Available to book
David Clutterbuck
Professor David Clutterbuck helps organisations build stronger leadership, teams, and coaching cultures, drawing on decades of research into complexity, mentoring, and change. A Thinkers50 Coaching Legend, he has authored around 80 books and co-founded the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.
Professor David Clutterbuck is one of the pioneers of modern coaching and mentoring, known for applying systems thinking to leadership, teams, and organisational change.
Co-founder of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, where he serves as Special Ambassador, David has authored around 80 books and holds a visiting professorship at Henley Business School. His work has been recognised with a place in the Global Gurus Top 30 and the title of Thinkers50 Coaching Legend.
Today, David leads international initiatives exploring the intersection of coaching and artificial intelligence, systemic approaches to diversity and inclusion, and large-scale mentoring programmes for young people. At the core of his work is a commitment to using dialogue to create meaningful, sustainable change in organisations and society.
Audiences leave with practical, research-based approaches to team formation, leadership development, coaching practice, and organisational agility. David's delivery is shaped by his training as a stand-up comedian, using humour to challenge assumptions before landing his research-grounded ideas.
Book David to bring decades of coaching, mentoring, and leadership research to your event, with a perspective built for organisations navigating real complexity.
Topics, sessions and talks
Professor David Clutterbuck examines why traditional leadership models fail in today’s unpredictable environment. Drawing on studies with global companies, he outlines how value is best created through adaptive, shared approaches rather than command and control. With humour and sharp insight, David challenges assumptions and provides a blueprint for leadership that is fit for the future, showing how organisations can develop leaders who enable resilience, collaboration, and long-term success.
Organisations often struggle to maintain agility as they grow, becoming burdened by outdated processes and ways of thinking. David Clutterbuck explores seven critical barriers that cause stagnation and offers practical strategies to keep companies responsive and dynamic. Blending evidence-based analysis with engaging delivery, he reveals how organisations can retain their youthful vigour in a volatile and uncertain world, equipping leaders and teams with tools to embrace complexity and remain adaptive.
The traditional “forming, storming, norming” model no longer suits organisations that need immediate results. David Clutterbuck debunks common myths about team development and shares approaches for building high-performing teams from the outset. Drawing on his extensive research and practical experience, he demonstrates how leaders can establish clarity, trust, and collaboration in new teams quickly and effectively. Audiences gain a refreshing and realistic framework for accelerating team performance from day one.
David Clutterbuck's earlier book, The Talent Wave, asked why the wrong people so often reach the top when HR's talent and succession processes are meant to prevent exactly that. His answer: HR itself is often part of the problem, applying linear thinking to the complex, adaptive relationship between employer and employee. Drawing on his forthcoming book and podcast, David reframes the entire employee journey, from recruitment to decruitment, showing how HR can stop causing the problem and start solving it.
Progressing from a beginner coach to mastery is a journey often clouded by myths and misconceptions. David Clutterbuck draws on findings from the Coach Maturity Research Group to clarify what genuine development as a coach involves. Through research-grounded insights and accessible storytelling, he helps audiences recognise the stages of growth and the challenges they present. Attendees come away with a clearer sense of what it takes to evolve into an effective, authentic, and impactful coach.
A Thinkers50 Coaching Legend and co-founder of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, Professor David Clutterbuck has authored around 80 books and continues to shape international thinking on coaching, leadership, and organisational systems. For organisations tackling stalled teams, leadership gaps, or outdated talent processes, his systemic perspective offers grounded, practical alternatives.
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frequently asked questions
Something we've not covered here?
To book David Clutterbuck, email david.clutterbuck@getapeptalk.com or call PepTalk on +44 20 3835 2929 (UK) or +1 737 888 5112 (US), and one of our speaker agents will contact you within hours to confirm David's availability and speaking fee. If you can, please include your budget upfront – it helps us fast-track your request. It’s also helpful to know the date, format (virtual or in-person), location, and about your audience.
No. PepTalk adds no booking fee, so you pay the speaker's fee and nothing beyond it. The service, from shortlist through to contracts and event-day logistics, is included. For repeat or multi-event bookings, PepTalk can agree preferential rates with your procurement team.
Share your event date, audience, format, objectives and budget, and PepTalk sends a hand-picked shortlist within 24 hours. Each suggestion comes with a profile, a fee and a recommendation on the strongest fit. Once you choose, PepTalk handles contracts, travel and logistics through to event day.
The typical fee range is the speaker's standard in-person fee in their home market, shown in their local currency. It moves with format, location, date and session length: virtual sessions and shorter slots usually cost less, while international travel and peak dates cost more. Send your brief to PepTalk and the team will confirm the exact fee in your currency.
Not all of them, and it makes no difference to your booking. PepTalk's network of 15,000+ speakers covers talent the team works with directly alongside speakers represented by agents and agencies worldwide. PepTalk approaches the speaker, negotiates the fee and handles contracting either way.
Three to six months ahead is comfortable for most events, and 12 months is better for large conferences, peak-season dates or one specific in-demand speaker. Shorter timelines are workable, and PepTalk regularly fills last-minute and replacement bookings within days. Availability is the constraint, so get in touch as soon as you have a date.
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