RECOMMENDATIONS
Leadership
Ross Kirke | Global Account Lead
I have yet to meet someone who understands the sector to the same level as Richard. He has an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the industry, which he importantly uses to shape the strategy, planning and execution of the teams he leads and partners with. As the lead for the global partnership with Apple, I regularly looked to Richard’s thinking for guidance. He articulates and shares his thinking to the benefit of others, whether in comprehensive account plans, JBPs, newsletters or reviews of product launches.
To those who are interviewing Richard, I encourage you to grab this opportunity and get him on your team. People with Richard’s passion and knowledge and the ability to develop, share and action comprehensive plans, does not come around that often. He is truly unique and an amazing asset to any team he is a part of.
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Helen Keyzer | Industry Head | Retail
I had the privilege of managing Richard for several years during his time at Google, and I couldn't recommend him more highly.
• Richard consistently demonstrated exceptional problem-solving skills, leveraging his deep technical expertise, keen business acumen, and rigorous analytical approach to develop innovative solutions to complex challenges.
• He possesses a remarkable ability to navigate ambiguity and forge new paths to success for both clients and Google. I witnessed him overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles on numerous occasions, leading to significant impacts like shaping global Google practices for top clients and securing previously unattainable resources.
• Richard's informal leadership is marked by a strong people-centric focus, fostering a culture of innovation and psychological safety within the team. He skilfully balanced the demands of intricate client challenges with the effective coaching and development of a large, geographically dispersed team, achieving outstanding results in both areas.
• He consistently goes beyond his core duties, contributing significantly to the broader team. This includes leading a cross-functional, cross-site team of 48 individuals to develop and deliver the Q4 retail strategy.
Richard's exceptional skills, expertise, and dedication would be an invaluable asset to any team.
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Jamie Murray-Wells | Head of Digital Platform Experiences
Richard shows masterful internal virtual team leadership around complex accounts. His planning and prioritisation processes and trackers are admired internally and externally and he is as good at managing clients with these tools as he is at scaling His personal leadership of the team is also extremely impressive, taking very seriously the motivation and collaboration of those teams, which I have experienced through attending the his offsites.
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Nazli Emekdas | Industry Head | Retail
Richard has managed the People Pillar in the midst of a very unique period of time with Return to Office. He puts his full self and a great deal of innovation into everything he does and this workstream has been no exception. His plan and initiatives has transformed the sector culture into an inclusive team working together for the greater good. He has worked with management to make impactful adjustments to working structures where possible. It is clearly an area he is passionate about and the increase in measured satisfaction and productivity scores are a reflection of his work. The retail sector is a better place because of the work you have done and the community you have created.
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Cross-Functional Team
Emma Rhoades-Brown | Video Sales Lead
I’ve had the privilege of working with Richard during my 9 years in various different roles at Google. Without a doubt Richard is the Industry Manager at Google that knows the most about his client’s business, their products, people and trends across the broader inudstry. I have seen Richard transform business, from nothing to multi-million dollar investments. Throughout this time of working with him, he navigated a complex and highly sensitive client relationship, winning their trust and building confidence in our partnerships. Internally, he led huge cross-functional teams, leveraging media specialists, agency teams, commercial, product and partnerships, challenging them to deliver the ambitious solutions. He really is an asset to any team.
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Joana Lima | Senior International Growth Consultant
Partnering with Richard in expanding Retail business internationally was one of the richest experiences I had in my current role. Both me and the team of specialists and sellers working on the account benefited tremendously not only from his thought leadership and evident passion but also from his ability to break down complex corporate structures, ensuring we were always able to gather the key decision makers and have the most fruitful and beneficial discussions to keep on growing the business. His deep industry understanding complimented my international expertise and provided a phenomenal basis to anticipate the key risks and opportunities in each of the projects we engaged with.
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Kyle Webster | Project Manager
Richard is an amazing leader, mentor, cultural guru and just genuinely nice person to work with. He is always one of the first people I went to with any complex problems and I always knew I would get some fantastic thinking and innovative approaches.
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Peers
John Davis | Senior Industry Manager
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Richard for the past 10 years at Google in the retail & tech sector. During my time working with Richard, I can say with confidence that his strengths lie in a combination of:
1) strong commercial acumen and client understanding
2) focus on challenging internally and externally to drive business performance
3) motivating the internal team to gravitate around a programme of work and deliver to the highest standard
Richard’s ability to lead broader initiatives across the business has been second to none, always creating a positive, fun and supportive environment for colleagues within a clear outcome based framework geared towards success.
Richard has also been a great mentor and coach for those around him, always willing to share his knowledge and experience with others, and looking for ways to help others grow and develop.
Finally, this is all underpinned by Richard’s domain expertise. He has a wealth of knowledge about the broader sector globally and always stayed particularly close to industry developments.
I have no doubt that Richard would be an asset to any team. He’s dedicated to his job and would undoubtedly go the extra mile to deliver whilst lifting those around him.
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Suzanne Tallon | Senior Partner Marketing Manager
Richard is not only one of the smartest Googlers I have had the pleasure of working with, but also one of the greatest leaders. Richard is someone who invests in supporting and lifting others and has coached countless other Googlers to grow in their careers and get to the next step in their career. Richard is a super talented sales consultant, digital marketeer and manager and has consistently impressed me as someone who drives the greatest impact in their work whilst also being such a wonderful colleague, mentor, coach, friend to so many. I cannot think of anyone more selfless, generous and with such a wonderful attitude that I have worked with in my 13 years at Google. An enormous asset always to every team.
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Paul Godman | Industry Manager
I’ve worked with Richard in Consumer Retail for 3-years and have consistently been impressed by his ability to lead programmes of work involving large numbers of stakeholders. His leadership of the Retail Peak pillar and the Culture pillar are great examples of this. Richard is one of those rare individuals who sets out a clear vision for the team to get behind, whilst also being on top of all the detail and the deliverables. He is meticulous and highly organised in executing a plan and takes accountability for end-to end delivery. In short he is an excellent leader and project manager.
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Janine McCormack | Partner Center Lead EMEA
I’ve collaborated with Richard on many projects and it’s a pleasure to work and make things happen with him. He’s a thought leader across Retail, Tech and Video within GBO. He drives strong culture within the team - anything fun or positive organised for the Sector would almost always connect back to Richard. Key sector priorities such as Peak have been led by Richard for the last many years because of his knack with bringing people together to deliver on a common challenge. He successfully grew the Apple business - across EMEA - by galvanising a team to get behind Apple priorities and opportunities, year after year. Richard delivers on the What whilst simultaneously demonstrating the GBO How attributes in abundance.
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Team Members
Jack Broughan | DV36O Specialist
I’ve worked with Richard for the last year and I have no doubt he would be an excellent addition to any team within Google. Richard is a natural leader and is very effective at leading teams across different geos and timezones. His passion and knowledge for the sector is unmatched. He has always been able to plan for the unpredicted and is able to align team resources and pitches to the most effective opportunities.. Further to this, his overall planning is comprehensive and always cognizant of potential risks. Richard is knowledgeable, effective and will no doubt be a huge value add to other teams.
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Ellarose Rodwell | Account Manager
Having worked within a team where Richard directly coordinates and leads on strategic initiatives, I have experienced his unique ability to identify and solve complex challenges for our biggest customers at Google. In doing so, he has driven long term growth for the customer and exceeded revenue targets. At the heart of Richard’s teams is a sense of belonging and he goes above and beyond to ensure the team has an inclusive and positive culture. Personally, Richard has helped me to craft my skillset and ultimately shape my career.
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Jonny Maher | Partner Marketing Manager
I was fortunate to work with Richard within Telefonica O2 and observed first hand his expertise in providing O2 with workable solutions to complex customer and traffic acquisition issues.
Blessed with a keen analytical mind it lends itself expertly to the world of financial budgeting. affiliate marketing, search engine marketing, commercial negotiation and online analytics. His diligence and thoroughness he applies to the various projects has created an innate ability to project manage expertly. These have all had a tremendous influence on the operational can-do spirit that resides within O2.
Coming from the cut-throat world of online travel, Richard brought to bear his extensive experience of SEM and SEO to O2 and implemented a cultural shift in how the business thinks and acts in the development of content. This has involved influencing disparate stakeholders throughout the organisation.
As much a team player and equally a great manager of people, Richard has that knack getting the best out of the resources around him.
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Mentees
Aoife O’Brien | Industry Manager
A hugely overdue thank you for being such a wonderful buddy in my ramp up to the Tech team. Your "infinite" question quota has been invaluable (although I warn you I plan to exhaust it). Thank you for your time, patience, leadership, knowledge, wisdom and coaching! Thanks for helping me to build both my sales skills and product knowledge. You've taken a huge interest in my development, across not only the clients we worked on together, but also the ones we don't. I really appreciate it! Thank you.
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Pallavi Pathania | Industry Manager
Richard has been my teammate for the past year managing in the Consumer Electronics pod. Being new to the IM world, I have learnt tremendously from Richard's experience - from pitching big to analysing risk in our trading discussions and putting together bridge plans, Richard’s contribution to the pod has been invaluable. His strong industry knowledge makes him the go-to person for any advice within our larger team - globally. He also regularly contributes to discussions with our leadership team.
Outside of core work, I can undoubtedly say that I have never met another person in all my time at Google, who epitomises Googleyness like Richard does. He will definitely be an asset to any team he is a part of.
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Rupi Goel | Industry Head - Luxury
Richard - thanks for giving me the memories of a lifetime by working with you - it’s been a real honour and a pleasure - to have you as my mentor, my team mate, my agony uncle / friend and my biggest supporter.