The proof isn't in the pitch.
It's in the room.

Richard is the most direct, honest, and usually irreverent brand person with whom I've had the pleasure of working. He isn't afraid to have the difficult conversations and to tell his clients what they need to hear about their brand — and he does it in a very constructive, respectful, lighthearted and thorough way that is grounded in research, fact and personal experience. But what is most intriguing about Richard is his insatiable interest in the human condition and understanding how people think, behave and feel. This quest to discover the true motivators of people is what allows him to bring amazing insights to brand (and personal) conversations.

I feel very lucky to have met Richard many years ago, who is one of life's greatest people. I have known Richard for over seven years, and what an experience that has been. He is the best brand strategist, creative thinker and thought-provoking motivational professional that I have experienced, and I have met a few in my time! Richard has not only brought value to my professional endeavours but also to my personal life and has helped me enhance my leadership style. He is challenging and inspirational, and he pushes people to think differently. I would not hesitate to recommend him — he is truly brilliant!

As a brand, we knew we had some challenges with communicating our positioning, purpose and value. We wanted to take time to identify the right person to help us. Richard stood out purely on his authenticity, his desire to truly differentiate and the pragmatic way he thinks about brand. He took us on an essential journey of self-discovery, which included individual leadership exploration sessions, broader leadership workshops, customer interactions, to arrive at a brand blueprint — who we are, what we do, what makes us different, and most importantly, why we do (our brand purpose). He brings a very human-centric approach to everything he does. We truly value Richard's work.

Richard's personal meld of creativity and integrity will have your whole company jiving to whatever messages you want. He can grab a complex business strategy, a roomful of suspicious people, and have them eating out of his hand by reflecting back an organisation's needs in a creative and passionate way. Whether it's insurance, media, not-for-profit or any business, the way Richard helps teams to realise and recognise the people drivers in their business is truly special. Just try him: it will be worth it.

Richard brought energy, enthusiasm and creative approaches to an organisation-wide project that needed to be different to ensure the messages stood out. Richard was able to determine the viewpoints held by key stakeholders and then identified ways to tailor the required messages so as to be applicable to these groups and the wider workforce. As with any project, timeframes and financial expenditure are important, and Richard made sure these were achieved as well.

I first worked with Richard at DDB many years ago and always remember him being passionate, engaging and straight down the line — no B.S. When it came to re-positioning our brand, there was no one more suited for the job than The Brand Guy! Richard was direct and raw, challenged us to think about what our brand truly meant to us, and helped us simplify our proposition and elevator pitch. He was engaging and ensured that the whole team felt part of the brand repositioning process. We are now all "singing from the same hymn sheet!" Thank you, Richard, for helping us get back on track!

Richard is raw and engaging, and he had our people hanging on his every word. Richard broke our brand down into something simple to understand and remember. I could see the lights go on in the room, people understood their role in bringing our brand to life, and they were excited. I have personally sat through more than my 'fair share' of these sessions over the years, but nothing has prepared me for this passionate call to action. If you need someone to cut through the crap and help you move your business from good to great. Richard is the master!

Richard has an incredible knack for getting to the heart of a brand and articulating its purpose in a compelling way that is easy for everyone to understand. His approach and framework lead to a brand strategy that is as much about the business culture as it is about the promise to the customer. His passion for his work and for life in general is infectious and inspiring. I would highly recommend him.

Richard isn't just the brand guy. He's a brand guru. I first met Richard when I was a junior consultant, and he left a mark on me then. We recently had the pleasure of working together again when I asked Richard to assist me with a brand refresh project. The work was stellar. People loved working with Richard. He inspired and rallied our staff around the project. And saw it through with a designer, to bring it all to life. Working with him is a privilege.

Richard worked with our Global CEO and executive team over the period 2012 and 2013 to help us to define, articulate and live our brand vision, values and marketplace positioning. Using his methodology, he quickly cut right through to the heart of who we are and what we do, and delivered a Brand Blueprint for QBE across the globe that totally redefined how we saw insurance, our role in the world, and what we needed to do to make it happen. The way Richard works is unique. He is highly collaborative but not compromising. He is lateral and imaginative in his thinking, yet deeply pragmatic. He is direct, honest, but not threatening. His way is to 'invite consideration' of his ideas, not to push or force them upon other people. He has a real and lighthearted touch that opens people up to his thinking and ideas, and gets them on side. At the core of Richard's work is his interest in people and understanding how people think, feel and behave. He intuitively gets what motivates and engages people, and he brought this empathy, energy and enthusiasm to every piece of work he did for us — from presenting at our leadership forums to running staff workshops, developing our Brand Blueprint, creating our EVP, and in the way he related to every QBE employee he came into contact with. Needless to say, I would fully recommend Richard to any organisation or leadership team considering his services.

Enthusiasm, knowledge, and passion come to mind when I recall my extremely recent working relationship with Richard. A no-holds-barred presenter with a sound vision of focusing on your own brand identity. A true thought-provoking engagement that ran from top to bottom within the business and engaged all managers and staff. Highly recommend Richard to assist you and your business when thinking about brand and positioning for success.