David helps audiences uncover the perception gaps that limit trust, communication, and performance, and gives them a practical way to lead differently the very next day.
Trusted for leadership conferences, sales kickoffs, association events, and executive retreats, in all 50 states and internationally.
Not the polite applause silence. The thinking silence. Two minutes tells you everything.
The emotional high of a typical keynote fades within days. David builds his talks around how memory and behavior actually work, so the change survives the flight home.
Inspiration is an emotion, and emotions decay. "How Can I?" is a mental tool: short enough to remember, simple enough to use in the exact moment a leader is about to blame, judge, or give up. That is why attendees report using it months later.
Behavioral scientists call it the peak-end rule: people judge an entire experience by its emotional peak and how it closes. A keynote is the highest-leverage hour on your agenda. David is how planners engineer the moment attendees talk about all year.
Every planner has a story about a speaker who bombed. David is one of the few speakers whose results you can check yourself before signing: 5,148 audience ratings, gathered independently and published in full at talkadot.com/s/david.
Every talk pairs decades of perception science with the same insight from 3,000+ interviews with top performers: the gap between who people are and who we assume them to be is where all the lost potential lives. Each keynote is customized to your audience and outcomes.
The question that unlocks the best in you and everyone around you. Three words his mother used to survive loss — and that David has spent 15 years proving work for everyone.
Your audience walks away with a repeatable question that turns blame into ownership, in the meeting, on the sales call, and at home.
Full description →The leadership shift that unlocks performance without trying to change anyone. Replace the exhausting fix-it habit with the empathy advantage.
Your leaders walk away with a practical way to raise performance, engagement, and retention without burning out trying to fix people.
Full description →The one shift that changes how you lead, perform, and connect. Turn frustrating people into committed ones and obstacles into openings.
Your team walks away seeing opportunity where they saw obstacles, and committed colleagues where they saw difficult ones.
Full description →
Real Leadership, Real Results distills David's keynotes into 52 simple, actionable lessons: one per week, a full year of becoming the leader people don't want to leave. It was written for the manager nobody ever taught how to do the hardest part of the job: seeing the value in the team they already have.
People don't leave companies. They leave leaders. And they stay, and give everything they have, for the ones who make them feel seen, valued, and believed in.
New managers can open it on a Monday and use it in that afternoon's one-on-one, with lessons like "You can't turn a cat into a dog" and "They're people, not robots." One client turned the book's concepts into a six-part leadership development series for their managers.
David has spoken to over 200,000 people across every U.S. state and internationally — from Fortune 500 leadership teams to national associations and frontline sales forces.
Hiring a keynote speaker is the one agenda decision your attendees will judge you on. David is the rare speaker you can verify before you sign: 5,148 public ratings, 99.7% find his sessions valuable, 98% want to see him again. Tell us about your event and David will personally find out if it's a match.
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