Inc. Top 100 Leadership Speaker, Inspiring Stories, Practical Tools
Accelerate Team Performance. Develop Courageous Cultures and Courageous Leaders. Navigate Uncertainty and Change. Thrive in a Hybrid World.
Inc. Top 100 Leadership Speaker – Inspiring Stories –
Practical Tools – In-Person + Virtual Events
When you hire a leadership keynote speaker, it’s not enough to leave everyone energized and feeling good – you want inspiration that leads to lasting behavior change and transformational results.
Award-winning authors Karin Hurt and David Dye bring practical inspiration to your leadership keynote stage or virtual and remote events.
Karin and David bring decades of experience as executives who transformed organizations and achieved breakthrough results
Your audience will leave fired up with tools to lead with more courage, influence and hope.
Click on the images below to read more about some of our most popular keynotes, or we’ll work with you to craft a message perfect for your event.
You can bring either Karin or David to your conference as an individual leadership keynote speaker or Karin and David can share the in-person or virtual stage for a unique keynote experience.
“We can also work with you to build a unique experience for your audience by integrating short video interviews with your senior leaders, employees, or association members. This works great for in-person or virtual events. Here’s an example from the Chesapeake Human Resources Association conference.
In addition to keynotes, if you’re looking for a bit longer, highly-interactive experience for your leadership meeting, offsite, or conference, our Courageous Cultures strategic innovation programs or “Fishbowl competitions” might be a perfect fit.”
And, audiences love when we integrate a live Asking for a Friend (based on our popular show), component at the end of the leadership keynote to answer their toughest leadership challenges.”
Photo Credit: Oscar and Associates
Courageous Cultures
Building Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates
What would happen if every member of your team came to work focused on finding solutions and creating better results?
Based on ground-breaking new research in innovation and problem-solving, you’ll learn what leaders like you are doing to build more creative and solutions-oriented teams.
You’ll explore the root causes of FOSU (fear of speaking up) and techniques to turn your team’s fears and frustration into innovation.
You’ll learn practical techniques to tap into the best ideas of every team member, solve important problems, and have more confidence and competence positioning their ideas.
This program is perfect for:
- Senior and mid-level managers
- Managers struggling to get their teams to think more creatively and solve problems on their own
- Teams looking to take their performance to the next level
- HR leaders working to build more innovative, high-engagement cultures
- Companies that want higher profits and more engagement from their teams
Read a full review of a Courageous Cultures keynote from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
The audience will leave with:
- Easy-to-use tools and techniques to empower solutions-thinking and customer-focused problem solving
- A clear understanding of what’s blocking everyday innovation in their teams
- Communication strategies to eliminate FOSU (Fear of Speaking Up) and encourage deeper dialogue up, down and sideways
- A plan they can apply right away
Karin or David will inspire your team with real examples of turnaround successes and powerful tools from their executive roles and their work with companies around the world. Your audience will leave with tools and techniques they can immediately apply with their teams.
Start Reading Courageous Cultures now, for free!

“Karin and David light up the stage through dynamic storytelling and highly-practical leadership solutions participants can implement right away. While they’re teaching teamwork and communication, they’re actually demonstrating it beautifully.”
–Kerrie Phipps, MC, HR Asia
Courageous Leaders
Be the Leader You Want to Work For
As a leader, you’re barraged with problems every day, and sometimes it’s easier to take the path of least resistance. You don’t speak up because it might rock the boat. You procrastinate on a decision, or don’t try that new idea because you’re afraid of failure. Or, you don’t invite feedback because you might not like what you hear. In these moments, you’re missing opportunities, you’re wasting money, and you’re eroding your team members’ trust.
Building your reputation as a courageous leader doesn’t necessarily mean making big, bold, game-changing moves. It happens every day, little by little, as you own your team members’ strengths, speak up, stand out, and dare to take appropriate risks. This highly engaging keynote gives you practical methods to become a bit more daring every day for greater influence and impact—to become the courageous leader you would want to work for.
This Keynote is Perfect For:
- Managers looking to increase their confidence, influence and impact.
- Leaders who want to develop a reputation for being open, innovative, reliable, high-potential performers
- Corporate meeting planners looking for a high-energy, interactive keynote that inspires their audience and leaves them with highly practical tools they can use right away
Your Audience Will Leave With:
- Inspiration to own their strengths and contribute at a deeper level
- Practical tools and techniques to present their ideas with confidence
- Techniques to prepare for and hold difficult conversations up, down, and sideways, including our I.N.S.P.I.R.E. approach to performance management
- Tools for gathering and responding to feedback

“Karin and David knocked it out of the park with their Mega Session delivered in this year’s HR VA SHRM 2022 annual conference. Their presentation was both informative and interactive. So glad they presented.”
–Shelley Smith, Virginia SHRM
6 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE HYBRID AND VIRTUAL TEAMS
Leading remote and hybrid teams is hard. Doing it during a time of constant uncertainty and change is even more challenging. Now, more than ever, your managers need practical tools and techniques to create clarity and build deeper human connection.
In this highly interactive keynote, you’ll learn 6 habits of highly effective hybrid and virtual teams, and practical tools and approaches to take your team’s performance to the next level.
This Keynote is Perfect For:
- Organizations looking to take their hybrid and virtual teams’ performance to the next level
- Managers looking for practical tools and techniques create better trust and connection on their virtual and hybrid teams
- Team members looking for inspiration and support to make a deeper contribution to their hybrid or virtual team
Your Audience Will Leave With:
- An assessment of their hybrid and virtual teams’ strengths and opportunities
- Techniques to create a more inclusive and connected culture
- Ideas for fostering innovation, collaboration and problem solving
- Practical tools to improve synchronous and asynchronous communication
- Tips for running better virtual meetings and one-on-ones

“Engaging, dynamic, and full of insights that are both compelling and actionable.”
–Laura Metzer, Chief of Staff, Microsoft West
How Can We
Drawing Out the Best Ideas and Solutions from Your Team
Every day your employees are barraged with problems. They cringe as they try to soothe customer frustrations they can’t fix. Or, they face their own battles with inefficient systems, outdated policies, and procedures.
Our research shows that employees have game-changing ideas for how to solve these issues but frequently don’t speak up to share them. As a result, you waste money and miss opportunities to create better experiences for your customers.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
In this highly-interactive program, your team will learn our engaging, proven process for identifying solutions to every-day frustrations and uncover best practices to improve your customer and employee experience. You’ll leave with a prioritized list of solutions and tangible next steps.
This Program is Perfect For:
- Leaders looking to generate practical ideas and solutions from their teams
- Leaders working to build high-performance, high-engagement cultures
- Corporate meeting planners looking for a high-energy, interactive program to engage their teams at a company offsite or team meeting
Your Team Will Leave With:
- An easy-to-implement process for uncovering and prioritizing great ideas
- A prioritized list of solutions and tangible next steps
- Renewed energy and optimism and a clear path forward for sharing ideas in the future

“The content perfectly aligned with our strategic priorities while also providing practical tips to bring into everyday work-life.”
–Jane Miller, CEO LIly’s Sweets
Winning Well
Breakthrough Results – Without Losing Your Soul
Do you ever wish your team had more energy, would get more done, or solve problems on their own?
It’s tempting to demand more, tighten control, and micromanage to get more results out of your team…but there is a better way.
WINNING WELL is a practical leadership strategy to achieve breakthrough results that really last. Get results while keeping your team (and yourself) energized, motivated and inspired.
“You’ll learn 6 concepts you can’t lead without and practical tools to build high-performance, high-engagement teams.”
Join award-winning authors, Karin Hurt or David Dye, as they use humor and real-life examples to guide you and your team through the art of inspiration, influence, and lasting impact.
This program is perfect for:
- Overwhelmed managers ready for a breakthrough
- Those working to take their results and relationships to the next level
- Leaders working to build a high-performing, high-engagement culture
- Teams looking for practical tools and techniques they can use right away
The audience will leave with:
- Ways to stay focused on the MIT (most important things) that contribute to consistent, breakthrough results
- Tools to correct poor performance without drama
- Techniques to build better relationships up, down and sideways
- A better understanding of how to give each team member what they need most to take their performance to the next level
- Tools for building a more competent, confident team
- Long term strategies to keep the team on track
ABOUT OUR BEST SELLING BOOK: Winning Well: A Managers Guide to Getting Results – Without Losing Your Soul
Join award-winning authors, Karin Hurt or David Dye for practical leadership tools, tactics and strategies to achieve breakthrough results that really last.
Start Reading Winning Well now, for free!

Karin Hurt and David Dye were invited to speak to an elite group of highly engaged volunteer leaders from around the world – a tough audience to please. It was an early morning session on the last day of a long conference. Their delivery style, real-world stories, and innovative concepts kept this audience engaged. The feedback from the leaders is that they gained takeaways they could immediately apply in their volunteer and professional roles – including tools and templates. I would hire Karin and David again to improve the skills of people who manage others in any capacity.”
–Linda Jones Coordinator, PMI Leadership Institute Master Class
Photo Credit: Oscar and Associates
WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP KEYNOTE SPEAKER – POWERFUL AND INSPIRING
Do you have amazing women on your team, who are not speaking up for fear of not being heard?
Are you looking for a powerful and inspiring women’s leadership keynote speaker for your next conference or corporate event? Could your team benefit from a powerful women’s leadership speaker who’s been where you are, leaving a strong track record of results? Are you looking for a women’s leadership speaker to help your team gain more confidence and influence?
Karin Hurt will work with you to custom-design an inspiring and highly practical keynote or masterclass to inspire and motivate your team. Whether you’re looking for straight talk for your executive women’s leadership conference, or inspiring and practical techniques to help the women leaders on your team gain more confidence and impact, Karin will work with you to get the message just right.
Karin draws on her depth of experience as an executive who’s also a mom growing emerging leaders. She’s made a significant impact in her work at Fortune 50 Verizon, and now in her work with leaders at all levels around the world. She shows up real and approachable, and as one recent women’s leadership conference participant put it, “I feel like I was listening to my best friend.”
Karin was recently recognized on Inc.’s 60 Great Business Books: All Written By Women as well as Inc.’s 100 Most Innovative Leadership Speakers.

“Karin is the perfect blend of authenticity and inspiration. Her insights are practical and presented in a manner that is engaging and entertaining. I know she renewed my perspective on what we have the ability to achieve in our organizations and our industry overall. While also providing an actual “how” to hit the ground running and apply what she shared.”
–Sam Smeltzer, CEO & Creative Director, HR Development
Giving Back: The Winning Wells
When you book Karin or David we build a clean water well in your honor.
Let’s Grow Leaders is dedicated to giving back to the world. Our philanthropic campaign, Winning Wells, provides local village with an ample supply of clean water.