The Research Nobody Else Has
The Only Speaker on Toxic Workplaces and AI
Two Bestselling Books. One Proven Framework.
Trusted by the World’s Leading Organisations
The Talk They’re Still Talking About
About Michelle
Speaking Topics
Dr Michelle King is an award-winning speaker, having spoken at over 500 events worldwide, including conferences like the Nobel Peace Prize Conference, Ellevate Network Conference, The Massachusetts Conference for Women, the Texas Conference for Women, SXSW, She Summit and the Pennsylvania Conference for Women. The London Speakers Bureau represents Michelle and regularly hosts keynotes, fireside chats or masterclasses with companies like Amazon, FIFA, Guardian, Dior, FedEx, Netflix, BNP Paribas, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Met Life, to name a few. With her extensive research, Dr King can speak to a range of topics in a variety of formats, from keynotes to panels and fireside chats.
Some of the most sought-after topics include:
Some of the most sought-after topics include:
How to make work meaningful: the three things your people need to love their work and how to give them
Most organisations invest heavily in engagement surveys, benefits packages and wellbeing programmes and still can’t figure out why their people aren’t thriving. The answer isn’t complicated. It’s psychological. In this talk, Dr Michelle King reveals the three fundamental human needs: competence, connection and autonomy that determine whether people find meaning, motivation and purpose at work, and gives
Your employees will leave knowing how to:
- Understand the three needs that drive meaning, motivation and performance at work
- Identify which of their needs are being met and take action when they aren’t
- Build stronger working relationships that fulfil their need for genuine connection
- Create autonomy and ownership in their role regardless of their level or title
The invisible cost of AI: what it is really doing to your people's motivation, confidence and sense of self
Every organisation is measuring the impact of AI on productivity. Nobody is measuring what it does to people. In this talk, Dr Michelle King introduces Positive Capability Drift, her original research framework, showing how AI adoption silently erodes all three fundamental human needs simultaneously. Competence fades as skills go unpractised. Connection weakens as human collaboration is replaced by algorithmic interaction. Autonomy shrinks as algorithm-driven decisions replace human judgment. Output stays the same. Engagement, confidence and meaning quietly disappear. This talk gives your leaders the data, the framework and the roadmap to get ahead of it.
Your leaders will leave knowing how to:
- Understand the three psychological needs AI is quietly eroding across their organisation
- Identify the four stages of Positive Capability Drift before they become irreversible
- Build AI adoption strategies that enhance rather than diminish human motivation and meaning
- Create a culture where technology and human capability grow together
Your career is dead: four ways to build one that lasts
The rules of career success have changed. In a world of rapid technological change, the professionals who thrive aren’t the ones who know the most, they’re the ones who know how to keep learning, adapt with confidence, and build the human skills no algorithm can replicate. In this talk, based on her bestselling book How Work Works, Dr Michelle King gives your people a practical four-part framework for building a career that is resilient, relevant and genuinely rewarding whatever the future brings.
Your employees will leave knowing how to:
- Identify the four strategies that future-proof any career in the age of AI
- Build the meta-skills that make them more valuable as technology changes around them
- Take ownership of their professional development with a clear, actionable plan
- Navigate career transitions and organisational change with confidence and clarity
It's not your people who need fixing, it's your workplace
For decades, organisations have responded to gender inequality by running programmes to help women negotiate better, speak up more, and lean in harder. The research is unambiguous; it doesn’t work. In this talk, based on her award-winning book The Fix, Dr Michelle King shows leaders why the highest-performing cultures stop trying to fix their people and start fixing the systems, structures and informal rules that hold them back and why that shift is the single most powerful thing any organisation can do for its culture, its talent pipeline and its bottom line.
Your leaders will leave knowing how to:
- Understand why fixing the workplace, not the women in it is the only strategy that works
- Identify the invisible structural barriers limiting your talent pipeline right now
- Build the informal culture that gives everyone an equal shot at success
- Turn inclusion from a compliance conversation into a genuine competitive advantage
The human edge: building a future-ready culture that puts people first
Every organisation is trying to build an AI-ready culture. Most are doing it backwards, starting with the technology and hoping the people will follow. The organisations that get this right start with the human experience of work and build their AI strategy around it. In this talk, Dr Michelle King draws on her unique combination of organisational psychology research and original AI data to give leaders a genuinely differentiated framework for building cultures where human capability and artificial intelligence grow together, creating organisations that are more innovative, more resilient and more human than their competitors.
Your leaders will leave knowing how to:
- Understand what a truly AI-ready culture looks like beyond tools, training and change management
- Build the psychological conditions that allow people to embrace rather than fear technological change
- Protect and grow the uniquely human capabilities that AI cannot replicate
- Lead the cultural transformation that turns AI adoption into a genuine organisational advantage
The last skill: why learning how to learn is the only career strategy that matters
In a world where the half-life of any skill is shrinking faster than organisations can retrain for it, the professionals and teams that win won’t be the ones who know the most. They’ll be the ones who can learn, unlearn and relearn the fastest. In this talk, Dr Michelle King makes the case that learning how to learn is no longer a soft skill it is the defining human capability of the AI era. Drawing on the latest cognitive science and her original workplace research, she gives your people a practical framework for building the metacognitive skills that make every other skill possible.
Your employees will leave knowing how to:
- Understand why learning agility is now the single most valuable capability in any organisation
- Identify the habits and mindsets that accelerate learning — and the ones that silently block it
- Build a personal learning practice that keeps pace with technological and organisational change
- Create a team culture where curiosity, experimentation and growth become the norm
That's not all...
Keynote Speaking Dr King's keynotes are built on two decades of organisational psychology research and original data from 4,000 workers. She delivers talks that don't just inform, they change how leaders and their people think about work. Organisations book her once and invite her back.
Masterclasses For organisations that want to go deeper. Dr King's masterclasses give leaders and their teams the research, the frameworks and the hands-on tools to create lasting change inside their organisations. Challenging, practical and genuinely career-changing.
Fireside Chats Dr King's fireside chats combine research expertise with genuine candour. The result is the kind of honest, thought-provoking conversation that cuts through the noise and stays with audiences long after the event ends.
Virtual Events Dr King brings the same energy and rigour to virtual audiences as she does to the world's biggest stages. Designed for genuine engagement, not just attendance, with real takeaways audiences can act on immediately.
Panels Whether speaking or moderating, Dr King brings the research and the conviction to make any panel worth attending. She asks the questions other people won't and gives audiences the answers they actually came for.
Board and Executive Advisory Sessions For organisations that want more than a talk. Dr King works directly with boards and executive committees, applying the latest research on workplace culture, human performance and AI's impact on people to their specific strategic challenges. Bespoke, evidence-based, and built around your organisation.
Watch Michelle in action
"Michelle ignited such a thought-provoking conversation at the World Economic Forum on the power of culture and inclusive leadership. It was fascinating to learn what qualities make an inclusive leader and how exhibiting those qualities benefits people of all genders and identities. Long after her talk was over, the discussion continued around the hallways and gathering spaces".
Kathleen Noreau, Head of Strategic Partnerships - Consumer, Health & Energy Industries World Economic Forum 
"Your years of research combined with real-life experience and your ability to present the subject by identifying the root of the problem gave our viewers the necessary tools to move forward and implement change as our project begins its third year."
Tracy Bowens, Outreach Communications, International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) 
"Michelle is not only extremely knowledgeable with her background and research on gender inequality, but she applies those insights specifically to the workplace and brings it to life. Michelle has a truly unique way of connecting with her audience. She makes the research come to life and provides real “a-ha” moments and practical takeaways that can be applied in any organization.”
Claudia Chan, CEO SHE Globl 
"Michelle is a speaker who sparks fires in her audiences around the issues she cares about. Her in-depth knowledge and insights, paired with her ability to clearly and vividly create the case for its importance, is a unique gift to the groups she speaks to. Our community still asks us about Michelle and where to access her talks and upcoming events.”
Jenn Lishansky, Founder of Be Social Change 
"Michelle understands that creating an inclusive and equitable workplace for everyone takes all of us. We are fortunate she is sharing her expertise and learnings and is bringing us along this journey to implement real change.”
Dr. Cindy Pace, Global Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, MetLife 
”Michelle King candidly shares her own personal experiences and decades of research to reveal the invisible barriers women face at work. Drawing on her exposure to companies that are structured to enable only men to succeed, she suggests that our denial towards gender inequality is hurting women, and challenges the idea that women can improve their way to
success. Bravely, Michelle offers the essential message that women are extraordinary as they are, and don’t need fixing - workplaces do.”
Tamara Mellon, OBE, Co-founder, Jimmy Choo 
”Michelle provides actions to take that do not succumb to the notion of 'fixing' women. Calling for accountability in what too often is a toxic environment is only as important as offering ways to bring about real change in that environment.”
Meredith Walker, Founder, Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls 
”Insightful and thoroughly engaging, Michelle King provides practical solutions for bringing about tangible and lasting change, as well as an impassioned argument for equity that moves beyond the current discourse on women in the workplace.”
Dr Nina Ansary, Author, Scholar, and UN Women Global Champion for Innovation 
”A visionary leader – changing the inclusion landscape.”
Billy Jean King Institute 
”Michelle King's podcast is like no other, highlighting the stories of women who are driving innovation across every sphere of life. Her interviews crackle with intelligence, wit and passion that enlightens as well as engages both women and men.''
Joanne Lipman, Former Editor, USA Today 
”So much about the world of work-from workplace culture to our definition of success-was created by men, and it's not working for women or indeed for men. And it's no surprise that women pay a disproportionately high price for their participation.
That's why it (this book) is so important. It's a passionate, practical roadmap for addressing inequality and finally making our workplaces work for women.
Arianna Huffington, Author and Founder, The Huffington Post and Thrive Global 
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