Husband and Wife Keynote: Debra and Ken Corey on Leadership in the AI Era
Your organisation is introducing AI. Some people are excited about what it could make possible. Others are wondering what it means for their jobs. Your managers are somewhere in the middle, because they’re expected to embrace the technology while keeping their teams informed and motivated.
It’s a leadership challenge as much as a technology challenge. And it’s where Debra and Ken Corey’s joint keynote is so useful.
Bringing together Debra’s background in HR and people leadership with Ken’s engineering and technology perspective, this husband-and-wife team explores how AI can help leaders become better at what they do. Along the way, they bring practical advice, different viewpoints and the playful banter that comes from knowing your fellow speaker rather well…
Where people meet technology
Debra Corey understands the influence a manager can have on someone’s working life. With more than 20 years of global HR leadership experience at organisations including Gap, Merlin Entertainments and Honeywell, she has spent her career exploring what helps people and businesses thrive.
Communication, trust, motivation and workplace culture are everyday concerns for anyone responsible for leading people, whether they run a business, manage a department or have just taken on their first team.
On the other hand, Ken brings an engineering perspective to the conversation, adding a different way of examining problems and thinking about technology. Together, they connect the possibilities of AI with the realities of managing people.
For event organisers, that combination offers a way to bring different audiences into the same discussion. Leaders interested in technology can consider its human implications, while those focused on people and culture can explore how AI might support their work.
Can AI help us become better leaders?
Much of the conversation around AI focuses on saving time and increasing productivity. Debra and Ken ask a further question: could it also help us lead more effectively?
Having first teamed up to write Bad Bosses Ruin Lives, they build on that work in The LAIdership Playbook, their newest book, exploring how leaders can use AI as a thinking partner while still keeping humanity at the heart of leadership.
Their joint keynote examines why, when and how AI can support leadership, alongside the equally valuable question of when to leave it out.
For an audience of managers, it’s a discussion with immediate relevance. Where could an AI thinking partner help them explore a challenge or question an assumption? How should they assess its suggestions? And where do personal judgement, empathy and responsibility need to lead the way instead of tech?
These are useful questions for organisations at all different stages of adopting AI.
A serious subject with room for laughter
Debra and Ken combine thought-provoking insights and practical advice with the natural chemistry of a husband-and-wife team. Their different professional backgrounds give them different starting points, but together they question ideas, challenge conventional thinking whilst also bringing humour into the conversation.
The audience hears two perspectives coming together around a shared challenge: how to make leadership more effective while keeping people at its centre.
Which events would Debra and Ken suit?
We would particularly recommend Debra and Ken for briefs where leadership, communication and technology overlap. For example:
Leadership conferences and management development days
“We want our managers to leave with ideas they can use.”
Debra and Ken bring AI into situations managers already face, like preparing for a difficult conversation or explaining a change to their team. Debra brings the people perspective, considering what the team might need to hear and how the message could land. Ken brings the engineering perspective, exploring how to give AI enough context to generate useful suggestions and how to assess what comes back. It gives managers a practical idea to try the next time they’re working out what to say and how to say it.
Company conferences bringing different teams together
“We need a session that works for our commercial, operational, technical and people teams.”
Debra and Ken’s contrasting backgrounds are especially relevant when an organisation wants colleagues from different functions to think together about how technology will affect the way they work and lead.
AI adoption and business transformation events
“We’re investing in AI, but we need our leaders to bring their people with them.”
For organisations introducing new tools or changing working practices, their approach connects technology with the leadership behaviours needed to support people through change. It creates space to consider the opportunities alongside the questions employees may be asking.
Communication and culture events
“We want leaders to communicate clearly and maintain trust as things change.”
AI raises questions about how leaders prepare, communicate and make decisions. Debra’s experience in employee engagement and workplace culture gives the conversation a strong people focus, complemented by Ken’s technical perspective.
Booking Debra and Ken Corey
Debra’s HR background is the foundation of a much broader conversation about how people are led, supported and motivated at work. Sharing the stage with Ken adds another dimension, bringing people, leadership and technology into one engaging session.
If you are planning a leadership conference, company event or discussion about working and leading in the AI era, speak to The Speakers Agency about Debra and Ken Corey. Tell us about your audience, the changes your organisation is facing and what you want people to take away, and we’ll help you explore whether their joint keynote is the right fit.
