A new book designed to help us respond to rapid change in today’s world has already received very positive reviews and reached number one in Amazon’s business best seller chart.
Written by Sophie Devonshire, ‘Lead at Speed’ is she says, “Aimed at a certain type of leader in business but is really accessible to many different kinds of people. The world is moving fast and depending on your point of view this can seem frightening or exciting. Technology is creating so much change but it needs handling by humans – people need to get the pace right. People want to know how to get the most out of life. The book should promote debate around that.”
Sophie grew up in Marlborough and attended St. John’s School where she became head girl. Although she left in 1995 to study History at Durham University, she still has close links with the town as her father still lives here.
After university she went to work for Proctor and Gamble and has since worked for several big multi-nationals in advertising and branding agencies in the UK, Estonia and the Middle East. She set up her own agency but is currently CEO of The Caffeine Partnership, a strategic consultancy which works with leaders wanting to accelerate the growth of their organisation brands and senior leadership teams.
She is also much in demand as a speaker on topics such as business acceleration, brand transformation, the relationship between work and family life.
Sophie started researching the book three years ago and spoke to over a hundred senior leaders from around the world from many different companies.
“Women do not write business books and it was particularly important to me that the book would be a female voice that wasn’t just talking about diversity in business. I work with lots of female leaders and we’re always telling them to speak up and speak out so in writing the book I felt I was doing just that.”
“Books are also important to me. The best leaders read to stimulate their thinking.”
‘Lead at speed’ provides practical solutions to leadership questions and does not offer one recipe for success. “I wanted to write a down to earth book, not a dusty academic tome. I hope the book is as digestible and as accessible as possible.”
The book is for sale in The White Horse Bookshop, Marlborough which is says Sophie, “my favourite bookshop in the entire world.”
More information can be found at https://superfastthebook.com
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