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Speaking

Give your audience a better answer to “Why Work?”

Keynotes for today’s leaders to better motivate their people, foster collaboration, and help everyone give the best they have to offer.

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Green shape for keynote speaker.
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Watch Phil WORK

Signature Keynotes

Keynotes that help association and corporate leaders motivate top workforce  performance by understanding the value exchange of employment.

  • Why Work?


    Understand what people are really trying to get from work and how that drives top performance.

    Read More

  • From Collision to Chemistry

    Understand what shaped each generation’s relationship with work and turn those differences into advantages.

    Read More

  • Leading Menopausal Professionals

    Equip leaders to recognize and appropriately respond to menopause at work without mistaking its symptoms for poor performance.

    Read More

SIGNATURE KEYNOTES

Phil Putnam's keynote speaking topic about The conversation every employee and leader needs to have 
topic 01

Why Work?

The Conversation Every Employee and Leader Needs to Have


For years, leaders have been taught to ask: “How do I get more from my people?” More engagement. More effort. Better performance. But if the organization wants all of those things, we should start with a different question. What are my people trying to get from work? 

In this highly engaging keynote, Phil shares his Give to Get philosophy and LIFE Motivation Model, a practical framework for leveraging the true engine of professional motivation.

    • Drive first-place results: Leverage the true source of professional motivation to generate top performance.

    • Rethink the economics of retention: Compare the cost of replacing a great employee with the cost of satisfying them.

    • Know when to stay, shift, or move on: Recognize when to strengthen the current relationship, explore a better-fit role, or acknowledge that leaving may be the right outcome for both sides.

    • Motivate stronger performance

    • Improve employee retention

    • Make wiser hiring and people decisions

    • Better understand what employees actually want from work

    • Give leaders a practical tool they can immediately use with their teams

Phil Putnam's keynote speaking topic about Collaborating across generations in today’s workforce 
topic 02

From Collision to Chemistry

Collaborating Across Generations In Today’s Workforce


Four generations are working side-by-side today, and they each entered the workforce under very different conditions, with different ideas about loyalty, excellence, flexibility, and safety. Instead of asking: “What’s wrong with this generation?” Phil teaches people to ask: What does each generation uniquely bring to the table and how can we be sure not to miss out on it?

In this highly engaging keynote experience, you’ll learn the distinct details of each generation’s relationship with employment and gain practical strategies to foster greater communication, compromise, and genuine collaboration.

    • Understand each generation’s relationship with employment and the experiences that shaped them.

    • Move from generational judgment to curiosity and stop treating difference as deficiency.

    • Collaborate across generations with less friction to produce better outcomes.

    • Use generational difference as an advantage by creating more understanding, better collaboration and greater diversity of thought.

    • Improve collaboration across generations

    • Reduce generational friction

    • Better understand how different age groups approach work

    • Equip leaders to manage a multigenerational workforce

    • Use generational diversity as a source of stronger thinking and performance

Phil Putnam's keynote speaking topic about What leaders need to know about menopause at work 
topic 03

Leading Menopausal Professionals

Guidance From a Guy Who Got It Wrong


Women over 40 provide enormous amounts of the expertise, leadership, and experience that drive exceptional business results. Yet most managers have never been taught how menopause may show up at work. That lack of understanding can cause leaders to mistake naturally occurring menopause symptoms for performance problems—and respond with punishment rather than support or accommodation.

In this highly relational, story-based keynote, Phil shares the experiences of four women he has learned from and supported during their menopausal years. Their stories help leaders better understand how menopause may affect work, how to respond appropriately, and how common assumptions can get in the way.

This talk is NOT a man telling people what it’s like to experience menopause. It is a leader helping fellow leaders of all genders avoid the losses that come when we misunderstand how menopause can impact work.

    • Recognize changes in work performance that may be caused by menopause and respond with appropriate accommodation rather than punishment.

    • Avoid preventable talent loss and cost by becoming more informed about an experience affecting highly accomplished professionals.

    • Create safer conversations so disclosure does not automatically feel like a threat to someone’s career.

    • Respond with both humanity and accountability by understanding what support may be appropriate while remaining clear about the needs of the role.

    • Better equip people leaders

    • Reduce preventable loss of experienced talent

    • Help leaders distinguish between support needs and performance issues

    • Build workplaces where highly experienced professionals can continue to thrive

FEEDBACK FROM LEADERS

  • “Phil's ability to connect on a human level, tell his story with vulnerability, and reframe how we think about leadership, success, and fulfillment was inspiring. He brings a rare blend of real-world experience, research-backed insights, and deep empathy to everything he does. I've leaned on him as a thought partner when navigating leadership and enablement challenges, and his perspective has always been thoughtful and grounding.”

    Ashton Williams, Director of Enablement, Salesforce

  • “Phil's session on performance and generational differences quickly became one of the most talked-about parts of our recent CEO summit. He made the audience feel seen, shared insights that stuck, and brought a fresh lens to issues we all experience in today’s multigenerational workplaces. He was an absolute delight to work with. We’d bring him back in a heartbeat.”

    Holly Munter Koenig, Executive Director, Metro NY Society of Association Executives

  • “Phil has a particularly special ability to listen - really listen - and then tailor his approach based on what his clients really need. What sets him apart is his ability to draw connections, see the bigger picture, and use data and his observations to make real impacts with people and organizations.”

    Cara Kantrowitz, VP, Analytics & Insights, Nielsen

  • “Phil’s insights are exactly what today’s leaders need to help them drive performance and business results by centering their management practice on what employees want, and not only on what the business needs.”

    Bruce Ableson, Sr. Director, Global Readiness, Adobe

Highlights from audience-favorite keynotes that help spark better collaboration and performance.

WATCH 

Why Work? -
How to get First Place Results

Why Work? -
The True Key to Motivation

From Collision to Chemistry -
Collaboration is Possible

From Collision to Chemistry -
Reactions to Employment

Leading Menopausal Professionals -
What This Talk Solves

Leading Menopausal Professionals -
What Happens In This Talk

Phil Putnam is a workforce keynote speaker, and author helping associations turn human motivation into stronger performance.

Contact Phil

Start the conversation that every employee and leader needs to have.

Contact Phil to bring him to your next conference or event and spark better conversations about work and performance.

Contact Phil

Ready to ask “Why Work?”

Download chapter one of Desire-Based Leadership for free and experience Phil’s approach for getting first-place business results through people’s first-place motivation.