Gareth and I had had a wonderful free-ranging 20-minute conversation a few weeks ago when he talked about his research ideas and said that he was planning to get more involved in Forum activities in 2021. He was looking forward to being a judge for our Awards for the fourth year in succession, and only missed last week’s Board meeting because of a last-minute client demand.

My memories of Gareth are of an incredibly personable, well-read and insightful friend. He loved to say that he was a sceptic yet he had that rare ability to inspire a room of leaders with his ‘be authentic with skill’ mantra, and the common touch to relax with total strangers in his favourite pub afterwards, who had no idea that they were talking to the author of the most popular article ever published on HBR.

Hard to watch again, but we recorded this five-minute slot on my weekly show in the summer at https://youtu.be/8Dnz37jQT3c.

Our thoughts go out to his family at this incredibly difficult time.

Richard Chaplin, Founder & Chief Executive, Managing Partners' Forum