Chris Hirst – Leadership Transition Keynote Speaker
Direct answer
Chris Hirst is the former Global CEO of Havas Creative Group who ran a 10,000-person, 100+ country, $1bn P&L network through reset. His transition keynote gives new leaders, incoming CEOs, and strategy offsites the operating equation for the first 100 days – clarity and action – and the discipline to act on 40-70% of the information instead of waiting for certainty that never arrives.
New leaders fail in the same way every time – they hesitate. The room has enough information to move. The new leader wants more. Pace dies, the senior team reads it, and the transition stalls before it starts. Chris has been the new leader walking into that room. The keynote hands incoming leadership a working equation – Impact = Clarity x Action – and a discipline – Colin Powell's 40/70 rule – so the first 100 days produce behaviour change, not status updates.
Want to ask about Chris? ChrisHirst@clash.cc
Stage presence
Buyer confidence
Room-ready delivery
Chris was Global CEO of Havas Creative Group, responsible for 10,000 people across 100+ countries and a $1bn P&L. He took the network from mid-pack to record growth and profits. He is the author of No Bullsh*t Leadership (Profile Books), where the Leadership Equation – Impact = Clarity x Action – sits at the centre of the operating model. His third book Indispensable (Macmillan Business, paperback forthcoming 11 June 2026) extends the same work for senior leaders. The transition keynote anchors on a 2009 senior-team meeting at Nokia: a room of senior people with enough information to move and not enough clarity to decide. Chris uses it to mark the moment every new leader either trades certainty for pace, or stalls. The discipline he hands the room is Colin Powell's 40/70 rule – act with 40-70% of the information, never less, never more.
- 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
New and transitioning leaders leave with a working operating equation and a decision discipline. Impact = Clarity x Action – both terms have to be non-zero or the impact is. Trade certainty for pace and act inside the 40-70% information window. Run the first 100 days on named behaviour changes, not status updates. Read the early signal: is the senior team starting to wait for you, or starting to move with you? They also leave with the plain language to explain the trade to their own team, so the cascade survives contact with the floor.
Topic focus
Leadership Transition
The Problem
Why most leadership transitions stall before they start
Chris opens a transition keynote on a 2009 senior-team meeting at Nokia. A room of senior, capable people with more information than any of them could read. Everyone able to describe the situation. Nobody willing to name the call. By the time the call gets named, the window has closed.
From there he reaches for the framing in No Bullsh*t Leadership (Profile Books). The job of a leader is not omniscience – it is clarity and action. Impact = Clarity x Action: multiply, not add. If clarity is zero, impact is zero, no matter how much action. If action is zero, impact is zero, no matter how much clarity. New leaders trade certainty for pace, or stall. Colin Powell's 40/70 rule sits on top: never decide with less than 40% of the information, never wait for more than 70%.
The cadence of the new leader's calendar moves first. Fewer information-gathering meetings, more decision meetings. The senior team stops bringing options for review and starts bringing recommendations for sign-off. The new leader makes 40-70% calls in public and names what they don't yet know. The team adjusts to that pace, or self-selects out.
Key Takeaways
What Your Audience Leaves With
Use the Leadership Equation: Impact = Clarity x Action – multiply, not add.
Apply the 40/70 rule: act with 40-70% of the information, never less, never more.
Trade certainty for pace – the senior team will read your hesitation faster than your strategy.
Name what you don't know in public, then make the call anyway.
Run the first 100 days on named behaviour changes, not status updates.
FAQ