Richard's Story

Richard Lambert is the Chief Executive of the National Hair & Beauty Federation (NHBF), the largest trade organisation for employers in the hairdressing and beauty salon sector. The former Chief Executive of the British Woodworking Federation (BWF) and National Landlords Association (NLA), Richard tells us why he insisted Vistage membership was part of the joining package in his NHBF role. 

I got into working for membership organisations via a slightly circuitous route. Following university, I spent a decade working as a civil servant in the House of Commons. I then moved briefly into commercial lobbying, before starting a policy role at the British Property Federation. My expertise now is in running and building membership organisations. 

“the happier and better I am as a leader, the more value I can bring to the team.”

Like many organisations that support small businesses, the purpose of the NHBF is to advise, guide and inform its members. We also play quite a strong representative role. During the pandemic, we worked particularly closely with government to help shape guidance for the personal care sector, even successfully lobbying to get it to open a little bit earlier than other non-essential retail. We also advise and support on issues such as taxation, apprenticeships and education.

My route into Vistage was less circuitous. It was while I was CEO of the National Landlords Association around late 2017 that I was contacted by Jan Lloyd, the former CEO of Covent Garden Market Authority, who was looking to use her experience to form a Vistage group. Jan had benefited from being a Vistage member for many years and felt I would benefit from Vistage too. 

Although I’m very keen on personal development and liked the idea of growing and learning with other executives, my initial thought was ‘how can I take a day out every month?’. But when I looked at Vistage from the perspective that I’d get a day and a half management consultancy tailored directly to me and the business each month, suddenly it became more interesting. After all, the happier and better I am as a leader, the more value I can bring to the team.

Finding Value in Vistage

I joined Vistage as a founding member, and quickly saw the value in the monthly meetings, the 1-1s and inspiring speaker events. Prior to joining, I’d always struggled to engage with business books – barely getting past the tenth page - but the Vistage speakers are in a different league, opening up new areas of thinking that would make me want to read their books.

My team also benefited from my monthly meetings, claiming I always came back energised and full of new ideas.

“The Vistage speakers are in a different league, opening up new areas of thinking that would make me want to read their books” 

Although the ‘issue processing’ process, where you share a problem or issue with the group, can feel a little daunting to begin with it’s been an enormous help. At one of my earliest group meetings, I had a complex issue around a joint venture partnership, which I thought would be very difficult to explain. However, you soon find out there is commonality in all business issues and the range and expertise and experience the other leaders bring to your problem is far richer than anything you’d find within your own organisation, short of having a nonexecutive board.

One of the early issues the group helped me with involved a merger; something I’d not done before. During the merger process, I was able to present the situations I was running into and issues I was facing to the group in complete confidence and get some really helpful advice and support. Some of those confidants I now class as friends for life.

The help obviously paid off as the merger went well, we kept most of the staff we needed through the whole process and the merged organisation is now going from strength to strength. Once the staff got over the initial shock of the merger, a few even said to me: ‘whatever it means to me personally, I understand it’s the best thing for the organisation and for the members’. Organisational change is never easy and getting buy-in from staff was important for the merger to work.

The professional and personal benefits I get from being a Vistage member are so far reaching that when I left the NLA and six months later joined the NHBF, I made Vistage membership a condition of my new role. As far as I was concerned Vistage was an essential part of the package - an absolutely red line for me. I even recall saying: ‘If you won’t accept Vistage, then I’m sorry, we can’t work together’. Thankfully they did.