. ^ Chris Roebuck: "Banks can't stop rogue traders" The Wall Street Journal
  26. ^ "Roebuck sees broken link between CEO's pay performance" The Washington Post
  27. ^ Quotes Time
  28. ^ "'India has the best of the east and west'" (PDF). The Times of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  29. ^ "Lead to succeed - the only leadership book you need... | Lead to Succeed". Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  30. ^ "HR Most Influential 2011 | People Updates | Cass Business School's Chris Roebuck receives Freedom of the City of London". Archived from the original on 8 March 2012.
  31. ^ Cass Business School. "Cass Professor honoured by Chartered Management Institute". {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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