Speaking
Keynotes, panels, and leadership conversations exploring power, dignity, and belonging in modern organisations.
Cynthia Fortlage is a speaker and leadership thinker whose work explores power, dignity, and belonging in modern organisations. Drawing on more than twenty-five years of leadership experience across corporate environments, the national women’s movement, and international LGBTQ+ advocacy, she has spoken to audiences in more than 30 countries and over 500 organisations worldwide.
Her talks combine lived experience, leadership insight, and thoughtful challenge to help audiences navigate complexity with clarity and responsibility.
Typical responses are within 1–2 business days.
Speaking That Moves People
Whether opening a conference, moderating a panel, or leading a leadership conversation, Cynthia creates space for audiences to reflect, question assumptions, and engage with difficult topics in a constructive way.
Her sessions are known for their warmth, clarity, and honesty. Drawing on lived experience and leadership practice, she helps audiences explore the realities of power, belonging, and responsibility in today’s organisations.
Speaking Themes
Leadership in the Messy Middle
Modern leadership requires navigating complexity, disagreement, and rapid change. Cynthia’s talks explore how leaders hold difficult conversations, make responsible decisions, and lead with clarity when the answers are not simple.
Power, Dignity, and Belonging
Organisational culture is shaped by everyday leadership choices. Cynthia explores how power, identity, and belonging influence who feels seen, heard, and able to contribute within teams and institutions.
This theme draws on Cynthia’s work across corporate environments, the national women’s movement, and international LGBTQ+ advocacy.
Psychological Safety in Practice
Psychological safety is often discussed but rarely understood in practice. Cynthia’s talks examine the real behaviours and leadership habits that build trust, accountability, and healthy team dynamics.
Acceptance without Understanding™
Cynthia’s signature leadership philosophy explores how people can hold space for difference without requiring agreement. This approach offers a practical way for leaders and organisations to navigate polarisation, disagreement, and complex social issues.
What Audiences Take Away
Cynthia’s talks combine lived experience, leadership insight, and thoughtful challenge. Audiences consistently say they leave with new ways of thinking about leadership, culture, and responsibility.
Audience Outcomes
• A deeper understanding of how identity, power, and culture shape everyday leadership decisions
• The confidence to open honest conversations about complex and sometimes uncomfortable topics
• New perspectives that challenge assumptions and shift the way people think about inclusion and belonging
• Practical insight leaders can take back to their teams to build more thoughtful and human workplaces
Who Cynthia Speaks For
Cynthia speaks with audiences navigating leadership, culture, and complex social change.
Typical audiences include:
• leadership teams and senior executives
• global conferences and professional associations
• employee resource groups and internal leadership networks
• HR, people, and culture leaders
• universities and public leadership forums
Workshops and Leadership Conversations
Not every conversation needs a stage. Cynthia also facilitates smaller sessions designed to help leaders explore complex questions in a practical way.
These sessions can include:
• inclusive leadership in practice
• navigating difference and conflict
• gender and leadership conversations
• psychological safety in real teams
Each session is tailored to the audience and organisational context.
Invite Cynthia to Speak
Cynthia speaks at conferences, leadership forums, corporate events, and global conversations on leadership and culture.
If you’re exploring a keynote, panel discussion, or leadership session, the best place to start is a short introductory conversation.
Typical responses are within 1–2 business days.
Sector Insight & Thought Leadership
Through my work with Nexus LGBTQ+ networks, I produce a quarterly global perspectives digest, curating the most relevant global developments and translating them through both a lived and leadership lens. It’s a way of connecting real-world experience with the decisions leaders are being asked to make every day.
Speaking Collaborations
Contributing as a “Human Book” with The Human Library, facilitating open, real-world conversations that challenge assumptions and deepen understanding.
