Leadership & Culture
Keynote Speaker
Kate Davis
For scaling businesses where the people stuff is slowing everything down.
Trusted By:
Why Organisations Book Kate
Scale exposes friction. Growth shows the cracks.
Boards and senior leadership teams usually feel it first: delivery starts to wobble, priorities blur, accountability gets fuzzy, and the culture begins to cost more than it should.
Kate gives your SLT a clean, shared view of what’s actually happening across culture, leadership dynamics and execution. Her sessions replace vague “people stuff” with practical levers: clarity, trust, pace, and the behaviours that drive performance when pressure is on.
If it feels off, it probably is.
And the longer you wait, the more it costs in clarity, trust, and time.
Rooted in a decade of leadership development and executive coaching, Kate’s talks blend commercial rigour with human warmth. She works with scaling, founder-led businesses to transform culture, communication and team performance.
The problems I solve from the stage
Most audiences do not need motivation. They need language for what they’re living through, and a way to act on it quickly.
I speak to the patterns that stall performance in growing organisations:
“We’re busy, yet we’re not moving”
Everyone is working hard. Progress still feels slow. The issue is often decision clarity and ownership, not effort.
“The leadership team is polite, then confused, then frustrated”
Surface harmony, private disagreement, mixed messages to the organisation.
“We keep hiring great people and they still can’t win here”
The system is unclear: roles, expectations, decision rights, and ways of working.
“The culture has gone flat”
Energy drops, standards become negotiable, and even good people stop bringing their best.
“I’m starting to think it’s me”
Many founders hit the edge of their leadership capacity during scale. It is common, and it is fixable.
What you get when I speak
I’m brought in when you want a room to shift, without drama.
People leave with:
A shared, plain-English diagnosis of what is actually going on
Language for the behaviours that are getting in the way
Better decision-making habits: pace, ownership, standards
Permission and structure for honest conversations
A practical “what we do next” that does not rely on wishful thinking
Signature Keynotes
1. Joy as a Business Strategy
Joy isn’t a perk. It’s a performance metric. In this keynote, Kate reframes joy as the most accurate signal of alignment, trust and sustainable growth. When people are alive at work, everything works better.
Takeaways:
Identify the link between joy, trust and performance.
Recognise where energy is leaking in your team or culture.
Rebuild clarity and creativity through purposeful joy.
2. Unlocked Teams: The Science of High Performance
What separates teams that soar from those that stall? Drawing on Project Aristotle and years of client work, Kate reveals the five conditions of high-performing teams - and how psychological safety turns potential into performance.
Takeaways:
Understand the neuroscience of trust and safety.
Assess and improve your team’s current performance stage.
Create conditions for sustained collaboration and results.
3. Cracking the Communication Code
Most leaders believe they’re clear. Most teams don’t agree. This keynote unpacks how intent and impact diverge - and how relational and emotional intelligence rebuild connection, trust, and influence across your organisation.
Takeaways:
Recognise and adapt your communication patterns.
Develop relational intelligence as a leadership skill.
Lead conversations that build clarity and confidence.
4. Leaders Define Culture (Whether They Mean To or Not)
Culture isn’t the posters on your wall; it’s the everyday experience of how leaders behave. Kate exposes the invisible leadership patterns shaping results and morale, and shows how to turn culture into a competitive advantage.
Takeaways:
See how leadership habits ripple through teams.
Spot early signs of cultural drift.
Realign values, decisions, and behaviour for integrity and growth.
5. The Business of Being Human
Behind every performance issue is a human story. This keynote dismantles the myth of “professional distance,” exploring how authenticity, boundaries, and compassion create stronger leaders and healthier organisations. Discover the impact of relational intelligence on performance, resilience and innovation.
Takeaways:
Build trust through grounded emotional intelligence.
Balance empathy with accountability.
Make humanity your leadership advantage.
About Kate Davis
Kate Davis helps leaders build human, high-performing organisations. As Founder of Meraki People, she partners with scaling businesses to fix the people issues slowing them down - culture, communication, and team dynamics.
Known for her fierce clarity and deep humanity, Kate is a sought-after leadership coach and keynote speaker whose work has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, and The Times.
Named National Coach of the Year (2024), and nicknamed “the Board Whisperer'“ Kate is also a finalist in the IoD Director of the Year Awards 2025 for People and Turnaround categories.
Kate is a speaker, facilitator and coach for Business Leader, and Vice Chair IoD Surrey & Berkshire.
Kate’s clients describe her talks as “the moment everything finally made sense.”
As Seen In
Kate is a regular contributor to several magazines on leadership, culture and working life
