Colette Carlson
Automation is closing the distance on the technical work, and the differentiating capability inside organisations is becoming relational: trust, candour, and the quality of conversations under stress. Most cultures have starved those skills for a decade. Leaders inherit teams that collaborate by default, not by intention, and the cost shows up in attrition, stalled change, and customer relationships that never deepen past the transaction.
Colette Carlson is a human behaviour expert who helps organisations build the trust, candour, and connection skills that hybrid teams and customer relationships now depend on.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Colette Carlson
- A Master’s in Human Behavior anchors the content in behavioural science rather than speaker anecdote, which holds up in front of senior, sceptical audiences.
- The Human Edge framework organises five distinct programmes against specific buyer briefs: leadership, sales, team performance, burnout and resilience, and women’s leadership.
- CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame membership signals platform reliability for high-stakes conferences and executive offsites where delivery risk is itself a procurement criterion.
- A career arc that begins on straight commission and ends in front of Microsoft, PepsiCo, and Boeing audiences makes the trust and connection content land with sales and revenue teams, not only with HR.
Biography highlights
- Master’s Degree in Human Behavior.
- Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), a credential held by fewer than 10% of International Federation for Professional Speakers members.
- Inducted into the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame in 2017.
- Founder of Speak Your Truth, Inc. and author of Stop Playing Fictionary: Speak Your Truth to Stress Less and Connect More.
- Keynote work for Microsoft, PepsiCo, FedEx, ExxonMobil, Procter & Gamble, Fidelity, Costco, Domino’s, Boeing, PwC, and Accenture.
- Contributor to Success, Business Management Daily, and Working Mother; co-authored Conversations on Success Vol. 4 alongside Deepak Chopra and Mark Victor Hansen.
Biography
The relational fabric of most organisations has thinned. Hybrid schedules, lean middle layers, and rapid restructures have left teams collaborating by habit rather than by design, and the result shows up in disengagement scores, deal cycles that stall, and change programmes that miss the people piece.
Colette Carlson works on that exact problem. Her content draws on a Master’s in Human Behavior and two decades on commission-based sales floors, then translates the behavioural science into communication moves senior leaders, salespeople, and team managers can use the next morning. The Human Edge framework organises this into five keynote programmes spanning leadership, sales, team performance, resilience, and women’s leadership.
The credential trail is unusually concentrated. She holds the CSP designation held by under 10% of IFPS members and was inducted into the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame in 2017, an NSA lifetime award. Her client list, including Microsoft, PepsiCo, FedEx, ExxonMobil, Procter & Gamble, Boeing, and Accenture, indicates a track record across both regulated and consumer-facing environments.
What separates her in the workplace-culture pillar is the bridge between scientific framing and revenue-floor experience. Buyers booking a culture or engagement keynote often get one or the other. Carlson is fluent with HR audiences and with sales kick-offs, which is why her work travels across the org chart rather than sitting only in the people function.
Key speaking topics
- Trust and connection in hybrid organisations
- Psychological safety and team performance
- Communication under pressure
- Resilience and burnout prevention
- Sales relationships and influence
- Women’s leadership and executive presence
- Human skills in an AI-augmented workplace
Ideal for
- CHROs and people leaders rebuilding engagement after restructure or hybrid transition
- Sales leaders running national kick-offs that need a behavioural, relationship-led keynote
- Executive teams introducing psychological safety and trust as operating principles
- Women’s leadership networks and ERG flagship events
Audience outcomes
- A working vocabulary for trust and psychological safety that leaders can use in their next team meeting
- Specific communication moves for difficult conversations, candour, and feedback
- Behavioural tools to protect focus and energy through sustained organisational pressure
- A relationship-first sales mindset that closes the gap between rapport and revenue
- Practical confidence cues for women navigating senior rooms and negotiation moments
Talks
Equips leaders with the human-centred behaviours that hold teams together when work is hybrid, fast, and AI-augmented.
Key takeaways:
- Emotional agility in high-pressure conversations
- Psychological safety as an operating principle, not a slogan
- Strength-spotting and storytelling as everyday leadership tools
Reframes selling around trust and emotional intelligence so revenue teams move from transactional to durable customer relationships.
Key takeaways:
- Strategic curiosity that opens larger conversations
- Empathetic listening as a closing skill
- Trust-building habits for modern, multi-stakeholder buying groups
Builds team performance through psychological safety, courageous conversations, and aligned accountability.
Key takeaways:
- Candour without damage to relationships
- Change agility inside fatigued teams
- Trust-building habits that hold across hybrid schedules
A behavioural toolkit for sustaining focus, energy, and decision quality under prolonged pressure.
Key takeaways:
- Focus control and mindset reframing
- Energy management as a leadership discipline
- Resilience rituals that survive busy weeks
Addresses the practical content of authority, negotiation, and visibility for women moving through senior roles.
Key takeaways:
- Strategic self-worth and commanding communication
- Negotiation moves anchored in behavioural science
- Networks and sponsorship as career infrastructure