How to Build a High-Performing Team (Even If You’re Failing)

What happens when you’ve spent years inside a failing business, then asked to take over as CEO and turn it around?
For Chris Hirst, it wasn’t just a step up. It was a defining challenge that forced him to rethink everything he knew about leadership.
In this episode of The Courageous Leaders Podcast, I’m joined by leadership expert, award-winning author, and former Global CEO of Havas Creative, Chris Hirst. Known for transforming struggling companies from within, Chris shares what it really takes to lead under pressure and why clarity, courage, and conviction matter more than ever.

We Cover:
01:22 – Becoming CEO of a broken business, and why it felt like career suicide

04:00 – The Harvard moment that changed Chris’s mindset and life

05:50 – How to fix a failing company: honesty, clarity, and ruthless prioritisation

08:00 – Why commitment beats capability when it comes to business growth

10:23 – What makes a great CEO and how to build a high-performing culture

13:18 – Attitude vs. aptitude: the core of Chris’s new book Indispensable

16:49 – Workplace autopilot: why most people don’t show up with intention

20:24 – Leading 100 CEOs: spotting the difference between good and great

26:00 – Decision-making as a leadership superpower

30:50 – Chris’s personal demon and the advice he’d give his younger self

Don’t miss out on this powerful episode. 

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