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Sally Helgesen          

Expert on Women's Leadership & Bestselling Author of "How Women Rise" & "Rising Together"

Sally Helgesen, cited in Forbes as the world’s premier expert on women’s leadership, is an internationally best-selling author, speaker and leadership coach. She has been inducted into the Thinkers 50 Hall of Fame, which honors those whose ideas have shaped the field of leadership worldwide. She is ranked Number 1 in leadership by Global Gurus, and has been recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Institute for Management Studies.

Helgesen's book "How Women Rise," co-authored with Marshall Goldsmith, examines the behaviors most likely to get in the way of successful women. Rights have been sold in 25 languages.

Previous books include "The Female Advantage: Women’s Ways of Leadership," hailed as the classic in its field and continuously in print since 1990, and "The Female Vision: Women’s Real Power at Work," which explores how women’s strategic insights can strengthen their careers. "The Web of Inclusion: A New Architecture for Building Great Organizations," was cited in The Wall Street Journal as one of the best books on leadership of all time and is credited with bringing the language of inclusion into business.

Helgesen's most recent book, "Rising Together: How We Can Bridge Divides and Create a More Inclusive Workplace," published in 2023, topped Amazon’s list for Workplace and Culture in the first week and has found a global audience.

Speech Topics


Rising Together: Workplace Culture Keynote

Sally Helgesen’s Rising Together Keynote and Masterclass help participants build a stronger workplace culutre across a range of divides: gender, ethnicity, race, age, and values. Based on her acclaimed book Rising Together, the approach is practical and action-oriented. Attendees will learn how to focus on how we act rather than what we think.

Using vivid, real-life examples, Sally helps participants recognize common triggers that can undermine our efforts to build effective relationships with those we may perceive as different from ourselves. The emphasis is not on eliminating triggers, which usually lie beyond our control. Rather, the emphasis should be directed at managing our responses in a way that serves our interests. These practices enable us to engage a broad range of allies, and serves collaboration and teamwork.

This keynote is highly interactive, mixing content about the hows of workplace culture and inclusion with multiple opportunities for Q&A.

How Women Rise: Leadership Keynote

Women’s distinctive strengths and behaviors provide them with many advantages. Yet the very habits that help them early in their careers can hold them back as they seek to rise to a higher level. Drawing on her work with #1 ranked executive coach Marshall Goldsmith for her acclaimed book How Women Rise, Sally has designed this keynote address and leadership masterclass to help women identify and address the 12 habits most likely to get in their way as they seek to move forward in their careers.

The keynote focuses on 3-4 habits, usually selected by the client. It mixes real-life examples and actionable practices, tips, and tools with interactive Q&A. It can be delivered virtually or in-person.

Tapping the Power of The Female Vision: Leadership Keynote

Women’s distinctive vision—what they notice, what they value, and how they connect the dots– offers competitive advantages in today’s fast evolving global marketplace. Yet because women’s ways of seeing have rarely been recognized or understood, their potential to make strategic contributions has not been fully engaged. Leadership speaker Sally Helgesen draws on three decades of groundbreaking research for this program based on her acclaimed book The Female Vision: Women’s Real Power at Work. Her Tapping the Power programs help women articulate and act on their visionary power.

Sally offers vivid, real-life examples of how women can position themselves as visionaries based on what they most authentically notice and value. In addition, she will demonstrate how to enlist allies based on their vision. The goal of this program is to help women reach their full potential while building careers that are satisfying, sustainable, and rewarding. As a result, they will help their organizations reap the benefits from women’s ability to “see around the corners.”

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