Richard Sauerman

Richard has spent over 30 years helping companies, leaders, and individuals ditch the safe path and stand out. His life journey is a masterclass in risk-taking, embracing the unexpected, and learning from every high and low along the way.

Growing up in apartheid South Africa shaped his worldview, exposing him early to the realities of power, inequality, and the importance of challenging the status quo.

A thinker and humanist at heart, Richard brings a unique perspective to everything he does. Armed with an MA in English Literature and Philosophy, and a lifetime of lived experience, he’s deeply interested in ‘the human condition’.

Beyond the professional, Richard’s life has been anything but ordinary. He has lived in London and Bangkok, raised three children conceived through IVF, and worked at some of the world’s top ad agencies before walking away from corporate life to forge his path. He recently made headlines as the oldest groom on Married At First Sight (Season 11), showing it’s never too late to leap.

Richard has developed an intuitive sense of what makes people tick over his brand and advertising career. He draws on his life experiences and lessons to challenge audiences to stop living their lives with the handbrake on, redefine their limits, and live boldly and authentically.

Richard Sauerman Talks About

(Motivation & Peak Performance)

Real YOU

Stop doing your job and living your life with the handbrake on.

Real YOU is Richard’s 60-minute talk or full-day workshop – and anything in between – that removes the barriers holding people back at work as well as in life, and the foundations for self-belief and a positive attitude. Ideal for all people, at all levels and in all roles.

Real YOU is highly interactive with lots of audience participation. While the subject matter may be considered serious, the experience is high energy, fun, funny, and very real. Videos, music, and powerful images support Richard’s delivery.

Audience takeaways:

• Rediscover their passion (positive attitude)
• Doubt themselves less (self-belief)
• Know themselves more (self-awareness)
• See their colleagues in a new light (empathy)
• Leave the room with a plan of IMMEDIATE action (impact)
• And a skip in their step

(People & Culture)

Branding the Inside

How to profit from purpose and passion.

Branding the Inside is based on the pioneering work of Richard Sauerman, also known as The Brand Guy. One of the most effective ways to transform your culture is through branding, but not as you know it.

Along with the traditional bottom line, organisations have a second bottom line: A return on human investment that advances a larger purpose beyond just making money. This is Branding the Inside, and it drives high employee engagement, loyalty and retention.

Audience takeaways:

• How to discover the truth and purpose of your brand.
• How to put purpose at the heart of what you do and say.
• How to build a brand-driven culture.
• How to use your brand to engage your employees.
• How to shift attitudes and performance.

(Branding & Marketing)

Power Branding

How to build brands that make sense and are believed and loved

Power Branding is based on the pioneering work of Richard Sauerman, also known as The Brand Guy. People build brands, and powerful brands are about people: How you treat your staff, how you treat your customers and suppliers, how you conduct your business, as well as [and not just] your marketing communications.

Power brands build trust, win customers, attract and keep talent, and stand out from the competition.

Audience takeaways:

• Why power brands are essential today.
• What it takes to build a powerful brand.
• How powerful branding encompasses everything you do and say.
• How power branding understands and connects with people.
• How power branding is a significant source of intangible value.

(Change)

Business As UNusual

How to embrace ambiguity and uncertainty in a changing world.

Living and working with change is now the new norm, more than ever before. Despite that, talk of ‘change’ creates unease, anxiety, and stress. And that’s because our brains are biologically hardwired to resist change, the #1 reason why 70% of Change Management processes fail.

Richard will make the case for taking more intelligent risks in business (as well as in life), and leave his audience with a stronger determination to back themselves in a world that’s not waiting for anyone.

Audience takeaways:

• What change looks like.
• Why people resist change.
• How people resist change.
• How to change your attitude towards change.
• How to make change work in your favour.

(Creativity)

Light Your Fire!

How to unleash the creativity within

Creativity is a human act, and each of us has enormous creative potential. And yet, when it comes to being creative in the workplace, too many of us are holding back.

Light Your Fire removes the barriers that hold people back by inviting participants to rethink what creativity is and overcome the limiting self-beliefs that hinder them. Light Your Fire is highly interactive with lots of audience participation.

Audience takeaways:

• Rediscover their passion for creativity (positive attitude)
• Doubt themselves less (self-belief)
• Know themselves more (self-awareness)
• Leave the room with a plan of IMMEDIATE action (impact)
• And a skip in their step.