Blaire Palmer

Biography:

“We’re not in the Industrial Age anymore so why do we run our organisations as if we are?” asks Blaire Palmer, author, keynote speaker and confidante to CEOs around the world.

Blaire is at the forefront of new thinking about what it means to lead in the 21st century. In her keynote speeches and development sessions, she busts the myths of leadership to present a radical new model for the post-Industrial Age: more human, more authentic, more collaborative and far, far less egotistical.

Formerly, as one of the youngest female producers of the BBC’s flagship Today Programme, Palmer spent a decade breaking stories and shaping the UK news agenda until her fascination with leadership and change led her to train as one of the UK’s first corporate coaches. Since then she’s become a world authority on leadership, writing 3 successful books on the subject in the process, and is regularly quoted in the media.

Palmer now shares her thought-provoking ideas with audiences around the world, inspiring them to step up and drive change in partnership with their people.

Unlike many speakers on the subject her interest isn’t theoretical. Instead, Palmer draws her insights from 15 years working with boards and senior teams as a coach and “agent provocateur”, challenging, supporting and guiding leaders as they shape their organisations. Her speeches give audiences unparalleled insight in to what’s happening in the most innovative boardrooms in Europe, trends she’s predicting for business and practical examples of leadership that works (and doesn’t).

Lively, thought-provoking, witty and direct, Palmer encourages audiences to challenge everything they thought they knew about leadership. Audiences love her energy, her down to earth approach and her depth of knowledge.

Palmer is a regular guest expert on TV and radio including BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine show, BBC Breakfast News, BBC Working Lunch, Sky News, BBC World and is often quoted in the national press including The Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Mirror and The Daily Mail amongst others. She also writes a monthly column for the UK's best selling health glossy, Healthy Magazine. Blaire is also Chief Executive of That People Thing, a leadership consultancy.

Topics

• Busting the Myths of Leadership: How do you lead a business when your industry is being disrupted, when your people expect to find meaning and purpose in their work and when the customer wants either a one-click relationship with you or wants a bond so close that they will re-tweet your tweets? In this thought-provoking, funny and practical keynote, Blaire exposes 4 of the most out-dated myths of leadership, myths that are inhibiting the success of your organisation in the market and shares her latest predictions about how leadership will look as we progress through the 21st Century.
• Passion Killers: In an age when Gen Y employees are looking for work that makes the planet a better place, where technology both enables and inhibits our ability to get stuff done and where your customers have a megaphone (and they’re not afraid to use it) it isn’t enough for your staff to simply turn up every day. They need to bring their hearts and minds to the challenge of making your company successful. But there are everyday behaviours in your business that are killing the passion of your people. How do you find your mojo again, so you can help them find theirs?
• Lessons from the boardroom
• What leadership and business trends are around the corner in the next 24 months 
• What kinds of leaders are successful today
• The team is dead…long live the team?
• What’s driving change - Gen Y, the tech revolution and customer-centricity
• Inspiring and motivating through change