Alex Atherton

Alex Atherton is an experienced educator, executive coach and leadership team coach. He worked in education for 25 years, over half of which was spent as a secondary school headteacher in large inner-London comprehensives. On appointment he was the youngest secondary school head in the country. He has also led a pupil referral unit, and has worked with both primary schools and further education.

Alex Atherton runs a leadership development consultancy which supports individual clients and executive teams from a range of industries. He is highly passionate about the value of professional development and in empowering others to overcome their leadership challenges. He specialises in working with senior leaders, supporting them to think big, shatter glass ceilings, achieve beyond their wildest expectations and work together with impact they did not think possible. Clients include CEOs and leaders from the public, private and voluntary sectors.

Alex Atherton’s focus on Generation Z came from two sources. The first is from clients who presented a range of frustrations in being able to recruit, retain and motivate the youngest generation in the workplace and wanted to call upon his expertise. The second was the negative stereotypes in the media about the generation he had worked with in schools. In short, he heard one ‘snowflake’ comment too many and decided his own generation needed to do some listening. He also supports organisations in thinking differently about Generation Z and managing their development as multi-generational institutions.

Speaking Topics

Recruiting and Retaining Gen Z
Recruitment and retention have been key issues in many industries for some years. Recent figures show that despite all efforts, considerable challenges remain.Gen Z is the most significant generational shift so far, and too few leaders and managers understand the implications. In this talk Alex describes the key characteristics of Gen Z, the main challenges for organisations and the actions leaders can take to recruit and retain the best of this generation.

Managing Intergenerationally
As retirement ages rise ever higher an increasingly multi-generational workforce becomes a reality for more and more organisations.
Too often age gaps get in the way of productivity, as attempts at communication never quite connect. In this talk Alex demonstrates not only how to overcome these issues but also use them as a catalyst to move an organisation forward, and do so faster.

From Frantic to Fulfilled
Senior leadership roles in the public sector are unbelievably tough. Our society needs high quality people to do these jobs and do them well.
Despite this, there is little interest in their job satisfaction or health. That can also apply to the public sector senior leaders themselves who aim for survival too often at the cost of the outcomes they seek. In this talk Alex describes what public sector leaders can do to ensure exceptional outcomes, both professionally and personally.