David Mead Book as a speaker/entertainer for your next event
Key Points for David Mead
- Drawing on global experience, David Mead has worked with over 300 organisations across 23 countries, giving him a deep understanding of the universal patterns that make leaders truly worth following.
- His time alongside Simon Sinek, including co-authoring the bestselling book Find Your Why, helped leaders and teams worldwide build purpose-driven cultures rooted in trust, connection, and clarity.
- David’s (un)Common Sense™ Leadership framework makes the principles of human-focused leadership simple, visual, and actionable, guiding individuals at any level to lead with character, not just title.
- Every presentation is tailored for impact, equipping audiences with practical tools to immediately improve performance, communication, and well-being in their teams and workplaces.
Topics for David Mead
- Lead With (un)Common Sense™: How great leaders unlock high performance
This keynote is suited to those who want to achieve sustainable performance through becoming the type of leader people choose to follow, instead of the type of leader people have to follow.
Great leadership isn’t a secret—it’s common sense. We can all name the traits of the best leaders we’ve followed. Yet, despite being obvious, those traits are uncommon in leadership today. Why? Because although we know them, sometimes we just don’t put them into practice. We allow things like outside pressure or human friction to get in the way. These are things like:- Office politics & gossip
- Deadlines & time pressure
- Resistance to feedback
- Blame vs. ownership
- Poor collaboration
Most leaders try to fix these issues with policies and processes—but rules don’t build trust. Systems don’t inspire ownership. No structure can replace the human dynamics that make or break a team. The real solution? Leading with (un)Common Sense. In this interactive talk, David shares science-backed insights, real-world leadership challenges, and a simple, napkin-sketch framework that helps leaders reduce friction, build trust, and create teams that people want to be part of.
Key Takeaways:- Learn simple daily practices to reduce friction and improve team dynamics.
- Apply a framework that naturally increases trust, accountability, and engagement.
- Shift from managing people to leading a culture of trust, connection, and psychological safety.
The best leadership principles aren’t revolutionary—they’re (un)Common Sense. And the leaders who actually practice them are the ones people choose to follow.
- Turn attrition to attraction: How to keep the grass greener on your side of the fence
This keynote is suited for leaders eager to create and maintain an environment in which trust and human connection lead to greater well-being, higher individual and team performance, increased innovation and higher levels of retention. Every organisation strives for high performance, growth, productivity and results. And often, organisations don’t realise they are self-sabotaging those efforts through the experience they create for their people. When the culture we talk about doesn’t align with the culture our people experience, Culture Dissonance occurs. People go into self-preservation mode and they find it more difficult to trust and develop connections with others. Healthy, productive environments have Culture Congruence, where the stated culture aligns with daily behaviors. In this interactive talk, David draws on his personal experience, research and patterns he has observed in leaders and organisations around the world. He will identify the symptoms of Culture Dissonance and explore three specific leadership traits that, when put into practice, lead to Culture Congruence.
As a result of this session, participants will:- Have a greater awareness of their leadership impact.
- Understand a framework that can help them lead with greater consistency.
- Have tangible tools that increase performance, retention, transparent communication, well-being and more.
Testimonials for David Mead
David was absolutely phenomenal! His keynote session, Lead with (un)Common Sense, was hands down the favorite of the entire day. He engaged and inspired attendees, challenging them to rethink what leadership truly is. His insights sparked meaningful reflection and provided practical takeaways that left a lasting impact.
SAP HR Connect
David was AWESOME! He was a definite fit for our team—well spoken, smart and knew when to flex. We really, really enjoyed him. Dignity Health Medical Foundation Fascinating, engaging, the perfect combo of narrative and instructional. The best corporate speaker I’ve ever seen.
Omnicom
David Mead is one of the most authentic and engaging speakers I’ve worked with. His deep knowledge, paired with real humility, creates an environment where people feel truly heard and understood. Connection isn’t just a skill for David—it’s who he is. Whether speaking on leadership, listening, or human connection, he doesn’t just teach these principles—he lives them. His openness, patience, and intuition leave a lasting impact. If you get the chance to work with him—take it.
Head of Community
The Curious Mindset
David is a fantastic teacher and example. My team only had 60 minutes with him and we all wished for more! He is truly inspiring and gave us all real life takeaways.
Homie
David was a pleasure to work with. As an event planner, I rarely find a speaker who’s both highly organized and deeply invested in making a lasting impact. His engaging, customized presentation delivered tangible takeaways that truly resonated. With excellent content and a personable style, he captivated the audience and powerfully reconnected them with their humanity. He’s the real deal.
California Grocers Association
I just attended one of David’s workshops and was very impressed. I have been to many leadership trainings over my career and David’s was different. He gave new insights along with the strategies and tools to implement what we were learning. I recommend any company who wants to have better leadership and authenticity to bring David in for a workshop. I plan on having him do another workshop for our company.
Associate Director of Business Development
Tanner Accountants & Advisors
I’ll be honest, I was a skeptic and was going to multitask during David’s talk. But I don’t think he got more than a few sentences in when I took my hand off my computer mouse and started listening. The real life anecdotes shared, the vulnerabilities exposed and the content of the messaging being so relatable, I was drawn in to truly listen. The biggest thing that resonated with myself and many of my teammates was the reminder to be honest, humble and human. Till this day, we echo those words on Slack, in emails and verbally to one another when needed.
Product Manager of Digital Commerce
H-E-B
I recently had the pleasure of going through a training that David did and left inspired to be a more supportive team member, a more attentive and present father, a more loving and involved husband and a better friend. Hard to believe that all that happened in one day during one training but it’s true. I am forever changed.
Public event