Bobby Umar
Most organisations now ask employees to build trust, influence and visibility across digital channels with no real training in how to do it. The result is a workforce expected to lead, network and represent the brand without the connective skills any of that requires. The cost shows up in disengagement, weak internal networks and leaders who cannot translate authority into presence.
Bobby Umar helps organisations rebuild human connection at work, training leaders and employees in authentic networking, personal branding and the communication habits that make influence possible.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Bobby Umar
- He treats connection as a teachable skill, not a personality trait. The 5 C’s of Connection framework, drawn from his TEDxUWO talk, gives leaders and employees a structured way to build trust, credibility and influence inside and outside the organisation.
- His background is unusually broad for the topic: engineering at Bombardier, brand marketing at Kraft and Unilever, and Second City improv training. That mix shows up in how the work lands, structured enough for senior audiences, performative enough to hold a room.
- He is a recognised authority on LinkedIn as a professional channel. Multiple LinkedIn Top Voice designations, including an early Presentation Skills badge, mean leaders learn from someone who has built an audience the way they are being asked to.
- Inc. Magazine Top 100 Leadership Speaker and five-time TEDx speaker, which gives senior audiences confidence that the craft and delivery will match the content.
Biography highlights
- Five-time TEDx speaker, including “The 5 C’s of Connection” (TEDxUWO) and “School: Learning to Fly” (TEDxUTSC).
- Inc. Magazine Top 100 Leadership Speaker, listed alongside Richard Branson and Brené Brown.
- LinkedIn Top Voice, with early badges for Presentation Skills, Thought Leadership and Personal Branding.
- Author of How to Network Anytime, Anywhere, With Anyone (#1 on three Amazon bestseller lists).
- Founder of DYPB (Discover Your Personal Brand), described as North America’s largest personal branding event, with 60 experts and over 300 delegates.
- Career background spans Bombardier (engineering), Kraft and Unilever (brand marketing) and Second City (performing arts). B.Eng., McGill University; MBA, McMaster University.
Biography
Most leadership development still treats connection as a soft skill that either comes naturally or does not. Bobby Umar’s work argues the opposite. His 5 C’s of Connection framework, popularised through a viral TEDxUWO talk, breaks authentic relationship-building into components that can be taught to engineers, sales teams, senior executives and entry-level employees alike.
That argument is grounded in an unusual professional path. Before becoming a speaker, Umar trained as an engineer at McGill, ran brand marketing for Kraft and Unilever, took an MBA at McMaster and studied improv at Second City. The result is a practitioner who can move between the analytical and the performative without losing either audience.
His credentials inside the speaking and creator economy are deep. Five TEDx talks. Inc. Magazine Top 100 Leadership Speaker. LinkedIn Top Voice across several categories. Author of How to Network Anytime, Anywhere, With Anyone, a #1 Amazon bestseller. Founder of DYPB, the personal branding conference that became the largest of its kind in North America.
What makes him commercially useful to organisations is the translation step. Personal branding, networking, social audio, vulnerable storytelling: these are not pitched as marketing tactics but as the connective infrastructure of modern professional life. For organisations trying to develop influential leaders, engaged employees and externally visible experts, Umar offers a practical, structured account of how connection actually works.
Key speaking topics
- Authentic networking and relationship-building
- Personal branding for leaders and employees
- LinkedIn presence and professional digital reputation
- Vulnerable storytelling and leadership communication
- Heart-centred leadership
- Employee advocacy and internal brand-building
- Connection skills in hybrid and remote teams
Ideal for
- CHROs, talent and L&D leaders investing in employee engagement, advocacy and internal communication.
- Marketing, communications and executive leaders building external thought leadership programmes for senior teams.
- Sales and business development functions where individual networking capability drives revenue.
- Conference organisers building agendas on leadership, future of work, employee experience or culture.
Audience outcomes
- A working language for connection, anchored in the 5 C’s framework, that audiences can apply immediately to internal and external relationships.
- A clearer view of how personal branding intersects with leadership credibility, especially on LinkedIn.
- Practical methods for using storytelling, vulnerability and digital channels to build trust at scale.
- A reframing of networking as a professional discipline, not a transactional activity reserved for extroverts.
- Confidence to put senior leaders and frontline employees on visible platforms without sounding scripted.
Talks
A structured account of how authentic connection is built, drawn from Umar’s viral TEDxUWO talk and used as the spine of his leadership work.
Key takeaways:
- A five-part framework for building trust and influence with people inside and outside the organisation.
- A view of connection as a teachable competency, not a personality trait.
- Tools for translating the framework into day-to-day leadership, sales and team behaviour.
A talk on how leaders use personal narrative to build credibility, trust and emotional resonance with the people they lead.
Key takeaways:
- Why vulnerability, used with judgement, increases rather than reduces authority.
- A repeatable method for constructing personal stories that serve a leadership purpose.
- The communication habits that distinguish leaders who connect from those who only inform.
A practical session on building professional presence, credibility and pipeline on LinkedIn, drawn from Umar’s own LinkedIn Top Voice experience.
Key takeaways:
- What separates a professional LinkedIn presence from a content-marketing performance.
- How leaders and employees can build authority on the platform without sounding scripted.
- The behaviours that turn LinkedIn from a noticeboard into a connection engine.
Videos
Testimonials
Fees
| EUR | GBP | USD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home Country | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| Asia Pacific | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| Europe | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| Middle East & Africa | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| South America | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| United Kingdom | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| US East Coast | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| US West Coast | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| Virtual | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |