Diana Taylor
Diana Taylor AM inspires audiences with fearless leadership lessons drawn from decades in law, sport, business, and community impact.
Why you should book Diana Taylor for your next event
- Gain insights from one of Australia’s most pioneering female leaders across law, sport, and community.
- Discover how courageous, values-based leadership drives real transformation and innovation.
- Learn how to challenge the status quo and create meaningful impact in your organisation and beyond.
Non-binding request for Diana Taylor
Pioneering leader, lawyer, and changemaker redefining leadership through courage, integrity, and purpose.
Diana Taylor AM is a trailblazing Australian leader whose impact spans law, business, community, and sport. Known for her fearless leadership and deep integrity, Diana challenges audiences to rethink what leadership means in today’s world. As the first female president of a men’s football league and the first woman to serve as Vice President of the Geelong Football Club, she has redefined what’s possible through determination and purpose. Recognised with the Order of Australia, Diana’s story is one of courage, innovation, and genuine care for others a powerful voice for leaders seeking lasting influence.
A Fearless Voice for Modern Leadership
Diana Taylor AM is one of Australia’s most respected and inspiring voices on leadership, integrity, and courage. Her belief that “leadership does not hold the hand of the status quo” defines every stage of her journey. Through over two decades of achievements across law, business, sport, and community service, Diana has proven that authentic leadership is about driving meaningful change and creating opportunities for others to thrive.
A qualified lawyer and experienced company director, Diana has built her career on values of fairness, empathy, and bold vision. Her approach to leadership is rooted in action leading by example and empowering others to step forward with confidence and conviction.
Breaking Barriers in Australian Sport
Diana is a pioneer in Australian Rules Football, holding an unmatched list of firsts that have reshaped the game’s leadership landscape. She was the first female president of a men’s metropolitan football league, the first woman appointed to the Victorian Football League Tribunal, and the first female Vice President of the Geelong Football Club in its 165-year history.
Her 25 years of service to Australian football reflect her deep commitment not only to the sport but also to inclusion and progress. In recognition of her exceptional contribution, Diana was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2024 an honour that celebrates her dedication to community, fairness, and leadership.
From Law to Business: Leadership Through Integrity
Beyond the sporting arena, Diana’s leadership extends across the legal and business worlds. As a lawyer and business owner, she has guided organisations through growth and transformation while maintaining a steadfast focus on ethical leadership. Her expertise as a company director further highlights her ability to balance strategic insight with compassion and clarity.
She has been recognised as a Telstra Business Woman of the Year Award winner, a testament to her impact as a business leader who combines commercial acumen with an unwavering commitment to integrity and purpose.
Building Stronger Communities
Diana’s leadership philosophy is grounded in service. She is deeply passionate about community development and has played a pivotal role in creating a world-class, community-based palliative care centre at Deakin University in Geelong. This initiative reflects her belief that leadership is ultimately about creating better outcomes for others a consistent theme in her professional and personal journey.
Her community work demonstrates how compassion, vision, and action can work together to bring about real and lasting change. Whether in the boardroom, on the field, or within her local community, Diana’s focus remains clear: to make a difference that matters.
An Inspirational Speaker for Every Audience
As a speaker, Diana Taylor AM brings energy, authenticity, and a rare depth of experience to every engagement. Her talks inspire audiences to reflect on their own purpose and to embrace leadership as an act of courage and responsibility. Diana explores the importance of integrity in decision-making, the power of resilience, and the need to continuously challenge the status quo.
Audiences leave her sessions with renewed motivation, practical tools for personal and professional growth, and a deeper understanding of how to lead with impact. Diana’s storytelling is grounded in lived experience real challenges, real decisions, and real success.
Book Diana Taylor AM for Your Event
Whether addressing business leaders, community organisations, or sporting groups, Diana Taylor AM delivers keynotes that resonate deeply and inspire action. Her message leadership is about creating better outcomes for others transcends industries and speaks to the heart of what it means to lead with purpose.
Book Diana Taylor AM for your next event to bring powerful insights on leadership, courage, and change to your audience.
Keynotes
Keynote by Diana Taylor:
The Female Leader: Built to lead, last & create legacy
Gender matters, and women in leadership roles or aspiring to leadership should be given every opportunity to succeed. There is a playbook that every current and aspiring female leader needs to understand to build their skills, read the room, develop their talent and character, develop their networks and refine their grit.
Diana guides the audience through each of these critical elements by placing no ceiling on what is possible, and on refining the art of never giving up even in the most challenging of circumstances. Leadership does not hold the hand of the status quo. Leadership demands far more, and this presentation goes to the heart of what every female leader, and those who support them, need to know for sustained success.
Audiences will learn:
Why female leaders and aspiring leaders should be supported and the ways this can be achieved.
How to build talent, character and leadership capability and stand out in crowded marketplaces.
Techniques for leadership presentation, communication and managing the art of perception.
How to build networks and open up multiple portfolio opportunities for advancement.
The key elements of building and sustaining resilience and grit under pressure.
Keynote by Diana Taylor:
Planning for Greatness: Mastering the elements of the strategic planning process & leading for organisational & personal greatness
People and organisations have the ability to achieve extraordinary outcomes. But greatness doesn’t happen by chance, and it is never given as an instant reward. Careful planning, a clearly defined purpose, accountability for actions and a controlled response for events inevitably not going to plan are essential.
Diana has supported individuals and organisations for over two decades in high performance sport, business, legal and community environments to lead and plan for the best and hold to the course over the long term.
This presentation will support the audience to lead in finding competitive advantage in the planning and execution process to achieve the ultimate success.
Audiences will learn:
How to master strategic planning to achieve elevated and sustained success.
Why the small things and consistency matter in the execution.
Why people and organisations fail at planning and execution and how to avoid the pitfalls.
How to lead people to embrace their greatness and the planning process.
To develop a greater understanding of why the short-, medium- and long-term planning horizons are all critical to achieving greatness
Keynote by Diana Taylor:
Community leadership: Building a better future, one deliberate action at a time
With governments struggling under mounting weight of expectation and the cost-of- living pressures significantly affecting the way we live, there has never been a more important time in our history for strong community leadership. To be successful, community leaders need to be identified and step forward, be given the tools to succeed, to last and then pass their knowledge and skills onto the next generation of leaders. Community leaders have the ability to respond to and direct the power of their communities for good, and to deliver on expectations of community in the areas that make the most difference.
As a community leader, Diana acutely understands and guides the audience through what it takes to be a successful community leader, how to prioritise action when there is so much need and how to take key stakeholders, including government, on the journey with the community.
Audiences will learn:
Why community has become the place where the care for our people is paramount and actions to support this endeavour can succeed.
The difference between the community leader and other types of business and organisational leadership, and the superpower that exists in all community leaders.
What community leaders need to understand about governance, running an organisation and the overlay of integrity and trust in all matters.
The opportunities for community leaders to embrace their purpose, to find their courage and make great decisions and to grow the power of their communities.
Why financial sustainability in community organisations is paramount and how the community leader can achieve this objective.
