Keynote (45-60 mins)
The biggest leadership risks are often the ones we don’t see.
Blindspots are the gap between what we think we know and what is really there — and they shape the decisions leaders make every day.
In this engaging keynote, Dr Kirstin Ferguson AM — a Thinkers50-ranked leadership thinker and recipient of the Thinkers50 Distinguished Leadership Award — explores why the most effective leaders are not those who claim certainty, but those who are willing to question what they know.
Drawing on insights from her internationally acclaimed book Blindspotting: How to See What Others Miss, along with more than three decades of leadership experience spanning the military, executive leadership and company boards, Kirstin introduces audiences to the concept of Blindspotting — the ability to recognise the limits of our own thinking.
Through compelling stories, research insights and practical examples, she shows how leaders can move from the mindset of “knowers” to “seekers” — leaders who are comfortable with uncertainty, curious about new information and open to rethinking their assumptions.
Participants leave with practical tools to uncover hidden assumptions, improve decision-making, and develop the cognitive flexibility required to lead effectively in an increasingly complex world.
Key takeaways
- A clear understanding of why blindspots are particularly challenging in our rapidly changing world
- Insight into the difference between “knowers” and “seekers” — and why the most effective leaders adopt a seeker mindset
- An understanding of how expertise, assumptions and bias can limit what leaders see
- Practical tools to strengthen the three Blindspotting mindsets - Be Honest, Be Curious, Be Flexible
- Strategies to improve decision-making, adaptability, and cognitive flexibility
- A personalised leadership profile through the Blindspotting Leader Self-Assessment Tool
- Real-world leadership lessons drawn from Kirstin’s 30-year leadership career from the military to the boardroom
Workshop (90-120 min)
This interactive workshop builds on the Blindspotting keynote by helping participants apply the Blindspotting framework to real leadership situations. Participants leave the workshop with:
- A deeper understanding of the Blindspotting framework and mindsets
- The ability to recognise how blindspots appear in everyday leadership decisions
- Practical strategies to shift from a “knower” mindset to a “seeker” mindset
- Tools for identifying biases, assumptions, and hidden limitations in thinking
- Techniques to strengthen the three Blindspotting mindsets
- Insight into how their own leadership style compares with thousands of other leaders through the Blindspotting Leader Self-Assessment Tool
- Practical methods to improve decision-making in complex and uncertain environments
- Strategies for building curiosity and intellectual humility within teams
Feedback
- "Kirstin has a warm, natural, open style that lifts the room. Kirstin is highly engaging speaker."
- "Kirstin brought such terrific energy - our audience found it uplifting and inspiring and will find many new things to consider in their own leadership.
- "Kirstin is a delight to work with, she took the session brief and made it her own as such created a really worthwhile and beneficial session for our delegates.
