Leanne Meyer

Leanne Meyer Speaking Topics

• The Power of Three: Why You Need a Network Trifecta and How to Build It

  Decades of research on organizational networks have shown that who you know—and who knows you—is critical to performance and career success.

  The ability to develop and maintain a strong network of internal and external relationships is a key factor distinguishing leaders with consistently outstanding performance records from those who languish in the middle.

  Why? Because people in positive relationships are more likely to share invaluable information, recommend each other for career opportunities, vouch for each other, make introductions, and provide professional advice and support. Successful leaders leverage these relationships in support of their organization’s mission.

  They also rely on their network for personal and professional development.

  These distinct purposes require you to build three related but different networks:

  • Operational Network • those involved in your group’s daily work
  • Strategic Network • those who can help you prepare for the future
  • Developmental Network • relationships that can help you grow professionally and provide personal, and emotional support when needed

  Too often, senior leaders neglect to cultivate these essential networks—whether due to discomfort with workplace politics or the mistaken belief that networking is inauthentic or self-serving. But this avoidance can be career-limiting and organizationally damaging. Avoiding the creation of influential networks is a form of self-sabotage that also risks stalling the future success of your organization and your culture initiatives.

  In this transformative session, we will focus on practical tools and strategies to break the myths around networking and see it for what it truly is: a leadership competency and culture-building tool. Participants will walk away empowered with a clear plan for turning their networks into one of their most powerful leadership assets—one that fuels both personal and organizational success.

• From Perfection to Passion: Refining Your Leadership Brand

  A leadership brand conveys your identity and distinctiveness, the value you offer. If you have the wrong brand for the position you hold or the position you want, then your work is not having the impact it could.

  Strong leaders have clear stories.

  They know where they’ve been, who they are, and what they envision for the future. Whether aspiring to thought, community, or corporate leadership, this clarity is essential for anyone looking to lead with influence and impact.

  However, many professionals fall into the trap of striving for “perfection” across multiple roles—leader, partner, friend, executive—causing them to overlook their true potential. Instead of embracing their unique power and perspective, they may question their worth, dismiss their talents, and diminish their identity.

  Key Takeaways:

  • Discover your personal strengths and how they drive your career growth.
  • Identify the barriers and fears holding you back from achieving your aspirations.
  • Develop a leadership brand statement that aligns with your professional goals and contributions.
  • Create an actionable plan to turn your vision into reality.

Accelerating Your Path to Leadership: Navigating the Obstacles of Gender Difference

Women leaders face distinct challenges as they develop a career—a lack of role models, the absence of formal and informal networks, and a career path that tends to be more complex than those of men.

Women also tend to juggle multiple and often conflicting roles that expand across the gamut of their work and personal lives. As a result, women often have different career motivators, goals, and aspirations than men. Women place a different value on stable relationships, connecting to colleagues, being recognized, and giving back to the community.

In this keynote, Leanne Meyer shares learnings from her new book, "Climbing The Spiral Staircase", shedding light on the obstacles that are still keeping women’s talents from being fully utilized and recognized at work and offering research• based suggestions for personal and professional transformation.

Participants will walk away with actionable strategies to improve opportunities for themselves and others. All suggested strategies are grounded in pragmatic, evidence-based thinking.

Specifically, we will be covering three transitions that speak to a shift participants will need to make to advance their careers. We’ll equip participants to move confidently from Perfection to Passion, from being "Clueless" to Connected, and from Worker Bee to Strategic Resource.

These transitions offer a framework for participants to understand where they are in their career currently, as well as provide context for how to develop the mindsets and skill sets to build the career they aspire to have.

The overarching message to participants is to be intentional in recognizing their sources of strength, assessing their impact and offering value to the organization, and achieving their ambitions.

The Best Gender Conversation You’ll Ever Have at Work

Let’s have the best gender conversation you’ll ever have at work.

High-performing organizations find ways to ensure that women are uninhibited in bringing their best selves to work every day. Many leaders want women in their organizations to be supported but may not know where to start. You want to show up as a good leader, but not say the wrong thing. When it comes to gender topics in the workplace, there are headlines, and then there is research.

This keynote is built on research and full of achievable actions to understand everything from unconscious bias to how to design a career ladder that empowers and motivates women. It’s a must-have in the toolkit for leaders who want to maximize their impact and support their talent.

In this keynote, Leanne Meyer helps turn good intentions into best practice.

Evidenced-based content covered in this session:

• The 6 competencies of inclusive leadership.
• The 4 surprising patterns of bias in the workplace.
• A “Call to Action: 5 Areas Where You Can Make a Difference.” Actionable best practices to interrupt gender bias in existing workplace systems and processes.

The Hiring Process:

• Raising the Bar in Meetings Giving Feedback.
• Career Development Work-life Integration.

Participants will:

• Learn the data on the impact of unconscious bias and gender on organizational performance.
• Hone skills needed to lead and manage across genders.
• Gain practical tips to lead and nurture 100% of their workforce and talent pipeline.

There are real challenges, yes, but there are also real solutions. When put into practice within organizational systems and individual leadership styles, businesses can achieve significant competitive advantage.

Are you leadership material? Refining your Leadership Brand

A leadership brand conveys your identity and distinctiveness, the value you offer. If you have the wrong brand for the position you hold or the position you want, then your work is not having the impact it could.

Strong leaders have strong stories. They have a strong sense of where they came from, who they are now, and what they imagine for the future. Anyone aspiring to any form of leadership—thought, community, or corporate—needs this kind of clarity. We tend to follow people who have a healthy self-perception, strong values, and a well-defined vision.

Participants will gain:

• Clarity on personal strengths for career development.
• Identification of personal barriers and fears that stand in the way of professional success.
• A leadership brand statement defining professional future aspirations and ways of contributing to their organization.
• Including content on authenticity and assertiveness in the workplace and honing your self-expression.

Building Networks of Influence: Stretching to Grow Your Leadership

Because of discomfort with workplace politics, we often refuse to build networks of influence, viewing this behavior as being inauthentic and manipulative, focused on self-promotion, and power grabbing. When we condemn these politics and avoid engaging, we effectively remove ourselves from the game without consciously acknowledging it. We spend all our time carrying out the day-to-day content of our jobs. Smart employers love us for this—and keep us in middle management.

In this presentation, we explore how building a sphere of influence is, in fact, at the heart of many new leadership roles and may be the very set of skills necessary for the next phase of your career. Developing strategic networking skills is what separates successful leaders from the rest of the pack. Networking creates a web of contacts to provide the support, feedback, and resources needed to get things done for you and your team. Network building is potentially one of the best skills you can develop for the benefit of your people.

In this presentation, you will come to understand that organizations, by their natures, are political environments, and to succeed in them, you need to learn how to acquire and wield influence. Yes, you can do this without power grabbing!

Participants will gain:

• Clarity on the importance of building networks of influence as a leadership.
• competency and not political gaming.
• Understanding of the different types and purposes of networks.
• Individualized stakeholder analysis and network analysis.
• Mapping of potential mentor and sponsor relationships.
• Practical networking tips and skills practice.
• An appetite to begin building robust networks.