The Influence Playbook
The leadership keynote for people promoted on performance and never trained to lead.
Your best individual contributor became a manager because they were great at the work. Then you handed them a team and expected them to lead—with no playbook for it. So when leading people gets uncomfortable, they retreat to the thing they already know how to do: the work. They stay heads-down, avoid the hard conversation, and do it all themselves. It looks like hustle. It's actually a slow drift back to the old job.
The Influence Playbook gives your new and developing leaders the behaviors to stop hiding in the work and start leading the people in front of them.
People Don’t Follow Titles. They follow What’s Modeled.
Promotion makes someone a manager. It doesn’t make them a leader.
A newly promoted performer knows how to do the work—but leading others is a different skill set entirely, and most companies leave them to figure it out alone. So they drift back toward comfort. I call it Comfort Drift, and it shows up on three fronts: they hide in the technical work they've already mastered, they stay transactional instead of building real trust, and they avoid the feedback conversations that feel risky.
The standard slips, the same problems repeat, and good people disengage under a leader who was never taught to lead. The Influence Playbook names that drift and hands your leaders the specific behaviors to interrupt it—so they lead themselves first, connect before they need to, and coach their people up.
What Your LEADERS Walks Away With
Built for newly promoted managers, frontline and field leaders, and the HR and L&D teams developing them.
Comfort Drift is one enemy that attacks on three fronts—and this keynote interrupts it on each. Through real-world examples, named research, and repeatable frameworks, Jake moves leaders beyond managing tasks and into shaping culture. Your leaders will leave able to:
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Recognize the pull back to performer behaviors (hiding in the work, avoiding feedback, refusing to delegate) and why it feels so safe
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Model the standard before asking for it, because a team never holds a bar higher than the one their leader sets; the research is clear that standards cascade from the top down
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Build influence through consistent relational deposits, so accountability has something to draw on instead of creating fear
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Learn why most feedback falls flat and how to deliver it consistently in a way that people can use to improve.
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Use encouragement as a performance tool, not a nicety, and deliver feedback that actually lands
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Develop future leaders instead of becoming the bottleneck
This keynote is right for you if: you've promoted strong performers into leadership without a roadmap, your managers are great at the work but struggle to lead people, or your field leaders hold the standard only when they're watching.
Format: 60–90 minute keynote; half-day and full-day workshops available for teams who want to build the execution plan together.
See The Influence Playbook Live
A few minutes inside the room—the energy and the leadership standard your team will carry back to the floor.
Real Results FROM
Real Leaders
From the rooms where this keynote was delivered.
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![A smiling woman with dark hair, wearing hoop earrings and a black turtleneck, standing in a modern building with large windows.]()
"Jake didn't just deliver a keynote at our Leadership Summit"
— he set a new standard for what a speaker can bring to an organization. It was a 90-minute masterclass in mindset, tailored so specifically to our mission it felt like he'd been part of our team for years. The ripple effect will be felt far beyond the summit.
Corrie
Valet Living -
![Smiling man wearing a light gray suit and white shirt, in an indoor setting with blurred warm lights in the background.]()
"We brought Jake in to keynote our National Sales Summit, and he delivered in every sense."
What stood out was the intentionality and preparation — he took the time to truly understand our company, our people, and our purpose. And he's not a 'one and done' speaker. He's a true partner who wants to see your team grow and win.
Karl
Highstreet Insurance -
![A woman with curly brown hair, blue eyes, and light skin smiling, wearing a red top and gold hoop earrings, indoors with a blurred background of windows and greenery.]()
"Jake was a great partner from start to finish."
He took the time to understand our business and worked closely with our team to tailor both his keynote and breakout sessions so the content was relevant, engaging, and immediately actionable.
Natalie
Wyndham -
![A blonde woman smiling, wearing a royal blue top, with a light gray brick wall in the background.]()
"What truly set Jake apart was his level of engagement outside of his formal presentation."
He was fully invested in the attendee experience—taking time to connect with participants before and after his keynote, attending after-hours networking events, and engaging in meaningful conversations that reinforced his message.
Jessica
IronMarkets
The Work Behind the Keynote
The Influence Playbook is built on Jake's leadership book, Lead Better Now.
The keynote draws on a 15-year body of work: four books, a podcast ranked in the top 1% globally with 2M+ downloads, and a brand worn by leaders in 62 countries. Lead Better Now was written for exactly this leader—the promoted performer—and gives your team a field guide they'll actually use, with the option to extend the keynote into multi-session leadership training.
Turn Your Best PErformers Into Your Best Leaders
Tell Jake about your event. He'll respond within 24 hours.
Whether it's a manager offsite, leadership development program, or field-leadership summit, The Influence Playbook is customized to the leaders you're developing - and the drift pulling them back to the work instead of the team. The first conversation is just discovery - no pitch.
The Two-Minute Drill
One framework. One challenge. One question. Every Tuesday to help you compete every day.