Member since August 2022
Catie Campbell believes emotional intelligence is the most underused performance advantage in business, and she has spent more than two decades proving it in the rooms where the pressure is highest.
An author, keynote speaker, host of The Catie Campbell Podcast and executive coach, Catie began her career at the Pentagon at 22 and has since advised C-suite leaders at Fortune 500 companies, the Department of Defense and federal agencies, national nonprofits and founder-led businesses. Along the way she built a Fortune 500 innovation program that delivered millions of dollars in cost savings and new revenue in 24 months. In total she has worked with more than 25,000 leaders and their teams.
Catie is trained in psychology, with a B.S. from James Madison University and an M.S. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, and holds a Master's Certificate in Executive Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University. Her forthcoming book, Bigger Than the Moment (2027), rethinks how leaders build emotional intelligence for the way work happens now.
On stage she is direct, grounded in research and real-world results, and genuinely funny. Audiences leave seeing what is really driving their decisions under pressure, and with a practical way to respond with more clarity and intention. Her keynotes include Bigger Than the Moment™, EQ in the C-Suite and The Maverick Mindset.
Catie is the founder of Colibri Magic and is based in San Antonio, Texas.
Most leaders were taught that emotion gets in the way of good judgment. Catie's work shows the opposite: emotion is already driving every high-stakes decision, and the leaders who can read it in real time make better calls, build more trust and recover faster under pressure. Her forthcoming book, Bigger Than the Moment (2027), turns that insight into a practical system for building emotional intelligence at work.
Stories Catie draws on from the stage:
- How empathy and a beginner's mindset opened doors at the Pentagon at 22
- A 2 a.m. conversation on the floor of a turkey production plant that predicted the Great Resignation 15 years early
- Building a Fortune 500 innovation program that generated millions in savings and new revenue in 24 months
- Lessons from inside some of the best, and worst, places to work: what sinks a culture and what turns one around
At 22, Catie landed a role in high-profile offices at the Pentagon. Not because she was the most experienced person in the room, but because she listened harder and asked better questions than anyone else. That lesson shaped everything that followed. Over more than 20 years advising leaders in government, nonprofits and the Fortune 500, she has seen the same pattern in every industry and market: the leaders who perform best under pressure are the ones who understand what is driving them, and the people around them.
Unwritten rules, expectations and the pressure to conform keep even highly capable leaders playing small. Drawing on her Maverick Paradigm, Catie shows how emotional intelligence and intention equip leaders to question convention, ask for what they want and forge their own path, while building the trust that makes bold moves stick.
Attendees leave able to:
Best for: women's leadership conferences, emerging leader programs, innovation and sales kickoffs.
At the executive level, emotion doesn't disappear. It goes underground, where it quietly shapes judgment, relationships and the decisions that move whole organizations. Drawing on two decades advising senior leaders in the Fortune 500 and government, Catie reveals what's happening beneath the surface of executive pressure and how the best leaders use that insight to make sound calls when the stakes are highest.
Attendees leave able to:
Best for: executive summits, CEO and board forums, senior leadership retreats.
Every high-stakes moment carries more than what's in front of you. Pressure, assumptions and past experience are already shaping what happens next, often before anyone notices. In this keynote, Catie shows leaders how to recognize what's really driving a moment, in themselves and in others, so they can respond with clarity instead of reacting on autopilot.
Attendees leave able to:
Best for: all-hands meetings, annual conferences, HR and leadership events, organizations navigating change or burnout.
I work with elite leaders facing real pressure: growth, M&A, board dynamics, burnout, conflict. You don’t need fluff. You need results. My method is rooted in emotional intelligence - because that’s where performance begins.
Send QueryStories Catie draws on from the stage:
- How empathy and a beginner's mindset opened doors at the Pentagon at 22
- A 2 a.m. conversation on the floor of a turkey production plant that predicted the Great Resignation 15 years early
- Building a Fortune 500 innovation program that generated millions in savings and new revenue in 24 months
- Lessons from inside some of the best, and worst, places to work: what sinks a culture and what turns one around
At 22, Catie landed a role in high-profile offices at the Pentagon. Not because she was the most experienced person in the room, but because she listened harder and asked better questions than anyone else. That lesson shaped everything that followed. Over more than 20 years advising leaders in government, nonprofits and the Fortune 500, she has seen the same pattern in every industry and market: the leaders who perform best under pressure are the ones who understand what is driving them, and the people around them.
Unwritten rules, expectations and the pressure to conform keep even highly capable leaders playing small. Drawing on her Maverick Paradigm, Catie shows how emotional intelligence and intention equip leaders to question convention, ask for what they want and forge their own path, while building the trust that makes bold moves stick.
Attendees leave able to:
Best for: women's leadership conferences, emerging leader programs, innovation and sales kickoffs.
At the executive level, emotion doesn't disappear. It goes underground, where it quietly shapes judgment, relationships and the decisions that move whole organizations. Drawing on two decades advising senior leaders in the Fortune 500 and government, Catie reveals what's happening beneath the surface of executive pressure and how the best leaders use that insight to make sound calls when the stakes are highest.
Attendees leave able to:
Best for: executive summits, CEO and board forums, senior leadership retreats.
Every high-stakes moment carries more than what's in front of you. Pressure, assumptions and past experience are already shaping what happens next, often before anyone notices. In this keynote, Catie shows leaders how to recognize what's really driving a moment, in themselves and in others, so they can respond with clarity instead of reacting on autopilot.
Attendees leave able to:
Best for: all-hands meetings, annual conferences, HR and leadership events, organizations navigating change or burnout.
