I speak regularly at professional and management conferences, as well as private corporate events and workshops. Focusing on engagement and interaction regardless of audience size, I bridge rigorous empirical research and the immediate, practical needs of leadership teams. I always start with connection, and tailor my talks to the needs and aspirations of the audience.
For speaking inquiries, please contact me at naskin@uci.edu.
SAMPLE TALKS
Orchestrating Connection: Don’t “Network,” Build Purposeful Community
We are more “connected” than ever, yet paradoxically feel lonelier and more isolated. Traditional “networking” feels transactional and exhausting, leaving professionals with thousands of LinkedIn connections but no real support. Based on Noah’s 2025 book Orchestrating Connection, this flagship keynote offers a blueprint for building “Purposeful Community.” It shifts the focus from accidental networking to intentional connection, anchored in five core principles: Diversity, Vulnerability, Curiosity, Generosity, and Gratitude.
Key outcomes
- Transition from a “collect contacts” mindset to a “cultivate community” mindset.
- Learn how personal clarity—understanding your own purpose—is the foundation for drawing others into conversation.
- Recognize how boundaries and an element of risk make your social world significantly stronger.
- Understand how to build a network that supports both performance and long-term career resilience.
The Sweet Spot of Novelty: Standing Out in a Saturated Market
In a world overloaded with content and competition, organizations struggle to “break through the noise.” Most innovation fails because it is either too familiar (and thus ignored) or too weird (and thus rejected). Drawing on Noah’s groundbreaking research into the popular music industry, which analyzed decades of chart data and musical trends, this talk introduces the “Optimal Distinctiveness” framework. Participants learn how the most successful creators balance familiarity and novelty to hit the “sweet spot” that captures audience attention. Whether you are seeking a promotion or new job, designing a new product, or creating anything new, this will help you understand how to stand out.
Key outcomes
- Understand the “Paradox of Distinction”: How to be recognizable enough to be understood, but novel enough to be noticed.
- Apply lessons from the music industry to differentiate products, brands, and personal careers.
- Learn how categories (genres, job titles, product labels) shape what audiences reward.
The Hidden Architecture of High-Performing Cultures
Why do some cultures feel electric and others feel exhausting, even when they’re all saying similar words? Fundamentally, culture isn’t “vibes”: it’s the patterns of interaction, norms, and narratives that either unlock or block performance, and inspire or diminish employee engagement. This talk goes under the hood of “great culture” and reveals the architecture many leaders never see: the informal networks, stories, and micro-habits that quietly make or break performance. Noah shows how to treat culture as a “garden, not a blueprint,” moving from squishy philosophy to a tangible system of behaviors.
Key outcomes
- Identify the informal networks that either amplifies or sabotages your formal strategy.
- Recognize the “default settings” (meetings, emails, pace) currently redesigning your culture.
- Gain a diagnostic toolkit for designing targeted cultural interventions that stick.
Influence Without Authority: Driving Change Via the Shadow Network
Your org chart is not how change really happens. Every major initiative lives or dies in the shadow network of who trusts whom, who listens to whom, and who everyone checks with before they commit. In this talk, Noah gives participants a candid look at how influence actually works in organizations—and a research-backed playbook for moving things forward even when your title doesn’t give you “permission.”
Key outcomes
- Learn to map the “informal influence network” surrounding any major change effort.
- Master the habits of the “Quiet Connector”: prioritizing listening and curiosity over vocal dominance.
- Understand “Complex Contagions”—how to design a change campaign that survives the internal grapevine.
The Future of Connection: Leadership in a Hybrid, AI-Driven World
If hybrid work and AI were supposed to make us more connected, why do so many people feel more isolated than ever? This talk tackles the uncomfortable gap between our technology and our human experience. Noah unpacks how digital, distributed work is reshaping the actual networks inside organizations and offers a blueprint for leaders who want flexibility without sacrificing the trust, mentorship, or serendipity that drive high performance.
Key outcomes
- Understand how hybrid and AI tools are altering the structure of workplace networks.
- Identify the risks of “invisible isolation” and network decay in remote/hybrid settings.
- Learn concrete practices for building connection, trust, and serendipity across distance.
- Leave with guiding principles for using technology to augment, not replace, human relationships.
The Personal Board of Directors: Designing Your Leadership Asset
In an era of “nomadic careers,” a single mentor is no longer enough. Leaders often live and lead by “default,” supported only by the accidental collection of people who happen to be around them. What would happen if you looked at the people around you as a leadership asset instead of an accident? What would change tomorrow? This talk introduces the “Personal Board of Directors” (PBOD) as an answer to these questions, and provides a diagnostic framework to help participants audit their current support systems and intentionally curate a board of 4–7 diverse advisors.
Key outcomes
- Learn the five critical profiles every board needs: Challenger, Supporter, Expert, Marketing/PR, and Connector.
- Audit your current network for dangerous gaps or over-reliance on a few individuals.
- Develop a 6-12 month action plan for cultivating your board to navigate risk and career transitions.
Noah Askin 