Melissa Majors: Inclusive Leadership
Melissa Majors a human-centered leadership expert and storyteller who empowers organizations to transform culture, inclusion, and performance through clarity and connection.
Quick Facts:
- Highlights:
- 25+ years of leadership, consulting, and coaching experience
- Developed breakthrough leadership content blending neuroscience, storytelling, and behavior change
- Author of well-regarded books on inclusive leadership and thriving cultures
- Founder of Community Keynotes®, in’klooded®, and Melissa Majors Consulting platforms that embed inclusion and collaboration as core practice
- Formats: Keynote (30–60 min), interactive workshop, leadership retreat module, or panel contributor
- Audiences: Executives, leadership teams, HR & culture change practitioners, diversity & inclusion groups, and change agents in organizations
- Outcomes:
- Leaders will gain practical, brain-friendly tactics to humanize leadership and reduce unintentional toxicity.
- Teams learn to embed inclusive practices in daily behavior, not just aspirations.
- Organizations emerge with renewed clarity on culture, trust, and sustainable performance.
- Travels from: Fort Worth. TX
- **Fee range: $10,001 - $20,000
Talent Services
Keynote Topics:
The 7 Simple Habits of Inclusive Leaders
Savvy leaders enjoy superior team performance and drive much higher profitability by incorporating inclusive practices. These behaviors fall into seven categories:
- Perspectives
- Hiring Decisions
- Empathy
- Collaboration
- Mindset
- Values and Strategy Design
- Leading People and Self
Melissa delivers clarity on how our brains are to blame for why leaders unintentionally exclude others. Through storytelling, research, and personal experiences, she offers a common-sense yet compelling and actionable approach to inclusion.
Help Her Thrive
Leadership Strategies for Women’s Success
Ethical leaders share power and put the needs of others first. They are committed to helping all people develop and perform as highly as possible.
Women commonly experience unique workplace challenges due to covert competition, microaggressions, lack of sponsors and mentors, balancing authenticity and assimilation, gaining and retaining power, being heard, increased scrutiny, etc.
This engaging session examines research, scenarios, and best practices for leveraging ethical leadership to mitigate barriers to women’s success.
Leadership Lessons for Leaders Who Don’t Have Time for Leadership Lessons
Want to be an even better leader? Of course! But really, who has time to invest in leadership training? Not the leaders who need it; they’re too busy leading! Yet, our organization’s health and success heavily rely on leaders who evolve their skills and become the best leaders possible. See the quandary?
Busy Bosses is a fun, efficient, and, most importantly, an actionable course on the leadership trends needed to excel as a leader in today’s environment.
During this talk, Melissa synthesizes best practices for evolved leadership into a comprehensive course that you actually have time to take!
Talent Short Bio
Melissa Majors is a seasoned advisor, speaker, and coach with over twenty-five years of experience guiding teams across industries including education, consulting, technology, and associations. Her approach combines neuroscience, narrative, and strategic insight to equip leaders and organizations with tools to “Help Them Thrive.”
She is the author of Help Them Thrive: Leadership Coaching for Humans Leading Humans and The 7 Simple Habits of Inclusive Leaders. Through her keynote, workshop, and coaching work, Melissa helps leaders build cultures rooted in trust, empathy, accountability, and inclusion.
Read Full Bio
In an ever-evolving world where businesses strive for excellence, leadership and innovation go hand in hand. Melissa Majors, an accomplished business leader, is a shining example of how education, innovation, and inclusion can be strategically woven together to drive success.
Not only is she a prominent advocate for inclusion, but she is also the author of “The 7 Simple Habits of Inclusive Leaders,” a book that has become a beacon for those looking to create an inclusive business environment. In this article, we will explore Melissa Majors’ background, her contributions to optimizing the business impact of education, innovation, and inclusion, and the transformative power of her book.
Melissa Majors’ professional journey has been a testament to her commitment to fostering positive change within the business world. After obtaining her degrees, she started her career in corporate training, a domain that allowed her to merge her passion for education and her desire to make a meaningful impact on organizations.
Her career progression led her to work with various organizations, where she assumed roles that allowed her to understand the intricacies of business operations and how education could play a pivotal role in shaping the future of these organizations. She observed that innovation and inclusion were often the key factors that determined the success and sustainability of businesses.
As she continued to work in this space, Melissa realized that there was a gap in the understanding and practical implementation of inclusive leadership. This led her to delve deeper into the subject, seeking to demystify the concept of inclusion and leadership. The result of her exploration was “The 7 Simple Habits of Inclusive Leaders,” a book that would become a guide for leaders striving to create inclusive work environments.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: She emphasizes the importance of cross-functional collaboration. When employees from various departments work together, they bring different skill sets and expertise to the table, enhancing innovation. Open-Minded Leadership: Melissa encourages leaders to be open-minded and receptive to new ideas. This approach sets a precedent for employees to feel comfortable suggesting and implementing innovative solutions.
She works with organizations to identify and address biases within their systems and processes. Addressing bias is crucial to creating a truly inclusive workplace. Employee Resource Groups: Melissa supports the creation of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to provide a platform for underrepresented employees to connect and drive positive change within the organization.
Melissa Majors’ impact on business education, innovation, and inclusion is undeniable. Through her career and her book, she has inspired organizations to rethink their approach to education and the role of knowledge in driving innovation. She has championed the cause of inclusion and its essential role in business success.
Melissa Majors has not only written about these principles; she has lived them and, in doing so, has become a driving force for positive change.
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Talent Videos
Melissa Majors: Speaker Showreel: Human-Centered Leadership and Inclusive Performance
In this 5-minute highlight reel, leadership strategist and inclusion expert Melissa Majors demonstrates her engaging, science-based approach to building cultures of trust, empathy, and sustainable performance.
Video Summary & Key Moments
In this energetic and insightful showreel, Melissa Majors showcases the depth and warmth of her work as a keynote speaker and leadership educator. Through live keynote excerpts, testimonials, and audience moments, the video captures her ability to make complex ideas about inclusion, leadership, and team culture both accessible and actionable.
Melissa introduces her central philosophy: leadership must be human-centered — rooted in understanding, trust, and the neuroscience of behavior. She explains that when leaders shift from commanding to coaching, they unlock creativity, engagement, and loyalty. With humor and authenticity, she weaves stories about real-world challenges leaders face, from bias to burnout, and reframes them as opportunities for growth.
Clips from corporate events and conferences show Melissa connecting with audiences through interactive storytelling and empathy-driven frameworks. She emphasizes that inclusion is not an initiative but a habit, cultivated through daily decisions and micro-behaviors. Her speaking style balances evidence with emotion, leaving audiences motivated to change how they lead and collaborate.
The reel concludes with her powerful reminder that thriving organizations aren’t built by perfect leaders — they’re built by self-aware, compassionate humans who help others succeed.
Key Moments
- 00:00 – 00:40: Opening montage — conference highlights and audience reactions
- 00:40 – 01:50: Melissa’s leadership philosophy — leading with empathy and intention
- 01:50 – 03:10: Inclusion as everyday action — practical mindset and behavior shifts
- 03:10 – 04:20: Audience connection — humor, neuroscience, and practical takeaways
- 04:20 – 05:15: Closing message — help others thrive and lead as humans first
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