It’s hard to keep Kevin Roberts out of the headlines. He very publicly resigned from his roles as executive chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi and head coach of Publicis Groupe following his comments on gender diversity in the advertising industry. In his own words, ‘Fail fast, fix fast, learn fast is a leadership maxim I advocate.’

He has also had an extraordinary career working with many of the biggest brands in the world. In what will be his first public appearance since leaving Saatchi & Saatchi, Kevin will bring all of those experiences to the Royal Albert Hall when he delivers a brand new speech at this year’s Annual Convention…

1. A famed keynote speaker, Kevin has appeared at events across the world and prompted one reviewer to say, ‘there was nowhere else in the world that I would have rather been than in his audience, soaking up everything he was saying.’


2. He has 17 years of experience as the head of Saatchi & Saatchi. He has also acted as an advisor to national organisations and the world’s biggest brands across commerce, media and sport. When he entered The Pentagon to advise the US government on how to change its image, he was told by an official ‘we have assembled our best and brightest.’ Roberts replied, ‘it’s going to be a small room, then.”


3. He is a provocateur. As CEO of Pepsi in Canada he opened up a convention by firing a gun at a Coca-Cola vending machine.


4. He is also known for his unrelentingly positive approach as well as a knack for creating brilliant new ideas. “Nobody likes a crisis,” he says. “Crisis means you don’t have control. You don’t have resources, its like a tsunami coming in. But I handle the tough moments well as you have to make decisions. I am a big believer in being a radical optimist.”


5. In 2004, his groundbreaking business book Lovemarks – The Future Beyond Brands was published. Lovemarks was named as one of the ‘Top Ten Ideas of the Decade’ by Advertising Age.


6. At this year’s IoD Annual Convention he will be delivering a brand new speech. He says he will deliver 20 ideas in 20 minutes. “You are all down in the dumps, you’ve all been Brexited, nobody knows what’s going on so here are 20 shots.


7. Kevin says you should take a picture of each slide, take those tips back to your boardroom, be inspired to think differently and create new opportunities for your business. “There will be at least 6 of them that are good and two of them that could be very good and three that are stupid or just helpful because they will take it somewhere else.”

Kevin Roberts will present 20 ideas in 20 minutes at the IoD Annual Convention on 27 September at the Royal Albert Hall. 

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