Cy Wakeman

Cy Wakeman is a globally recognized leadership expert helping organizations achieve stronger results with less drama and greater accountability.

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“All I can say is – WOW! Yesterday was my first time hearing Cy Wakeman present. I’ve heard amazing things to date about her; most of the reviews I heard were from folks who read her books or heard her live. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as our presentation was virtual. She was amazing! The audience – including myself – was incredibly engaged, and Cy made the entire presentation very interactive with two-way dialogue and chats. Cy made the presentation’s content personal at times, which made her seem so familiar and relatable. I can’t say it enough – Cy was engaging, fun, creative, smart and so powerful! I know she made an impact on me and so many others!”

Director

Clinical Operations, Ascension Via Christi Health

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Non-binding request for Cy Wakeman

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Why book Cy Wakeman for your next event

Cy equips leaders with practical tools to reduce workplace drama, increase accountability, and drive measurable results fast.
Her Reality-Based approach replaces entitlement with ownership, helping teams perform better even in complex, high-pressure environments.
Backed by decades of real-world experience, Cy delivers insights leaders can apply immediately across industries and cultures.

Non-binding request for Cy Wakeman

Reality-Based Leadership expert transforming workplace performance

Cy Wakeman is one of the most influential voices in modern leadership, known for her Reality-Based approach that cuts through workplace drama and drives real results. A New York Times best-selling author, Hall of Fame Speaker, and 2023 World’s #1 Leadership Guru, Cy brings more than 25 years of experience partnering with global organizations across industries. Her work empowers leaders to elevate performance, increase engagement, and create healthier workplace cultures where people thrive without lowering standards or expectations.

Who is Cy Wakeman

Cy Wakeman is a drama researcher, leadership strategist, and globally sought-after keynote speaker recognized for transforming how leaders and teams operate in today’s demanding workplace realities. Her Reality-Based Leadership philosophy is grounded in the belief that great leadership is not about controlling people, but about building accountability, clarity, and emotional efficiency at every level of an organization. By eliminating unnecessary drama, leaders and employees alike are able to focus their energy on what truly drives results.

Named the 2023 World’s #1 Leadership Guru, Cy is also a New York Times best-selling author and a Hall of Fame Speaker. She holds the prestigious Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation from the National Speaker’s Association, placing her among the top 3% of professional speakers worldwide. Her work is widely regarded as a powerful antidote to workplace dysfunction, burnout, and entitlement.

Reality-Based Leadership in Practice

At the core of Cy Wakeman’s work is Reality-Based Leadership, a modern framework that helps leaders navigate complexity without becoming overwhelmed by emotional waste. Rather than reacting to problems, leaders learn how to assess reality clearly, coach employees to higher levels of ownership, and foster cultures where responsibility replaces blame.

Cy’s approach enables organizations to deliver better results with less drama, achieve higher engagement without entitlement, and create more happiness even in challenging environments. Leaders learn how to “love their teams up while calling them up,” balancing empathy with high expectations. This philosophy has earned Cy a reputation as “the secret weapon to restoring sanity to the workplace and the worldplace.”

Trusted by Global Organizations

Cy Wakeman has partnered with some of the world’s most respected organizations, spanning technology, healthcare, finance, government, and consumer brands. Her client list includes Google, Meta, Viacom, NBC Universal, Keurig Dr. Pepper, NASA, Pfizer, CVS, Johns Hopkins, Stanford Medicine, Bank of America, and many others.

Across these organizations, Cy’s work has helped leaders reduce disengagement, increase productivity, and build resilient cultures that perform under pressure. Her ability to translate complex leadership challenges into clear, actionable strategies makes her a trusted advisor to executives and frontline leaders alike.

Author, Podcaster, and Thought Leader

Cy is the author of four best-selling books that challenge conventional leadership thinking and offer practical tools for everyday leadership. Her most recent book, Life’s Messy, Live Happy: Things Don’t Have to Be Perfect for You to Be Content (2022), explores how leaders and individuals can thrive without waiting for ideal conditions.

She also hosts the Reality-Based Leadership podcast, where she shares timely insights and practical guidance for modern leaders. Her popular Reality-Based Leadership newsletter reaches over 30,000 engaged readers and frequently goes viral within organizations, sparking meaningful conversations and real behavior change.

With an online following exceeding 250,000 fans, Cy’s ideas resonate with leaders around the world who are seeking clarity, confidence, and sustainable performance.

Education and Professional Foundation

Cy Wakeman’s leadership expertise is supported by a strong academic foundation and decades of applied experience. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Drake University, a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Briar Cliff University, and a Master’s Degree in Health Administration from Clarkson College. This diverse educational background informs her unique ability to blend human behavior, systems thinking, and organizational performance into a cohesive leadership philosophy.

Book Cy Wakeman for Your Event

When you book Cy Wakeman for your event, you bring in a speaker who delivers clarity, energy, and lasting impact. Her keynotes are engaging, direct, and deeply practical, equipping audiences with tools they can apply immediately. Cy does not rely on hype or theory alone; she brings proven frameworks that help leaders and teams rise to their potential with confidence and accountability.

Cy Wakeman is an ideal speaker for leadership conferences, executive summits, and organizational events focused on performance, culture, and change. Her message resonates with leaders at every level who are ready to move beyond drama and lead in reality.

Customer Reviews

Director Clinical Operations, Ascension Via Christi Health

“Cy is consistently the highest-rated speaker at any event we host. This is especially notable when one considers the caliber of speakers who present at Women Lead Change events! She is also a speaker that provides ongoing opportunities for development, beyond her keynote. It is not uncommon for us to hear from organizations who use her books, podcasts, and videos as regular components to staff meetings and employee resource groups long after the conference.”

CEO Women Lead Change

The response from our HR community has been overwhelming. They loved your message, and I think the whole experience provided a much-needed energy boost. The day exceeded my expectations, and it was the perfect launch to my new role – setting a new tone for our HR community.

CHRO NBCUniversal Media, LLC

This is the most effective, productive and practical solution any business leader would want. I cannot tell you how much money, time and emotional waste has been saved because of Cy’s philosophy. She can transform any culture to help the willing revolutionize consistent and constant change.

CEO Anaplan, Former CFO Red Hat and Cisco

What a privilege to have you in Charlotte last week! Your message of ditch the drama, your ego is not your amigo, and how to check our stories was so impactful to our teams. The group you spoke to is highly diverse and yet your message resonated in a uniform and profound way. A ‘home run’ said one of my key teammates. I am grateful you made the trip and that you seamlessly wove the issues we are facing into your discussion. Onward we go…but in REALITY!

Head of Wholesale Credit Bank of America

Thank you for the impact you have had on me. Last year at Herman Miller, Inc. the East delivered a record year. My team is stronger and better leaders as a result of me working on my leadership… with you! Thank you. I also wanted to share how helpful your podcasts and YouTube videos are to create the adjustment in my thinking when I digress. I had a week this week where I did not step up, so I spent the morning re-watching your work. I am back thinking of the all possibilities of creating great and enabling my team to share in that work.

Vice President Sales-East HermanMiller

Cy provided incredible value to our leaders during her virtual session. Her reality-based philosophies are always relevant, but particularly useful as we navigate the challenges of leading at a distance.

Chief Communications & Marketing Officer Blue Cross Blue Shield

Cy’s virtual presentation was a gift to our very exhausted audience of nurse leaders. Her message was spot-on, providing pearls of wisdom and actionable tools that participants could immediately begin using in their day-to-day work as they press on through such challenging times. We could not have asked for a better speaker for a virtual format where our audience felt as though they were in the same room with her and each other.

In the midst of extreme challenges and disruption, peace, happiness, or greatness quickly start to seem like an impossibility. As humans, we quickly fall prey to the belief that we can’t succeed in circumstances like these and many buy in to the belief that our new normal is one of stress, anxiety, conflict, and suffering. We throttle down to settle for just “getting through” and surviving until things get back to the way things were before.

But what if we had the power to invoke another side of our uniquely human nature? And that part of our human nature is evolution. What if it didn’t have to be a time of stress and anxiety but instead a time of peace, reflection, growth, and adaption? Good news – it can be different. Even better news, at Reality-Based Leadership we know how to make it different.

We all have far more power over our experiences than we claim. Even in the toughest situations each of us can determine whether we are impacted or traumatized and whether our approaches and responses help or hinder our desired results. In fact, how one person experiences these times has a lot more to do with their mindsets, skillsets, habits, and strategies they are deploying than the actual circumstances we are facing.

What you will take away from this session:

This session is designed to help each participant take a quick inventory of their current experience and learn new techniques, strategies, and concepts that are easy to implement and can immediately shift mindsets to one of peace in the present, and resilience in the future. If you are wondering how you can best support your teams through this crisis, here is a unique reminder of just how much positive impact they can have to succeed despite the challenging reality at hand.

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