SPEAKING WITH BEN SUMMONSÂ
Rethink success before the old version costs you.Â
Keynotes, workshops and conversations that help people recognise when their old playbook no longer fits - and explore a more practical, intentional way forward.
Drawing on his experience as a CEO, coach, author and active Non-Executive Director, Ben combines honest personal stories, commercial insight and practical microshifts audiences can apply immediately.
SIGNATURE KENOTE
Success has a used by date.
The picture of success that got you here may not take you where you want to go next.
Many experienced leaders are still working towards a picture of success they formed years ago.
They keep performing, carrying responsibility and meeting expectations—even as their energy, priorities and sense of meaning begin to change.
The result can be exhaustion, disengagement, declining health or the growing urge to escape a life that looks successful but no longer feels right.
Drawing on his own transition from senior executive and CEO roles into coaching and writing, Ben offers a different way forward.
This keynote helps audiences recognise when success has reached its used-by date, redefine what matters now and use practical microshifts to create greater alignment across work and life.
Audiences will leave with:
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A fresh way to understand midlife tension and misalignment
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Language for recognising when an old definition of success no longer fits
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A practical framework for reconnecting with meaning and direction
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A more sustainable alternative to pushing on or making reactive change
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One useful microshift they can apply immediately
Practical ideas for leading and living through the middle years.
Each topic can be delivered as a keynote, facilitated conversation or practical workshop and tailored to the audience and occasion.
1. Leadership from the Inside Out
Understand who you are. Lead from what is uniquely yours.
Authentic leadership begins with self-understanding - not a title, position or prescribed leadership model.
In this keynote or interactive workshop, Ben helps people explore the gifts, values and experiences that shape how they lead. Participants consider the playbook they currently bring to work, identify where it may need resetting and begin defining their own authentic leadership signature.
The session shows how greater self-awareness can strengthen the way people lead themselves, work with others and contribute to their organisation - without needing to change jobs or reinvent their careers.
Participants will explore how to:
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Recognise the gifts and strengths they bring to their work
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Understand the values and experiences shaping how they operate
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Define an authentic leadership signature
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Reset habits or beliefs that may be limiting their contribution
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Make practical microshifts that bring more purpose and fulfilment to work
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Share their gifts more intentionally with colleagues, clients and the people in their lives
Best suited to: organisational conferences, leadership gatherings, team development days, professional services firms and employee development programs.
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2. When Success No Longer Fits
Redesign what success means for the life you want next.
Many people reach a point where the version of success that once motivated them no longer feels as meaningful. Their life may still look successful from the outside, but something internally has shifted.
Drawing on his own experience of midlife burnout and redesign, Ben explores why success has a used-by date - and why feeling restless, flat or uncertain does not necessarily mean something has gone wrong.
This keynote offers a grounded way to reassess what matters, redefine success across the whole of life and begin shaping what comes next without blowing everything up.
Best suited to: public conferences, community events, wellbeing programs, professional associations and audiences navigating midlife or significant life transitions.
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3. The Power of microshifts
Meaningful change doesn’t have to begin with a dramatic leap.
When something no longer feels right, people often assume they need a bold answer or a complete reinvention. More commonly, lasting change begins with a small, deliberate shift in how they see themselves, make decisions or use their time and energy.
Ben introduces six practical microshifts that help people reconnect with what matters, challenge an outdated playbook and move forward with greater clarity and intention.
Participants leave with a practical way to identify the shift that matters most - and one meaningful action they can take now.
Best suited to: workplace and public audiences, wellbeing events, conferences, retreats and personal-development programs.
For people carrying responsibility while questioning what comes next.
Ben's speaking is particularly relevant for:
- Executive and senior-leadership teams
- Founders and business owners
- Experienced professionals in their 40s and 50s
- Leadership conferences and business communities
- Corporate professional-development programs
- Executive retreats and leadership offsites
- Organisations focused on wellbeing, engagement and sustainable performance
- Men’s health, midlife and personal-development events
- Podcast, media and facilitated panel conversations
Formats may include:
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Conference keynotes
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Corporate keynotes
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Interactive workshops
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Leadership offsites
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Fireside conversations
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 Facilitated panels
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 Podcast and media interviews
The strongest organisations develop the person - not only the role.
People bring more than their professional skills to work. They bring their values, gifts, experiences, responsibilities and evolving sense of what matters.
Yet much of workplace development focuses on what people need to do, without creating enough space to understand who they are and how they can contribute at their best.
This matters at every career stage. It can become especially important for experienced people balancing leadership, family, financial commitments and changing priorities. Many continue to perform well while feeling exhausted, disengaged or privately questioning whether the way they work still fits.
These may feel like personal concerns, but they also have organisational consequences. When people lose connection with meaning and their own strengths, it can affect their energy, judgement, relationships, creativity and contribution.
Organisations don’t need to provide all the answers. They can create opportunities for people to understand themselves more deeply, recognise the gifts they bring and make thoughtful changes to how they work and lead.
Through the Life Playbook and practical microshifts, Ben gives people a grounded language for these conversations - and helps them develop a more authentic, purposeful and sustainable way of operating at work and beyond it.
A former CEO who understands performance - and its personal cost.
Ben Summons is a midlife coach, author, speaker, former CEO and active Non-Executive Director.
Across more than two decades in business, Ben led brands, teams and organisations in Australia and Asia. His roles included Head of Chocolate for Southeast Asia at Mondelez International and five years as CEO of Stone & Wood.
He has led through growth, complexity and crisis while carrying the expectations of boards, founders, employees, customers and family.
Ben also understands the private cost that can sit behind public success. His own experience of burnout, misalignment and career transition led him to retrain as a coach and develop the ideas behind microshifts.
Today, he helps people redefine success, reconnect with what matters and shape a next chapter that fits who they are now.
His speaking combines commercial credibility, lived experience, human insight and practical ideas audiences can use beyond the room.
Bring the microshifts message to your audience.
Tell me a little about your event, audience and what you would like the session to achieve.
Topics and formats can be tailored for conferences, leadership teams, corporate programs, retreats, panels and media conversations.
Enquire about speaking
Please share some more details with the below form. Or drop me an email at [email protected]
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