Andrew Bernard
Andrew Bernard (Bernie) is a Professional Motivator Speaker, Cancer Survivor, Author, CSR Expert, TEDx Speaker, Designer, Inventor who happens to be an entrepreneur.
Bernie was an underachiever at school, and left with an E and a U at A level from a Grammar school and this changed his life and he decided to make a change and went away to college in North Wales.
After a successful three years and a Distinction in HND in Business and Finance he went on to work at Management levels in Unilever, before working in a Professional Construction firm in Manchester, then for Salford and Lancaster Universities, where he did a Degree and teaching qualification part time.
In 1988 Bernie got testicular cancer and had an orchidectomy, followed by 6 months of Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy and 12 years of follow up appointments with the Oncology department at Christie’s Hospital in Manchester.
Whilst Bernie went onto make a recovery and continued to work, he never felt he was in a career that really satisfied him and he wanted to work with young people. After working for 17 years in the wrong jobs, in 2005 he decided to set up Innovative Enterprise – with the aim to make people feel better motivated, better skilled and more energised – whether in a school, business, college or charity.
Since then Andrew Bernard has designed and delivered more than 1,800 workshops and talks internationally, and has worked with 150,000 people, including with such international companies such as Rolls Royce, Kellogg’s, BAE Systems, Mubadala, SHARP, Siemens, Plastipak, Unilever, ConvaTec, Jaguar Land Rover, Premier Foods, Busch Pumps, CoolKit, Safran, Survitec and GE / Unison
Bernie is also is a Fellow of the Professional Speaking Association, TEDx Speaker and a Director of National Careers Week CIC.
Sadly, further tragedy hit Bernie’s life when his sister Sarah was murdered by her abusive partner in 2012. To provide a legacy for his sister, Bernie has been working hard to raise awareness of domestic abuse, and delivers workshops and talks raising awareness of the subject and challenging some of the myths and responsibilities involved in this area of relationships and what each and every person can do to put an end to domestic abuse.
SPEAKING TOPICS
Andrew Bernard speaking topics are about people and the infinite power they have:
Engineering Random Opportunities to Succeed – Soon the be published in book form (see below) Bernie talks about how everyone has the duty to support others.
Life By The Balls – is a motivational talk based on Bernie’s experience as a Testicular Cancer Survivor. It’s funny, informative and moving as well as being thought-provoking.
The PERILS of Being An Accidental Entrepreneur – is about how sometimes the most obvious choices for us are staring us in the face but we ignore them because we’re busy on the treadmill of life.
Domestic Violence: Sarah’s Story – is a keynote about Bernie’s sister, Sarah, who was murdered by her partner in 2012. It is shocking, informative and brings a hidden truth to the fore. Donations are made to Refuge from the proceeds of this talk.
Launch Your Resilience – is a workshop session for businesses and organisations who are looking to help staff and partners become more grounded. A half or full day event which is fun, challenging and gets people out of their comfort zone
Andrew’s book “The Ladder”, was published in February 2021
The Book is a distillation of what Andrew has learnt from 15 years working with businesses, schools and young people. It introduces the CASK (Continuum for the Acquisition of Skills and Knowledge) and highlights research supporting the need for business and schools to work together to deliver better futures for young people. The Ladder also highlights the crucial element of the skills – as well as qualifications – to deliver flexible and prepared young people.
Writing as Jamie Stone, Andrew has also written a number of e-books collated into a paperback from called “Back Row Boys”.
Life By The Balls was fab thanks. Students and staff were all buzzing about it throughout the day. Hope you have not got a sore throat from talking all day long to. Over 1140 students 35 teachers.
— Fran Edwards, Alperton School
“We’ve worked with Innovative Enterprise for over 8 years. The input they provide into our Enterprise curriculum is brilliant – the days are tailored to the needs of our pupils and the team deliver a high impact, memorable event with lots of very practical learning for pupils. Bernie and his team are hugely personable, well organised and they really understand how a school works – their sessions run to time and only require space and some tables: everything else is provided by them. We’ve looked at other enterprise education providers but feel that IE continue to provide the best learning experience for our pupils and enables us to use the experiences from the workshops to develop enterprising skills through the curriculum. Pupils still talk about the IE Soapbox day years later! I’m very happy to recommend them to others.”
— Gemma Hay, Principal Teacher of Citizenship, Enterprise and International Education, George Heriot’s School, Edinburgh.
– 73% said the workshop was ‘Excellent’ or ‘Very Good’ – 27% said ‘Good’;
– 100% of participants had a better understanding of Domestic Abuse / Violence and 100% would know what to do if they / close friends were victims of Domestic Violence.Comments: “My knowledge increased a lot through this workshop”; “The Workshop expanded my knowledge”; “Domestic Violence happens a lot more than I thought it did”; “Domestic Violence is conveyed in many ways”; “Domestic Violence can be very simple and very subtle”.
— Sarah’s Story Workshop Statistics – from surveys of Year 10/11 students who took part in the workshop:
