Every time I work with the SpeakersHub team, I'm blown away by the quality of people on their roster and the access they have to a who's-who of innovative, provocative and leading edge thinkers and leaders. If you want to build knowledge and get insight from people who are at the very top of the latest thinking and leaders in their field then Sarah and the team are the people to talk to.
Biography
Sam Conniff is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur, bestselling author, and world-renowned advocate for positive disruption. With a career that began in the underground rave scene—enlisting Banksy and Shepard Fairey to help design what would become the BAFTA-winning creative agency Don’t Panic—Sam has been challenging convention from day one.
He went on to found Livity, the globally acclaimed social enterprise that redefined how brands and youth culture collaborate for impact. Under his leadership, Livity was named Agency of the Year and Business of the Year, while Sam himself was honored as EY Entrepreneur of the Year and received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
Sam is best known as the author of the cult bestseller Be More Pirate, which ignited a global movement around “professional rule-breaking” as a new model for leadership and change. Described as “a modern manifesto for mutiny,” the book inspired thousands—from global corporations to grassroots activists—to rewrite the rules in business, education, and politics.
Blending storytelling, science, and provocation, Sam’s sessions are as entertaining as they are transformational. With Netflix and University College London, he created Uncertainty Experts, the world’s first interactive documentary scientifically proven to increase participants’ ability to handle change—an innovation that has since been used by organisations like TikTok, Accenture, Google, and the NHS.
His latest campaign, Hard As Nails, pushes the boundaries of behavioural science and empathy design to redefine masculinity and leadership for the modern age.
In 2026, Sam will release his next book, The Uncertainty Toolkit: How to Worry Less and Do More, the culmination of the world’s largest study into how uncertainty affects human behaviour and performance.
Sam once turned down an MBE in an open letter to the Queen, suggesting it be renamed the Medal for British Excellence instead of Empire. He’s still waiting for a reply.