Erica Dhawan

Leading Authority on Collaboration and Innovation & Bestselling Author

• Named “Oprah of Management Thinkers” and Ranked #1 of Top Women Keynote Speakers of 2020

Erica Dhawan

Erica Dhawan is an internationally recognized leading authority, author and advisor on 21st century teamwork, collaboration and innovation. Named by Thinkers50 as the “Oprah of Management Thinkers”, she is the author of two books Get Big Things Done: The Power of Connectional Intelligence and Digital Body Language (published in 2021). It’s 2021, the world of business is increasingly digital and work practices have changed at a blistering rate. She shares innovative strategies to unlock the collective power of teams, build a culture of trust across any distance and create authentic engagement to ensure competitiveness. Rated #1 on the Top Women Keynote Speakers of 2020 and featured as one of the management thinkers most likely to shape the future of business, Dhawan frequently appears in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fast Company, and the Huffington Post.  Dhawan uses the power of storytelling and humor paired with research findings to provide audiences with interactive, refreshing, practical strategies for modern innovation-driving teamwork.

Speech topics

Maniacal Clarity: Reimagine Leadership to Drive Impactful Innovation

We used to think of leadership as constant hustle and grit - the leader that never slept, sent profits through the roof, and embodied the classic rags-to-riches story… But this tired playbook doesn’t seem to work as well as it once did. What changed?  What makes a 21st century leader and a great team now? Is it their ability to tell stories? Their decision-making skills? Their communication style?

The critical missing factor is Maniacal Clarity. This is when leaders give their teams exactly what they need to do their absolute best work and enable them to be empowered to influence anyone, anytime, anywhere. Without it, even skilled, motivated and effective teams languish, with cross-team dysfunction, duplicative work, and unhealthy internal competition. Maniacal Clarity in our modern world delivers the ability to spark overarching optimism, inspirational imagination, continuous courage and fast focus.  

In her new keynote, WSJ bestselling author and world-renowned speaker Erica Dhawan constructs a new framework for truly shifting minds and changing hearts, in the office, across any distance and with customers. Based on years of research and advising the respected companies around the world, this keynote promises a ground-breaking look into the science, frameworks, and stories of how to inspire anyone, anytime, anywhere to deliver their best results.

Key outcomes include:

Get Big Things Done: The Power of Connectional Intelligence

We live in a world of endless meetings, emails, and constant cross-team dysfunction, duplication and delays. Our collaboration skills aren’t always working to unlock better value in our business. As radical a concept as Emotional Intelligence was in the 90s, Connectional Intelligence is turning people into superconnectors who accelerate innovation, break down silos and foster breakthrough bottom line impact by harnessing the power of networks.    

Learning Outcomes:

Concrete Empathy: A Playbook for Leading Modern Teams to Innovation

We live in a culture defined by a distinct empathy deficit: The boss who expresses displeasure without giving valuable feedback. The mansplaining colleague who has no interest in the opinions of others. The team member who spends most of the meeting texting and answering emails.

Why is empathy today at such a low point? Fewer face-to-face interactions, an ever-accelerating pace of change, and an increasing number of matrixed teams working remotely.

In this keynote, attendees will learn practical ways to activate Concrete Empathy to create cultures of psychological safety, employee engagement, wellbeing and innovation.      

Learning Outcomes:

Digital Body Language: Collaborate Faster and Further, Together

Email replies that show up a week later. Video chats full of “oops… sorry no you go” and “can you hear me?!” Ambiguous text-messages. Is it any wonder communication takes us so much time and effort to figure out? How did we lose our innate capacity to understand each other?

Humans rely on body language to connect and build trust, but with most of our communication happening from behind a screen, traditional body language signals are no longer visible – or are they? In her keynote, Erica combines cutting edge research with engaging storytelling to decode the new signals and cues that have replaced traditional body language across genders, generations, and culture. In person, we lean in, uncross our arms, smile, nod and make eye contact to show we listen and care. Online, reading carefully is the new listening. Writing clearly is the new empathy. And a phone or video call is worth a thousand emails.

In this keynote, Erica will supercharge your teams with collectively understood rules that foster connection, build trust and drive innovation.    

Learning Outcomes:

Books

Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance

An instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller; the definitive guide to communicating and connecting in a hybrid world.

Get Big Things Done: The Power of Connectional Intelligence

Connectional Intelligence unlocks the 21st-century secret to getting "big things done," regardless of who you are, where you live, or what you do.

Request booking info