Sonia McDonald

Keynote Speaker

Vibrant! Inspiring! Engaging!

Known as “The Accidental Entrepreneur,”Sonia’s entrepreneurial journey to CEO was unexpected and unpredictable.

From single mum, struggling to survive in an alien land, to being named as one of The 250 Most Influential Women Leaders Across the Globe by Richtopia. Sonia became a leader by accident, and her experiences, good and bad, have equipped her as one of Australia’s top leadership experts. Sonia has chosen to share her experiences to help others become the leader they want to be.

With a wealth of experience in human re-sources, management, and organisational development, Sonia set out to work in the field of leadership and leader development.

What she soon discovered was that ‘leadership’ was viewed as a role, not as an attitude; she discovered a world where leaders didn’t understand their individual qualities - let alone how to manage the qualities of the different personalities in their teams. A driven and motivated woman, Sonia is not one to run from risk, so when she decided that the old concept of leadership

needed a good shake-up, she knew she was the right person to do it.

Sonia is now CEO of her successful busi-ness, LeadershipHQ - a company specialising in the neuroscience of leadership, and the transformation of process-focused leaders into people-oriented leaders. Great leaders are, above all human!

Using evidence from her neuroscience studies, Sonia creates a pathway for leaders to succeed by helping them to understand why they, and others around them, work the way they do.

Sonia’s passion is to build a world where we all see ourselves as leaders. She is commit-ted to working with organisations, teams and leaders in building their leadership capability and mindset.

Sonia also won 2nd Place for Empowering Women Australian Centre for Leadership for Women (ACLW) 2016 National Diversity Award!

Sonia, the leader

Through her exciting, inclusive and high-ener-gy presentations, Sonia puts the humanity and humour back into leadership.

Sonia is a fun, dynamic and vibrant speaker, as evident in her keynote presentations;

» Freakin Rock it » Leadership is an Attitude » Confidence is SO Hot » You Rock! » You Lead Our World

Each of Sonia’s presentations digs deep into the foundations of what it means to be a lead-er. With Sonia, leadership gets real.

What she found was a world where ‘leadership’ was a role, not an attitude; a world where leaders didn’t understand themselves let alone how to manage the different personalities in their teams. Sonia is not one to run from risk, so when she decided that the old concept of leadership needed a good shake-up, she knew she was the right person to do it.

Suddenly Sonia was an entrepreneur and she’s awesome at it.

Sonia established LeadershipHQ, which spe-cialises in the neuroscience of leadership, and transforming leaders from process-focused to people-oriented. Great leaders are above all, human! Using her understanding of neuro-science, she creates great leaders by helping

them understand themselves and why people work the way they do.

Through her exciting and engaging presenta-tions, she puts the humanity and humour back into leadership.

Each presentation digs deep into the nitty-gritty of what it means to be a leader. This is where leadership gets real. You can find out more about these presentations on my website at LeadershipHQ.com.au.

When people talk about Sonia’s speaking gigs, they always mention passion, commitment and her inspiring presentation.

What they are really saying is that Sonia rocks as a speaker and presenter. When Sonia speaks, people listen. Her enthusiasm is infectious, her presentation exciting, and her advice practical.

Sonia gets amazing results like these for your leaders.

» Your current and emerging leaders learn to understand how their brains influence their actions so they make better leader-ship decisions.

» They learn how to lead through inspiration rather than instruction, and inspire their teams to work together in understanding.

» Leaders learn to think beyond the traditional model of leadership and help create an organisation of engaged and committed people working for the same goal.

Sonia, the speaker

Book Sonia NOW on 1300 719 665.

Sonia has been speaking at the AHRI events and conferences for many

years. Her workshops and presentations are always insightful, engaging and empowering. She is generous and inspiring with her audiences and

focuses on bringing out the best in her participants.

Corinne ButlerState President, AHRI

Now this is importaNt.

If you just want someone who will speak on the topic of leadership, anyone will do.

But if you want someone to take you right into the topic, make you look at yourself and your skills, get your hands dirty while you pull the topic apart and still come up smiling, Sonia McDonald is the speaker you need.

Sonia’s keynotes include:

Freakin’ rock it! Sonia McDonald knows only too well that in life and in business, you’ve got to find what you excel at and just freakin’ rock it! That’s your point of difference.

If you never find what makes you special, you will always be…’just average’… and wouldn’t that be a waste of the real you? To succeed as a business, you need to create an environment that allows your peo-ple to ROCK IT. To succeed as an individual, you have to stand out.

This presentation is about how to discover your special talents and how to rock them every day. It shows leaders what changes they need to make in their environment and organisational culture to en-courage their people to ROCK IT and not just get the job done.

In this keynote, Sonia covers: » Discovering what it is that

makes you ROCK. » Learning to love yourself and

celebrate your ‘failures.’ » Positioning yourself for success » Discovering your inner

confidence » How to put yourself out there

on the path to success » The powerful nature of

kindness and gratitude » Loving and spending time

with your tribe » Finding courage that you

didn’t know you had » And how to just Go For It!

By the end of the keynote pres-

entation, you will know how to make your world truly ROCK and have the skills and courage to get out there and make it happen.

conFidence is so HotIf you don’t have confidence in yourself as a leader, your team won’t have confidence in you, either. But don’t despair – confi-dence can be learnt.

Become the director of your own brain. Teach it to focus on your successes and your strengths. When you know yourself, and un-derstand your emotions and your reactions, you develop a confi-dence that is unbreakable. Once you’ve got it, your confidence shows on the outside. It’s in the way you walk, the way you talk and the way you present yourself.

‘Confidence is SO Hot’ will help you understand where confidence comes from, discover how to de-velop your self-confidence and show you how to wear it like you own it!

LeadersHip is an attitudeLeadership is an attitude, not a job. If you want to rock as a leader, all you need is the right attitude, and this presentation shows you how to get it.

Through the ‘Leadership is an Atti-tude’ address you will learn why your mindset really matters when you de-fine yourself as a leader, how to build your leadership presence and how to become the kind of leader who inspires people to follow them.

You rock!You may not realise it, but you ROCK. Stop hiding away your tal-ents and start showing them off. In becoming a great leader, there is little time to follow the herd. Only people who stand out get a chance to show what they are re-ally made of.

This presentation will help you discover what it is that makes you ROCK! You will identify what makes you different, uncover your values and build an awareness of your strengths. When you learn to focus on what’s great about you and your leadership style, you can lead with confidence and authenticity. Learn to focus on your strengths and talents, and let yourself ROCK! Never be afraid to show it. That’s what will make you the leader to be watched and followed.

You Lead our WorLdWould you like to discover the secret skills of leadership? In this presentation, you’ll realise why leadership isn’t about power, and how the leaders you’ve always admired have access to a secret toolbox of skills, which makes them great. I’ll give you a hint. It’s about influence and inspiration, not bending people to your will!

When you begin to lead people, you begin to lead the world. If you want a world where there is a change, lead the way. Leadership starts with you, and it begins right here!

Sonia McDonald is an inspirational keynote and workshop presenter with a distinctive ability to bond and engage with her audiences. Sonia is well known for her dynamic, and charismatic workshop/presentation style and people walk away on an emotional and inspired high, feeling informed.

Tony Wiggins, HR Architect & AHRI Convener

Sonia’s has spoken at

contact information: E-mail: sonia@soniamcdonald.com.au Website: www.soniamcdonald.com.au

• HR Summit for Key Media• EA/PA Summit• HR Leadership Summit• PMI Conference• National HR Summit• HR Directors Forum• National Women in Construction – NAWIC• Australian Institute of Project Management• Queensland Supply Chain & Logistics Conference• Project Management Institute Conference• Women in Engineering Conference• Women in Public Sector Conference • Authentic Leadership Summit • Clients such as CUA, Qantas and Woolworths • Australian Human Resources Institute Forums and Special Events• Business Women’s Association for International Women’s Day

If you need a speaker who will reach your people and inspire them to positive change and action, book Sonia McDonald now. This will be a presentation they enjoy, learn from and talk about for a long time to come.

Sonia travelS from BriSBane acroSS auStralia and the GloBe

Book Sonia noW on 1300 719 665 or contact Sonia@Soniamcdonald.com.au