“Margie’s opening keynote was nothing
short of spectacular! Her message is one
that everyone should hear in their lifetime.”

– Mike Morini, CEO, WorkForce Software

See Margie in Action

View clips from Margie’s speaking events below.

Organizations Inspired by Margie’s Message

Get Ready to Ignite Bold Action

Get Ready to Ignite Bold Action

Hi there!

While human nature may be unchangeable, we humans have a unique capacity to change how we think and act in situations that give rise to fear. It’s why learning to lead – ourselves and others – with a ‘courage mindset’ that reframes risk and embraces discomfort as a cue to move forward is crucial to thriving in today’s world.

Having walked the path of ‘courage over comfort’ many times, I’d be honored to help those in your organization take braver action for a better future.

Popular Keynotes

The Courage Gap

CLOSING THE THINK/DO GAP BETWEEN WHERE YOU ARE AND WHERE YOU CAN BE

Growing up in rural Australia, Margie learned that ‘Growth and comfort can’t ride the same horse.’ It turns out there’s hard science behind closing the ‘courage gap’ between who we are and who we can be. Margie’s remarkable story of breaking ranks with comfort will help your audience reset their understanding with risk and empower them with practical skills to bring their bravest selves to their boldest vision.

Learning objectives and audience outcomes:

  • Why courage is a skill, not a born trait, and how it can be mastered
  • Build self-awareness of where your play-it-safe instinct is keeping you small, stuck, and scared
  • Learn to rescript what scares you
  • How to embody courage, transforming your relationship with discomfort
  • Identify fear traps and dismantle ‘courage crushers’
  • Adopt a play-to-win mindset to risk more intelligently for faster success
  • Embed atomic ‘courage habits’ to tame your inner Chicken Little

Everyone needs courage, making this a ‘must-hear’ message for all audiences.

The standing ovation she received reflected how much the audience loved Margie. I strongly recommend Margie for any event that ties into meaningful advancement.

– Rich Wilson, President and CEO, Paul Davis

Lead With Courage

YOU CAN’T LEAD FROM YOUR COMFORT ZONE

No organization can outperform its leaders over time. It’s why the #1 threat is never external but the fear that drives smart employees to play it too safe. Leaders who invite candor and encourage innovation without demonstrating vulnerability, normalizing dissent, and derisking ‘smart failure’ will fall short every time. Margie will embolden your leaders to lead from the inside out, building a ‘culture of courage’ that unlocks collective creativity and discretionary effort across your enterprise.

Learning objectives and audience outcomes:

  • Research into a ‘courage mindset’ and why it’s a force multiplier of talent
  • Harness ’emotional contagion’ to galvanize employees behind a bold vision with a big “Why”
  • What we get wrong about risk that makes us more vulnerable
  • Three ways to foster loyal dissent and harness constructive conflict
  • How to lead from self-certainty to make more effective decisions amid the unknowns
  • Identify the invisible ‘timidity tax’ of excess caution in your team/business
  • Accelerate learning and incubate innovation by scaling a play-to-win mindset

This program is ideal for leaders at all levels, from emerging to those at the top.

After delivering the closing keynote to our top 1,000 sales leaders, I can tell you that if you’re looking for someone to inspire your people to take action, Margie is the speaker for you! She is also a joy to work with!

– Jason Green, Senior Vice President, Global Sales, National Instruments

Falling Upward

TRANSFORM YOUR BIGGEST PROBLEMS TOWARD YOUR HIGHEST GROWTH

No one is immune to life’s hardships and heartaches, yet some people handle them better and emerge better off. This powerful keynote blends research in psychology, well-being, and spiritual traditions to reframe how you view and process your biggest problems, expanding your bandwidth to handle them better and transform them into catalysts for growth.

Weaving personal stories – including losing a brother to mental illness and supporting another to adjust to life with paraplegia – Margie brings evidence backed strategies to expand your audiences capacity for life, find the opportunities for growth, and grow into the highest that our toughest challenges always hold.

This program will teach you how to:

  • Mine the lessons failure holds to improve the future
  • Short-circuit stressful thinking, turning the psychology of fear into the physiology of courage
  • Four pillars to activate post-traumatic growth and can-do optimism
  • Lead from ‘self-certainty’ to thrive through change
  • Build micro-habits to turn stressors into cues for courage
  • Rescript the stories to get unstuck and bounce forward stronger

This program is for broad audiences, from faith groups to business groups.

Margie’s collaborative approach, professionalism and energy, on stage and off, combined with her fresh concepts and calm authority have created those ‘ah-ha!’ moments that make better leaders of us all.

– Alison Sibree, Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Oracle

Brave Women Rising

DOUBT YOURSELF LESS, BACK YOURSELF MORE & MAKE THE DIFFERENCE YOUR DIFFERENCE MAKES

When women are empowered to bring the full quota of their feminine leadership strengths to the table, it improves the decisions being made.  Yet, despite progress, the gender gap persists. Drawing on her doctoral research in women’s leadership and decades of experience empowering women from diverse backgrounds, Margie weaves relatable and entertaining personal stories as a ball-dropping working mother raising four children amid multiple global relocations. This session provides actionable strategies to help women get off their own backs and make the difference their difference makes.

Learning objectives and audience outcomes:

  • Reset the relationship with power to ‘take charge while taking care’  
  • Why courage precedes confidence and how to’ behave your way to believing’
  • Counter self-doubt and turn ‘imposterhood’ into a catalyst for growth
  • Navigate feminine double-binds to manage the backlash effect
  • Speak with authority to win followers and ignite action
  • Amplify the voice of other women, lifting as you climb

Can be customized for all women’s groups plus mixed audiences, championing men to lift women!

Margie’s authentic style and memorable story-telling captivated and inspired our 400 sales leaders. I highly recommend Margie for any organization wanting to empower their teams to take bold risks and play to win.

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Jessica Qaasim, Head of Industry, Google Marketing Platform

Margie’s ability to deliver thought-provoking and empowering program for leaders of all levels is impressive. I've now engaged Margie for many leadership events, always with incredible feedback.

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Edweena Stratton, VP Employee Success, Salesforce

Absolutely awesome. I’ve never had so much positive feedback from an audience - not one negative comment, not one. Everyone just raved about it and believe me, this was a tough crowd.

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Robert Gosling, VP of Sales, Oracle

After delivering the closing keynote to our top 1,000 sales leaders, I can tell you that if you’re looking for someone to inspire your people to take action, Margie is the speaker for you! She is also a joy to work with!

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Jason Green, Senior Vice President, Global Sales, National Instruments

Margie delivered an incredibly powerful opening keynote on Brave Leadership. Fantastic energy and insights plus her content was right on point!!

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Elizabeth Lie, Managing Director, Aventedge

Margie’s ability to weave anecdotes to refocus, prioritize and build resilience was extremely well received. Her energy and candour was uplifting and making her an excellent choice for any event requiring a motivating, insightful and credible speaker.

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Karrine Brannigan, Senior Vice President Marketing, Dell

Attendees at our annual conference loved Margie so much they gave her a standing ovation. She was absolutely excellent.

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Lisa Nguyen, Operations Director, American Psychiatric Nurses Association

Margie’s message to ‘lead with courage’ to bi-partisan Chiefs on Capitol Hill can change the world. Yet, it’s how she delivers it that sets her apart. If she can command the attention of this group, she can bring any audience to their feet!

Larry Burton, Congressional Chief of Staff

Margie was extremely entertaining, inspirational and right in point for our company event. The feedback was universally positive.

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Tim Orpin, Vice President, Illumina

Margie’s keynote to our Top 100 leaders on creating a culture of courage was dynamic and action focused. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive as we all go forward a little bolder and braver than before!

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Rachael Powell, Chief Customer Experience Officer, XERO

One word: Phenomenal. Not only was Margie's message tailored perfectly for our audience but her one on one interactions with attendees made the experience even more outstanding.

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Victoria Lambert, Talent Management, AT&T

Margie’s a dynamo! Her powerful delivery and fresh insights were both inspiring and actionable!

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Luca Savi, CEO, ITT

If you want to embolden your teams and leaders, Margie is the perfect adrenaline-like shot of inspiration you need.

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Sarah McKensey, Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Johnson & Johnson

Team Offsites, Workshops & Retreats

Margie brings deep experience in working across multiple formats and with all sizes groups, including facilitating team off-sites, ELT/board retreats, workshops, moderating panels and ‘fire-side’ chats with CEO’s and celebrities.

Margie brought an impressive depth of knowledge to her workshop on Courageous Conversations at NASA headquarters. The feedback was outstanding.

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Kim Haney, Director, Career Management, NASA

Margie’s workshop changed my life and that of my colleagues. I’m quite confident you’ll walk away from her session agreeing that they were some of the best hours you have spent on yourself in a long, long time. A worthwhile investment for all leaders, both emerging and established.

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Elizabeth Faber, Chief Purpose Officer, Deloitte

Margie is a true expert in her field who immediately captivates an audience. I have engaged her several times for large keynotes, workshops and, most recently, to do a ‘fireside chat’ with our Chairman Mr Bill Marriott. On every occasion she has been wonderfully well received.

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Keri Day, Chief Audit Officer, Marriott

Margie led us through a 2-day workshop that was absolutely beyond any expectations. My team members (from 8 countries!) were all thrilled by what we achieved. I have no words to thank her enough. Just amazing!

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Sandra Guazzotti, Oracle Finance

The feedback from our full day program with Margie was overwhelmingly positive. I’ve no hesitation recommending Margie as a terrific investment in team and personal development.

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Leonie Valentine, Managing Director, Sales & Operations, Google

Margie was an absolutely instrumental part of enlarging the context for our new team. Her facilitation of our leadership gathering inspired us to reach for significant business opportunities, strengthen our collaboration, and embrace the mindset needed to achieve amazing success!

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Liz Carnabudi, Vice President, BD Medical Technology