Spot the Ripple™
A keynote for partners in accounting, advisory and law firms
Making Technology Decisions Your Partners and Clients Will Stand Behind
A keynote for partners who have the tools, the IT team and the risk committee, and still have to take a position on new technology in front of a client.
Jack delivers a practical framework to keep you on track and lead you to the best outcomes.
Jack converts the pain of making tough decisions into the pleasure of achieving your goals, through his proven framework.
Jack delivered a much-needed education for our leaders. Jack’s mission, to help leaders make better choices and lead with confidence, comes through loud and clear.
The room leaves with three questions to ask before any technology decision, in the firm or at a client: who owns it, what is it for, how will the partners know it worked. And one first move for the next partner meeting.
Jack spent 15 years at the Big 4, where he served as a director.
The problem
Most keynotes are rented for the day. The insight leaves with the speaker.
01Leaders are trained in everything except how to decide.
Firms invest in strategy, culture and technology. Almost none invest in the one skill that determines whether any of it works: making a confident, well-informed call under pressure. The gap shows up as stalled rollouts, partners working around the tool and teams waiting for permission nobody is giving.
02The decision was already made. Nobody in the room knew it.
By the time most technology decisions reach the partner meeting, the outcome is settled. A tool is in use on an engagement, a vendor is signed, a client has already asked. The partners in the room are ratifying, not deciding. The most dangerous decisions are the ones a team made without noticing, and fear made most of them.
03The signals were always there. Nobody was assigned to watch.
Every major failure Jack has sat close to had early warning signs. The organizations that came through were not smarter. Someone had the job of reading what the others ignored. Decide, then watch for what moves.
The teams that adopt new technology well are not the ones with the best plan. They are the ones who gave the decision an owner.
The keynote
One talk, built for the decision in front of a partner.
The method is simple enough to repeat on the drive home: treat new technology like a new hire. A job description. A manager. A probation period. A review.
For partners in accounting, advisory and law firms
Making Technology Decisions Your Partners and Clients Will Stand Behind
A client asks what the firm thinks about the tool their team adopted last quarter. The partner has an opinion and no position. Every firm has a partner who owns the call on new technology, or it has fear making it.
Jack spent 15 years at the Big 4, where he served as a director building the teams that found the gaps before the regulator did. He has presented at PwC's national Healthcare Risk Roundtable twice a year for five years, and at Deloitte regional events, the IIA and ISACA. The firms he watched move first on new technology shared one trait: a partner who owned the call.
The room leaves with the three questions to ask before any technology decision, in the firm or at a client, and one first move for the next partner meeting.
Also delivered for
Health-system executives and nurse leaders
The same keynote, rebuilt for the decision in front of a clinical leader: the tool that showed up on the unit, and the call nobody has owned yet.
Take the Clear Confidence Assessment
A three-minute read on how your organization makes decisions with technology. Free. No call required.
See where you stand- Your Clear Confidence Score, 0 to 100
- Which of four decision-making tiers you are in
- Your single biggest gap, named
- A personalized report, yours to keep
Why Jack
He has sat in the rooms where technology decisions get made, defended and paid for.
Across 25 years in risk and advisory, 15 of them at the Big 4, Jack noticed one pattern: the leaders who struggled most were not the least talented. They were the least equipped to make a call and stand behind it under pressure. Most of them were waiting for a control that did not exist, and fear filled the gap.
That observation became a method. The method became one keynote, built for two rooms, and the same questions he asks a board when a new system is about to go live.
25Years in risk and advisory, inside the rooms where technology decisions carry the highest cost.
15Years at the Big 4, most recently as a PwC Director, building the teams that found the gaps before the regulator did.
$10BHealth system where Jack served as acting enterprise risk and audit leader, reporting to the C-suite and audit committee.
$1.5MBoard-mandated cybersecurity program for a $4B health system. Urgent gaps closed within one year.
The audience leaves with
Four things that outlast the applause.
01A method, not a feeling.
Treat new technology like a new hire. A job description, a manager, a probation period, a review. Every partner in the room can apply it to the next tool, vendor or system that lands on an engagement.
02A name for what has been slowing them down.
Nobody owns the decision, so fear makes it. Once a room can say that out loud, it can assign the decision. This keynote gives them the language.
03A contrarian view on risk they will argue about on the way home.
Governance has a reputation for slowing things down, and sometimes it earns it. Fear is slower, and nobody can test it. The risk person in the room is the one saying go, on conditions.
04Something they walk out ready to teach.
The three questions are short enough to repeat without a slide. A partner who attended should be able to walk a senior manager through them the next morning.
How it is delivered
Three formats. One standard.
Every format starts with a 30-minute discovery call, so the talk is built for the room and the decision in front of it.
45 to 60 min
Keynote
The full talk with live audience exercises. For partner meetings, firm retreats and professional association events.
Keynote plus half day
Keynote and workshop
The keynote, then a working session where partners and practice leaders apply the new-hire method to a technology decision they are facing now.
45 to 60 min
Virtual keynote
Live on Zoom or Teams with interactive Q&A, rebuilt for the screen. For distributed leadership teams and association audiences.
Questions partners and planners ask
Who is this keynote for?
Partners and practice leaders in accounting, advisory and law firms, and the people who build those firms. It is built for partner meetings, firm retreats and professional association events.
Is this an AI keynote?
AI is in scope, but the talk is about any new technology that reaches an engagement or a client: an AI tool, a new platform, a system the client adopted first. The method is the same for each. Treat new technology like a new hire.
What does the audience take home?
Three questions to ask before any technology decision, in the firm or at a client, and one first move for the next partner meeting. Short enough to repeat without a slide.
How long is it, and can it run virtually?
45 to 60 minutes. A half-day workshop can follow the keynote. The virtual version runs live on Zoom or Teams and is rebuilt for the screen.
How do we book Jack?
Book a discovery call. Jack replies within one business day and asks who is in the room and what decision they are facing before he sends a proposal.
Short answers. The discovery call covers the rest.
The next step
The right talk, in the right room, to change what the audience does when they get back to work.