We can’t afford not to be changing. Disruption presents a choice between opportunity and obsolescence.
At the age of five, Holly Ransom's grandmother, Dorothy, told her, "Honey, if you walk past it, you tell the world it's okay," and she has lived by that mantra ever since, devoting her life and career to inspiring audiences around the world to stand up and lead the change they want to see.
Today, Holly is recognised globally for her unique ability to take complex ideas and problems, grind them down, and restructure them in a way everyone can understand. She is the founder and CEO of a consulting firm, Emergent; author of The Leading Edge; co-founder, chief curator, and catalyst at Energy Disruptors, winning ‘Best Conference’ in Canada for its work-up catalysing collaboration across the energy industry.
As a renowned speaker and master interviewer, Holly has led discussions with influential figures such as Barack Obama, Malcolm Gladwell, Billie Jean-King, Condoleezza Rice, Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus, and the world's first humanoid robot, Sophia. She even delivered a Peace Charter to the Dalai Lama. Due to this work, Holly was named one of Australia's 100 Most Influential Women by the Australian Financial Review and was awarded the US Embassy's Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Leadership Excellence in 2019. To top it off, Sir Richard Branson nominated her for Wired Magazine's 'Smart List' of Future Game Changers to watch.
While a Fulbright scholar and part of the Harvard Kennedy School Class of '21 fellow, Holly received the prestigious Anne Wexler Public Policy Scholarship, allowing her to act on social and economic inclusion by connecting people directly with the decisions that affect their lives.
Holly’s book, The Leading Edge, is democratising leadership learning by igniting individuals, ability to accelerate change through asking better questions, thinking beyond biased answers, and establishing a groundswell for advancement.
Holly is an accomplished company director in her own right, Holly has compressed a power-packed career into a decade, spanning corporate, non-profit, and public sectors. Working with big-name clients such as P&G, Microsoft, Virgin, Cisco, and KPMG to effect and inspire actual change. Occasionally, Holly will grace Australian screens commentating for Reuters, CBS, and Australia’s ABC. Holly's fierce dedication to inclusivity and equity drives her work as Chair of Pride Cup Australia, a non-profit organisation and movement devoted to eradicating LGBTQI+ discrimination within sporting clubs while making them secure and welcoming for players and fans.
But even before all this, Holly was identified early as a dynamic thought leader and asked to Chair the G20 Youth Summit in 2014, and the United Nations Coalition of Young Women Entrepreneurs in 2016, and became the youngest director ever to be appointed to an Australian Football Club, Port Adelaide, one of the 18 teams in the professional Australian Football League.
A two-time ironwoman, when Holly does manage to find some downtime, she loves to cook, dance, and sing... despite her complete lack of talent at all three.
Talking Points
The New Trust Landscape
Trust is the social glue that holds our institutions, businesses, media and societies together but it’s under an unprecedented attack- with trust hitting an all-time low. But this isn't the age of distrust - far from it. A new world order is emerging; who and how we trust is shifting, dramatically and quickly, and we’re moving to an age of distributed trust where reputation has never mattered more. It’s critical for leaders to understand how to remain effective in this new landscape and to be aware of trusts role in human relationships, innovation and society. The New Trust Landscape
This presentation will examine the change in the ‘trust landscape’ and the adaptions businesses need to make to position for a competitive advantage. This talk will unpack three core components of any trust equation: how has it broken; what can we do to build it; and what can we do to rebuild it when it’s dented? Examining companies and organizations who’ve successfully adapted to the new trust landscape, and examining the role of technology, robots and algorithms in our evolving trust conversation.
Influence for Impact
We live in a communication age, and we’ve got to be able to engage effectively in that environment t; record short attention spans, a saturated and noisy landscape and an increasingly sophisticated audience. However, According to an HBR study, 91% of employees say their leaders’ communication style limits the effectiveness of their leadership, and the Independent Directors Council research says miscommunication costs business $62 million annually.Influence for Impact
This presentation is centred on building the communication toolkit of the leaders in the room through storytelling, psychology and engagement theory. We’ll unpack the techniques of some of the world’s leading communicators, get our heads around effective change theory and empower the leaders in the room to position messages in a way that builds cultural momentum around their ideas.
Change is Inevitable But Growth is Intentional: Turning Innovative Ideas into Action
Research has shown, persistently for two decades, that 90% of companies fail to execute their strategy due to poor execution, and McKinsey data tells us that 70 percent of organisational change efforts fall short of desired results. Against the backdrop of a world and business landscape that is changing at a greater velocity than ever before, we need to continually evolve the way that we work and lead so we can continue to achieve excellence. Change is Inevitable But Growth is Intentional: Turning Innovative Ideas into Action
This talk will explore best practice on leading change and executing ideas. Specifically, this presentation will focus on empowering leaders to be able to build their own change roadmap- from framing the messaging and building cultural momentum around ideas, to approaches to ensure ideas get executed.
Leadership is an Inside Job
We spend around $14 billion annually on leadership development programs and yet, as a Boston Consulting Group report highlighted, because these programs aren’t building competencies that are linked to core, relevant business outcomes, a lot of that investment is wasted. Additionally, while we might have ditched roadmaps for Google maps, but when it comes to work and leadership, we’re still teaching, and relying on, a 20th-century handbook- that’s proving ineffectual in the face of present-day challenges. Leadership is an Inside Job
This talk is all about evolving leadership thinking and development for the present-day reality. Over the course of this presentation, we’ll examine the core development fundamentals necessary to be a leader of impact, unpacking the three core areas of mindset, method and mastery. Topics explored include ‘dilemma flipping’, ‘extreme listening’, ‘habit hacking’, ‘readiness discipline’ and ‘getting comfortable being uncomfortable’, and the audience will be exposed to case studies from how these techniques and approaches are being employed by leading-edge individuals and organisations.
The Pillars of Peak Performance (and how to drive them in your organisation)
At the present rate of change 75% of the SAP 500 incumbents will disappear by 2027- with the rate of change and volume of new market entrants, it’s never been harder to remain at the top for an extended period. We have extensive data points (from workforce engagement falling, to skill relevancy declining and trust bottoming out) but we’ll still be relying on leadership approaches that ‘are the way we’ve always done it’. We need a new approach to mindset, method and mastery that’s geared for the reality of the 21st-century organisations and all their challenges.The Pillars of Peak Performance (and how to drive them in your organisation)
A great talk to be paired with ‘Leadership is an Inside Job’, this presentation builds on those individual leadership traits to focus on the building blocks of high performance and the role of leaders seeking to inspire, interact and execute in a way that delivers high-performing and sustainable outcomes. This presentation will cover off topics such as ‘leading for effectiveness, not efficiency’, ‘constructive depolarisation’, ‘rapid prototyping’, ‘smart mob organising and ‘informing for influence’, and we’ll delve into the way leading organisations are applying these techniques to achieve extraordinary outcomes.
E-Sports, Gaming & Social Media: How they’re changing connection, commerce and our neurology
Esports is one of the fastest growing entertainment markets, expected to rise to $1.5 billion market by 2020 with 303 million annual viewers; Gamers devote a collective 156 billion hours a week gaming and spend $23.5 billion for the privilege of doing so; and 2.85 billion people are using social media, with $31 billion currently being spent every year to try and grab their attention on the social platforms. E-Sports, Gaming & Social Media: How they’re changing connection, commerce and our neurology
These three phenomena are profoundly shaping psychology, communication and commerce, and leaders who want to understand the future of consumer expectations, fan experience, commercial partnerships and customer interaction need to open their minds to the next frontier that leaders across these three industries are pushing for. Additionally, for community leaders, teachers and employers this talk will examine the inextricable link between these three phenomena and mental health, connection and community.
The Inter-generational Shift
Millennials comprise 37% of the Australian workforce but will occupy near 75% of it by 2025, yet currently 6 out of 10 are disengaged, costing about $20 billion annually. From a consumer standpoint, millennials have a current spending power of US $10 trillion and will control 28% of the world’s financial assets by 2030 as more than $59 trillion worth of wealth transfers between generations. The Inter-generational Shift
This talk will examine the driving forces behind this emerging generation: what motivates and engages them, and what leads them to make a purchase, become a brand advocate and develop brand or employer loyalty. Importantly, this talk will deal with key intergenerational differences and tensions: feedback, expectations, communication and key decision-making factors; allowing leaders to understand the subtle but significant changes they can make to drive greater employee and customer outcomes.
Master of Ceremonies - Content Weaver
The master of ceremonies should also be a master of content, helping you to weave together key messages, big ideas and divergent opinions to create palpable emotive responses from, and meaningful learning moments for, your audience. Across panels, fireside chats, debates, interactive polling and more... Holly acts as a human curiosity barometer. It’s only when people have the tools to ask new questions, that new solutions will present themselves. Holly’s favourite request is to research and compile your conference content. Then to be tasked to synthesize complex information in real-time, weaving together different voices and views to enable inclusive debate.
Master of Ceremonies - Content Weaver
Video
Holly Ransom | Saxton Speakers
Holly Ransom is a top keynote speaker, a disruption strategist, and a change-maker extraordinaire. Holly has shared the stage with many of the greatest thought-leaders of our time, including Barack Obama, Richard Branson, Billy Jean King, Susan Cain and Seth Godin. Holly consistently receives rave reviews about her on-stage energy, warm authenticity and cutting-edge, relatable content. Holly welcomes the chance to partner with individuals, organizations and teams to create high impact events, inspiring the audience to be the change they wish to see in the world.LTV Holly Ransom
A specialist in disruptive strategy, a private company director and advocate for social and economic inclusion, Holly Ransom is recognized globally for her super-human ability to synthesize and simplify complex issues, and create engaging, thought-provoking conversation.Holly Ransom on what we need to do to fix youth unemployment
A specialist in disruptive strategy, a private company director and advocate for social and economic inclusion, Holly Ransom is recognized globally for her super-human ability to synthesize and simplify complex issues, and create engaging, thought-provoking conversation.Witsup Be Inspired: Holly Ransom
After battling with depression a few years ago, Holly Ransom made it her goal to one day compete at an iron-distance triathlon, however, with an extremely hectic schedule, she was worried about the ability to fit in training. It wasn't until a colleague pointed out to her that she could do it, that she made the decision, and 100 days out from Ironman Western Australia, she dived into the world of swim, bike and run. The 26 year old's list of career accomplishments (so far) is as lengthy as the special effects credits of a Star Wars movie. She was the youngest person to be named in Australia's 100 Most Influential Women. She is the CEO of her own company, Emergent. She's the Co-Chair of the UN's Global Coalition of Young Entrepreneurs.Holly Ransom on the importance of employee engagement
A specialist in disruptive strategy, a private company director and advocate for social and economic inclusion, Holly Ransom is recognized globally for her super-human ability to synthesize and simplify complex issues, and create engaging, thought-provoking conversation.Holly Ransom: "You can't afford not to be changing"
Emergent Chief Executive Holly Ransom speaks about the importance of change, knowing where to go, and how to get there. She is recognized globally for her super-human ability to synthesize and simplify complex issues, and create engaging, thought-provoking conversation.Holly Ransom: Are the legacies of your workplace holding you back from change?
A specialist in disruptive strategy, a private company director and advocate for social and economic inclusion, Holly Ransom is recognized globally for her super-human ability to synthesize and simplify complex issues, and create engaging, thought-provoking conversation.Saxton Fireside Chat with Global Strategist & Disruption Expert, Holly Ransom
The exchange of stories and ideas is more important now than ever. In this bi-weekly series of virtual Fireside Chats you can gain unprecedented access to the world's greatest storytellers and thought leaders. In this intimate session, Holly Ransom shares her insights on leadership and our response to COVID-19.Holly Ransom - Short Reel
Holly Ransom is a globally renowned content curator, powerful speaker and master interviewer with the belief that if you walk past it, you tell the world it’s okay.Watch this space! Holly is a 'mover and shaker' and she has already well and truly commenced a fascinating journey. I will follow her achievements and can only wonder where she will be, in s ... keep reading KPMG
A presentation that starts and ends with a standing ovation and can maintain the energy and engagement of an audience of 500 of America’s most talented high school and college students is no mean feat! When Holly presented for us at the LEAP Foundation Los Angeles, her high-energy and informative session delivered exactly that. Holly commands the stage with such a presence and gains instant respect from her audience for her track record of achievement. She walks the walk of what she talks about. Her ability to break topics like goal-setting and leadership down into pragmatic steps meant students had practical takeaways
Holly is the most amazing young person I have ever come across in my whole life! I often scratch my head and wonder how it is possible that this human dynamo has managed to cram so much into her 22 years and create such lasting, sustainable change in the community while remaining so humble and graceful. There are too many organisations and achievements to mention. But Holly Ransom is a name synonymous with hard work and results.
Holly was an exceptional speaker who captured the audience's attention from the very first word she spoke. Her interaction with the crowd was exceptional and her stories were intriguing and inspirational. Holly is a confident speaker and she has achieved so much in her short time. It was very interesting to hear how she has achieved it all. Holly was one of the key speakers at the Worldly Women lunch with over 900 attendees to celebrate International Women's Day. We would definitely recommend her as a keynote speaker to inspire anyone and everyone.
I cannot commend Holly enough. Holly presented an interactive leadership workshop for 70 high school students at UNICEF Day for Change: A Children’s Rights Conference for Young Leaders. Her presentation was the highlight of the day and combined her expertise in the youth-led sector with her exceptional interpersonal and public speaking skills. She connected with the students via a range of media and inspired them individually to take action for a cause they cared about. I recommend Holly to anyone looking for a skilled, informed and passionate speaker - her presentation will be one to remember.
Holly is an exceptional interviewer and facilitator. Her questions were poignant, articulate and well researched. Her style was the perfect balance of professional and casual/approachable. Her ability to make our Group CEO feel comfortable, coupled with the way she asked the right questions that drew out the right stories and content made her session a real highlight of the conference.
Holly is a talented MC and interviewer. Through our international webcast series, and into the mainstage of The Outside, Holly provided a consistent and accessible voice that our explorers were excited to engage with. Holly's superpower is to interview anyone, make them feel comfortable and ask the questions that need to be asked. On top of all of this, Holly is wonderful to work with, true professionals who takes pride in every engagement, every interview and every conversation. I would without hesitation recommend Holly to be your next keynote or MC, she will inspire, inform and engage your whole audience with laughter, deep knowledge and curiosity.
Holly was an exceptional presenter and captivated our whole room. We have been incredibly impressed and would not hesitate to recommend her for a corporate workshop.
