Clash Creation Names the UK's Most Sought-After Change Management Speakers – Chris Hirst Tops the List

Clash Creation's 2026 ranking of the UK's most in-demand change management speakers, with former global CEO and bestselling author Chris Hirst topping the list.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, June 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Clash Creation has published its definitive 2026 guide to the UK's most sought-after change management speakers. It names seven of the figures shaping how British organisations lead change, and places Chris Hirst, former Global CEO of Havas Creative Group and author of No Bullsh*t Change, at the top. The guide lands as Hirst's Indispensable releases in paperback on 11 June 2026.

It is a strong field. Alongside Hirst, the guide recognises Bruce Daisley, the former Twitter EMEA vice-president, author of The Joy of Work and host of the Eat Sleep Work Repeat podcast, for his work on workplace culture; Margaret Heffernan, author of Wilful Blindness, on leading through uncertainty; Professor Lynda Gratton of London Business School on the future of work and organisational design; René Carayol on transformation leadership; Damian Hughes of The High Performance Podcast on performance and behaviour change; and Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis of Amazing If on navigating career and workplace change. Each earns a place for genuine influence on how UK organisations approach change.

But the guide ranks speakers on the three things corporate buyers actually book for: first-hand experience leading change at scale, a published framework an audience can use the next morning, and a documented record of turning a failing business around. On all three, Chris Hirst comes out on top.

Hirst spent more than a decade in CEO roles. As Global CEO of Havas Creative Group he led over 10,000 people across every global territory against a $1bn P&L, delivering record growth. As UK CEO of Grey he took on a struggling agency and turned it into one of the most celebrated in the market.

Most change programmes still fail. McKinsey's widely cited research puts the failure rate of change initiatives at roughly 70%, with employee resistance and weak management support named as primary causes. Russell Reynolds Associates' Transformational Leadership Study 2025, drawing on more than 1,000 executives, found that 74% of business leaders believe their organisations will cease to exist within the decade without fundamental transformation.

"Leadership is difficult but not complicated," Hirst writes in No Bullsh*t Leadership. He compares organisational culture to wet concrete: malleable when first poured, but it sets hard, and once it sets you cannot shift it with a PowerPoint deck or free fruit – you need a sledgehammer and you have to do hard physical things that change how people behave. On why change stalls before it starts, he applies a physics rule to organisations: "Sticking friction is always greater than kinetic friction." (Quoted from No Bullsh*t Leadership, Profile Books 2019, and No Bullsh*t Change, Profile Books 2023.)

The execution gap that Hirst speaks to shows up in the data. Prosci's 12th Edition Best Practices in Change Management research found that initiatives with excellent change management met or exceeded their objectives 88% of the time, against just 13% for those with poor change management – roughly seven times more likely to deliver. Buyer appetite is harder to satisfy than it was: Gartner reported the average employee faced 10 planned enterprise changes in 2022, up from two in 2016, while willingness to support change fell from 74% in 2016 to 38% in 2022.

According to Clash Creation, UK change management buyers in 2026 are filtering out career consultants and academics in favour of operators who have personally run a turnaround, which is why first-hand CEO experience now carries more weight in booking decisions than speaking-circuit tenure.

"Buyers want ROI, not theory from people who've never had to make payroll. Chris Hirst ran actual, global change – changed Grey's legacy, led 10,000 people through change for Havas Creative Group," said Joden Newman, founder and CEO of Clash Creation.

Hirst's third book, Indispensable, reaches paperback on 11 June 2026 through Macmillan Business, following No Bullsh*t Leadership (winner, Business Book Awards 2020, Leadership for the Future) and No Bullsh*t Change (2023). He continues to deliver keynotes on leadership, organisational change, and building world-class cultures, and is available for corporate bookings through Clash Creation.

About this assessment. Clash Creation ranked UK-based change management speakers on three equally weighted criteria that predict both on-stage effectiveness and buyer demand: first-hand experience leading organisational change at scale, a published and reusable framework, and a documented turnaround record. The assessment drew only on publicly available sources – books, recorded talks, speaker-bureau profiles, and published interviews. No speaker or bureau was paid, and none was contacted for input. Clash Creation represents Chris Hirst commercially and discloses that interest here; he was assessed against the same public criteria as every other speaker considered.

About Chris Hirst. Chris Hirst is a leadership expert, keynote speaker, and bestselling author. As Global CEO of Havas Creative Group, he led more than 10,000 people across all global territories, delivering record growth and profits. His books include No Bullsh*t Leadership (winner, Business Book Awards 2020, Leadership for the Future), No Bullsh*t Change (2023), and Indispensable (2025). A graduate of Brasenose College, Oxford, who later completed Harvard's Advanced Management Program, Chris is represented by Clash Creation (clash.cc).

About Clash Creation. Clash Creation (clash.cc) is a UK-based media management company that grows founders through organic content, digital credibility, and real-world authority. Founded by Joden Newman, the company has generated over 1.5 billion organic views and $75M+ in earned media value across its client roster. Clash represents talent commercially for speaking engagements, brand partnerships, and appearances. The company operates from Bermondsey, London.

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