Leadership and Workplace Culture Expert
David Mead is bringing humanity back to work. Since 2009 he has worked with over 300 companies on 5 continents. In that time, he has discovered a pattern that is present with every leader worth following.
David began his career in corporate training in 2004. In 2009 he was the second person to join speaker and author, Simon Sinek’s team. For the next 10 years, David helped share Simon’s simple, inspiring ideas through speaking and workshops.
David later applied his years of practical experience and learning and co-authored, with Peter Docker and Simon Sinek, Find Your Why: a practical guide for discovering the WHY of an individual, team or organization. It has sold over 600,000 copies and is translated into over 25 languages.
David has since focused on helping leaders implement the powerful ideas he now talks about. He shares a simple framework that allows each of us to lead and influence others with genuine humanity, no matter our role or title. The result? Higher performance, innovation, collaboration, retention, and importantly, well-being for us and our teams.
David brings a relatable, human approach to his ideas and guides people to identify frictionless daily practices they can use immediately after the session.
Length: 45 -60 mins
Format: Interactive
Who it’s for: Leaders who want to eliminate the friction standing in the way of building a sustainably high performing team.
Talk overview:
Every leader wants their people to care about the business and its outcomes as much as they do. Those outcomes require high performance, engagement, productivity and a commitment to results. And often, those things are hampered by friction that naturally arises among messy, complex human beings.
Friction can look like:
- Office politics & gossip
- Low engagement
- Lack of accountability
- Remote work challenges
- Poor collaboration
Policies and processes aren’t enough to reduce that friction, at least not for the long-term. The solution to reducing friction lies within the human beings who are causing it. And everyone on the team, from the senior leader to the newest hire, whether working in the office or in their bedroom, has a part to play.
The key lies in our ability to activate our innate humanity. That is exactly what David can help you do. In this interactive talk, David draws on science, case studies and a pattern he has discovered in working with leaders and organizations around the world.
You’ll learn and apply a simple framework you can draw on a napkin, that unlocks trust and connection - the foundation of our collective humanity. The principles you’ll explore, with David as your guide, will help you have productive tough conversations, mix accountability with empathy, engage remote team members and so much more.
In this session, participants will:
- Identify simple daily practices they can use immediately to reduce the friction on their teams
- Internalize a framework that guides behavior and naturally increases performance, innovation, retention, transparent communication and well-being
- Shift their perception of leadership and the role they play in shaping the culture based on trust, connection and psychological safety