Member since October 2023
Lyndal Larkin is an executive coach, speaker, and strategic leadership facilitator with nearly 20 years of keynote speaking experience. As the Founder and Principal of Larkin Leadership, she empowers growth-minded leaders to align what they say, do, and reward to create high-performing teams, deliberate culture, and lasting business impact. Her career spans over two decades across luxury hospitality, global travel retail, and tech startups, including leadership roles with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, DFS Group (LVMH), and a Sequoia-backed freight tech company.
Lyndal’s keynotes are known for blending practical leadership insight, strategic frameworks, and compelling storytelling. Whether speaking on intentional leadership, building trust-based cultures, or leading with clarity and heart, she inspires leaders to take meaningful values-based action. Based in Los Angeles, she also mentors entrepreneurs, volunteers with food insecurity initiatives, fosters rescue puppies, and previously served seven years on the governing board of nonprofit LA’s BEST after school program.
Lyndal is driven by a passion for helping individuals and organizations unlock their potential and lead with authenticity. She believes strong leadership is built on intention, skills, and trust. When leaders grow, their teams thrive. Her coaching style blends strategic insight with reflection and intention, creating space for real transformation.
Outside of work, Lyndal finds joy in travel & adventure, cooking, entertaining, and community engagement. These passions keep her grounded and inspire her belief that great leadership starts with how we show up in business and in life.
My entry into the learning and development world was completely unplanned. While in my first managerial role with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, I attended a leadership workshop led by Justin, the company’s in-house Learning and Development Manager. While I had spent my youth as a leadership camp counselor, coaching and training other students, it never occurred to me that those passions could translate into a profession. However, after a day in the Fairmont leadership workshop, I was hooked. I approached Justin afterward, asked how I could learn to do what he was doing. He became my informal mentor and six months later, when he moved to his next assignment, I was encouraged to apply for his role.
The application process was intense, culminating in a live presentation to the hotel’s General Manager and executive team. I was told afterward that while many candidates were more qualified on paper, I stood out for my ability to genuinely connect across all levels of the organization. I got the job! That feedback has followed me for over two decades. From the front line to the executive suite, creating connection, building trust, and meeting people where they are has become the core of my work. In a world that often separates strategy from the human experience, I’ve found my power is in bridging the two.
I didn’t grow up dreaming of being on stage. In fact, as a teen I tried to avoid public speaking whenever possible. But my curiosity about human connection led me to select my college major in Speech Communication, where I quickly became captivated by the power of words and presence. That decision launched a global career: first as a leadership workshop facilitator, then as a keynote speaker and executive coach. Over nearly two decades, I’ve facilitated programs across four continents, spoken on dozens of stages about leadership, and coached leaders for more than 500 hours in finding and expressing their authentic voice.
What many people don’t know is that I originally dreamed of becoming a commercial airline pilot. I began flying planes at 16 and earned my private pilot’s license before I ever set foot on a professional stage. While my path evolved from that original dream, it left me with a deep appreciation for focus, discipline, and perspective. After taking a detour from flying in college, I became a tour guide in the Canadian Rockies and that’s where I truly found my voice. Leading two-week adventures, I discovered that sharing stories and creating connection from the front of a tour bus could feel every bit as exhilarating as flying through the clouds. That unexpected path ultimately led me to the work I do now: helping leaders rise to their own version of the front of the room with confidence, clarity, and purpose.
Every leader has experienced the collision between careful plans and chaotic reality. Strategic initiatives meet market disruptions. Good intentions meet budget cuts, leadership exits, global crises, or the rapid integration of AI that rewrites the rules faster than we can adapt. In these moments, the gap between what we intended and what's actually happening can feel insurmountable. This keynote explores what happens when circumstances are beyond your control and how values-driven leadership becomes the compass that guides you through.
Drawing from my own experience launching Larkin Leadership during a pandemic while navigating five years of impossible caregiving circumstances, health crises, and unprecedented challenges, I share the leadership lessons that emerged from this period. This isn't a story of perfect resilience or having it all together, it's an honest examination of how clearly defined values become the difference between reactive chaos and intentional leadership when everything falls apart. Audiences will discover why intentions without values are just wishes, how trust is built when leaders consistently align their actions to their stated values (especially under pressure), and what it means to lead with integrity when you can't control the outcome.
Attendees will leave with:
A reframed understanding of intentional leadership: it's not about controlling every outcome, but aligning actions to core values, no matter the circumstance.
Insight into how trust is built or broken based on whether leaders uphold their values when it’s hardest to do so.
Practical frameworks for identifying personal and organizational non-negotiables and building values check-ins into daily leadership practice.
Tools to reframe failure as values-aligned recalibration rather than defeat.
A deeper understanding of how values clarity fuels resilience and team trust, enabling organizations to know which principles to uphold and which plans to release amid disruption and change.
My entry into the learning and development world was completely unplanned. While in my first managerial role with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, I attended a leadership workshop led by Justin, the company’s in-house Learning and Development Manager. While I had spent my youth as a leadership camp counselor, coaching and training other students, it never occurred to me that those passions could translate into a profession. However, after a day in the Fairmont leadership workshop, I was hooked. I approached Justin afterward, asked how I could learn to do what he was doing. He became my informal mentor and six months later, when he moved to his next assignment, I was encouraged to apply for his role.
The application process was intense, culminating in a live presentation to the hotel’s General Manager and executive team. I was told afterward that while many candidates were more qualified on paper, I stood out for my ability to genuinely connect across all levels of the organization. I got the job! That feedback has followed me for over two decades. From the front line to the executive suite, creating connection, building trust, and meeting people where they are has become the core of my work. In a world that often separates strategy from the human experience, I’ve found my power is in bridging the two.
I didn’t grow up dreaming of being on stage. In fact, as a teen I tried to avoid public speaking whenever possible. But my curiosity about human connection led me to select my college major in Speech Communication, where I quickly became captivated by the power of words and presence. That decision launched a global career: first as a leadership workshop facilitator, then as a keynote speaker and executive coach. Over nearly two decades, I’ve facilitated programs across four continents, spoken on dozens of stages about leadership, and coached leaders for more than 500 hours in finding and expressing their authentic voice.
What many people don’t know is that I originally dreamed of becoming a commercial airline pilot. I began flying planes at 16 and earned my private pilot’s license before I ever set foot on a professional stage. While my path evolved from that original dream, it left me with a deep appreciation for focus, discipline, and perspective. After taking a detour from flying in college, I became a tour guide in the Canadian Rockies and that’s where I truly found my voice. Leading two-week adventures, I discovered that sharing stories and creating connection from the front of a tour bus could feel every bit as exhilarating as flying through the clouds. That unexpected path ultimately led me to the work I do now: helping leaders rise to their own version of the front of the room with confidence, clarity, and purpose.
Every leader has experienced the collision between careful plans and chaotic reality. Strategic initiatives meet market disruptions. Good intentions meet budget cuts, leadership exits, global crises, or the rapid integration of AI that rewrites the rules faster than we can adapt. In these moments, the gap between what we intended and what's actually happening can feel insurmountable. This keynote explores what happens when circumstances are beyond your control and how values-driven leadership becomes the compass that guides you through.
Drawing from my own experience launching Larkin Leadership during a pandemic while navigating five years of impossible caregiving circumstances, health crises, and unprecedented challenges, I share the leadership lessons that emerged from this period. This isn't a story of perfect resilience or having it all together, it's an honest examination of how clearly defined values become the difference between reactive chaos and intentional leadership when everything falls apart. Audiences will discover why intentions without values are just wishes, how trust is built when leaders consistently align their actions to their stated values (especially under pressure), and what it means to lead with integrity when you can't control the outcome.
Attendees will leave with:
A reframed understanding of intentional leadership: it's not about controlling every outcome, but aligning actions to core values, no matter the circumstance.
Insight into how trust is built or broken based on whether leaders uphold their values when it’s hardest to do so.
Practical frameworks for identifying personal and organizational non-negotiables and building values check-ins into daily leadership practice.
Tools to reframe failure as values-aligned recalibration rather than defeat.
A deeper understanding of how values clarity fuels resilience and team trust, enabling organizations to know which principles to uphold and which plans to release amid disruption and change.