David Mead
Leadership and Workplace Culture Expert
FEE RANGE: $15,000–$35,000 [FEE NOTE]
TRAVELS FROM: Utah
•Chief of What's Next, Start With Why
•Leadership & Workplace Culture Expert
•Co-author of Find Your Why, a practical guide on how to discover the Why for any individual, team or organization
•Leadership & Workplace Culture Expert
•Co-author of Find Your Why, a practical guide on how to discover the Why for any individual, team or organization
David Mead envisions a world in which people thrive and find lasting fulfillment in the work they do. He wakes up everyday to propel himself and others toward that ideal. He began his career in corporate training in 2004. From 2009 to 2019 he worked with author and thought leader Simon Sinek. As the first of Simon’s “Igniters”, David helped share Simon’s simple, inspiring ideas through speaking and workshops to over 225 companies on 5 continents.
In 2017, David took his years of practical experience and learning and co-authored, with Peter Docker and Simon Sinek, Find Your Why: a Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team. It has sold over 300,000 copies and is translated into 25 different languages.
In December 2019, David stepped away from Simon’s team to focus his energy on long-term consulting in leadership and culture. David believes that these elements of an organization are vital to long-term progress. He brings a straightforward, human approach to his sessions that helps people connect with simple ideas and create positive change for themselves and those around them.
David earned an MBA in 2011. While going through the program, he realized that much of what he was learning was responsible for the poor leadership he had experienced at different times throughout his career. He concentrated his course work on Organizational Development as much as possible in order to be better equipped to help leaders create environments where people thrive and do meaningful work. And from David’s experience, that ends up being great for the business too!
David is based in Salt Lake City, UT, where a loving wife and two kids can’t wait for him to come home.
In 2017, David took his years of practical experience and learning and co-authored, with Peter Docker and Simon Sinek, Find Your Why: a Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team. It has sold over 300,000 copies and is translated into 25 different languages.
In December 2019, David stepped away from Simon’s team to focus his energy on long-term consulting in leadership and culture. David believes that these elements of an organization are vital to long-term progress. He brings a straightforward, human approach to his sessions that helps people connect with simple ideas and create positive change for themselves and those around them.
David earned an MBA in 2011. While going through the program, he realized that much of what he was learning was responsible for the poor leadership he had experienced at different times throughout his career. He concentrated his course work on Organizational Development as much as possible in order to be better equipped to help leaders create environments where people thrive and do meaningful work. And from David’s experience, that ends up being great for the business too!
David is based in Salt Lake City, UT, where a loving wife and two kids can’t wait for him to come home.
Topics:
- Human Leadership: How to Get Leadership Out of Our Head and Into Our Heart So Our People Can Thrive
Who it’s for:
Those who are willing to look inward and consider ways in which they can allow their human side to shine in order to build a higher level of trust and performance on their team.
Talk brief:
We’ve all experienced different leaders. Each has their own style, their own personality, and their own level of intensity. Despite those differences, what all truly great leaders have in common is a relentless, daily commitment to helping others thrive. This means leaders must behave in ways that build trust, relay genuine care for the humans in their charge and help people feel valued and valuable.
In this interactive talk, David equips leaders with simple, practical ideas and tools that help them bring their human side to leadership. He shares the three characteristics of a Human Leader that can help any of us, regardless of title or position, lead ourselves and others in a more genuine way. - Lead Through Uncertainty: How to Confidently Take on the Unknown We Face, Together
Who it’s for:
Those who are interested in running toward uncertainty and embracing new possibilities which can emerge from seeing challenges through a different lens.
Talk brief:
It’s human nature to seek the sense of comfort we feel with consistency and stability. And yet, as we enter a new decade, we look toward the future and see more change and uncertainty than ever. A Stanford University survey last year assessed business uncertainty at its highest since 2015, with the level accelerating at an unprecedented rate. The only thing that’s certain is that there is more uncertainty ahead. The recent COVID-19 pandemic is an obvious example of the unexpected.
This state of uncertainty can leave us feeling unsettled, demoralized, and anxious about the future. As a result, decision making tends to stagnate and progress slows; we become more rigid and effective leadership declines. We see obstacles rather than opportunities.
What if we shifted our perception of the current situation from an obstacle to our progress, to seeing it as a springboard to our progress? Rather than resisting uncertainty, what if we chose to run toward it? When we know how to embrace it, uncertainty becomes opportunity. This is what separates the leaders and organizations that thrive from those that merely survive during uncertainty.
In this interactive talk, David will share simple ideas which make it possible to approach uncertainty in a way which opens new possibilities we may not have seen before. Through polling and Q&A, he will encourage active participation that can prompt ideas for action for attendees. - Harness the Power of Why
More and more people are becoming familiar with the concept of Why and The Golden Circle (codified by Simon Sinek). This keynote talk is the next step; designed for leaders who are already familiar and inspired by the Golden Circle and are asking themselves, ‘Now what do we do with it?’ This talk introduces 5 Key Principles that can help leaders harness the power of Why in their organization. Each principle, while powerful on its own, derives its full strength when combined with the rest. David uses several examples and stories to illustrate how each principle builds on the others and how the combination of all five can help leaders create an environment of engagement, innovation and breakthrough. - Start With Why
David shares a powerfully simple idea called the Golden Circle (discovered by Simon Sinek) and builds upon it with examples and stories that bring the idea to life. David partnered with Simon Sinek and his team in 2009 and, like Simon, envisions a world where a vast majority of people go home at the end of the day fulfilled by the work they do. The Golden Circle plays a vital role in the realization of that world. This simple idea explains how leaders and companies that inspire us are able to do it so naturally and consistently. It explains how we must think, act and communicate to inspire others. It’s not about changing who we are, it’s about understanding who we are.
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