Pressure is not the enemy of performance — it’s one of its biggest drivers. This keynote explores the relationship between pressure and performance: why you need some stress to perform at our best, why uncertainty derails us, how to build tolerance for high-stakes situations, and what quality reps a team needs to compound performance over time.
- Why coherence under pressure — not pressure itself — determines whether performance holds.
- Why uncertainty stalls us and what to do about it.
- How tolerance is built as a practice, not inherited as a personality trait.
- What quality reps actually look like, and why most high-stakes preparation misses the point.
Building the Meaning That Creates Your Team’s Movement
Most alignment problems are meaning problems in disguise — teams operate on an assumed shared understanding that was never actually shared. This keynote teaches how high-performing teams build genuine shared meaning: not by avoiding friction, but by using it. The result is decisions people actually own, built on genuine buy-in, not assumed agreement.
- Ensuring that understanding is built together, not assumed.
- Real alignment requires productive friction, not consensus — surfaced early, resolved deliberately.
- Decisions that show their work earn their authority.
- Change moves at the pace of trust, not the plan: story makes change tangible enough to motivate people.
Moving From Clarity to Committed Action
Most organizations are better at making decisions than they are at owning them. This keynote is about what happens after the meeting ends: how you move from clarity to committed action, who owns what by when, and how you build the rhythm and narrative that stops the new being swallowed by the now.
- Clarity of ownership is the entry point to execution, not the finish line its often treated as.
- Starting is predicated on stopping: what has to end before something new can take hold.
- Inherited structures carry the fingerprints of old priorities — behaviors built for yesterday may be quietly working against today’s plan.
- Momentum requires structure — and a sense of play.
Attention, Meaning & Action Moving Together Under Pressure
The best teams aren’t the ones trying hardest — they’re the ones where attention, meaning, and action move together under pressure. For teams already striving for greatness, closing the gap between these critical systems is the next frontier. This keynote helps teams see and adjust their invisible performance architecture: which of your three systems is quietly costing you, and how can you rebuild it?
- Unlocking attention, meaning, and action inside your team — the core idea behind performing your best under pressure.
- Diagnosing the enemies of performance and protecting your three systems.
- Moving from overload to clarity to action, by design, not by luck.
Directing Focus When Everything Is Competing For It
Attention is finite, but the places you can direct it are infinite. This is not a willpower problem — it’s a design problem, and the modern world is built to exploit it. The highest performers aren’t the ones with more attention-discipline than everyone else; they’re the ones who have built a deliberate practice for choosing where their attention goes, protecting it from other demands, and restoring it when it inevitably breaks. This keynote unpacks that practice, showing individuals and teams how to direct attention on purpose instead of reacting to whatever’s loudest.
- Directing attention deliberately not reactively.
- Protecting attention from everything — deprioritization is a discipline, not a failure of will.
- Restoring attention when it breaks, so lost focus doesn’t compound into lost momentum.
- Scaling focused attention from an individual habit into a team capability.
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Holly Ransom is a global voice on leadership, change, and high-performance cultures.
As CEO of Emergent Global, she advises Fortune 500 companies, governments, elite sporting teams and trailblazing brands like Microsoft, Virgin, and P&G on building future-ready teams and navigating disruption.
A sought-after keynote speaker, dynamic emcee, and master interviewer, Holly has captivated audiences across 25+ countries—and been trusted by brands like Coca-Cola, Google, Mastercard, and EY to elevate their most critical events.
She’s interviewed icons like Barack Obama, Sir Richard Branson, Brené Brown, Venus Williams and Matthew McConaughey—turning every exchange into a leadership masterclass.
Holly is a Fulbright Scholar, a Harvard Kennedy School graduate, and the bestselling author of The Leading Edge—a must-read for leaders navigating disruption and driving meaningful change. She is also the co-founder of Energy Disruptors: UNITE, a three-time Best Conference winner.
Offstage, Holly loves sunrise runs, baking for friends and family, and putting her Spanish to the test—having recently delivered a full keynote entirely in Spanish.
Brilliant, Holly grabbed the attention of the audience. Her approach and material was spot on.
– Queensland Secondary Principals AssociationGreat topic, well versed, very organised.
– Eyecare PlusPerfectly on message!
– Australian Boarding Schools AssociationHolly was outstanding. She was an ideal speaker to speak about Preparing Students for the Future to teachers and leaders in the School. Her knowledge and ability to convey important information in a clear, engaging and accessible manner was very impressive. Staff are still talking about Holly’s presentation and the implications for educators with enthusiasm. We are very fortunate to have access to such a remarkable young woman.
– Camberwell Girls Grammar SchoolHolly was amazing. She was well prepared, and referenced the Leadership report that we had released throughout her presentation (something that we request of all speakers and vary rarely occurs. We had a male skewed audience that were not aware of Holly’s profile, and they were blown away be her. Some of the feedback was “the best speaker they had seen in years.” Holly received one of our highest ever speaker ratings, and our NPS score for the whole event was well above our usual scores. I would not hesitate in recommending Holly, she is fantastic.
– Bank WestA huge thank you to Holly for her collaboration for our event. We have received a fantastic response from Holly’s contribution that morning and what she had to say.
– Private MediaHolly was brilliant and the highest rating speaker at our conference.
– Professional Conference Organisers AssociationI cannot commend Holly enough. Holly presented an interactive leadership workshop for 70 high school students at UNICEF Day for Change: A Children’s Rights Conference for Young Leaders. Her presentation was the highlight of the day and combined her expertise in the youth-led sector with her exceptional interpersonal and public speaking skills. She connected with the students via a range of media and inspired them individually to take action for a cause they cared about. I recommend Holly to anyone looking for a skilled, informed and passionate speaker – her presentation will be one to remember.
– UNICEF Ambassador for AustraliaHolly was an exceptional speaker who captured the audience’s attention from the very first word she spoke. Her interaction with the crowd was exceptional and her stories were intriguing and inspirational. Holly is a confident speaker and she has achieved so much in her short time. It was very interesting to hear how she has achieved it all. Holly was one of the key speakers at the Worldly Women lunch with over 900 attendees to celebrate International Women’s Day. We would definitely recommend her as a keynote speaker to inspire anyone and everyone.
– Every Woman Business EventsHolly is the most amazing young person I have ever come across in my whole life! I often scratch my head and wonder how it is possible that this human dynamo has managed to cram so much into her 22 years and create such lasting, sustainable change in the community while remaining so humble and graceful. There are too many organisations and achievements to mention. But Holly Ransom is a name synonymous with hard work and results.
– United Nations Association of AustraliaA presentation that starts and ends with a standing ovation & can maintain the energy and engagement of an audience of 500 of America’s most talented high school & college students is no mean feat! When Holly presented for us at the LEAP Foundation Los Angeles, her high-energy and informative session delivered exactly that. Holly commands the stage with such a presence and gains instant respect from her audience for her track record of achievement. She walks the walk of what she talks about. Her ability to break topics like goal-setting and leadership down into pragmatic steps meant students had practical takeaways
– LEAP Foundation Los AngelesThank you for being such a fantastic part of our inaugural International Women’s Entrepreneurship Forum in Istanbul. Your insights and experience were invaluable and our very international audience, comprised of women from 80 countries, benefited enormously from your engaging and informative presentation.
– International Women’s Entrepreneurship ForumThanks must go to Holly. I felt it vitally important we include the voice of a young woman in the Governor General’s [100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day celebration] event. And not just any young woman, but someone who has got something to say – that we all need to hear. My hunch was right – that person was clearly Holly. Holly’s speech, message and delivery were exceptional. Holly is someone I have no doubt that we will be hearing a lot more from in time – which gives me great optimism about the future.
– Virginia HausseggerWe have been inundated with positive feedback about Holly’s presentation. Our guests have found it informative and inspiring and it has set the tone perfectly for what Women of Adelaide want to achieve. We are incredibly happy with the quality and outcomes from the event and this is largely due to Holly’s eloquence and professionalism.
– Adelaide Crows Football ClubI invited Holly to speak at the Melbourne launch of the Emerging Leaders for Social Change group in Melbourne. Holly spoke alongside a number of CEO’s and senior business leaders to a packed room and connected with each of us. People were so impressed by Holly that I received many emails praising her (even from the other speakers) and I would be only too happy to recommend Holly for future speaking engagements. Holly has the ability to connect with her audience on an emotional and personal level. She is a reminder that we are all capable of anything we put our mind too and that each of us can make a positive difference in the world.
– Melbourne Emerging Leaders for Social ChangeHolly Ransom is a superstar! Holly spoke to more than 200 Melbourne business leaders at our sold out Tipping Point event and her unique perspective, insightful observations and passion for making a difference captivated the audience. We have never had more follow-up enquiries after an event than after our event with Holly. As Charles Macek, Wesfarmers Board Director and our event MC said, ‘you’re watching a future leader of this country in action’.
– KwanHolly totally smashed her keynote out of the park. It was the session everyone was talking about as their highlight. Holly is such an impressive individual, at the same time, is able to communicate and connect authentically with the audience.
– University of Adelaide
Leadership is within everyone’s reach, everyone’s ability and everyone’s power. It’s time to step up, and Holly Ransom will show you how.
What does it mean to ‘be a leader’?
What does true leadership look like in the 2020s, when we’re facing complexity and challenges in every direction – from climate disaster to political division, and inequality to consumer mistrust?
And how can we be part of the solution, while crafting a meaningful and satisfying career?
The answers aren’t simple, but Holly Ransom is closer to finding them than most. Barely into her thirties, since chairing the G20 Youth Summit in 2014, Holly has been working with and learning from the heads of countries, companies and charities to help them disrupt what they do and change the world for the better.
In her fearless and widely-researched manifesto, this innovative young thinker shows how it is within everyone’s reach, everyone’s ability and everyone’s power to be an effective leader – in business and beyond.
Through three principles – mindset, method and mastery – you’ll discover how to first lead yourself, then others. And you’ll benefit from the wisdom of the luminaries Holly has interviewed, from Susan Cain and Condoleezza Rice to Barack Obama and Malcolm Gladwell.
This is the path to the leading edge – and becoming the leader the world needs you to be.
Your speaker can literally make or break your conference or event. And there's never been so many speakers to choose from then there is today. We help you cut through noise and select the best speaker for your audience, theme and budget. We're a Sydney based speaker's bureau providing speakers for events Australia-wide. Call us today and let us help you make the right decision!
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