Sophie Wade, Founder, Workforce Innovation Specialist at Flexcel Network

Sophie is an authority on wide-ranging Future of Work issues impacting companies, employees and independent workers. She is the author of the Executive MBA and management textbook Embracing Progress. Next Steps for the Future of Work. Sophie has a BA from Oxford University, England and an MBA from INSEAD, France.

Sophie has held senior management, strategy and finance roles, working in media, technology and venture capital for companies such as IMG and Yahoo in the U.S., Cable & Wireless in the U.K. and Burda in Germany. Her early career was spent assisting entrepreneurs and major corporations identify, develop and execute strategic initiatives, raise capital, build teams and create partnerships. Living and working in Taiwan, Hong Kong, England, Germany and now the U.S., Sophie’s professional experiences of contrasting cultures and employment practices give her a unique understanding of work settings, values, mindsets and approaches. In 2011 Sophie founded Flexcel Network, a Future-of-Work-focused consultancy, and is also a Workforce Innovation Specialist using her insights to help companies future-proof their work environments.

Sophie enables employers to create compelling, competitive and digitally-integrated workplaces, manage a productive, decentralized workforce and attract, engage and retain multigenerational talent. She helps corporations maximize the benefits and minimize the disruption in their transition to new work conventions. She guides employees and independent workers to adapt proactively and manage their diversified corporate and contract-based, latticed careers.

Sophie is a prominent speaker on empathy in the workplace, engaging audiences at high level events including Business Innovation Factory’s BIF17, the FCEM annual summit in 2018, LEAP 2018 and INBOUND 2018. Sophie’s emphasis on talent needs raises empathy’s role as the enabler: for coworkers to collaborate more effectively, for managers to accommodate team members’ needs better and for leaders to empower employees to be responsive.

Communication is enhanced by empathetic understanding which Sophie facilitates to improve internal corporate interactions, especially for multigenerational teams. Sophie improves collaboration across the decentralized workforce, helping teams communicate effectively bridging geographic locations, generations and other gaps that undermine understanding and productive working relationships. Sophie is a national steering committee member of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) after serving as the 2015-17 President of the New York City chapter.