Lead With What You Live
Keynotes for teams who want leadership that’s actually been tested — not just taught.
Dan Powell isn’t a consultant who studied leadership from the outside. He’s a sitting VP of
Technology — leading a real team inside a regulated, high-stakes industry — and a John
Maxwell certified coach, speaker, and DISC trainer who teaches the same principles he applies every day at work.
Most leadership speakers have either led teams or trained leaders. Dan has done both,
simultaneously, for years. When he walks onto your stage, he brings something most leadership programs can’t offer: real organizational credibility, and proven frameworks that actually change how people work together.
Dan draws from a broad body of leadership and personal growth thinking — John Maxwell’s Laws of Leadership and Personal Growth, Simon Sinek’s work on purpose and trust, James Clear’s framework for habit and behavior change — and grounds it all in his own experience leading real teams inside a real organization. Your audience gets the thinking and the proof.
Keynotes
Dan’s keynotes are built for conference stages, leadership offsites, and sales kickoffs — 60 to 90 minutes that give your audience something to think differently about when they leave the room. The two talks below are proven starting points, but every keynote is fully customizable — Dan draws from a wide range of leadership and personal growth topics and builds each talk around your audience's specific goals, so no two engagements look exactly alike.
For Colleges & Universities
Leadership development for the next generation —
"We graduate. We think we're done learning. But in fact, the real learning is just beginning."
Dan brings the same real-world leadership frameworks he teaches executives to campus audiences — student leaders, incoming classes, and graduating seniors making the transition from student to professional.
The degree gets you in the room; leadership skills are what help you go farther, faster, once you're there.
Best fit for: student leadership retreats and conferences, orientation and welcome week keynotes, Greek life and student organization leadership training, career services and graduating-class events, and business school or leadership program guest lectures.
Format: 45–60 min keynote | campus workshop formats available
FEATURED TALKS
Speak Their Language
Most team conflict isn’t about personality clashes. It’s about communication styles that were never decoded. In this DISC-based keynote, Dan breaks down the four behavioral styles, shows
exactly how they collide, and gives your audience a practical framework for reaching the person in front of them — not the person they wish was in front of them. Teams walk away with language for conversations they’ve been having the wrong way for years.
WHAT AUDIENCES WALK AWAY WITH
• A clear understanding of their own behavioral style — and how it shows up at work
• Practical language for communicating with all four DISC styles
• A framework for navigating the communication breakdowns that slow teams down
• Strategies they can apply immediately — in the next meeting, with the next difficult conversation
THIS TALK IS A FIT FOR
• Leadership teams looking to reduce friction and improve collaboration
• Sales organizations that need to flex their communication style for different buyers
• Cross-functional teams navigating personality and communication differences
• HR and people-leader audiences building stronger team culture
Format: 60–90 min keynote
Leaders Grow on Purpose
The ceiling on your leadership is the ceiling on your team. But that lid doesn’t raise itself — and it doesn’t raise by accident. This keynote traces the full arc of what intentional leadership actually looks like: the decision to grow deliberately, the discipline to build habits that sustain that growth, the security to empower others even when it’s uncomfortable, and the long game of building something that outlasts you.
Dan weaves together John Maxwell’s Laws of Leadership and Personal Growth, James Clear’s thinking on habit and identity, and Simon Sinek’s work on purpose — then grounds every idea in real decisions from a real career. Audiences leave understanding not just what the principles say, but what they look like on a Tuesday afternoon when the stakes are real.
TOPICS THIS TALK DRAWS FROM
• The Law of the Lid — your growth ceiling is your team’s ceiling; everything starts here
• The Law of Intentionality — growth doesn’t happen by accident; leaders pursue it on
purpose
• Habit and identity — how small, consistent behaviors compound into the leader you’re
becoming (Clear)
• The Law of Empowerment — secure leaders give others the stage, even when it’s
uncomfortable
• Purpose and trust — people follow leaders who know their why (Sinek)
• The Law of Legacy — the true measure of a leader is what they leave behind
Dan tailors the specific mix of topics and frameworks to your audience’s needs and challenges. The arc
stays the same. The content flexes.
WHAT AUDIENCES WALK AWAY WITH
• A clear picture of where their growth has stalled — and why
• Practical tools from John Maxwell’s Laws of Leadership and Personal Growth
• A framework for leading from purpose — not just position
• One concrete action they can take before the week is over
THIS TALK IS A FIT FOR
• Corporate leadership teams and annual leadership events
• Associations and professional development conferences
• Executive retreats and team offsite events
• Organizations investing in their next generation of leaders
Format: 60–90 min keynote