Paul Hargreaves Keynote Speaker

Forces for Good: Author & Speaker
Founder and Chief Executive of Cotswold Fayre Ltd,
UK B Corp Ambassador

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Paul Hargreaves's Biography

Paul Hargreaves has been one of the leading voices for many years encouraging and inspiring businesses to be forces for good putting people and planet before profits. Primarily he does that through compassionate leadership of his two award-winning businesses: Cotswold Fayre, a food wholesaler and one of the first B Corps in the UK and Flourish – a retail and restaurant business with two sites in the South-West.

Paul inspires other business leaders with practical stories and lessons still being learned. One of the reasons people book Paul is because he is still running successful businesses as well as speaking to inspire others.

Twenty-five years ago, Paul founded Cotswold Fayre, a speciality food wholesaler, from his house in inner-city London whilst he was also engaging in charitable work within the local community. The company grew rapidly to become the leading speciality food and drink wholesaler to retail in the UK and now supplies over 2,000 retail sites across the UK.

In June 2021 he opened Flourish a 9,000 sq. ft. foodhall, restaurant and Home & Lifestyle store with a brand-new team, which has helped the whole company live out its values to the world.

As one of the UK’s founding B Corps, the tremendous success of the multi-award-winning company has been down to creating a great place to work and one that focusses on changing the world for better, through its environmental and social sustainability programmes.

Creating a business that is not only good for people and planet but also profits is too much good news to keep to himself, so Paul has since 2018 spoken to thousands of business leaders across the UK and Europe inspiring them to put more heart and soul into their businesses. He speaks about bringing compassion and love into business which creates not only better business but better people, a better world, and better profits.

Paul has also had two books published. The first in 2019, Forces for Good which describes the journey of his company and others into being businesses for good. Paul’s second book published in 2021, The Fourth Bottom Line, is on the essential characteristics of compassionate leadership.

It’s not all about the money! Putting people and planet before profit.

In this keynote Paul will tell you are series of stories. Stories, from his own business and others across the UK, that will demonstrate to you how prioritising positive social and environmental impact can deliver faster growth and higher profitability, when compared to those that focus purely on profit.

Business Heart Surgery – Leading with Compassion and Love

In other words, “put down the spreadsheets and give me a hug.” Paul will show how today’s successful leaders are learning to lead with love and compassion and sometimes tears. Your people will hear how vulnerability in leadership creates more empowered people and better organisations and companies. Your delegates will go away inspired and energised to lead with compassion.

From Scarcity to Abundance – Changing Business Mindset

Business for too long has treated people and planet as resources to be extracted from to fuel growth, but there is a better way. Paul will inspire your people and those at your events to act with extraordinary generosity and focus on being extravagantly generous to their workers, communities, and the environment. He will help those attending to change their mindset to one of abundance from scarcity.

The Future of Leadership is Feminine

For far too long masculine qualities have been seen as better for leadership roles. And look where that has taken us! A planet that is degrading and more social inequality than at any other time in history. Through his own journey from an overly masculine leadership to a more balanced one embracing femininity, Paul will show you how to lead with more femininity - and that applies to all genders.

Connections – The Key to success & Happiness

Despite being digitally connected more than ever; we live in an increasingly disconnected world. As a community mammal we are ‘designed’ to connect to each other and to nature and ourselves. Paul will show you how to work on these three connections and help them improve their mental health, their fulfilment, happiness, and their success.