Blaire Palmer is the authority on disrupting the future of leadership, provoking senior leaders to think more critically about the idea of work and leadership itself.
After starting her career as producer of the BBC’s Today programme, she took the leap from this safe and respected job to train as one of Europe’s first corporate coaches. Since then, she has worked with multinational corporations and organisations such as Mattel, Airbus, Roche Pharmaceuticals and the FA.
Blaire helps make sense of the perfect organisational storm of generative AI, hybrid working and the long tail of the pandemic, growing understanding of mental health, the rising cost of living and cost of supply, and global unrest.
As an expert keynote speaker, Blaire uses her bold and provocative perspective to bust myths about what it means to lead and to educate today’s leaders on how they can truly inspire their teams to step up and take on the challenges of operating in constantly changing times. Blaire leaves her audiences feeling stimulated by fresh ideas and empowered to rethink their approach to work.
Covering themes around attraction and retention, leading through change, the impact of AI on how we work, work trends of the future, emotional intelligence and communication, the importance of trust, hybrid working and remote leadership, Gen Zs in the workplace, mental wellbeing and how to lead in uncertain times, Blaire ensures the key messages of your event are reinforced and built upon in an entertaining, memorable, interactive and inspirational way.
She is the author of four books on leadership and work: The Hyper-Creative Personality: How to Focus Your Ideas and Become the Most Successful Person You Know, The Recipe for Success: What Really Successful People Do and How You Can Do it Too, What's Wrong with Work: The five frustrations of work and how to fix them for good. Her 2024 book, Punks in Suits: How to lead the workplace reformation, is a provocative rallying cry for organisations to ask uncomfortable questions about how they work, and grapple with whether or not their approach is still fit for purpose in today’s world.
“Blaire offers a wealth of experience in her field, all relevant to today’s business demands, and coupled with an engaging, warm and thought- provoking delivery style, has given me and my colleagues some valuable insights and actions to take and make a positive difference!” - Kosta Christofi, Santander UK
“A very energizing, fresh, relevant, (even provoking), but still enthusiastic & positive presentation. A warm, shared show based on strong experience in the field. A real inspirational speaker!” - Bruno Meijer, Airbus
“Blaire’s interactive and engaging session on behaviour change was the perfect fit for our conference. Her fascination with leadership and change shone through and she presented our audience with an array of real take-home advice that resonated with everyone in the room.” - Luke Nichols, Editor edie.net (sponsors of Sustainability Live)
“Blaire's presentation was inspiring, relevant, fresh and fun. There was a great sense of collaboration at our Top 100 Leaders meeting today and that was, in no small way, down to the thought-provoking messages and enthusiasm that Blaire brought to the event. Just what we needed.” - Petar Cvetkovic, Chief Executive, DX Group
“Blaire has done a fantastic job. Not only does she engage the crowd during the live event, she’s also really got involved in tweaking the actual event design. She really has been a joy to work with. we would not hesitate to work with her again” - Sarah Scarth, founder Resonate EWvents
“Blaire captivated our audience in presenting her experience and advice with regard to empowering McCormick's staff to succeed and develop. She was upbeat, engaging and gave us confidence that we are on the right journey with regard to diversity in our company.” - Melanie Williams, VP Human Resources EMEA, McCormick UK Ltd
“Blaire Palmer was everything the EAIE wanted in a leadership speaker. In only 45 minutes she was able to turn everyone’s perceptions of leadership and management on its head. Blaire was extremely relevant and was able to clearly and simply get her message across to our international audience. She is a must have for any conference! Highly recommended!” - Nicole Hardaker, European Association for International Education (EAIE)
“Blaire Palmer gave insight to the core of what it takes to be a leader today. Blaire brought a sense of realism, humour and practicality to an energising session, leaving a deep impression on the audience.” - Ian Gregory, Head of Learning and Development at Foreign Commonwealth Office