David Mead

Who It’s For: Those who want to achieve sustainable performance through becoming the type of leader people choose to follow, instead of the type of leader people have to follow.

Talk Overview: Great leadership isn’t a secret—it’s common sense. We can all name the traits of the best leaders we’ve followed. Yet, despite being obvious, those traits are uncommon in leadership today. Why? Because although we know them, sometimes we just don’t put them into practice. We allow things like outside pressure or human friction to get in the way. These are things like:

• Office politics & gossip
• Deadlines & time pressure
• Resistance to feedback
• Blame vs. ownership
• Poor collaboration

Most leaders try to fix these issues with policies and processes—but rules don’t build trust. Systems don’t inspire ownership. No structure can replace the human dynamics that make or break a team. The real solution? Leading with (un)Common Sense. In this interactive talk, David shares science-backed insights, real-world leadership challenges, and a simple, napkin-sketch framework that helps leaders reduce friction, build trust, and create teams that people want to be part of.

In this session, you’ll:

• Learn simple daily practices to reduce friction and improve team dynamics.
• Apply a framework that naturally increases trust, accountability, and engagement.
• Shift from managing people to leading a culture of trust, connection, and psychological safety.

The best leadership principles aren’t revolutionary—they’re (un)Common Sense. And the leaders who actually practice them are the ones people choose to follow.