Karen McCarthy
Keynote speaker on change and resilience
Turning blind determination into limitless resilience
More than a theory or a philosophy from a textbook, Karen talks about change and resilience from her experience as a lawyer and a mother who lost her eyesight - and nearly her life.
See Karen’s story
Karen’s keynote maps a simple strategy for navigating the complex task of coping with adversity and growing in response to change . She meets audiences in the messy middle of things and shines a hopeful light on the path to a brighter future. Karen will demonstrate how to achieve significance – in life and at work – when circumstances conspire to keep people small.
Reflect: Pinpoint your purpose and get a realistic gauge on the ground you occupy. Only after assessing your aims and taking stock of your stores can you begin to plot a path forward.
Recruit: Change is hard and adversity is even harder. To handle change well, rather than resisting, you must change more in the right ways. This self-directed change can be uncomfortable but it’s the core of growth and adaption. Going it alone is often hard, lonely and ineffective. Resilient people cultivate the courage to reach out for practical and emotional support and to learn new skills to take them forward.
Resource: When your car breaks down, you need to find a new way to get where you’re going. When your world changes, the old ways of operating may not be an option either. Regardless of whether you need new tools and technologies, you’ll need new skills and habits of mind if you’re to live large after encountering loss.
A powerful story
No stranger to life’s challenges, Karen McCarthy is a former barrister who battled a brain tumour that almost took her life – leaving her legally blind and suffering a traumatic brain injury . Karen’s keynote is wildly unique as she motivates and inspires, setting out an actionable framework for tackling change head on and surviving setbacks to live a significant life.
Structured by the nous of a legal mind, emotionally charged by the story of clawing back from the brink of death, and sprinkled with hilarious anecdotes, no audience member is safe from Karen’s laser-focused jolt of motivation, perspective, and renewed purpose.
Double-duty speaker
Forward-thinking clients who value the resilience of their people will be aware of the benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Putting Karen on your stage demonstrates your organisation’s commitment to respecting individual difference and rejecting unconscious bias against women and people with disability at the same time as equipping your people with a powerful new perspective on change, resilience and what it takes to achieve significance on the other side of adversity.
“Karen draws you in with her engaging style and her lived experience of overcoming adversity. She fills you with hope and offers practical solutions.
Karen is truly inspirational."
Dr Nikola Stepanov; Lawyer, Adjunct Professor and Integrity Leader
