Speaking

Develop leaders who strengthen your organisation’s reputation, attract opportunity and inspire confidence.

In an increasingly transparent world, customers, investors, employees and future talent place as much trust in people as they do in companies. The organisations that stand out are those whose leaders communicate clearly, demonstrate expertise and build credibility in the market.

When leaders become recognised and trusted voices within their industry, the benefits extend far beyond the individual. Organisations strengthen their reputation, attract exceptional talent, deepen client relationships and build greater confidence with all stakeholders.

This keynote equips senior leaders with the practical tools to build an authentic professional brand identity that enhances the organisations they represent.

Drawing on the deliberate, structured and data-led approach he has used to build his own reputation, Mike Soutar demonstrates how organisations can help their leaders become recognised, trusted voices in their industry. Over the past three years, that approach has established him as one of the UK’s best-known commentators on leadership, growing his LinkedIn audience from 3,000 to more than 50,000 without ghostwriters, a social media team, engagement pods or algorithmic shortcuts.

Rather than encouraging personal promotion, Mike demonstrates how thoughtful visibility, consistent expertise and trusted leadership create measurable commercial value while strengthening the organisation’s reputation.

Delegates will discover how to:

• Build authentic professional brands that reinforce the organisation’s reputation.
• Increase executive visibility without becoming self-promotional.
• Establish recognised thought leadership that supports commercial growth and influence.
• Create consistent content and conversations that strengthen credibility with clients, partners and prospective talent.
• Develop long-term reputations that build trust across employees, customers, investors and the wider market.

Ideal audiences:

• Executive leadership teams.
• Board directors and senior management.
• High-potential and future leadership programmes.
• Sales, commercial and client-facing leaders.
• Organisations investing in leadership development, employer brand and executive visibility.

How to give your teams confidence in an uncertain world without pretending to have all the answers.

Why do some people embrace change while others resist it?

Artificial intelligence is transforming the way we work. Geopolitical uncertainty is reshaping markets and supply chains. New generations are redefining their relationship with work, leadership and success.

For many teams, the uncertainty caused by these shifts has become exhausting. Priorities shift, new demands emerge, and the pace rarely slows. Helping people stay aligned and perform at their best has become one of leadership’s defining challenges.

Drawing on a career spent building businesses, serving on boards, investing in founders and advising organisations through periods of rapid transformation, Mike Soutar shares the practical leadership frameworks that help teams thrive when certainty has disappeared.

Participants will explore:

• Build authentic professional brands that reinforce the organisation’s reputation.
• Increase executive visibility without becoming self-promotional.
• Establish recognised thought leadership that supports commercial growth and influence.
• Create consistent content and conversations that strengthen credibility with clients, partners and prospective talent.
• Develop long-term reputations that build trust across employees, customers, investors and the wider market.

Participants will leave with practical tools to build trust, create alignment, encourage healthy debate and lead teams that remain resilient, adaptable and high performing, no matter how fast the world around them changes.

Ideal audiences:

• Executives & Senior Leaders navigating complex, rapidly shifting industries.
• High-potential professionals looking to tackling a future of change with confidence.
• Organisations & teams seeking to build adaptability and resilience.

Building the essential skill of persuasion that all effective leaders need.

Many senior level executives have experienced that moment in a board meeting when they realise the decision is not going to go in their favour. A bold new strategy gets shelves, additional budget declined or a new project being mothballed. They will often ask themselves:

How can I be more persuasive in a room where everyone is fighting their own corner?

Throughout his career, Mike Soutar has persuaded investors to commit millions of pounds to businesses that didn’t yet exist. He has coaxed sceptical CEOs to back ambitious ventures, won boardroom support for bold strategies and talked his way into opportunities that looked well beyond his experience on paper. Time and again, his success has depended on convincing other people to believe in an idea before it became reality.

In this practical and engaging keynote, Mike shares the principles that enable leaders to influence without relying on hierarchy, authority or force of personality. Delegates will discover how to build trust, overcome resistance and communicate ideas in ways that inspire action.

Leaders will learn how to:

• Build persuasive arguments by understanding the priorities, motivations and concerns of their audience before shaping their message.
• Turn scepticism into support by addressing objections before they become barriers.
• Build trust before asking people to commit to change, investment or action.
• Communicate with clarity and conviction when the stakes are high.
• Gain stronger backing for strategic initiatives, innovation and organisational change.
• Recognise why people say and how to reframe conversations to create alignment instead of resistance.

Delegates leave with a practical framework they can immediately apply in board meetings, client conversations, investment pitches, strategic presentations and everyday leadership situations.

Ideal audiences:

• Executive leadership teams.
• Board directors and senior management.
• High-potential and future leadership programmes.
• Sales, commercial and client-facing leaders.

Bringing great ideas to reality one stakeholder at a time.

Why do so many good ideas never get off the ground?

Every organisation is full of them. Ideas that deserved funding but didn’t get it. Bold strategies that never gained momentum. Talented people who never managed to convince others to back them.

Ideas only create value when other people believe in them. The most persuasive leaders spend less time explaining their ideas and more time helping other people believe in them.

Throughout his career, Mike Soutar has persuaded investors to commit millions of pounds to businesses that didn’t yet exist. He has coaxed sceptical CEOs to back ambitious ventures, won boardroom support for bold strategies and talked his way into opportunities that looked well beyond his experience on paper. Time and again, his success has depended on convincing other people to believe in an idea before it became reality.

In this keynote, Mike shares the practical principles that help individuals at all levels of an organisation build belief, win commitment and create lasting momentum behind the ideas that matter most.

Delegates will learn how to:

• Build a persuasive case by understanding the needs of their audience before shaping their message.
• Apply The Campaign Principle so important ideas gather momentum instead of disappearing after a single presentation.
• Create belief using the right balance of stories, data and context.
• Encourage constructive challenge before decisions are made, then unite people behind a common direction once a decision has been reached.
• Win stronger backing from colleagues, customers, boards and stakeholders by earning trust before asking people to act.

Participants will leave with practical frameworks to influence decisions, secure support for important ideas and persuade people to embrace change with greater confidence and commitment.

Ideal audiences:

• Leaders & executives aiming to lead organisations and teams through rapid change.
• Professionals who want to level up their expertise and increase their sapiential authority.
• Teams seeking to drive innovation while maintaining creativity and independent thought.

Lessons from history’s greatest leaders.

In a world that’s changed so dramatically, why do leaders from centuries ago still have so much to teach us?

History’s greatest leaders weren’t superheroes. They were flawed, fascinating and often extraordinary human beings. In this keynote, you’ll meet leaders who dictated new laws from the bath. Queens accused of orchestrating the murder of their husbands before falling in love with the chief suspect. Monarchs so dissatisfied with their own portraits they destroyed almost every single one. Visionaries, warriors and revolutionaries whose lives were every bit as dramatic as the history they shaped.

As host of the acclaimed History’s Greatest Leaders podcast, Mike Soutar has interviewed many of Britain’s leading historians to understand what made history’s most remarkable leaders so exceptional. This session distils the stories, surprising insights and enduring leadership lessons that emerged from those conversations.

Along the way you’ll discover:

• Why Elizabeth I understood reputation and influence centuries before the modern concept of personal branding.
• What Joan of Arc can teach us about conviction, courage and leading without formal authority.
• How Winston Churchill used words to inspire belief when hope was in short supply.
• Why some of history’s most successful leaders ultimately became victims of their own strengths.
• The timeless leadership lessons that continue to shape the way great leaders earn trust, inspire loyalty and leave a lasting legacy.

Participants will leave with a fresh perspective on leadership, a notebook full of remarkable stories and practical lessons they can immediately apply in their own organisations. Because while the world keeps changing, the greatest leadership lessons are timeless.

Ideal audiences:

• Senior executives & professionals seeking inspiring themes and leadership lessons.
• Audiences looking for entertainment alongside memorable and actionable leadership advice.
• Lunch or dinner guests of a business event or conference.