In a world where “purpose” has become both a buzzword and a business imperative, Ron Tite cuts through the noise with refreshing clarity on what truly drives organizational success.
An award-winning writer and creative director, Ron has worked with some of the world’s most respected brands, including Google, Intel, Microsoft, Volvo, and Walmart. His thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining keynotes explore the power of purpose as a catalyst for growth, showing leaders how to align values with action, harness storytelling to build meaningful connections, and navigate technological disruption to stand out and stay competitive in a busy, busy world.
Ron recently joined us “Inside Our Boardroom” to explore the evolving landscape of leadership. He shared insight into how leaders can rebuild trust through action, harness purpose to drive growth, amplify human performance through AI, and more.
Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
The Future of Leadership
Speakers Spotlight: How do you see leadership evolving?
Ron Tite: There are certainly more inputs for a CEO to consider now more than ever. On one hand, leaders are dealing with a weird anti-business sentiment that came out of the pandemic and is still continuing today. There is literally a statue outside of the stock exchange in Milan of a massive middle finger, so there is an increasingly lack of trust between general society and business. That is something a CEO has to deal with, both externally with their consumers and internally.
Inside an organization, it’s policy and human capital: diversity and inclusion, sustainability, things that are hopefully driving progress both inside an organization and society. They should co-exist, and I think that, quite frankly, is what a lot of leaders are getting wrong.
We’re starting to use purpose as PR and state that we’re here to save the planet, that we believe in human rights, etc. They’re prioritizing these important messages so much that organizations are completely losing their focus. Yes, these are important issues, but they’re expectations at this point. They are table stakes now. It’s time to move on.
So, I think what we’re going to see in 2025 is a lot of CEOs standing before their people saying it’s time to get back to work. Let’s focus on growth and all those other things, we’re going to take care of them.
Ron digs into the tensions leaders need to navigate in the video below. He will also explore the true value of purpose in his new book, The Purpose of Purpose, available May 6.
Trust: The New Business Currency
SpSp: Where does trust fit into a conversation about effective leadership?
RT: Trust is probably the largest currency in business right now, from relationships inside organizations as well as prospect and client relationships outside the organization.
On one hand, consumers don’t know where to look, they don’t know who to trust. They’ve been scammed every possible which way and been on the receiving end of empty promises from brands and organizations for a very long time. Even when people are using data to back things up, that data itself might be correct but it’s being manipulated to paint a wonderful portrait of an organization or product or service that in reality is not accurate.
Inside organizations, employees are no longer trusting their leaders as we’ve seen CEO compensation and the disparity between executive and staff compensation grow over time. That creates a level of distrust because employees aren’t sure whether you’re in it for them or you. We’ve also seen years and years of mergers and acquisitions where leaders say that their people are their most important resource, nothing will change, then three months later, they cut 20% of the workforce.
So, it’s not enough to say all the wonderful things that you do, you need to actually do it so people not only hear it, but they trust it.
Building Engagement Through Story-Based Leadership
SpSp: How does a good story fit into the leadership conversation?
RT: A lot of people will say they’re not a good storyteller. Then you say, tell me about the first time you met your spouse or your partner or your best friend? And suddenly these people turn into the most amazing storytellers. It was a Tuesday, it was raining, Gloria was over there – they’ve got all the beats. They know where the moments of silence are, they know where the emotions are, and it’s a really great story. Why? Because it’s personal to them, it means something to them. We are all great storytellers when we find the stories that we love to tell.
Within organizations, there are three types of stories that they tell. First, the outward story, which is the brand narrative of “this is what we believe in and this is what we do to reinforce that belief”. That’s what every story should talk about externally.
Then inside, the stories should be based on the behaviors that we acknowledge and celebrate inside this organization, because these behaviors allow us to deliver what we want to do. So those internal stories are about building culture. It’s acknowledging that we believe in adding care to healthcare, so here’s a story about when Susie did something to help a customer out. It reinforces repeatable behaviour that helps us achieve what we want to achieve.
The third type of story are the stories that people tell themselves. So, it’s important to train people to acknowledge and remember the moments where they succeeded, where they were confident, where they were engaged, and to wrap those experiences in stories so they can tell those stories to themselves later on.
When you have people telling themselves great stories, they behave in positive ways. When you share those positive behaviours inside an organization, you get great culture. When you have a great culture, focused on a sense of purpose, then you start to deliver amazing stories to your prospects and customers.
A compelling storyteller himself, Ron helps leaders learn how to use storytelling as a tool for continuous growth and improvement within their organizations in his keynote “The Story Spark: Developing Story-Based Leadership to Connect, Engage, and Transform”. See more in the video below:
Augmenting Human Potential with AI
SpSp: How is AI going to help us? How can business leaders mitigate the risk?
RT: I often use the example of ATMs, another time where we literally had machines coming in and replacing people. People were like, “you cannot do this, you’re replacing a teller with a machine, people are losing their jobs, this is horrible.” But what we found is that ATMs took away the worst parts of a teller’s job, allowing them to contribute in more meaningful ways, which made their jobs more engaging. We ended up growing those businesses because of these new machines, so it was great for everybody.
From an AI perspective, just with ATMs, “AI plus human” is always going to be better than AI on its own or human on its own. Whether that’s creativity or whether that’s from an engineering perspective or operations.
I just finished writing my third book. What I love about the process of writing is the process of writing. What I don’t love is the research. So, I turned to AI to ensure that I was getting the research that I wanted — and it was a more robust approach to research than I have ever had before — which allowed me to spend more time on the good stuff. The output then becomes significantly better.
So, I think the creatives and the professionals who are going to really perform are the ones who embrace it but not entirely. They won’t hand over the keys, but they will embrace it so that they can focus on what they love and let AI do the other part.
AI isn’t just another disruption. It’s a full-blown coup d’état on the workplace. Ron walks audiences through the transformative power of this technology on business, how to navigate it, and what triumph can look like in an AI-fueled future in his keynote, “Leading the AI Uprising: How to Fuel Insurgents, Embrace AI, and Propel Teams Forward”.
Beyond the Punchline: Comedy as a Learning Tool
SpSp: What role does comedy play in your career as a keynote speaker and in leadership?
RT: I spent 20 years as a stand-up, which helped me hone all those on-stage skills: reading a room, riffing, crowd work, etc., which have become really valuable in my speaking career. But I think where some get it wrong is that the most powerful part about comedy is what follows the punchline.
My experience in comedy has shown me that you can use it to open people up to a different perspective on life. Because that’s all comedy is, whether you’re talking about a toothbrush or a strategic plan for 2025. What I’m going to do as a comedian, as an observer, I’m going to look and show you the humourous perspective of that toothbrush, something that you’ve never thought about. And when you laugh, that is proof that you get my perspective and agree with it.
So, through humour, you can show people that they can see something from a completely different perspective. And then you can show them one more, and that one more is the serious one. It’s the emotional one, the strategic one. It’s the important one. That’s the one that, as a speaker, I’m paid to deliver. I’m not paid to deliver the punchline, I’m paid to deliver the strategic one, but comedy helps to get a crowd to a point where they’re open to seeing that new perspective.
Learn more about the important role comedy plays in leadership and beyond in the video below, and how Ron has honed his craft to become one our most popular keynote speakers:
Book Ron Tite for Your Next Event
Want to bring Ron Tite‘s refreshing perspectives on purpose-driven leadership to your next event? His blend of business acumen and comedy creates keynotes that both entertain and transform.
Contact our team today to learn how Ron can help your organization align purpose with action, rebuild trust, and navigate change with clarity and confidence.
