This time no mistakes

Will Hutton is an economist, author, think tank/academic leader, podcast host and regular columnist for the Observer. He is currently President of the Academy of Social Sciences (since 2021), hosts the We Society podcast and co-chairs the Purposeful Company (since 2015) - a liberal business think tank which argues that companies’ intrinsic purpose should drive their strategy, values and ultimately profit. See (www.thepurposefulcompany.org) . He also chairs the advisory board of the Fairness Foundation, is trustee of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, a member of the Progressive Economic Forum and editorial advisory board of Prospect magazine.

His now fifty-year career spans a period in the City as an investment banker, the Economics editorship of the Guardian and BBC2 Newsnight, the editorship of the Observer, the chief executive of the Work Foundation and Principal of Hertford College Oxford. Along the way he has chaired two government Commissions and won awards both for his journalism and as a thought leader in Human Resources.

He has written seven major books on political economy including 1995’s The State We’re In that became the best-selling political economy book since 1945. Other best-selling books include The Writing on the Wall (2007), The World We’re In (2002), Them and Us (2010) and How Good We Can Be (2015). This Time No Mistakes: How to Remake Britain was published in April 2024, cited in the FT as one of the must-read Economics books of this summer and endorsed by the Prime Minister.

Rachael is Deputy Director of the Institute and is responsible for our research programme, and our advisory and training services. She is most interested in how research can generate insights that inspire action. 

Rachael has collaborated with senior leaders across business, charities, communities, local and central government. After gaining her first degree in Politics and History from the University of Durham, and a Masters in Gender and Social Policy from the London School of Economics, Rachael worked in Westminster, then for Carers UK, for UNISON, the public sector trade union, and for the TUC, on skills policy. She was at Business in the Community for over ten years, as an expert in workplace diversity and then in education business partnerships. As a Director at BITC, she worked closely with the Department for Work and Pensions, the then Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and business leaders from Aviva, Barclays, Nationwide, UBS, McKinsey and many more.  Her most recent role was on the SLT of Speakers for Schools as it scaled its delivery of opportunities for young people. 

She has held a number of trustee roles including on the board of the Rich Mix Cultural Foundation, the Bromley by Bow Centre and East End Homes. She is currently chair of a charity called Sister System.  She was an elected local councillor for ten years and served as leader of the Labour Group on Tower Hamlets Council. In 2019 Rachael gained an MSc from Birkbeck, University of London, in Business Ethics and Corporate Governance, with a dissertation focussed on how boards communicate their community engagement.