Former British Army Officer, HSBC Investment Bank Head of Management Development, UBS Global Head of Leadership, Leadership Expert

Chris Roebuck has spent more than thirty years helping leaders and organisations raise their standards, reduce pressure, and achieve stronger results. His work centres on a clear objective: enabling capable leaders to stop underperforming and start delivering their full potential, even in complex and demanding environments. Through his speaking, consulting, and advisory work, Chris focuses on practical leadership improvement rather than theory alone. Leaders leave his sessions with clear ideas they can apply immediately, whether they are managing global teams, driving organisational change, or simply trying to regain control of their time and priorities.

Chris’s leadership journey began in the British Army, where he served as an officer responsible for leading teams in high pressure and sometimes dangerous situations. Those early experiences shaped his approach to leadership for the rest of his career. He learned how to make decisions quickly, focus on what truly matters, and bring out the best in people when the stakes are high. These lessons later transferred naturally into the corporate world. Over the years Chris has held senior leadership and development roles with organisations including HSBC Investment Bank, where he was Head of Management Development, UBS as Global Head of Leadership, London Underground as Head of Culture Change, and KPMG where he worked as a leadership consultant. Each role strengthened his understanding of what separates strong leadership from average management.

Across these organisations and many others, Chris repeatedly encountered the same challenge. Leaders face too much work and too little time. The result is pressure, reduced effectiveness, and teams that never quite reach their potential. Chris’s research and practical work with leaders revealed something powerful. When leaders focus on the right priorities and engage their teams properly, they can unlock around thirty per cent more discretionary effort from the majority of their people. That shift alone can move leaders into the top tier of performance compared with competitors. One simple example often shared in his sessions is how a small change in communication can turn a disengaged team meeting into a focused discussion where people contribute ideas rather than simply listening.

To help leaders achieve these results consistently, Chris developed his human centred leadership framework called Accelerate Your Success. The approach combines practical leadership experience, business strategy, and insights from neuroscience to help leaders improve their influence, effectiveness, and impact. Participants identify their untapped strengths, apply proven leadership insights, and leave with a personal action plan designed to create immediate progress. Chris has now worked with more than 24,000 leaders in 27 countries, supporting organisations such as Huawei, BASF, Tata, Goldman Sachs, the NHS, Reuters, and both the UK and UAE Prime Ministers’ Offices. Recognised ten times as one of HR’s Most Influential Thinkers and inducted into the HR Hall of Fame in 2025, he is also a regular BBC leadership commentator and has been featured in Newsweek, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and BusinessWeek.

Why Hire Chris Roebuck?