The Catalyst in the Room
Let’s begin with a moment of truth. As a leader, you’re planning your annual conference, your sales kick-off, your big leadership offsite. You look at the agenda, filled with strategy sessions, financial updates, and product roadmaps. It’s solid, it’s important, but you know something is missing. There’s no spark. You ask what will make this truly memorable - and bring a context to our internally focussed discussions. A moment that will lift the team out of the day-to-day and connect them to a bigger picture.
And so, the thought enters your mind: "We should hire a motivational speaker." - someone who will inspire and be memorable - with plenty of takehome value.
For many leaders, this is where the journey begins and, so often, where it goes wrong. They open a new browser tab and start searching for "famous keynote speakers." They look for a recognisable face, a celebrity, someone who can deliver an entertaining hour and a nice, feel-good moment. They book the speaker, tick the box on the agenda, and hope for the best.
I am here to tell you, as someone who has been on both sides of that transaction for decades, that this approach is a profound waste of an incredible opportunity.
Hiring a great keynote speaker is not about filling a slot on your agenda. It is not about entertainment. It is one of the most powerful strategic investments you can make in your people, your culture, and your business's future. The right speaker, with the right message, at the right time, can be a catalyst. They can unlock a conversation, shift a mindset, and mobilise your entire organisation in a new direction.
But it requires you, as the leader, to be a sophisticated and intentional buyer. You don't just need a speaker; you need a strategic partner.
In a previous article on motivational speakers, I outlined my "Three E's" framework—Expertise, Energy, and Experience—for what makes a speaker truly world-class. Today, I want to go deeper. I want to take you on a journey from your perspective as a leader. We will start with diagnosing the real business problem you are trying to solve and then explore how to find and partner with the right speaker to create a truly transformational impact that lasts long after the applause has faded.
The Diagnosis - Why Are You
This is the most critical and most frequently overlooked step. Before you can find the right prescription, you must have an accurate diagnosis. A great keynote is a solution to a specific business problem. You must have the courage to name that problem with brutal honesty.
In my experience, the need for a powerful external voice usually stems from one of these four common organisational ailments:
1. The Energy Crisis (The Post-Hustle Hangover)
Your team is tired. They have come through a period of intense change, a major restructure, or just the long, grinding marathon of the last few years. They are showing up and doing the work, but the spark is gone. They are suffering from a collective case of burnout, and engagement is starting to wane. You don't just need to motivate them; you need to re-energise them.
2. The Crossroads of Change (The Fear of the Unknown)
Your industry is being disrupted. New technology (hello, AI!) is changing the way you work. You're entering a new market or have just been through a merger. Your team is feeling anxious, uncertain, and resistant to the changes ahead. You don't just need to motivate them; you need to build their resilience and foster a growth mindset.
3. The Complacency Creep (The Curse of Success)
Your business is doing well. You've hit your targets. You're a market leader. But you've noticed a subtle and dangerous shift. The hunger is gone. The innovation has slowed. Your team is starting to defend the status quo instead of inventing the future. You don't just need to motivate them; you need to re-ignite their curiosity and their customer-centric focus.
4. The Silo Sickness (The Collaboration Breakdown)
Your company has grown, and with that growth have come the inevitable silos. The sales team isn't talking to marketing. Engineering isn't talking to customer support. There's a culture of "us versus them" creeping in, and it's slowing you down and damaging the customer experience. You don't just need to motivate them; you need to reconnect them to a shared mission and a collaborative spirit.
Be honest. Which one of these ailments best describes your current reality? Naming the problem with this level of clarity is the first step. It is the foundation of your brief. It is the problem you will hire a great speaker to help you solve.
The Prescription - Matching the Message to Your Mission
Once you have your diagnosis, you can start looking for the right prescription. The right speaker is not a one-size-fits-all solution. They must have a deep, practitioner's expertise in the specific area you need to address. This is where my own work as a keynote speaker has evolved—not to be a general "motivational" voice, but to be a specialist who can partner with a business to solve these specific problems.
Let's look at how to prescribe a solution for each ailment:
For the Energy Crisis, You Need a Dose of Purpose.
When a team is burnt out, a speech about hitting higher sales targets will fall on deaf ears. It's just more pressure. What a tired team needs is to be reconnected to their "why." They need to be reminded that their work has meaning and that they are part of a mission that matters.
- The Message: A leader needs to be the Chief Storyteller, the keeper of the flame of purpose. A keynote on this topic should be built around a powerful narrative of why the company exists, the impact it has on its customers' lives, and how each individual's role contributes to that bigger story. It's about moving from "what we do" to "why we matter." This is the very foundation of my keynote, "Building a Business with Purpose," drawn directly from the lessons of building RedBalloon, where our mission was never just to sell things, but to change the very culture of gift-giving in Australia.
For the Crossroads of Change, You Need to Build Resilience.
When a team is facing uncertainty, a leader's job is to provide them with the mindset and the tools to navigate the storm. A motivational speech that ignores their anxiety is tone-deaf. You must acknowledge the fear and then provide a path through it.
- The Message: This is about fostering a growth mindset, embracing adaptability, and seeing challenges not as threats, but as opportunities. A keynote on this topic should be filled with real-world stories of overcoming adversity—of pivots, of failures, and of the incredible lessons learned. It’s about sharing a framework for resilience. When I deliver my keynote, "The Entrepreneurial Journey," I share the raw, unfiltered stories from my own life and from the founders I backed on Shark Tank—the moments where everything seemed lost, and the resilient mindset that allowed them to find a new way forward.
For the Complacency Creep, You Need a Jolt of Customer-Centricity.
When a team has lost its hunger, it's almost always because they have lost their connection to the customer. They have started looking inward at their own processes and politics, instead of outward at the people they exist to serve.
- The Message: The antidote to complacency is empathy. A keynote on this topic must be a powerful reminder of who the real boss is: the customer. It's about sharing powerful stories that bring the customer's voice, their pain points, and their aspirations directly into the room. It’s about providing a practical playbook for how every single person in the organisation, from the front line to the back office, can make decisions through the lens of the customer. This is the heart of my keynote, "Customer-Centricity: The Key to Sustainable Growth."
For the Silo Sickness, You Need to Rebuild Human Connection.
When a team is fragmented, a speech about departmental KPIs will only reinforce the silos. You need to lift them above their individual roles and reconnect them to their shared identity and the power of collaboration.
- The Message: This is a keynote about culture and leadership. It’s about the behaviours that build trust and the rituals that foster collaboration. It's a powerful opportunity to reinforce the idea that in our rush to embrace new technologies, we must never forget that business is a fundamentally human endeavour. It’s a theme I explore in my blog post, "AI is for tasks, people are for relationships". A great keynote on this topic provides a framework for communication and collaboration, reminding everyone that they are one team, on one mission, and that their collective success depends on their ability to work together.
The Due Diligence - The Art of Engaging a Strategic Partner
You've diagnosed your problem and you know the kind of message your team needs to hear. Now, how do you find and vet the right speaker to deliver it?
The process should be less like "booking entertainment" and more like hiring a senior strategic consultant for a critical, high-impact project.
1. The Briefing Call is an Interview (And You Should Be the One Being Interviewed):
When you first speak to a potential keynote speaker, pay close attention to the questions they ask. A true professional will be as interested in understanding your business as they are in telling you about their speech. They should be grilling you.
- "What is the single biggest challenge your team is facing right now?"
- "What is the one thing you want them to be saying to each other at morning tea after my talk?"
- "What have been your biggest wins and your toughest losses in the last year?"
A speaker who is a true partner is a speaker who listens with profound curiosity before they ever start to talk.
2. Demand Customisation, Not Just Personalisation:
Any speaker can put your company logo on their first slide and mention your company name a few times. That is personalisation. It is superficial.
Demand customisation. This means the speaker takes the time to weave your specific language, your specific challenges, and your specific team members' names and stories into the very fabric of their narrative. It makes the talk feel like it was created from scratch, just for you. This is the difference between an off-the-rack suit and a bespoke, tailor-made garment. It just fits perfectly.
3. Look for the Practitioner's Proof:
As I’ve said, the proof is in the practice. Look for speakers who are still active in the business world—who are sitting on boards, who are investing, who are leading teams. They bring a level of currency and real-world relevance that is invaluable. And always, always ask to see a full, unedited video of them delivering a keynote. You need to see the substance, not just the sizzle.
Maximising the ROI - The Real Work Begins When the Applause Fades
The keynote speech is not the end of the process; it is the beginning. A great speech is a spark. But a spark that lands on wet ground will quickly die out. Your job as a leader is to prepare the ground before the spark arrives, and to fan the flames afterwards.
- Before the Talk (Priming the Audience): Let your team know why you have invited this particular speaker. Send out an article they have written or a podcast they have been on. Frame the talk not as a lecture, but as an important strategic conversation.
- During the Talk (Encouraging Active Engagement): Encourage your team not just to listen, but to take notes on actions. "What is one thing I will do differently based on this?"
- After the Talk (Integrating the Message): This is the most critical and most often missed step. The momentum from a great keynote is a precious, perishable resource. You must have a plan to capture it.
- Immediate Debrief: Immediately after the talk, break your audience into small groups to discuss their biggest takeaways and the one action they will commit to.
- Leadership Follow-Up: In the days following the event, the leadership team must be seen to be championing the message. Refer back to the speaker's key ideas in your team meetings.
- Create Accountability: Turn the inspiration into action items. Create a project team, launch an initiative, or build the speaker's language and frameworks into your own company's operating rhythm.
The Famous Speaker is a Catalyst, But You Are the Leader
In the end, a famous keynote speaker is a powerful tool. They can be a mirror, reflecting your own challenges back to you with new clarity. They can be a window, showing you a new way of thinking. And they can be a door, opening up a new path of action for your team.
But they are the catalyst, not the cure.
The ultimate responsibility for creating lasting change rests with you, the leader. It rests in your clarity of purpose in hiring them, in your courage to embrace their message, and in your commitment to integrating their lessons into the very fabric of your culture.
Choose your speaker not for their fame, but for their ability to be a true partner in your journey. And then, do the work to ensure their spark ignites a fire that will warm your business for years to come.
What is the single biggest challenge your team is facing right now, and what is the one message they most need to hear?
