Culture Transformation Keynote Speaker
Direct answer
Chris Hirst is a former Global CEO who ran Havas Creative Network – hundreds of companies, 10,000 people, every continent. His culture keynote uses the concrete metaphor, the Jack Welch Grid, and the Talent × Culture equation to show why effective culture is virtually uncopyable and virtually unbeatable, and what leaders must physically do to build it.
Chris Hirst
Practical keynote frameworks for rooms with real decisions to make.
$1bn
P&L led at Havas
10k
people led globally
3
leadership books
Chris Hirst's concrete metaphor (culture starts liquid then sets hard), the Jack Welch Grid, and the Talent × Culture equation show why effective culture is virtually uncopyable and virtually unbeatable – and what leaders must physically do to build it. Built from running hundreds of companies across Havas Creative Network.
Want to ask about Chris? ChrisHirst@clash.cc
Why Chris
Why Book Chris Hirst for a Culture Transformation Keynote?
Chris built and rebuilt cultures across hundreds of companies as Global CEO of Havas Creative Network. He took over Grey when it was, by his own admission, "a really, really, really shit business" and turned it around by changing behaviours, not issuing memos. His three books – No Bullshit Leadership, Indispensable, and No Bullshit Change – are built on the principle that culture is the behaviour of leadership and management, not Pilates at lunchtime or free fruit. He calls the leadership training industry "the Leadership Industrial Complex" and its output "snake oil." His talk is not theory. It is what he did, what worked, and what did not.
- Former Global CEO of Havas Creative Group
- Best Business Book of the Year winner
- Trusted by Google, PwC, Verizon and global leadership teams
What Your Audience Leaves With
A usable frame for the decision in front of them
Primary audience: HR directors, People leaders, and C-suite executives in organisations where the culture is not working. Core pain point: Values on the wall, engagement surveys, culture committees – and nothing changes. The same people behave the same way. The high performers who undermine the culture are protected because they deliver results. Key message: Your team's culture is primarily determined by what you do as a leader, not what you say. Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Effective culture is virtually uncopyable and virtually unbeatable. Desired outcome: Leaders who understand that their daily behaviour IS the culture, who know how to use the Jack Welch Grid to make the hard call on toxic high performers, and who act physically to change the environment.
Topic focus
Culture Transformation
The Problem
Why Most Culture Programmes Fail
Most culture programmes fail because they focus on what the organisation says rather than what its leaders do. Chris’s rule is simple: leader behaviour IS culture. Whatever leaders do, others copy. If the boss sits at the desk until eight o’clock every night, presenteeism becomes the culture – regardless of what the flexible working policy says.
The second failure is protecting high performers who undermine the culture. The Jack Welch Grid is a 2×2 matrix: delivers results versus gets our culture. The easy decisions are the corners – high performer who gets the culture (sky’s the limit) and low performer who does not (exit). The defining test is top-right: the person who delivers results but breaks the culture. Most organisations protect them. That is the decision that defines whether your culture is real or decorative.
The third failure is confusing talent problems with culture problems. Chris’s formula: team performance equals Talent × Culture. Before evaluating talent, ask two questions. Are their objectives crystal clear? Are they in a culture that enables their best work? Unless both answers are yes, you cannot evaluate fairly. We have all seen people go from hero to zero or zero to hero by changing teams – the person did not change, the environment did.
Key Takeaways
What Your Audience Leaves With
Culture IS the behaviour of leadership – whatever leaders do, others copy
Culture is like wet concrete: malleable when first poured, but it sets hard. Once set, you need a sledgehammer
The Jack Welch Grid: the defining leadership test is what you do with high performers who break the culture
Team performance = Talent × Culture. The same talent performs wildly differently in different cultures
The seating plan reveals the real culture. Change where people sit to change how they behave
Effective culture is virtually uncopyable and virtually unbeatable
FAQ