JAMIE GETGOOD

Australian Leader of the Year Award Recipient | International Keynote Speaker on Culture, People Leadership, and Change Management | Led GM Holden Transformation from Bottom Quartile to World Class Quality Performer | CEO of People Avenue | Global Advisor on Employee Engagement and Organizational Performance

Adelaide, South Australia, California, USA,  and Manila, Philippines

ABOUT JAMIE GETGOOD

Awarded Australian Leader of the Year at the Australian Excellence Awards, Jamie Getgood travels the globe as an international keynote speaker, sharing people focused approaches that have transformed the many organizations he has worked in.

When General Motors Holden closed its manufacturing operations in Australia, Jamie led the closure of the automotive industry, shifting the focus to culture, people leadership, change management, and employee engagement. Through this approach, he and his team transformed GM Holden from a bottom quartile performer into one of the best General Motors quality plants in the world during the final eight months of its operation.

Shortly after the successful Holden closure and transition program, Jamie founded Getgood Consulting, which quickly became a highly sought after HR service provider supporting companies across Australia and the Asia Pacific region.

Jamie now serves as CEO of People Avenue, an offshore marketing, sales, and recruitment accelerator agency driving innovation and revenue growth for clients around the world.

SPEAKING TOPICS

People First Leadership | HR | Leadership | Change Management | Inspirational

Cohesion Before Safety

How High Performing Leadership Teams Actually Win

Most organisations talk about psychological safety. Very few build cohesion.

In this keynote, Jamie challenges conventional thinking and introduces a powerful truth: cohesion is the foundation of high performance. Drawing on his experience leading through one of Australia’s most significant industry closures, he shares how leadership teams can disagree hard, address issues directly and still remain united.

This session explores:
• Why unresolved tension destroys performance
• How to build relational strength without avoiding accountability
• The leadership habits that create fast, focused and aligned teams

Perfect for executive teams, CEOs and senior leaders serious about performance.

Leading Through Uncertainty

How to Deliver World Class Leadership When the Future Is Unclear

When Holden closed, 3,000 employees faced uncertainty. Engagement did not collapse. In fact, trust and performance strengthened.

This keynote reveals the leadership behaviours that matter most when pressure is highest. Jamie shares practical lessons on transparency, dignity, data driven decision making and people first leadership.

Audience takeaways:
• How to lead honestly without destroying hope
• How to protect culture during disruption
• Why clarity and care outperform control

Ideal for organisations navigating transformation, growth or change.

People First. Performance Always.

Why Human Leadership Drives Commercial Results

High performance is not built through fear or metrics alone. It is built through relationships.

In this energising session, Jamie outlines a simple but powerful framework for leading people to performance through relational leadership. Leaders will learn how trust, clarity and accountability combine to create extraordinary results.

You will learn:
• The commercial case for relational leadership
• How to balance care with performance standards
• The micro behaviours that shift culture fast

Perfect for HR leaders, founders and growth stage businesses.

The Relational Advantage

How Great Leaders Turn Trust Into Performance

In a world obsessed with strategy, Jamie focuses on something deeper: the quality of relationships inside leadership teams.

This keynote explores how relational leadership unlocks performance at scale, especially across global and offshore teams. Drawing from his work building People Avenue across Australia, the Philippines and the US, Jamie shares practical tools for leading across cultures with cohesion and clarity.

Ideal for global businesses and remote teams.

Building High Performing Offshore Teams

From Cost Saving Model to Strategic Growth Engine

Most companies offshore for cost. The best companies offshore for performance.

In this keynote, Jamie dismantles the outdated view of offshore talent as transactional support and introduces a new model built on cohesion, accountability and relational leadership. Drawing from scaling People Avenue’s embedded offshore teams across recruitment, marketing and operations, he shares what actually makes offshore partnerships thrive.

Audience will learn:
• Why most offshore models fail within 12 months
• How to build trust across borders and time zones
• The leadership rhythms that create ownership and accountability
• How to protect culture while reducing costs

Ideal for CEOs, founders and staffing leaders exploring or scaling offshore teams.

Leading Without Losing Yourself

Why Sustainable Leadership Is a Strategic Advantage

For years, Jamie led at the highest levels through pressure, transformation and industry collapse. From the outside it looked like strength. On the inside, the cost was accumulating.

This keynote is not theory. It is lived experience.

Jamie shares the moment he realised that high performance without personal sustainability leads to burnout, fractured relationships and diminished leadership clarity. He speaks openly about the emotional toll of crisis, the breakdown point and the deliberate rebuild that followed.

But this is not a vulnerability story for effect. It is a leadership lesson.

In this keynote, audiences will hear:

• The warning signs of leadership burnout that high performers ignore
• How unresolved stress leaks into culture and decision making
• Why leaders must separate identity from title
• The disciplines Jamie used to rebuild clarity, strength and energy
• How personal restoration improved his leadership impact

He connects personal sustainability directly to commercial outcomes. When leaders are depleted, teams feel it. When leaders are grounded, clear and regulated, performance rises.

This session reframes self care as leadership responsibility, not indulgence.

Ideal for executive forums, CEO summits and leadership retreats where the real conversation matters.

Unbreakable

From a Broken Neck to Building a Life of Purpose, Leadership and Impact

At eight years old, Jamie broke his neck.

Doctors were uncertain. The future was unclear. Fear was real.

But that moment did not define the end of his story. It became the beginning of a pattern.

In this powerful and deeply personal keynote, Jamie takes audiences on a journey through adversity, resilience and reinvention. From a life threatening childhood injury, to personal and professional challenges later in life, including burnout and relational breakdown, he shares how each setback became a turning point.

This is not a story about luck. It is a story about choice.

Through raw storytelling and practical reflection, Jamie explores:

• How early adversity shapes identity
• Why resilience is built, not inherited
• The danger of letting one chapter define your future
• How crisis can clarify purpose
• The habits that turn pain into momentum

He connects his personal journey to his professional success, leading through the closure of an industry, rebuilding his life, and creating a global business built on people first leadership.

The message is simple but powerful:

Your greatest challenge does not disqualify you from your future. It may prepare you for it.

This session leaves audiences with renewed belief, grounded hope and practical courage to face their own turning points.

Ideal for leadership conferences, corporate events, youth leadership forums and high performance summits.

TESTIMONIALS

“I’ve had the opportunity to work with Jamie in a number of different capacities. He has been a speaker on change management, HR best practice, and transition at several events I’ve been involved in. He is always a favorite with HR and leadership audiences because of his unique ability to inspire through heartfelt, authentic storytelling. I have also seen his impact in HR consulting and leadership firsthand, particularly in driving transformational change. Jamie thinks strategically, connects authentically, and is a true change maker. I highly recommend him. He is an inspirational speaker and a delight to work with.”

Kylie Green, Managing Director APAC, Reward Gateway | Edenred

“We were thrilled to have Jamie as our keynote speaker for our Leadership Day. From the very beginning, he took the time to truly understand our business, our goals, and the specific needs and skill level of our participants. Jamie was engaging, insightful, and incredibly well prepared. His delivery was dynamic, thought provoking, and highly relevant to our team. He connected with the audience in a meaningful way and provided practical takeaways our leaders could immediately apply. The feedback from our team has been overwhelmingly positive. We would absolutely invite him back and highly recommend him to any organization looking for a speaker who delivers both impact and relevance.”

Tanya Madden, Manager, Corporate Services, Equipped Group Australia

“I had the pleasure of hearing Jamie speak and he blew us all away with brilliant stories and useful tools. Highly recommended as a speaker.”

Daniel Murray, International Keynote Speaker & Author of The Empathy Gap

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