Yemi Penn

The old models of leadership, command, control, and compliance, are breaking down. In this powerful keynote, Dr. Yemi Penn argues that the future belongs to healing leaders: those who make peace with discomfort, honor diverse voices, and create cultures of psychological safety and growth. Backed by her award-winning doctoral research, Yemi makes the case that healing isn’t soft - it’s the missing link between resilience, innovation, and sustainable impact.

AUDIENCE TAKEAWAYS:

• Learn why “healing” is a leadership strategy, not just a personal journey

• Gain tools for embedding psychological safety and cultural repair into your leadership DNA

• Be challenged to lead with empathy, courage, and long-term vision

Too often, inclusion and diversity are reduced to tick-box exercises. Dr. Yemi Penn’s Cultural Peace Brokering™ shifts the conversation from performative action to embodied solidarity.

Based on her PhD research and real-world facilitation experience, this keynote gives leaders a practical roadmap to navigate collective wounds, bridge cultural divides, and build workplaces where people don’t just belong - they thrive.

AUDIENCE TAKEAWAYS:

• Understand how to identify and address the “invisible fractures” in workplace culture

• Learn Dr. Yemi’s 4-phase model for building solidarity, not just surface-level inclusion

• Be inspired to lead conversations that heal, not just manage difference

In a world of rapid disruption, the leaders who thrive are the ones willing to ask the uncomfortable questions. In this keynote, Dr. Yemi Penn introduces her groundbreaking concept of Rebellious Curiosity™—the courage to question norms, lean into discomfort, and transform both personal and organizational blind spots into pathways for growth.

Drawing on award-winning research and lived experience, Yemi shows leaders how curiosity isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s the most radical and profitable form of leadership today.

AUDIENCE TAKEAWAYS:

• Learn the 3 key traits of rebelliously curious leaders

• Discover how to turn discomfort into fuel for innovation

• Walk away with actionable questions to challenge groupthink, disengagement, and cultural stagnation

Liminal means threshold. To solve problems, we will need to shift our perspectives and change the mindset in which these problems were created. This will require deconstructing existing systems, a bit of unreasonableness, and the alchemy of bending reality. Yemi Penn will share her formula for bending reality, explaining how the boundaries that usually cage us can be used as props to bring about superior outcomes.

Key Takeaways & Immersions:

• Understand the key principles of Liminal thinking
• Thinking outside the box is redundant because there is no box
• Acknowledging the elephant in the room and emotional intelligence resolves conflict, implementing ‘how’ this is done
• How leaders can create better relationships within organizations and teams
• A higher sense of compassion and understanding of those around you

Who This is For:

Executives, Partners, Senior Leaders, Middle Management, Aspiring Leaders

We are living in fragmented times, where the very mention of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion often feels divisive. Yet beneath the tension lies a universal truth: every individual desires and has the right to belong. Through her research and lived experience, Yemi Penn reveals how our bodies carry the scars of exclusion and oppression, shaping unconscious biases in both the marginalized and the privileged.

In this keynote, Yemi creates space for the uncomfortable yet necessary conversations we often avoid because they feel “too hard.” She invites leaders and teams to build cultures rooted in psychological safety, empathy, and accountability — cultures where people don’t just survive but truly thrive.

As Yemi says, “Nobody is coming to save us, so we must be bold enough to save ourselves and build thriving cultures.” This talk goes beyond inspiration — it’s a call to collective action, offering a blueprint for transforming workplaces from disconnected and transactional to deeply human and collaborative.

KEY TAKEAWAYS & IMMERSIONS:

• Understanding the foundations of a thriving culture — emotional safety, equity, inclusion, and continuous learning

• Recognising and addressing the root causes of cultural dysfunction and toxicity

• Learning how “Cultural Peace Brokering” can bridge divides and heal disconnection

• Shifting from surviving to thriving — moving beyond burnout into growth and contribution

• Transforming hierarchies of power into systems of shared leadership and co-creation

• Practical tools to assess and improve team culture through courageous conversations

WHO THIS IS FOR:

All levels in business — Senior Managers, Business Leaders, Executives, HR & Culture Leads, Entrepreneurs, and Organizations seeking to transform from a culture of compliance to one of thriving collaboration

Our resilience blueprint is individual to us, meaning our specific distressing events are what create resiliency in us, and the approach we take to get through it is what builds our blueprint. Yemi Penn is a leading thought leader on Trauma in Australia, currently undertaking a PhD researching the transformative nature of trauma. She leads individuals and organizations through their pain points using her bespoke ‘pain to power’ mapping tool to empower people through their transformation. Paving the way for greater connection within teams and kinder organizations.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Shame is linked to trauma and is one of the most useless emotions

when left dormant.

• Resilient Blueprint - ‘Pain to Power’ mapping so that individuals can

understand how to move to their position of power

• An understanding and application of ‘Event + Response = Outcome’

WHO THIS IS FOR:

All levels within an organization, managers, and leaders, particularly people working under intense pressure.

Our resilience blueprint is individual to us, meaning our specific distressing events are what create resiliency in us. This can be hard to see or understand because life can be demanding, making it difficult to understand what our primary needs are and the driving force(s) that limit our ability to be fully courageous.

Yemi shares her bespoke pain to power mapping tool to uncover our resilience blueprint. Sharing research, tools, and approaches to building our resilience, especially during times of uncertainty.

KEY TAKEAWAYS AND IMMERSIONS:

• Understanding the concept of fear

• Getting curious about our personal beliefs attached to fear

• Pain to Power mapping

• Understanding the power of acknowledgement and radical honesty

• Designing who we need to be to be courageous.

WHO THIS IS FOR:

All levels in business, Senior Managers, Business Leaders, Entrepreneurs, Executives, Small & Medium sized business owners.