Penny Locaso

Helping leaders do hard things humanly, so they build organisations people are proud to belong to.

Profile

Penny helps leaders do hard things humanely, so they can excel without exhaustion and build organisations people are proud to belong to. Her work focuses on equipping leaders to make a real-world impact that extends beyond performance, an impact that reshapes culture, improves wellbeing, and builds a better future for business and society.

As AI reshapes the rules of work and leadership, Penny supports forward-thinking leaders to stay relevant by using AI ethically to amplify influence, deepen human connection, and lead with integrity in an increasingly automated world.

She brings a unique depth of experience as a trauma therapy–trained facilitator, internationally recognised coach, and global speaker. Her work draws on behavioural science, psychology, original qualitative research, and 20 years of commercial leadership.

Penny created the world’s first Intentional Adaptability® framework, a future-fit skillset for thriving in complexity and uncertainty, which was published in the American Journal of Consulting Psychology. She’s not afraid to call out what isn’t working and is committed to making impact measurable, not just motivational.

A published author, Penny has worked with senior leaders at Google, Microsoft, Deloitte, the Australian Defence Force and more.

Her bold, evidence-backed approach to redefining leadership has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, Australian Financial Review, Women’s Agenda, and on the TEDx stage, to name just a few.

She is also a qualitative researcher, publishing whitepapers that expose the unseen barriers holding women back from leadership and offering practical ways for organisations to dismantle them and create cultures where more voices can make an impact.

As a trained yoga teacher, Penny brings grounded clarity and calm into every room, helping leaders reconnect with what truly matters and show up with courage, compassion, and integrity.

In a world where AI is automating expertise and speed is rewarded over depth, Penny’s work focuses on what makes leadership distinctly human. Her programs cultivate the emotional clarity, wise decision-making, adaptability, and compassion that machines can’t replicate, so leaders can stay relevant, build trust, and drive meaningful impact that lasts.

Expertise

Talking Points

Lead the Hard Stuff Humanly

AI can automate tasks, but not humanity. This session equips leaders with the practical, human skills machines can’t replicate like empathy, adaptability, and wise compassion, so they can lead under pressure without losing themselves.

While Everyone’s Watching AI, Who’s Watching the Future of Leadership?

This keynote helps leaders reimagine influence, impact, and relevance in an AI-powered world by doubling down on what can’t be automated: ethics, trust, and meaning.

The Busy = BS Masterclass

Busyness has become a badge of honour, but it's killing clarity, energy, and real leadership. This session helps leaders cut through noise, reclaim their focus, and make space for what truly drives impact.

Fear(less) Masterclass

Fear is not the enemy, it’s fuel. Rewire your relationship with fear and lead with courage when it counts.

Imagine the innovation that could be created in your business if fear did not hold your people back. Imagine the leadership diversity of an organisation that encourages everyone to bring their whole self to work.

Fear is often the number one barrier preventing your people from stepping into meaningful change, at work and in life. Many temper themselves and their brilliant ideas due to fear of failure, financial instability or the
judgment of others. This eye-opening, tactics-based program identifies what's holding your people back and teaches them how to use fear to positively influence behavioural and organisational change, build confidence and practice resilience.

The Fear(less) Masterclass will teach your people how to:
- Build resilience through the practice of getting comfortable with discomfort.
- Positively influence outcomes when under stress.
- Respond proactively to fear and positively shift their attitude towards failure.
- Stop fear from being a barrier to achieving what they want in work and life.
- Amplify their change capability.
- Lead with genuine authenticity.
- Level up human connection and empathy-building deeper relationships and understanding of their peers.

Proof Over Hype

Impact isn’t a feeling, it’s evidence. Learn how to turn real results into influence that opens doors.

Flourishing Is Not a Luxury, it’s a Necessity

When leaders run on empty, performance suffers. This session helps redefine what thriving looks like under pressure and gives leaders practical ways to access energy, focus, and impact without burning out.

Here's what life looks like at the moment for many professionals:
- They feel like their operating in robot mode and like no one is getting the best of them
- They keep telling themselves When it's all done, then I'll make the time for me, but the reality is it's never all done, and they just keep moving themselves to the bottom of their to-do list.
- They lay in bed at night, wondering how much is enough and what I am walking into tomorrow.
- They struggle to set boundaries when there is so much that needs to be done at work and in life.

It's time to shift from existing to living and unlock healthy high high-performance in your team. In this session, Penny will leverage the science of psychology to shine a spotlight on why flourishing is not a luxury; it's a necessity for both the business and the individual. Participants will gain clarity on how to define flourishing on their terms, what skills are required to enable it and how to reignite their spark and feel more present in the moments that matter.

Work-Life Boundaries for Energy, Presence and Calm

Performance demands presence. This session helps leaders build sustainable boundaries for energy, calm, and clarity.

Welcome to the Burnout Superhighway, where in the corporate world, it's peak hour every day! Pervasive uncertainty and dissolved work-life boundaries are making this a costly road to travel for employees.
corporations, and societies.

Healthy high performance relies on healthy and sustainable boundaries between work and life. Yet with more than 30% of workers now feeling like they are always on (McKinsey, 2021), it's clear that the boundaries between work and life for many are non-existent, and the mental and physical impact is proving toxic.

Would you like to support your team in sleeping peacefully at night and then bouncing out of bed feeling energised, in uncertainty, courageous in their actions, and nourished at their core?
This micro workshop is the circuit breaker you've been looking for!

Participants will walk away with:
- Clarity on what healthy high performance looks like and how busy is a barrier to its realisation.
- An understanding of their energy resources and where to channel them for enhanced impact and fulfilment.
- Clarity on what a boundary is and how to create one that enables the space for more of what matters.
- An Energy Audit Tool that enables the assessment and redirection of one's energy when it matters most
- A setting boundaries framework that empowers one to take control of their time and how they use it.

The Internationally Adaptable Leader

In a world obsessed with speed, this 4-month program builds the rare skill of intentional adaptation. Backed by Penny’s world-first IAQ® framework, it helps leaders drive meaningful change without compromising wellbeing, clarity, or values.

The world as we know it has changed and it's likely it has changed forever therefore, the way we look at adaptability needs to change too. All of the evidence suggests that our unconscious adaptation to enable the quickest path to productivity and ultimately success has wired our brains into survival mode. Ultimately, limiting our ability to realise healthy high performance.

The biggest opportunity leaders have at this unprecedented moment in time is to bring intention and meaning to the forefront of how they adapt and enable their team to do the same. But ask yourself how might you do that?

Enter the world's first psychometrically validated (and soon-to-be-published in The American Journal of Psychology Consulting) Intentional Adaptability Quotientâ„¢ (IAQ) designed to decode the skills required to
navigate uncertainty and unlock healthy high performance.

This unique framework provides a circuit breaker to empower you and your people to kick toxic productivity to the curb and start living healthy high performance.

We're not here to just talk about intentional adaptability we want to create an experience that enables you to get your hands dirty and build skills in this ground-breaking practice.

This 3-hour workshop empowers leaders to create a culture of adaptability and respond mindfully to challenges as they arise. Using a self-assessment to establish current levels of adaptability, participants create a clear and action-orientated approach to embrace a more adaptable style of leadership.

The Expert Effect

A session for women ready to stop doubting and start owning their expertise. Gain tools to build visibility, credibility, and influence.

The Traits Women Get Punished for Today Are the Leadership Edge of Tomorrow

The traits that once sidelined women, compassion, inclusion, and long-term thinking, are now strategic advantages. This session reframes what leadership demands today and challenges women to courageously lead on their terms without losing themselves in the process.

Impact Makers

A high-impact leadership accelerator for women who are done playing small. This six-month, evidence-backed experience helps your emerging and established female leaders move from potential to power—translating their expertise into visibility, influence, and real-world change. With strategic mentoring, practical training, and a curated community, Impact Makers builds the kind of leadership that drives results, shifts systems, and leaves a legacy.