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Mimi Nicklin
Mimi Nicklin helps leaders turn empathy and listening into trust, influence, and performance in the AI era. The USA's #1 ranked emotional intelligence keynote speaker for 2026, she has trained 45,000+ professionals at Shell, SAP, and Unilever.
Mimi Nicklin is the world's leading Empathy Advocate and the USA's #1 ranked Emotional Intelligence Keynote Speaker for 2026. She shows leaders and entrepreneurs how empathy, listening, and human connection drive trust, influence, and performance in the age of AI.
A bestselling author of four books, including Empathy at Work and 40 Ways To Connect With People, Mimi has trained more than 45,000 professionals for organisations such as Shell, Standard Chartered, SAP, and Unilever. She founded The Empathy Letters, a global movement, and has shared stages with Bill Gates, Steven Bartlett, and Steve Wozniak.
Mimi puts a number on disconnection at work: a $9 trillion global empathy gap that drains performance, retention, and collaboration, at a time when Gallup finds only 23% of employees are engaged. Her neuroscience-informed keynotes, masterclasses, and leadership programmes are built on Listening Led Leadership™ and her A.L.U.R. framework, turning empathy into a practical leadership skill used across 30+ markets.
Audiences leave with a clear view of the data linking listening and empathy to trust, retention, and performance, and with tools from 40 Ways To Connect With People they can use the next morning. Sessions end with a personal commitment from every attendee to lead with greater empathy, presence, and human intelligence.
Book Mimi for leadership conferences, HR summits, and entrepreneur events that need a data-led case for human skills in the AI era, delivered in person, virtually, or hybrid.
Topics, sessions and talks
As AI takes on more of the work, the human skills of listening, influence, and connection are becoming an organisation's most important strategic capabilities. Mimi Nicklin makes the commercial case for human intelligence, drawing on research and her work with leaders across 30+ markets, and introduces her A.L.U.R. framework: Authenticity and Presence, Listening, Understanding, and Recognising. Leaders leave with the data linking empathy to trust and retention, and practical tools to use the next morning.
Disengaged teams, customers walking away, and leaders running on empty are symptoms of a connection crisis that costs organisations every day. Drawing on her book, The Connection Prescription, Mimi Nicklin sets out the new rules of influence in a busy, automated world and shows why leadership and success start with how people understand, empathise, and connect. The session closes with tools from 40 Ways To Connect With People and a commitment to make connection a daily practice.
Every feed is full, every inbox is flooded, and every competitor has AI, so what makes people choose one business over another? Mimi Nicklin shows founders and entrepreneurs that influence begins when people feel heard, and how Listening Led Leadership and empathetic engagement, on and offline, turn visibility into trust. Entrepreneurs leave ready to build a personal brand, social influence, and lasting loyalty with customers, teams, and communities, using tools from 40 Ways To Connect With People.
Only 23% of employees are engaged at work, according to Gallup, and disconnection is showing up on the balance sheet. Mimi Nicklin puts a number on it, a $9 trillion global empathy gap, and unpacks its cost to performance, retention, and collaboration. She explains why high stress and low time leave no room for empathy, and how to break that cycle. Boards and executive teams leave with Listening Led Leadership™ as a practical way to lead from the inside out.
Testimonials
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frequently asked questions
Something we've not covered here?
Mimi Nicklin builds her keynotes around her AI + HI = ROI equation and the A.L.U.R. framework, pairing Gallup engagement data with personal stories and closing with a personal commitment from every attendee.
Mimi Nicklin specialises in human skills in the age of AI, the commercial cost of disconnection and the $9 trillion empathy gap, connection-led influence for entrepreneurs, and Listening Led Leadership. She is a bestselling author of four books who has trained more than 45,000 professionals for organisations including Shell, Standard Chartered, SAP, and Unilever.
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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.
