Keynote Speaker – Megumi Miki
Expand existing leadership paradigms and ignite hidden talents with the Quietly Powerful message.
Megumi Miki is a sought-after speaker who invites leaders to rethink the definition of good leadership at conferences, workshops, organisational and community events. Audiences find that her unique perspective and engaging presentation style deeply resonates and inspires genuine positive change.
Megumi draws on her own experiences as a ‘quieter’ professional, along with 20+ years’ expertise in leadership and organisational development, to deliver content that is insightful, thought provoking and pragmatic.
The Quietly Powerful message will help your organization:
- Explore the limitations of existing beliefs around leadership;
- Identify hidden talent that is currently being wasted;
- Access the benefits of more diverse leadership styles;
- Develop an inclusive workplace environment where a wider range of behavioural and thinking styles – including quieter approaches – can flourish.
Attendees will also take away invaluable advice on how to tap into their full range of strengths, including how to access their quiet ‘superpowers’ to become confident, and better, leaders.
Megumi is based in Melbourne and is available as a keynote speaker, panel guest and workshop provider, in person across Australia and virtually across the world. Enquire now.
One of the most useful and motivating presentations I have ever attended. Months after, others are still talking about it and what a difference it has made to how they use their quietly powerful superpowers.
About Megumi, Keynote Speaker
Megumi is an author, facilitator and consultant on leadership and culture based in Melbourne, Australia. She is the recipient of the Top Coach for 2021 award by coachfoundation.com, and her book ‘Quietly Powerful: How your quiet nature is your hidden leadership strength’ received Best Leadership Book and Australian Career Book awards in 2020.
As a keynote speaker, Megumi is known as much for her calm, yet impactful delivery, as she is for her thought-provoking content. Drawing heavily on her own experience as a quieter professional from a minority background, her humble presentation style and ground-breaking research on leadership combine to deliver a presentation that is invaluable to organisations and also a source of inspiration for other quieter professionals.
In her presentations, Megumi brings together 20 years of experience and practical knowledge from the fields of Leadership, Organisational Culture and Diversity & Inclusion. She has worked with some of Australia’s largest corporations and multinationals, as well as smaller government and non-profit organisations, and has also presented for international conferences.
With her Quietly Powerful work, Megumi delivers on her mission to empower people who are quieter or otherwise marginalised, to have a voice. Her belief is that that these different leadership styles and voices are critical for organisations to innovate and problem-solve in the challenging world of today.
Read Megumi’s keynote speaking reviews.
Speaking Topics
Presentations can be tailored to suit your audience and the needs of your organisation and event. Popular topics include (click each topic to expand):
1. Quietly Powerful: The changing face of leadership
The traditional ‘hero’ leadership style alone is outdated. Learn what the new definition of good leadership looks like, and about the research that supports this.
In the uncertain, changing, global and inter-connected world, the traditional ‘alpha’ or ‘hero’ leadership style alone has become inadequate.
Quietly Powerful expands the definition of what good leadership looks, sounds and feels like. By expanding the definition, organisations can lift the quality of leadership and stop wasting real and diverse talent who are overlooked because they do not ‘fit’ the traditional style.
Hear about the Quietly Powerful leadership research that turns our traditional view of powerful leadership on its head.
2. Conscious Listening: The underrated leadership superpower
Learn why conscious listening is a critical leadership skill now, more than ever, and what it takes for you and your leaders to develop the skills and mindsets for listening, beyond active listening.
If you and your leaders have ever wondered whether people are telling you what you need to know, or whether information and ideas are being withheld, this talk is for you. It will challenge you to put the spotlight on you as the listener.
“Leaders who don’t listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say.” ― Andy Stanley
If you think you are too busy to listen properly, think again. The cost of persistent poor listening goes beyond inadequate information flow. If you think you are already a good listener, consider whether others feel listened to by you, and what impact this has on your leadership.
One of the key leadership superpowers of Quietly Powerful leaders is conscious listening – that is, the ability to listen with awareness so that people feel they can speak, feel listened to, understood and valued.
Leaders who listen and create a listening environment of safety and space within their organisations enable better decision-making, drive growth and innovation, enhance collaboration and inclusion, and manage risk.
Hear the Leaders who Listen* concepts and explore how well you and/or your leaders listen and create a listening environment.
* Leaders who Listen was co-founded by Megumi and her colleagues, Anna Reeve and Dr Leigh Gassner, to help leaders to enhance their leadership effectiveness through conscious listening.
3. Stop wasting your hidden talent
In a world where we face a ‘war on talent’, it is essential that you tap into the full potential of every team member. Find out how to identify, develop and retain under-utilised talent within your organisation.
Did you know that your organisation could be wasting a lot of talent? Your peoples’ skills are key to organisational performance, growth and innovation. When talented people do not feel included, valued or engaged, their skills, experience, innovative ideas and leadership all go to waste. This is a loss for the organisation as well as for the individual.
You may be surprised to find out why and how some of the most talented future leaders are hidden and overlooked. Find out what talent you may be overlooking and how you might find and develop them.
4. Quietly Powerful: Unlock your hidden leadership strength
Learn how to use your quiet nature as an advantage and a source of strength, so that individuals shine, and organisations benefit from the full range of their peoples’ talents.
This talk is a must for those professionals who feel overlooked because of their quiet nature, or who are exhausted from having to put on a louder ‘persona’.
Megumi’s own experience of workplace burnout led her to realise that trying to be someone you are not in the workplace is neither sustainable nor fulfilling. She had to find an authentic approach that harnessed her quiet strengths, and in 2016 launched her Quietly Powerful program to share the subsequent successes from her own career, along with insights from other highly successful Quietly Powerful leaders whom she has interviewed.
The Quietly Powerful conversation will teach you that, far from being a weakness, your quieter nature can be an advantage in the workplace.
5. Stop faking till you make it
Learn two key ingredients that allow you to challenge and stretch yourself, in a way that feels authentic to you and doesn’t require faking a different persona.
How often have you heard that you should ‘fake it till you make it?’ Should you change yourself to meet others’ expectations and adopt people’s feedback even if it feels fake? Or should you just be yourself and let others adapt around you?
In this world where authentic leadership is treasured, faking it will not result in people following your lead. People sense inauthenticity. However, if you don’t stretch outside your comfort zone, you will limit yourself, your career success and your ability to have an impact. How do we solve this dilemma?
Discover the two key ingredients that allow you to stretch your capabilities without feeling ‘fake’, so that you can become your best self.
6. Flip self-promotion: How to be visible without feeling fake
Learn three strategies to flip your thinking and adapt how you go about self-promotion, to increase your visibility without feeling like you are bragging or being inauthentic.
You may have been told to be more visible and to self-promote. Or perhaps you are aware that your talents and capabilities are not known by enough people, and that it is holding you back. Whether you are looking for a job, wanting to progress in your career, trying to have greater influence or growing your business, self-promotion seems like something you cannot escape.
So many people are uncomfortable with self-promotion. They get told to ‘just get out there’, ‘stand out and be seen’ and cringe. If you are naturally quieter and dislike being the centre of attention, it’s even worse!
The problem is, if you don’t find a way to get known, you become the ‘best kept secret’ that no one knows about. It doesn’t help anyone, especially you.
Join this session to explore:
- Why self-promotion is such a problem for naturally quieter professionals.
- Three strategies to flip self-promotion on its head and increase visibility in your authentic way.
- How to apply the strategies in real life.
- What to do with the discomfort.
7. Finding Calm in the Chaos
Learn four mental strategies that allow you to access your inner calm, so that you can respond creatively and wisely during times of uncertainty and change.
The ability to find calm within chaos is a skill that gets overlooked when things are going smoothly. When things become chaotic and uncertain, the ability to access inner calm becomes a critical skill and a quiet superpower.
When you are unable to access calm, not only do you build up stress and damage your immune system and physical health, your cognitive capacity also becomes impaired. Even the smartest people can make poor decisions as a result.
Learn how to find inner calm amidst chaos, so that you can be proactively creative in your responses to challenging situations, rather than being reactive.
Keynote Speaking Experience
Megumi’s speaking experience ranges from addressing auditoriums of over 1000 to participating in conference panel discussions, running in-house workshops and addressing international audiences virtually. Her keynote speaking highlights include:
- Keynote presentation to 1200 attendees at the Empowering Women Summit for the Victorian State Government.
- Providing an address on the changing face of leadership to over 300 attendees at the Newday Leadership Summit.
- Presenting ‘Quietly Powerful: A leadership strength for navigating uncertainty and complexity’ to the Better Together Inclusion Conference for Public Health England.
Other Speaking Clients
Audience Feedback
“I heard a lot of good things about Megumi but she is better than what I heard, maybe because, not everything can be explained in words. She is humble and quiet but powerful and motivational. Her talk has changed the way I judge quiet people. Her presentation bought a paradigm shift within me, it was a totally unique perspective, and it was totally worth listening. Her presentation was educating, encouraging, entertaining, inspiring, and pragmatic. I am not a quiet person, but I equally enjoyed and learned from the presentation.“
“Megumi is a consummate professional and a thoughtful speaker – refreshing in an age of trite grabs and overheated opinions. Her research into ‘quiet power’ is critical in this era of rising geopolitical tensions and destructive polarities. She is skilled at conveying the complex issues she’s explored in a compelling yet accessible manner and she reminds us, critically, that understanding and supporting the diverse voices in our midst is both our strength and a unique competitive advantage.“
“I highly recommend booking Megumi for your key note speech. Megumi illuminates such an important and refreshing message. Organisations need diversity in the leadership team, including quiet, strategic, and thoughtful people. Megumi gives confidence to quiet people to step up as leaders without trying to completely mask their authentic strengths. Most importantly Megumi delivers her message based on a vast amount of experience, expertise, and passion and also brings a calming influence to your keynote line up”.
“Megumi was a wonderful speaker at our public event. Generous with her time, and making the effort to tailor her presentation to fit the theme of the evening and context of the event. She kept the audience engaged, sharing from her own experience in a very relatable manner. We all left inspired, and with a new perspective.”
Looking for an engaging, insightful and thought-provoking speaker for your next conference, panel or training session? Contact Megumi about speaking at your next event.