Leadership
built your success.
But is it now limiting your growth?
How you lead got you here.
What’s next demands something different.
Trusted by:
The world is changing. Your organisation is changing. What you need from your leaders is changing too. That’s where we come in.
Trusted by:
THE TRUTH
Most organisations are running 21st-century businesses on leadership assumptions built for a much more predictable world.
When your business is changing, leaders need to think for themselves, take ownership, encourage braver decisions and bring people with them — without waiting for someone higher up the food chain to tell them what to do.
The old contract — leaders know, everyone else follows, certainty comes from the top — has had its day.
And this is why →
The strategy is right — but it isn’t translating into action
Leaders agree things need to change — then slip back into familiar habits
Decisions keep climbing the hierarchy — while you’re asking people to take ownership
People wait for certainty — when you need them to use their judgement
We help senior leaders spot the old assumptions still running the show. We challenge the myths, habits and hardwiring that keep organisations stuck, and build the confidence to create an environment where people can do their best work.
A KEYNOTE SHOULD SHAKE SOMETHING LOOSE
Blaire brings provocative ideas, wit and more than two decades of working inside organisations that are trying to make real change happen.
She busts the myths that keep old leadership habits alive, gets senior leaders questioning whether being the person with all the answers is really their job anymore, and gives them the confidence and momentum to act on what they discover.
Provocative. Practical. Immediately relevant.
Leaders leave thinking: “We need to do something differently. And I know where to start.”
Leadership behaviour is critical to whether transformation stalls or succeeds.
Blaire Palmer and her team work with CEOs, executive teams and senior leaders in the middle of major transformation, tackling the old assumptions and habits that create friction in the system. In real time. With real work. So that change moves faster, decisions get unstuck and the transformation starts showing up in how the organisation actually works.
What this looks like
We work with you to shift what’s actually happening in real time — in real meetings, real conversations and real decisions.
Inspire — Spark the confidence for change with Blaire’s energising keynote
Diagnose — Find the friction making change harder than it needs to be
Focus — Laser in on what will make the biggest difference
Develop — Build the skills and confidence your leaders need
Embed — Make the shift part of how the organisation runs
KEYNOTEs
THAT challenge how
leaders think
When organisations are changing fast, old leadership habits start to show their age. Blaire challenges senior leaders to question the Victorian hardwiring that keeps decisions at the top, people waiting for permission and talent stuck in the system.
TRANSFORMATION WORK that changes how leaders behave
Transformation gets harder when the usual ways of leading collide with new demands. Blaire and her team work with senior leaders to shift the habits, assumptions and ways of working that are getting in the way.
“We moved from three disparate cultures to one empowered team.”
— AXA Personal Lines
About Blaire Palmer
Blaire Palmer is the founder of That People Thing. A keynote speaker, transformation consultant and CEO adviser known for challenging conventional thinking about leadership and change, she works alongside a trusted team of experienced specialists when the brief goes deeper — into the habits, systems and day-to-day reality of the organisation.
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A former BBC News producer and the author of four books, including Punks in Suits, Blaire has spent over 20 years working with boards and executive teams from global organisations including Airbus, Roche, GSK, AXA and Heineken.
Known for her clarity, challenge and humanity, she is often brought in when organisations need to cut through complexity and address what is really getting in the way of performance.
Her work challenges conventional approaches to leadership in a world shaped by AI, changing expectations of work, a relentless demand for innovation, global disruption and uncertainty. She combines the ability to provoke an audience’s thinking with the experience of working alongside leaders as they change how they lead in practice.
THE TEAM
That People Thing brings together a trusted group of experienced specialists for larger and more complex engagements.
DOES ANY OF THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?
real Business Impacts
START A CONVERSATION
Tell us what’s on your mind and we’ll come back to you with the next step.
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