Speaking | David McQueen

Substance
over spectacle.

For senior leadership audiences navigating complexity, change, and consequence. Built for leaders who want the thinking to hold up under scrutiny and the frameworks to travel back into the room.

Keynotes

One-hour addresses for conferences, associations, and corporate events. Built around a single thesis, developed with rigour, and applied to the conditions audiences are actually navigating. Four keynotes available.

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Masterclasses

Interactive working sessions for senior leadership groups. Not longer keynotes — different work. The frameworks are applied to the room's actual context, tested in small groups, and owned by participants before they leave. Two masterclasses available.

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Leading Under Pressure

How leaders show up when pressure reveals the operating system. Preparing for the real, not the ideal.

The Invisible Shift

Governing what's already in motion when clarity is incomplete and the pace of change has outrun the governance designed to manage it.

Critical Decision Making

Good decisions under pressure are not made by more confident people. They are made by people whose thinking is more disciplined.

What Capital Costs

Capital decisions are not financial decisions. They are leadership decisions and leaders who treat them otherwise pay a price that does not show up on the balance sheet.

Standard Keynote

60 min + Q&A

A structured keynote designed for senior audiences navigating complexity, change, or consequence. Built to provoke clear thinking rather than passive agreement.

Fireside Conversation

40 min structured dialogue

A moderated conversation built around a defined leadership theme. Less presentation, more exploration. Designed to surface insight through dialogue while maintaining a clear strategic thread.

Executive Briefing

Boards and Senior Forums

A focused, high-level briefing for boards, executive gatherings, and leadership forums. Shorter, sharper, oriented toward the decisions leaders must make next.

Leadership Teams Under Sustained Pressure

Growth, restructuring, market shifts, or regulatory change. Where the quality of leadership thinking determines outcomes.

Organisations Navigating Major Transitions

M&A integration, leadership succession, strategic pivots, or cultural transformation. Where old operating systems are insufficient and new ones must be built.

Conferences for Senior Practitioners

CEO forums, executive gatherings, board retreats, or industry associations where the audience carries real accountability and expects application over entertainment.

Strategy Days and Senior Offsites

Annual planning sessions, quarterly reviews, or leadership offsites where thinking needs to shift before decisions are made.

Every engagement begins with a conversation about the audience

We explore what you are bieng challenged with. A well-spent hour, or half day, would produce examples and an application to context. The thesis stays intact.

All enquiries come directly. Eight to twelve weeks lead time is preferred for conferences. Shorter timelines are possible for corporate sessions but not at the cost of preparation quality.

I deliver in person, virtually, or hybrid. UK and global.

I charge five figures for each keynote engagement. Availability is limited. Not every enquiry leads to a booking. That is intentional.

Many advisory relationships begin with a speaking engagement. If the session surfaces decisions or challenges your organisation needs to work through in depth — that conversation is available.

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