Richard Berkeley

Education:

BEd, University of London, Goldsmiths College; Post Graduate Studies Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Richard Berkeley’s career covers the arts, education and business as a performer, conductor, composer, writer, actor, singer, broadcaster, journalist, teacher, lobbyist, manager, NGO chairman, coach, mentor and trainer. He has lived for extended periods in England, Italy and Poland.

He has coached, mentored and trained businesses from start-ups to corporations including BPP, T-Mobile, PwC, BPH, GE Money, CocaCola, Cocacola Hellenic; Unilever, Kronospan, Nestle, EY, Fox TV, Cushman and Wakefield, P&G, KPMG, AllenOvery, Clifford Chance, Foodtech etc.

In Poland, he co-founded and is Prezes of FNOK, Fundacja Nowa Orkiestra Kameralna, Warsaw, a music foundation, developing music education as cornerstone of civil society. He is conductor of Chor Warszawski, the foundation’s chorus. His musicals for children have been published by NIFC, Polskie Radio and Empik. He was a member of the Zespolu do spraw Strategii przy Ministrze Edukacja Narodowej until 2015. He was a guest speaker, together with then Polish Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, ex-Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and others, at the 10th Polish Students Congress in Cambridge in 2017.

He has written for Respublica/Visegrad and Poland Today and has had letters published in the Financial Times. He has contributed to People Magazine and researched for Time Magazine and Apollo Magazine. He was an editorial and public relations assistant at Apollo Magazine, London and Poland correspondent for Opera Now, London. He was a presenter of TVP’s flagship arts programme Pegaz. He was specialist researcher for BBC TV’s award winning documentary, “Verdi, a life in two parts.” He advertised Warsaw on BBC World TV. He has participated in programmes and documentaries for RAI TV, RAI Radio 3, Canale 5, Channel 4, BBC TV and Radio, Polskie Radio and TVP. He researched and wrote music for the Istituto Luce’s “Mannierismo” and RAI’s “Leopardi” series. He has made a number of TEDx talks.

In 1999, he founded the International Summer School for Music Theatre held at the Royal Academy of Music, London. Tutors included Ken Russell, Jeremy Sams, Janie Dee, Stuart Pedler and Julia Mackenzie and patrons Dame Judy Dench, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber.

As an actor he had a leading role in Iwan Vyrypraev’s “Iran Conference” in Warsaw, Moscow and Vienna. More recent films include “Mazurek” and Hiszpanka and Wesele 2. He appeared in a number of Italian and British films and has worked with Julia Kolberger, Lukasz Barczyk, Liliana Cavani, Barrie Gavin, Ken Russell, Lina Wertmuller, Stephen Natanson, Franco Brusati, Darek Gajweski, Wojtek Smarzowski amongst others. He has just finished filming TVP’s serial “Czas Dokonaly.”

As a musician and singer he has worked with leading musicians in the field Early Music including Emma Kirkby, Nigel Rogers, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Fabio Biondi and Paolo Pandolfo. He has sung at the Warsaw Opera Kameralna; Teatro Regio, Turin; Teatro dell’ Opera, Rome; the Barbican Hall, etc. He has conducted at leading venues in Warsaw, including Studio 1, Polskie Radio; Krakow Philharmonic and elsewhere.

He has taught at leading and national drama and music academies and universities in London including LAMDA, the Mountview Conservatoire University of East Anglia, and at Warsaw’s National Theatre School; the Chopin Music Academy and universities in Ukraine. He has taught at St. Georges School, Rome; the New School, Rome; Akademeia, Warsaw.

This is an unusual background but it gives Richard Berkeley an unique set of skills, skills that are invaluable in so many areas of business and life. The storytelling and craft and listening of the singer, the actor’s ablity to embody a role, the performer, the teacher, the conductor, leader and motivater, all need presence, empathy and authenticity to be successful. These are the skills that these speeches will explore.

Programmes:

The Art of Public Speaking,
Inspire through Speaking,
Public Speaking for Leaders,
Manage your Stress and Enjoy It,
Voice for Public Speakers,
Presence, Authenticity and Empathy for leaders and the in the workplace.
Let’s Make a Musical:

Naturally, all of these programmes share certain characteristics and skills and are, thus, interchangeable, except  for“Let’s Make a Musical,” which needs one full day and a non-office space.

All of these courses except “Lets make a musical,” can be taught of line though in person is preferable.

Speech topics include:

” The Power of Self-Knowledge and Empathy: leading with authenticity, leading from within.”

Introduction

IS the western world suffering a dearth of good leadership? Overpromoted, underskilled, insecure, (visionless,)fickle, self-serving? That’s what the media says. Is the “leader” a meaningless label that sits comfortably with few of us? We think we can plan, we think we manage but often events are bigger than us. Often we don’t even get the full picture or enough of it to make a decision, or at least the decision we think is expected of us. And, we don’t dare to ask in case it makes us look weak. How do we know that the idea we have is a good one if we are afraid to express it?
Sometimes we dont get the truth. Sometimes events make us do things we know are not right. We compromise values, even values we might not have realised we had in the first place.   Leadership implies wisdom, courage, carisma. Yet so much depends upon how other people see us and, through them, how we see ourselves reflected. And, if we are in societies that dont celebrate the achievements of others, the pat on the back, the quite word of thanks and congratulation, how do we know what we are worth, how do we know whether we are doing well or not?

Why does authenticity matter in life and work? It matters for several compelling reasons. When people are genuine they earn trust and respect.  They make other people feel valued and more motivated.  Authentic people foster a culture of open dialogue. Authentic people are more willing to live with themselves, to accept their failures as much as their successes. This enables them to be more adaptable, to bounce back from failure. Authentic people tend to be more emotionally intelligent  and, as a result, enable others to be more creative, less fearful of failure, more willing to risk with ideas and action. In other words, whether in personal relationships or at work, authenticity is really valuable because it develops genuine relationships, builds trust and creates a positive environment. Authenticity is not something most of us are born with. There are skills we must learn. But, the effort of learning them brings great rewards, even life-changing.
What makes someone authentic is what we will explore.

1. Leading with Authenticity: genuine and sincere leadership.
2. Navigating Uncertainty: the challenges of leadership in ambiguous or uncertain environments.
3. Self-Knowledge: understanding one’s own values, strengths, weaknesses, and biases.
4. Empathy: how leaders can maintain authenticity, leverage self-knowledge, and employ empathy as essential tools for navigating leadership challenges in contexts where complete truth or information is not always available or clear.

Feedback:

We believe that actions speak louder than words. When it comes to Richard’s pitch coaching after each demo day of our acceleration program the most experienced mentors in the industry congratulate us on the way our mentees pitch.
Michal Piosik, Piotr Grabo Foodtech.ac

Richard is a charismatic communicative person, whom I would recommend, as an original innovative thinker, and positive business culture change agent.
Jan Juliusz Kluk, OBE, founder and President (retd) of the British Polish Chamber of Commerce.

Very high quality insights into the psychology behind effective communication and into our role as business consultants.
Tim Buisseret, Head, UK Trade and Investment, British Embassy, Sofia.

Let me share once again that I was very impressed by the professional way in which Richard delivered the course. Implementing all these exercises with such level of attention to each of us and such interactivity requires tons of energy and very sharp mind.
Atanas Kiryakov CEO Ontotext

Nowadays, the subtle difference between us and our competition rests in „intangibles”, in the soft skills. Once again thank you for your efforts. Arkadiusz Pedzick, Managing Partner, Allen & Overy, Warsaw

I am sure you have a lot to teach PwC. David Green, Partner, PwC, Poland

Richard, you are a star in my firmament. Nikodemus Colleredo, CEO Purina, Poland.

This is probably the most impressive seminar I have ever attended in terms of the visible
personal transformation that happened before my eyes. The guys in the group grew and blossomed in the course of two days. A lot of the people (especially the team leaders) really enjoyed the classes with you.
I am personally very satisfied too. My public speaking has become more personal
and authentic. That is a game changer 🙂 A CEO Cargil.

Thank you very much for providing public speeches training/coaching for me.
It was incredibly helpful, interesting and valuable for me.
Zimnicka-Żepielska Marzena, T-Mobile Polska SA.

Around six years ago I attended one of your courses in Sofia (Speak to Inspire), although I would not imagine you remember me personally. It was one of the most impactful training experiences I’ve had!
At present I am taking the role of Training and Development Manager at the Updata One HR Paysafe