Hello! I’m Dr Jeanne Hardacre: Founder of BeTheCultureChange™ and author of The Culture Trap.
I help leaders and teams understand how and why they unintentionally find themselves in troubled, tense or toxic power dynamics and how to create healthier, more innovative, fulfilling relationships and culture at work.

Through three decades of experience, research and specialist consulting, I have supported tens of thousands of leaders, managers and team members, from executive boardrooms to community prefabs. I have personal experience of the devastating consequences when whistle-blowing becomes the only ethical option in the workplace. Combined with high-profile tragedies and injustices linked to harmful misuses of power, this energised me to develop the H.U.M.A.N. culture change, leadership and team coaching approach and to write The Culture Trap.

My approach is unconventional, refreshing and has deep, lasting positive impact. It emboldens you to
enhance your influence, shift ingrained power dynamics and discover radical new ways to lead change. With liberating effect.

I work independently, as a partner - alongside yet not entangled by - established “systems” and organisational norms. This provides me with the freedom and autonomy to offer refreshingly candid, independent insights, while emboldening people at work to speak their truth.

My interest in leadership, power and culture at work began in the UK NHS, Siemens in Germany and a health promotion and social marketing agency in Brussels. I later moved to an academic role at the University of Birmingham, heading up leadership and management development nationally and internationally. I combined this with consultancy and post-graduate teaching, then completed a PhD at The University of Warwick.

Based in Sheffield, I have run a specialist consultancy business since 2004. Over the years, I’ve been a visiting specialist faculty member with several universities and have a network of valued associates. I work with companies and organisations of all sizes, from small businesses and not-for-profit teams, to public sector organisations employing 1000s of people.

I have 3 grown-up children, 1 spaniel, 4 bikes, 1 well-worn pair of hiking boots and several pairs of shoes for the dancefloor. I’m a volunteer and supporter of MumsUnited Sheffield charity - a multi-cultural and socio-economically diverse group of people tackling youth violence and child drug and gang exploitation. I love learning and practising Improv, and have recently started performing Improv in front of live audiences!

Recent bucket-list?
2023: performed a charity stand-up comedy gig at iconic venue The Leadmill in Sheffield, celebrating the power of being a 52-year-old woman.
2024: wrote The Culture Trap, to share what leaders and managers want to know, but what MBAs, leadership programmes and business school courses don’t tend to teach you.
2025: as an “empty-nester”, to discover what’s possible in teams, organisations and society when we release even more of our power to be H.U.M.A.N.
2026: deeper training in Restorative Justice and Restorative Practice, intending to work on a voluntary basis, supporting people affected by conflict and crime.
Join me in this discovery!

Also find me on BeTheCultureChange YouTube Channel and LinkedIn