Behind the keynote: conscious leadership, confidence, and continuous improvement
At the start of February 2026, I delivered the opening keynote on day two at the WISE conference in Jakarta. One of my fellow speakers sent me photos of me speaking on stage. It wasn’t lost on me that the previous photos in the message thread were from 2018, my speaking debut at the end of a women’s speaker training program.
There’s a whole story between those two sets of photos. The last eight years have been an iterative process of learning, refining, and building my speaking expertise. That process has not been smooth or linear. At times it’s been clunky or tough going, or it’s taken a detour, or it’s taken a parallel path.
My speaking journey mirrors conscious leadership in practice. Both rely on self‑awareness, consistency, and learning through discomfort. The same skills that shaped me as a speaker, like reflection, emotional regulation, and feedback, also define effective leadership. Growth in both areas happens through focusing on progress over perfection.
This week’s blog looks more closely at those shared lessons and how they strengthen conscious leadership at work.
Confidence through action and repetition
After the keynote, someone asked me, “How are you so confident when you speak?”
My answer? A ton of practice. Repeatedly. Practising on my own, practising with mentors, practising in front of live audiences.
Many people wait to feel confident before they act. For me, action precedes confidence.
Every rehearsal, every talk, every round of feedback built my skill and certainty. In fact, both our competence and confidence grow through iteration. Taking action, testing, refining, and repeating create momentum far more effectively than waiting to feel ready.
At work: the same idea applies. Growth is sometimes graceful, sometimes awkward, sometimes slow and sometimes fast, but always the result of taking action. The msot progress over time is made by those who act, assess, then adjust.
Growth through discomfort and feedback
My keynote (Be More Butterfly: Closing the Congruence Gap) is brand new for 2026. Before the WISE conference, I asked for feedback from a highly-skilled professional speaker who is genuinely world class. It was incredibly uncomfortable to invite critique from someone I admire, and I sent a very early video rather than trying to make it perfect. I knew the value of getting feedback earlier rather than later in the rehearsal process. That feedback improved the content, structure, and delivery of my keynote far beyond what self‑editing could achieve. And guess what? I’ll be asking for critique on this new version to ensure it’s the best it can be.
Feedback can be uncomfortable for many of us. Something that helps me better tolerate discomfort when I receive feedback is to remind myself that discomfort is a temporary and necessary part of growth. Staying in our comfort zone might feel safe but it also keeps us small and stuck.
At work: Pro-actively asking colleagues, team members, or clients for honest feedback builds resilience and humility. This is especially helpful when projects feel ‘good enough.’ Conscious leaders learn from information that challenges them and provokes discomfort rather than defending comfortable habits.
Focus on the audience
Whenever I am preparing and writing a keynote, my priority is ALWAYS on what’s in it for the audience. Every fact, example, statistic, research finding and story is filtered through the lens of the audience.
Engaging empathy helps me as a speaker to better understand the audience’s perspective. The best leaders I know also use empathy to understand other people’s points of view. When we understand our impact on other people, we get clearer on our purpose and how to best communicate our message.
At work: Engaging with empathy and considering our impact on other people elevates our interactions and communications. When we shift from self‑expression to shared understanding, our professional conversations and outcomes improve accordingly.
Continuous improvement through progress and reflection
Those two photos show eight years of growth. Over and over again I chose progress over perfection, movement over meticulousness, to build momentum and avoid paralysis by perfection.
Every customer conversation, keynote delivery, audience feedback and debrief call became data points for reflection. What connected best? What faltered? What stories landed with clarity? Reflection gives us insight for improvement.
At work: Small, consistent learning cycles are much more effective at creating long‑term capability compared to waiting for a perfect moment. Those leaders who consistently seek reflection and debriefs, whether that is after launches, meetings, or negotiations, are able to identify their patterns more quickly. As a result, they’re quicker to adopt more effective strategies.
Alignment between the message and the method
Every keynote I deliver reflects the same message I teach throughout the Conscious Leadership Playbook program: credibility comes from consistent alignment between what we say and what we do. Taking ownership of my preparation, my tone, and follow‑ups shows care, consistency, and respect for my audience. For me, being driven by my values ensures every talk remains research‑grounded, relevant, and immediately practical.
At work: leaders earn trust when they are fully accountable for their communication and decisions, and when their actions are consistently aligned with their values. Ownership builds credibility, while values create consistency and reliability. When we combine ownership and values, we see intention transform into integrity.
Conscious leadership is a lifelong practice
From my first small stage in 2018 to the WISE keynote stage in 2026, the visible transformation you see in the photos came from continuous iteration behind the scenes.
Conscious leadership evolves in a very similar way. It is an ongoing, practical process of noticing, action and refinement. Every conscious improvement, whether for a stage, for a boardroom, or during a one‑to‑one conversation, strengthens our authenticity and influence.
Growth is an ongoing series of conscious decisions that align who you are with how you lead.
If you’d like to explore how conscious leadership can enhance your people’s performance and wellbeing this year, I’d love to connect. You can get in touch by email orbook a call to chat.
Dr Sarah Whyte helps leaders get their REPs up—retention, engagement, and performance—through the Conscious Leadership Advantage. A leadership and resilience expert with two decades’ experience working across finance, law, technology, and health, Sarah equips leaders to stay grounded, connected, and commercially sharp with her warmth, humour, and authenticity.
