Rethinking leadership systems in a world that moves faster than human judgement
Penny Locaso works with organisations where pace and urgency leave little room for error in leadership decisions.
As AI accelerates the speed and volume of work, the conditions that support sound judgement are increasingly impacted, placing decision quality, trust, and long-term consequences under strain.
Many organisations experience this as constant busyness while the deeper risk shows up in rushed decisions, narrowed trade-offs, and leadership choices that carry more weight than systems are designed to hold. Penny’s work focuses on strengthening leadership judgement at this exact point of pressure.
A behavioural scientist and provisional psychologist, Penny brings over two decades of commercial leadership experience together with evidence-led insight into how judgement operates under high-pressure conditions. Her original qualitative research, published as The Compassion Advantage, reframes compassion as leadership capability infrastructure, strengthening the conditions that support judgement, trust, and integrity as pace and responsibility increase.
Penny supports leaders and organisations to strengthen discernment where it matters most.
Her work focuses on reshaping the decision conditions leaders operate within, including how decisions are paced and framed and how trade-offs, responsibility, and human impact are held day to day.
She has worked with organisations including Deloitte, Microsoft, NAB, Google, and Booking.com, and her work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Australian Financial Review, and on the TEDx stage. Penny is based in Australia and works with corporate and conference audiences seeking serious, evidence-backed insight and practical ways to strengthen leadership capability in an AI-shaped world.
Talking Points
The Compassion Advantage Strengthening leadership judgement and decision quality as pace accelerates.
This keynote is designed for organisations operating under sustained urgency, where leadership decisions carry real human and commercial consequence. Drawing on behavioural science and original research behind The Compassion Advantage, Penny helps leaders understand how pace shapes judgement and what can be done, practically and immediately, to stabilise decision quality under pressure.The Compassion Advantage Strengthening leadership judgement and decision quality as pace accelerates.
Outcome
Leaders leave with clearer judgement, stronger decision discipline, and practical ways to slow the right decisions while sustaining performance as pace and pressure increase.
Leading in an AI-Shaped World Why faster systems demand stronger human judgement
Designed for organisations investing in AI, automation, and digital transformation who are seeing leadership complexity increase alongside speed.Leading in an AI-Shaped World Why faster systems demand stronger human judgement
Outcome:
Organisations strengthen the human judgement capabilities AI cannot replace, enabling leaders to hold accountability, ethics, and consequence as decision speed accelerates.
When Busy Becomes a Leadership Risk Moving from constant urgency to better decisions
Designed for organisations experiencing overload, decision fatigue, and reactive leadership patterns.When Busy Becomes a Leadership Risk Moving from constant urgency to better decisions
Outcome:
Leaders learn how to interrupt urgency-driven habits and reshape decision conditions so clarity, trust, and follow-through improve without adding more work.
Decision Quality Under Pressure Leading when everything feels urgent
Designed for leaders navigating high-pressure environments where decisions stack quickly, and tolerance for error remains low.Decision Quality Under Pressure Leading when everything feels urgent
Outcome:
Leaders gain shared language and practical techniques to reduce reactivity, widen decision space, and make sound choices when time, attention, and tolerance are tight.
Video
TedX Melbourne Fear Is Your Future
SingularityU Global Summit: The busy shall inherit the future the intentionally adaptable will shape it.
I had the honor and the pleasure to host Penny as a keynote speaker at our Booking.com annual meeting in Amsterdam. She delivered a great experience and an extremely inspirational speech in ... keep reading Booking.com
A huge thank you from the whole team at Bristol Myers Squibb for your amazing session today. I can honestly say that the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and you were just incredible.
All of the feedback I’ve received from our 300+ conference attendees was positive. The conversation of busy-ness, happiness and impact is now on the table and we are set for action.
The energy was electric and real. Everyone walked out of that room feeling more empowered, knowledgeable, and ready to take on the world.
