Polly LaBarre: Change Management

  • Leaves audiences with actionable lessons from organizations and leaders who are transforming their industries by breaking the rules and harnessing the human element.
  • Inspires people to reimagine the challenges they face, become fearless experimenters, and rethink the work of leadership

Travel & Fee Range:**

  • Travels from: New York City, New York
  • **Fee range: $20,001 - $35,000

Keynote Topics

A monster wave of change has set off a vast reckoning with our taken-for-granted beliefs about every aspect of how and where work gets done.

Every leader today must grapple with the inescapable imperative to create and embrace a comprehensive agenda for meaningful change on the design of work and the interconnected urgent challenges of our time—deep inequities, structural dehumanization, environmental calamity.

Polly LaBarre takes leaders on a journey across this new landscape—inspiring them with fresh thinking on the work of leadership and equipping them with powerful new approaches for this new work order, including:

  • How to transcend the seemingly intractable tradeoffs between performance imperatives and responsibility for people and planet
  • How to cultivate an “audacity of imagination” and galvanize people around a shared sense of purpose
  • How to “leader-proof” your organization
  • How to design platforms for involving, equipping, and connecting people
  • How to build organizational respond-ability by enlarging individual responsibility
  • How to grow your own resilience in the face of daunting uncertainty

Recipes For Reinvention & Resilience

Who hasn’t been rocked by change in the last few years? While we’ve all been forced to rethink, adjust, and adjust again, the gravitational pull of the status quo remains a stealthy enemy of innovation.

What does it take to wake up an organization’s inner insurgent to change ahead of change?

These times demand every organization dramatically amp up its agility, inventiveness, and adaptability.

Drawing on her research and work inside some of the world’s most innovative and progressive organizations, Polly LaBarre lays out actionable strategies for building a perpetual innovation engine:

  • What mindsets, practices and behaviors allow you to see the world differently and subvert the status quo
  • Where to look for the future—and how to generate a whole new map of possibility
  • How to embed innovation as a social process
  • What it takes to create a robust architecture of collaboration for a distributed, ever-evolving cohort of innovation peers and partners
  • How to build a resilient organizational microbiome by embedding the mindset and methods of experimentation into everything you do

Designing Work To Create A Cultural Advantage

Today’s whirlwind of challenges—pandemic, social turbulence, economic uncertainty, looming climate catastrophe—has revealed just how inhospitable our organizations are to the human beings who work inside them. It’s not enough to ask which is the right hybrid work policy.

It’s past time to ask: what kinds of organizations would we design if we genuinely believed in the inherent value, fundamental goodness, and unlimited potential of every person?

Short answer: they’d be very different. In this talk, Polly LaBarre unpacks design rules for unleashing your organization’s full human and creative capacity and lays out a path for humanizing work, including:

  • How to unleash, mobilize and amplify the often unruly, but essential human qualities—imagination, energy, resourcefulness, curiosity, intuition, empathy, artistry, eccentricity, passion, and more—without losing control
  • How to cultivate a culture of agency, activism, and ownership where every person makes it their job to change things for the better
  • How to equip and involve every person in the organization as a creator, strategist, and entrepreneur
  • How to build a community of peers that amplifies belonging, contribution, and voice
  • How to maximize engagement by investing in wellbeing and widening the circle of care

Polly LaBarre helps leaders make sense of and creatively respond to the forces buffeting their organizations. A bestselling author, speaker, and thinker who’s advised top global organizations, Polly’s mission for the past 20 years has been to make every kind of organization fundamentally more resilient, innovative and inspiring. Her insights embolden and equip leaders at […]

Polly LaBarre helps leaders make sense of and creatively respond to the forces buffeting their organizations. A bestselling author, speaker, and thinker who’s advised top global organizations, Polly’s mission for the past 20 years has been to make every kind of organization fundamentally more resilient, innovative and inspiring. Her insights embolden and equip leaders at every level to make a meaningful impact. Polly is an inspiring and provocative voice on the big ideas and important questions that will shape the future of organizations, work, and collective progress.

Polly LaBarre is a dynamic and influential speaker, writer, and leadership expert known for her work on innovation, collaboration, and organizational transformation. She has a reputation for delivering thought-provoking and engaging presentations that challenge traditional thinking and inspire audiences to embrace change.

Polly LaBarre has co-authored several books, including “Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win” and “The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion.” These books explore the future of work, the importance of embracing innovation, and the need for organizations to adapt to a rapidly changing business landscape.

Polly LaBarre | Change Management Expert

As a speaker, Polly has addressed audiences at major conferences, corporate events, and leadership summits around the world. Her talks are known for their energy, humor, and practical insights. She draws from her extensive research and real-world experiences to provide actionable strategies and inspiration for leaders and organizations seeking to drive innovation and create high-performing teams.

Polly LaBarre is also a co-founder of the management consulting firm Management Lab (MLab). MLab works with organizations to transform their management practices, foster a culture of innovation, and unlock the potential of their employees. Through her work at MLab and as a speaker, Polly has become a trusted advisor to leaders in various industries, helping them navigate the complexities of the modern business landscape.

Overall, Polly LaBarre is recognized as a thought leader in the areas of leadership, innovation, and organizational change. Her expertise, combined with her engaging speaking style, has made her a sought-after speake

A sought-after speaker, moderator, and interviewer, Polly has delivered hundreds of keynote addresses around the world and developed and hosted numerous events.

Polly is a passionate (and experimental) gardener, an ardent cook, and a devoted yogi. She serves on the board of CitySeed, a nonprofit working to build a just and healthy food system and economic opportunity in New Haven, CT. A graduate of Yale University, Polly lives with her family in New Haven.

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