Clare E Kenny · keynote speaker & workplace culture consultant
More about me
There's a pretty personal story behind why I do this work, and why it matters so much to me.
My experience
From corporate leadership to consultancy
I understand the realities of pressure at work because I’ve spent more than two decades working inside organisations across leadership, culture and L&D. Having held senior director roles across Europe and Asia and led global wellbeing strategy in-house at Burberry, I've seen first-hand what pressure does to people, teams and performance.
Today I draw on that experience alongside neuroscience, to help organisations understand why people underperform, and what needs to change. I’ve worked with organisations including HSBC, KPMG, Novartis, Vestas, Channel 4 and The Harry Potter Studios.
I'm a TEDx speaker, keynote speaker and consultant, working with C-suite leadership teams, front-line managers and teams responsible for culture, learning and wellbeing.
My story
Why this work is so personal
In 2015, I was living in Singapore, heading up the Asia arm of a consultancy. On paper, everything looked great. I had a high-flying career and took trips to amazing places most weekends. In reality, I was working until 3am most nights, running on flavoured vodka and adrenaline.
Looking back, I can see that pattern went back much further. I’d always felt overwhelmed and anxious, my nervous system permanently activated, though I never understood why.
Then, one evening, I got a call to say my mum was in hospital. I flew home. She died the next day.
My mum was my favourite person in the whole world. She believed in me even when I was full of doubt. She embraced my weirdness, was endlessly proud and always in my corner. In the years leading up to her death, I’d been so focused on work I hadn't been present enough in the moment with her. During our last proper conversation, I was crying about an inconsequential work crisis and she was comforting me, a work crisis that means nothing to me now.
Not long after I lost my mum, a grief counsellor asked me a question: ‘Isn’t success just being happy?’ I was ashamed to say I'd never considered it like that.
I realised I’d spent years measuring my life by achievement rather than actually living it. And so, my partner and I decided to have a tiny wedding and then spend five months travelling instead of rushing back into work. I came home and decided to set up my own business, to help organisations create environments where people could be at their best, rather than constantly trying to outrun burnout.
A few years later, I was diagnosed with ADHD at 40. It helped me piece together decades of extreme anxiety, dysregulation, memory issues and overwhelm, and understand myself more. I’d spent a lifetime with my nervous system often on fire, and no real awareness of the underlying reason why. That's what led me into the neuroscience of performance, leadership and regulation, not just as a subject to study, but because it was something I had lived every day. Now I work with organisations to build cultures that don't constantly activate people's nervous systems, and where people who think and work differently can contribute and do their best work.
My approach
How my experience shapes my work
Two decades working with and inside large organisations taught me how to build healthy, psychologically safe cultures and how to create change, even when it's hard. Lived experience has taught me why people burn out, underperform or stop trusting the people leading them. I bring both sides of my experience to every piece of work I do.
Clients
From FTSE 100s to fast growing startups.
Testimonials
What my clients say
Clare is a gifted communicator, able to take complex concepts and make them accessible to everyone, especially useful when everyone worked remotely. Her presentations are packed with valuable information, expertise and insight, and her ability to connect on a personal level created a sense of community in the room.
She brings huge experience from the corporate world and a lived experience that makes her the perfect person to talk to managers and staff about leadership, combatting stress and awareness of neurodivergence.
She brings ideas and approaches I hadn't even considered, and I genuinely trust her input on the big decisions.