Biography

Book Cy Wakeman through The Keynote Curators.

Cy Wakeman is a drama researcherNew York Times best-selling author, Hall of Fame Speaker, and the 2023 World’s #1 Leadership Guru, known for her Reality-Based approach to leadership. With over 25 years of experience working with top brands across various industries, Cy’s philosophy helps leaders and employees achieve better results with less drama, higher engagement without entitlement, and greater happiness, even in challenging work environments.

Deemed “the secret weapon to restoring sanity to the workplace and the worldplace,” Cy inspires leaders to elevate their teams while challenging them to strive for greatness. Her impressive client list includes Google, Meta, NASA, Pfizer, CVS, Johns Hopkins, and Bank of America.

A highly sought-after conference speaker, Cy holds a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation, placing her among the top 3% of speakers worldwide. With an avid fanbase of over 250,000 followers, her Reality-Based Leadership newsletter reaches 30,000 subscribers who regularly apply her modern leadership techniques.

Cy has authored four best-selling books, including her latest, Life’s Messy, Live Happy: Things Don’t Have to Be Perfect for You to Be Content (2022). She also shares practical leadership insights on her podcast, Reality-Based Leadership, offering tools to help leaders evolve their teams and navigate workplace challenges.

Contact us for Cy Wakeman’s fees and availability. 

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Videos

Ditch the Drama – How to Live Happy in a Messy World | Cy Wakeman | TEDxOmaha

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Speech TopicsExpand each topic to learn more

No Ego: How Leaders Can Cut the Cost of Drama, End Entitlement and Drive Big Results

Recent research conducted by Cy Wakeman in conjunction with the Futures Company, has discovered that rather than driving performance and creating efficiencies for the organization, conventional leadership strategies and philosophies are actually fueling drama in the workplace. In fact, research indicated that under currently prescribed leadership philosophy and strategic best practices, up to three months per year of each employee’s time – potentially billions of dollars annually in the U.S. alone – is wasted in drama. In this session, Cy proposes a radically different approach to core leadership philosophies such as engagement, change management, and accountability. Join Cy as she calls leadership professionals to redefine HR and leadership with science and research and to teach leaders strategies and tools that will actually work in their modern workplace.

Reality-Based Leadership™: Ditch the Drama, Restore Sanity to the Workplace and Turn Excuses into Results

These are challenging times in our businesses today. In leadership, we must become willing to admit that the ways in which we have taught leaders to lead over the years is simply not working. These times are calling for a new type of leader, one who can bring peace, sanity, and results back to the workplace! In this session, Cy rocks audiences as she teaches the key principles of her new wave of Reality-Based Leadership™.

Business Readiness – Ensuring Our Teams are Ready for What’s Next

In this high energy session, Cy Wakeman will help leaders understand their heightened responsibilities in delivering teams and talent that are ready for what’s next along with strategies to ensure that teams able to quickly adapt and change and deliver on the needs of the organization to provide relevant, high- value, services in even mature markets. After all, change is only hard for the unready.

Hardwiring Accountability Into Your Workforce

Everyone is talking about accountability, but few organizations are actually successful in ensuring that personal accountability is hardwired into their talent and everyday business operations. Join Cy as she breaks down the core competency of personal accountability and gives you no nonsense, workable strategies to hire for, coach for, and develop for accountability in your workforce! After all, personal accountability is the foundation of Reality Based Leadership™ – a revolution in leadership.

Employee Engagement is Broken: Unlocking the True Driver of Employee Performance

For years, our organizations have been investing time, money and energy into engaging our employees based on the promise that engagement drives results. While engaging our employees is critical, it turns out that engagement isn’t enough. Engagement without accountability is chaos. In this dynamic, provocative and groundbreaking presentation, you will be introduced to the concept of Reality-Based Engagement, where accountability and engagement intersect to produce awesome results. This will include some practical guidance for how to cultivate the power of personal accountability within your organization.

Testimonials

Cy’s engaging, energizing and motivating keynote address with the WIN Nevada group earlier this year really hit the mark. She had a strong message and an entertaining delivery style that made all of us think twice about the lessons she delivered. It was great to see the audience stay after the meeting to talk and share stories that aligned with her message. I believe they learned and enjoyed— a home run with this organization!
What was gained was beyond what I could have imagined. I found myself, as well as my staff, growing in a variety of ways. I get so excited when I think of where ‘we’ were, how far ‘we’ have come, and where ‘we’ can be.
Cynthia clearly understood our goals going into the session and with her thought-provoking and energetic style. She managed to create a stimulating flow of ideas. She was masterful in keeping participants attentive and involved. Board members left the sessions feeling good about the process and energized with new ideas.
Cy was able to manage this diverse group of strong personalities to achieve the stated meeting objectives AND she did so within the time and budget allowed for this event. Cy has a unique ability to challenge individuals’ thought processes in a non-threatening and friendly way—and she easily interacts with employees on all levels. Cy is a high energy, motivational, thought-provoking and results-oriented speaker.

Booksby Cy Wakeman

Life's Messy, Live Happy

For Meeting Planners

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