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Speaking

Lessons from a life in leadership.

Sutapa Sanyal brings decades of public-service command to the questions leaders face today.

For CXOs, senior leaders and high-potential talent.

01

Leadership in Crisis

Decide before certainty arrives.

Best for senior teams making high-stakes decisions with incomplete information, public pressure or little time to act.

Drawing on decades of public-service command, Sutapa speaks about leading when information is incomplete, pressure is public and delay has a cost. Audiences will hear how to:

  • separate the urgent from the important when events move quickly;
  • communicate clear priorities without pretending to have every answer;
  • make difficult calls while protecting trust, accountability and team performance.

02

Ethical Leadership & Governance

What will still look right when the pressure has passed?

Best for boards and leadership teams aligning conduct, governance and accountability with commercial and organisational pressure.

Sutapa draws on her work in policing, public administration, workplace safety, POSH and governance to examine decisions where rules, incentives and values conflict. The keynote covers:

  • the difference between legal compliance and responsible leadership;
  • how governance and organisational culture shape everyday choices;
  • how senior leaders set standards, handle conflicts and remain accountable when the easier choice is the wrong one.

03

Women’s Leadership

Lead before the institution is ready to imagine you there.

Best for organisations developing women leaders, widening access to senior roles and addressing the barriers that hold talent back.

As the first woman to hold Director General of Police rank in Uttar Pradesh, Sutapa speaks from direct experience of building authority inside a traditionally male institution. Audiences will hear about:

  • building credibility without copying a narrow model of leadership;
  • exercising influence across formal hierarchies and informal power structures;
  • responding to bias, isolation and higher scrutiny while continuing to make clear, consequential decisions.

04

Inclusive Leadership

Move inclusion from intention to institutional practice.

Best for organisations moving from inclusion commitments to fairer decisions, stronger trust and consistent everyday practice.

From founding the Mahila Samman Prakoshth and building initiatives such as Vikalp, Nav Chetna and Akshaya, Sutapa has seen how systems can include people or shut them out. This keynote examines:

  • whose voice is heard, whose work is recognised and who advances;
  • how reporting systems, workplace safety and leadership behaviour affect trust;
  • how leaders can change exclusionary rules and routines without lowering standards.

05

Culture & Institutional Change

Change becomes real only when it can survive the person who began it.

Best for leaders working to shift entrenched behaviour, build support across teams and make change last beyond its original sponsor.

Through her work building citizen-facing police initiatives and partnerships with UNICEF, ActionAid and Plan India, Sutapa learned that culture changes only when new behaviour is built into the system. Audiences will hear:

  • why leadership behaviour, processes and consequences must support the same priorities;
  • how to build support across departments and outside partners when resistance is real;
  • how to embed new ways of working so they continue after a launch, a campaign or a change in leadership.

06

Be the CEO of Your Own Life

Personal leadership begins before anyone gives you authority.

Best for high-potential talent and professionals who need to take greater ownership of priorities, choices and career direction.

Based on Sutapa’s TEDx talk and a career shaped by consequential choices, this keynote focuses on personal ownership. Audiences will examine:

  • how to set priorities instead of allowing circumstances to set them;
  • how to act without waiting for perfect conditions, a new title or external permission;
  • how everyday choices build the discipline, courage and accountability needed for larger leadership roles.

Formats

Every format is tailored to the audience, sector and objective of the event.

Keynote
45–60 min
Keynote + moderated Q&A
Fireside conversation
Leadership session / workshop
Panel participation

Sessions are available in person or virtually.

Bring one of these keynotes to your room.

For speaking and advisory enquiries, please get in touch via the contact page.

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