Rich Mulholland
Keynote Speaker, Author, Entrepreneur, Relevanteer, Mischief Maker
- Former rock ’n’ roll roadie who toured with Iron Maiden, Midnight Oil, and Def Leppard before entering the business world.
- Founder of Missing Link, South Africa’s leading presentation and communication firm, transforming how people deliver ideas.
- Author of Relentless Relevance, Here Be Dragons, Boredom Slayer, and Legacide, challenging how leaders think, speak, and connect.
- Globally recognised keynote speaker and coach helping audiences communicate with confidence and relevance.
Full Profile
Rich Mulholland: Former roadie. Reluctant adult. Relentless communicator.
Rich Mulholland toured with Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, and Bon Jovi, then built a career helping leaders take the stage like they mean it. He’s spoken in 50 countries on six continents, founded the presentation firm Missing Link and the AI agency Too Many Robots. He has written four books, including his latest, Relentless Relevance.
Today, he helps companies become a threat to the future before the future threatens them – through bold communication, sharp strategy, and just enough mischief to keep things interesting, inspiring people from “what is” to the potential of “what could be.
When he’s not working, he’s probably rolling on the BJJ mat or rolling dice in a board game. Either way, he’s playing to win.
Talks
This talk is designed to have leaders and teams understand the incredible importance of remaining relevant and leading the way in all interactions. It isn’t just about sparking ideas; it’s about igniting a transformation in leadership perspective and action.
In this talk, Rich will explain:
- Shift from comfort to curiosity, fostering a culture of innovation through questioning norms.
- Delve into protecting your core and daringly disrupting your sphere, with strategies that promote relevance and resilience.
- Providing the groundwork for a culture that thrives on dynamic change, encouraging teams to embrace disruption as an ally.
How to craft relevant sales stories and master StorySelling to win more deals.
Salespeople often fail by focusing on their story instead of selling a new story involving the customer. This applies to leadership communication too. In his engaging talk, Richard Mulholland aims to transform your approach to storytelling and selling, offering new, practical tools for today’s world.
In this talk, Rich will explain:
- Why we are wrong about storytelling and how we can fix it.
- How story selling techniques can be used to change minds and not simply win deals.
- How to get your customers to tell you what they really care about.
How and why humans will remain relevant in a world of automation and AI. Hint: by hacking expectations.
You have to surprise and delight. Everybody come with an expectation engine and your job is to hack it! While many aim to surpass expectations, Rich argues that this alone falls short. What truly leaves a lasting impression are those ‘Not My Job’ moments—the unexpected instances of surprise and delight. These are the moments that linger in people’s memories, ensuring your relevance remains ingrained in their minds.
In this talk, Rich will explain:
- Why perfection is boring.
- Our flaws as humans are our unfair advantage.
- How to hack the expectation engine
How to become relevant as a leader by mastering the art of persuasion and communication.
The difference between leaders and managers lies in their communication skills. Many leaders still use a top-down approach, demanding action like a government. In this impactful, story-driven talk, Richard Mulholland equips leaders with the tools he provides to professional speakers, enhancing their leadership profile and empowering them to inspire their teams to take action and achieve success.
In this talk, Rich will explain:
- The secrets used by top professional speakers to drive audiences to action.
- A framework for effective communication that can be used in every talk, pitch, or presentation.
- How to speak in a way that’s impossible to ignore – online, or in-person.
Is strategy still relevant in a world of autonomy?
Business leaders often prioritize strategy, but is it still relevant 60 years later? In this provocative yet practical talk, Richard Mulholland challenges traditional strategy, proposing a modern approach for a world of purpose-driven autonomous adults.
In this talk, Rich will explain:
- Why strategy needs a new strategy.
- How we can get the more out of our top-performers by getting them to move towards, and not just forwards.
- The sheer galvanising power of a clear victory condition.
How great companies slay legacy thinking to accelerate progress and foster innovation
Innovation doesn’t happen when we start doing something new, but when we stop doing something old. Based on his best selling first book Legacide, global speaker Richard Mulholland will go to war with the legacy thinking that is holding your people and business back. In this entertaining talk he will give you a new lens on innovation, and some practical frameworks that you can use to evolve.
In this talk, Rich will explain:
- The role that leaders play in removing the barriers to innovative action.
- How to measure the current relevance of past decisions.
- How to flip the narrative of the last few years from that of a threat, to an opportunity.