About
About Caspar Craven
The guides on this site come from my book Be More Human, and from a lot of mistakes I made before I learnt what it takes to build a team people want to be part of.
I started my career in finance, training as a chartered accountant at KPMG and later working as a CFO. I then co-founded a data analytics business, which I eventually sold. For a long time I led the way I had been managed: focused on the numbers, passing the pressure down and expecting people to keep up. It nearly cost me my team, and my marriage.
Turning both around taught me that the skills which build a strong team at home are the same ones that build a strong team at work: listening properly, building trust, agreeing a shared story and playing to each person's strengths. My wife and I went on to sail around the world with our three young children, my second circumnavigation after an ocean race in 2000. Life at sea, 500 miles from help, tests those skills like nothing else.
Today I speak to organisations around the world about leadership, teamwork and change, and work with leadership teams in sectors from finance and law to pharmaceuticals and technology. I'm the author of Be More Human: Rethinking the Rules of High-Performance Teamwork and The Big Bold Mindset.
About these guides
Each guide is written for someone who leads a team and wants practical help, not theory. The ideas and stories come from the book. Where a guide quotes research, the figures come from published sources such as Gallup, McKinsey and peer-reviewed journals, and each one is linked so you can check it.
If you'd like me to speak at your event or work with your leadership team, you'll find more at casparcraven.com.
Start with the main guide
Eight people-first engagement strategies a manager can start this week, with the research behind each one.