Madison Butler Speaking Topics

• Authentic Leadership: Vulnerability First

  Leaders are often expected to project confidence and certainty, but in today’s workplace, authenticity has become the defining characteristic of impactful leadership. Vulnerability is no longer a liability—it’s a strength that fosters trust, deepens relationships, and drives real connection.

  Yet, many leaders hesitate to embrace vulnerability, fearing it may make them seem weak. The truth? Your authenticity is your strength. Being open and authentic makes you human, and will allow your teams to feel human too. If you want teams who feel safe, we must be willing to put down your own walls first. This keynote will provide the insights and tools leaders need to make vulnerability and safety a cornerstone of their leadership style. By honoring their own humanity, leaders will empower themselves and their teams to tackle challenges with trust, safety and humanity.

  Leave this session inspired to lead from the heart and embrace the power of who you really are, not who you think you have to be.

  Key Learnings:

  • Understand why vulnerability is essential for authentic leadership and long-term success.
  • Learn techniques to foster trust, openness, and accountability within teams.
  • Discover how to balance vulnerability with confidence to build stronger, more engaged teams.
  • Gain strategies to model authenticity and create a culture where everyone feels seen, valued, and empowered.

• The Future of Work: Designing Your Organization for Scale

  In today’s fast-moving world, organizations often chase short-term wins at the expense of long-term success. But building for longevity requires a different mindset—one that prioritizes people, purpose, and adaptability. Happy people stay with our organizations, and happy requires safety.

  When leaders embrace human-centered design, they create environments that are not only sustainable but also empowering. By focusing on the well-being and growth of individuals, organizations can foster safety, resilience, drive innovation, and achieve meaningful, lasting impact.

  To design our organizations for longevity, we must design for humans, not resumes. People are people, and the future of work requires us to prioritize people over all else.

  This conversation arms leaders with actionable strategies to align human needs with organizational goals, creating systems that endure and evolve in an ever-changing landscape and dive into how to connect with our teams as humans, and not just peers or managers.

  Leave inspired to design for longevity and lead with purpose, empathy, and a vision for the future.

  Key Learnings:

  • Understand the principles of human-centered design and their role in fostering sustainable success.
  • Discover how to integrate empathy and purpose into leadership practices to drive long-term impact.
  • Learn how to build adaptable teams that thrive amid change and uncertainty.
  • Explore strategies to balance performance and well-being for greater organizational longevity.

• Build For You: Authentic Personal Branding

  Your network is your net worth, but your personal brand is your asset. Everyone wants to build a brand, but too often they want a brand that leans to trends and algorithms, instead of one that leans inward. You have to be your biggest fan, your brand has to be a brand you would want to consume. True success lies in building a brand that reflects who you genuinely are, not just who you think the world wants you to be.

  Authentic personal branding is about aligning your values, strengths, and vision to create a powerful and memorable message. You have to paint a picture that looks like the person you see in the mirror. You are your superpower. Everyone can make recyclable content, but no one can tell your story. This keynote will guide you through the process of building a brand that empowers you, helps you find your voice, and honors your individuality You will walk away empowered to show up as exactly who you are and ready to share it with the world around us.

  Key Learnings:

  • Discover the core elements of authentic personal branding and why it matters in today’s world.
  • Learn how to identify and communicate your unique strengths, values, and vision effectively.
  • Gain tools to create a personal brand that feels aligned, purposeful, and impactful.
  • Explore strategies to maintain authenticity while growing your influence and visibility.

• Coloring Outside of the Lines: Living Your Life for You

  This talk will focus on the process and liberation in breaking away from societal expectations. It is easy to feel trapped when society creates a mold for you to stay within, but life is beautiful when you determine what it looks like. Madison Butler is a fierce advocate for being human at work, and this talk centers on just that- being human without expectations of those around us but being you for you.

• Anti-Racism and Allyship: A Guide

  Anti-Racism and allyship have become corporate America’s favorite buzzwords. How can we ensure that our actions represent our adjectives? Anti-racism and allyship both center around action rather than performance. We will explore how to create actionable change as any ally/accomplice and what it means to truly be anti-racist.

• Decoding Code Switching: Surviving Corporate America

  Black folx are disproportionately more likely than their white peers to say they sometimes feel the need to change the way they express themselves when they are around people with different racial, class, and ethnic backgrounds. Code-switching is a practice that is familiar to many Black people and POC around the world. But for many, this goes beyond the longing to be accepted by White Culture. In many cases, it is a survival mechanism and a trauma response.

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