Presentation slide on the costs of over-functioning: exhaustion, bottleneck, and identity loss.

A speaker who knows women leaders aren't the problem.

Most leadership keynotes for women deliver one of two messages: be more confident or lean in harder. Neither one addresses why brilliant, capable women leaders are still overworking and still leading inside systems that were never designed to support their authority. Leigh Toomey does. As the author of Leaking Authority and creator of the only delegation framework built specifically for women in corporate and educational leadership, she brings something rare to the stage - a systems-level diagnosis of why women leaders overwork, and a concrete, immediately applicable framework for what to do about it. She doesn't tell your audience to be someone different. She gives them a system that works.

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Now booking keynotes, workshops, and podcast appearances · In-person · Virtual · Hybrid

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Is this the right fit for your event?

Leigh's keynotes are designed for organizations where the audience includes women in active leadership roles - not aspiring leaders, not early career professionals, but women who are already leading teams, departments, schools, or organizations and navigating the specific friction that comes with that.

A women's leadership conference or summit - corporate, education, or cross-sector
An ERG keynote or professional development event for women in leadership
A DEI initiative focused on retention, advancement, or the leadership experience of women
An HR or people leadership summit where women's overwork, burnout, or authority are on the agenda
An education leadership conference for women in school or district leadership
An executive retreat where women leaders are the primary or significant audience

Industries served:

Corporate · Independent Schools · K–12 Education · Higher Education · Healthcare · Nonprofits · Financial Services · Government

What your audience won't get from this keynote.

They won't get a pep talk. They won't get a list of habits successful women have in common. They won't be told to speak up more, claim their seat at the table, or project more confidence in meetings. They won't leave feeling temporarily inspired and then quietly deflated when Monday looks exactly like the Friday before.

What they will get is a framework. The Leaking Authority framework is a research-grounded, immediately applicable system for diagnosing why delegation fails for women leaders, holding authority through a handoff, and recovering when something goes sideways - without taking everything back.

The result: your audience leaves with language they didn't have before, tools they can use before the week is out, and a fundamentally different understanding of a problem they thought was personal. It isn't. And naming that - clearly, without softening it - is what makes this keynote different from every other leadership talk they've attended.

Signature Keynotes

Leaking Authority: Why Women Leaders Overwork and What to Do About It

Stop Doing It All: How to Delegate Without Losing the Authority You've Worked This Hard to Build

Built for Someone Else: How to Lead With Authority in a System That Wasn't Designed for You

The flagship talk. Names what everyone in the room already knows but hasn't had language for. Women leaders leave with a new understanding of why delegation keeps failing, and that it was never their fault.

45 · 60 · 90 minutes · In-person · Virtual · Hybrid

Built for Someone Else: How to Lead With Authority in a System That Wasn't Designed for You

Stop Doing It All: How to Delegate Without Losing the Authority You've Worked This Hard to Build

Built for Someone Else: How to Lead With Authority in a System That Wasn't Designed for You

For HR, DEI, and mixed-audience events. Makes the case that the system is the variable, not the woman. Gives organizations a concrete framework for becoming places where women's authority is structurally supported.

45 · 60 · 90 minutes · In-person · Virtual · Panel

Stop Doing It All: How to Delegate Without Losing the Authority You've Worked This Hard to Build

For senior women leaders and executive audiences. Meets women exactly where the fear of delegation lives and walks them through the framework on the other side.

60 · 90 minutes · In-person · Virtual · Workshop add-on

A speaker who knows women leaders aren't the problem.

Inquire About Booking Leigh

Is this the right fit for your event?

Industries served:

What your audience won't get from this keynote.

Signature Keynotes

Leaking Authority: Why Women Leaders Overwork and What to Do About It

Stop Doing It All: How to Delegate Without Losing the Authority You've Worked This Hard to Build

Built for Someone Else: How to Lead With Authority in a System That Wasn't Designed for You

Built for Someone Else: How to Lead With Authority in a System That Wasn't Designed for You

Stop Doing It All: How to Delegate Without Losing the Authority You've Worked This Hard to Build

Built for Someone Else: How to Lead With Authority in a System That Wasn't Designed for You

Stop Doing It All: How to Delegate Without Losing the Authority You've Worked This Hard to Build

Stop Doing It All: How to Delegate Without Losing the Authority You've Worked This Hard to Build

Stop Doing It All: How to Delegate Without Losing the Authority You've Worked This Hard to Build

We invited Leigh to present to an all-women group of school district administrators about delegating with authority and to facilitate her workshop on the same topic. I would absolutely recommend her if you want your event guests to walk away feeling that it was worthy of their valuable time.

Not sure which talk is right for your event?

That's what the discovery call is for. Submit an inquiry.

A speaker who knows women leaders aren't the problem.

Inquire About Booking Leigh

Is this the right fit for your event?

Industries served:

What your audience won't get from this keynote.

Signature Keynotes

Leaking Authority: Why Women Leaders Overwork and What to Do About It

Stop Doing It All: How to Delegate Without Losing the Authority You've Worked This Hard to Build

Built for Someone Else: How to Lead With Authority in a System That Wasn't Designed for You

Built for Someone Else: How to Lead With Authority in a System That Wasn't Designed for You

Stop Doing It All: How to Delegate Without Losing the Authority You've Worked This Hard to Build

Built for Someone Else: How to Lead With Authority in a System That Wasn't Designed for You

Stop Doing It All: How to Delegate Without Losing the Authority You've Worked This Hard to Build

Stop Doing It All: How to Delegate Without Losing the Authority You've Worked This Hard to Build

Stop Doing It All: How to Delegate Without Losing the Authority You've Worked This Hard to Build

We invited Leigh to present to an all-women group of school district administrators about delegating with authority and to facilitate her workshop on the same topic. I would absolutely recommend her if you want your event guests to walk away feeling that it was worthy of their valuable time.

Not sure which talk is right for your event?

That's what the discovery call is for. Submit an inquiry.

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