Drew Dudley

Speaking topics

Presentations listed below include in-person and virtual keynotes, as well as workshops, fireside chats, and other presentation formats.

• The Leadership Test: A Roadmap to Impact

  Employee engagement is one of the predominant challenges affecting businesses today. Recent data suggests that higher workplace engagement leads to better outcomes including a 17% increase in productivity, a 20% increase in sales, and a 21% increase in profitability. Being purposeful about fostering a more inclusive, impactful form of leadership within your organization increases employee engagement. It empowers them to make decisions aligned with their values, inspiring trust and driving positive impact.

  In this presentation, Drew Dudley will introduce a system of accountability called The Leadership Test that enables individuals to apply this form of leadership to their lives and careers. Rooted in behavioural psychology, the Test functions both as a blueprint for empowering audiences to behave impactfully everyday and generating evidence about why they matter while doing so. Dudley will illustrate the power of the Test in helping to drive positive personal and professional growth through stories and insights derived from living six core leadership values: impact, growth, courage, empowerment, class, and self-respect.

  Sharing insights from leaders of all types — CEOs, elite athletes, cab drivers, custodians, and everyone in between — this presentation will change the way you think about leadership in your life, workplace, and community.

• This Is Day One: Creating Cultures of Leadership

  When a group of prominent researchers first set out to discover how effective leaders behave, they found those individuals consistently engaged in a series of exemplary daily practices. They also concluded they scored 110% higher on measures of overall leadership effectiveness; were ranked 140% higher than those who didn’t demonstrate the same practices; and scored 135% higher on measures of trust by the people who worked for them.

  In this presentation, Drew Dudley teaches audiences an actionable process to model these exemplary practices and achieve the same measured results. Targeted at “culture creators and enablers” within an organization, audiences will gain a clearer picture of how to use values and action-driving questions to make normally unconscious behaviours a more consistent part of their lives and careers. In doing so, they will be better equipped to engage with their lives and work in a more positive, meaningful, and impactful manner.

  Honest, engaging, and above all useful, audiences will leave this presentation having gained clarity on how to lead with purpose and move the leadership narrative away from power and influence towards a more inclusive form centered upon who they are and how they behave.

• Self Respect: The Foundation of Leadership

  Employers today are facing a crisis of confidence amongst their employees resulting in higher resignations, staffing shortages, and “quiet quitting.” 44% of employees today, for example, say they currently experience “a lot” of stress versus the previous day with 25% saying they felt worried, angry, or sad. People simply can’t work at their best if they don’t feel safe. Employers are thus increasingly seeking to leverage health and wellness initiatives to navigate change and uncertainty in their workplaces.

  In this presentation, Drew Dudley offers audiences several simple yet transformative leadership strategies for embedding self-care strategies and cultivating resilience and psychological safety into their daily routines. Through powerful stories that recognize the difficult parts of life and work with humour and compassion, audiences will discover how to close the gap between the person they are and the person they want to be without compromising their happiness, fulfillment, or work-life balance.

  This presentation is a great addition to your agenda if you believe your audience could benefit from a reminder that they are not alone in their frustrations and fears and that taking care of themselves is an essential part of feeling engaged and connected every day.

• The Game Has No Winners: Growth, Empowerment, and Leading Beyond an Economy of Scarcity

  The adage “individuals don’t typically leave commitments, they leave people” is somewhat outdated. Recently, individuals are also abandoning their commitments in droves because of toxic team cultures. Toxic cultures almost always emerge when leaders reward individual over collective achievements and prioritize the bottom line over the people who deliver it.

  In this presentation, Drew Dudley offers audiences strategies for fostering a culture of leadership based on care instead of toxicity. Dispelling the notion that leadership is destined for those who are committed to outmaneuvering and outperforming their peers, Dudley demonstrates that acting selflessly is the most effective way to foster loyalty amongst teams. Audiences will discover the value of being an “indispensable teammate” in cultivating that commitment.

  A practical lesson in how to create and sustain a culture of collaboration while striking the right balance between autonomy and accountability, this presentation is ideal If you’re seeking to demonstrate/reinforce the power of supporting others to add value and achieve collective goals.

• Elevate Don’t Escalate: Living with Class and Leading with Impact

  Unhealthy conflict is a major source of frustration and discontent in the world. One-third of employees, for example, say it leads to personal attacks, with one-in-five saying it causes illness or absence. Even worse is the fact that nearly 85% of those employees deal with unhealthy conflict for an average of 2.8 hours per week. That represents approximately $359 billion in paid hours each year.

  In this presentation, Drew Dudley offers tips for addressing some of the most common sources of interpersonal conflict between people and teams. These include a solution-focused approach to problem-solving; how to effectively address the role fear plays in conflict; and a simple trick for avoiding the most frustrating aspects of email communication. Each strategy reinforces the importance of elevating (seeking solutions) over escalating (attempting to win).

  If you’ve ever sworn at your computer because of an email or find your fists balling up thinking about a co-worker, this presentation will be ideal for helping to save careers and relationships.

• Courage: Leadership Impact in Action

  In nearly every industry today, people have been affected by unprecedented social and economic disruptions that have negatively impacted their perceptions of work. These uncertainties have created fear and hampered productivity. One recent report, for example, even suggested that absenteeism is 37% higher and productivity 18% lower because individuals are concerned about major shifts in their jobs (or the loss of their jobs entirely).

  In this presentation, Drew Dudley provides practical strategies for addressing this fear and restoring productivity. He will discuss the fundamental differences between confidence and courage; share a process for systematically overcoming fear; and provide a decision-making framework that helps individuals stand by the decisions that scare them the most.

  This presentation is an ideal choice if you’re looking to provide your audience with the insights necessary to make positive, momentum-building decisions when their instincts tell them to “wait and see.”