JODY URQUHART
About Jody Urquhart
Jody Urquhart is a leadership and workplace culture speaker who does something almost nobody else on a corporate stage does: she works the room like a stand-up comedian, without a single slide.
That is not a gimmick. It is the delivery mechanism. Laughter gets people to drop their defenses, and a room with its defenses down will actually look at itself. As Jody puts it, the experience is deep enough to ponder your life choices but funny enough to not take it personally.
The framework underneath is Quietly Disruptive Leadership™. Her argument is that most leaders do not lead according to their intentions. They lead according to their habits. They say the door is always open, then look irritated when someone walks through it. They ask for honest feedback, then defend themselves instead of listening. The work is not adding more information; it is interrupting the autopilot that is already running.
She has spent 26 years in front of audiences, speaks at more than 50 events a year, and has worked with over 2,000 audiences. For more than a decade she wrote the self-syndicated column The Joy of Work. She has produced over a thousand videos on burnout and workplace connection and interviewed hundreds of professionals about why we lose our humanity at work.
She is the author of the Canadian bestsellers All Work & No Say and Bliss Out, and she has spoken for organizations including Discover Card, Sun Life Global Investments, Manpower, Kruger, Cambridge Health Alliance and Aspira. She recently opened the Maryland Municipal League conference for more than 2,000 municipal leaders, and keynotes the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association conference this November.
Two audiences she is especially strong with: healthcare and municipal government. Both are full of people responsible for everything and in control of almost nothing, which is exactly the pressure her material is built around.
Practically, she is easy to program. No PowerPoint, no lectern, no AV dependency. A roaming microphone and a room of 250 to 500 is her ideal setup, and she works equally well virtually.
- 26 years and 2,000+ audiences, speaking at more than 50 events a year
- Creator of Quietly Disruptive Leadership™, a framework built on interrupting leadership habits rather than adding information
- Author of the Canadian bestsellers All Work & No Say and Bliss Out
- Former stand-up comedian who weaves live comedy through every keynote, with no slides at all
- Booked by Discover Card, Sun Life, Manpower, Kruger, Cambridge Health Alliance and Aspira
- Opened the Maryland Municipal League conference for an audience of more than 2,000 municipal leaders
Why Planners Book Her
Jody is the booking for a room that is tired of being talked at:
Her material moves audiences from burnout toward belonging, with takeaways people can actually use on the Monday after the event.
Watch Jody In Action
Speaking Topics
How to navigate change by mastering human connection. Built for organizations in the middle of change, all-staff meetings and conference general sessions.
Ever feel like you're the only one struggling? You are not. This is a no-filter look at workplace transformation, and at the isolation people carry quietly through it.
Jody's case is that relatability is not a soft skill, it is the thing that holds a team together when everything else is moving. The session is aimed squarely at every leader feeling isolated and every team member wondering whether they still fit.
Program Takeaways
- Create genuine connection while everything around you is changing
- Approach work with urgency, conviction and vitality rather than dread
- Turn uncertainty into moments of real understanding
- Make people feel seen, heard and valued, even in chaos
Make your leadership more relatable. Built for leadership audiences, management development programs and organizations working on inclusion and belonging.
Leadership is at a crossroads. Teams are being asked to balance algorithms with basic human emotion, and a lot of workplaces have gone slightly robotic in the process.
This is the session for a leadership group that has read the books and still cannot get out of its own way. It is people, not processes, that drive results, and Jody makes that case with enough humor that nobody gets defensive about it.
Program Takeaways
- Make employees feel like people again rather than roles
- Prioritize the wellbeing of your team without lowering the bar
- Ditch the stiff leadership persona for something people will actually talk to
- Build a culture where people genuinely belong
Relief and balance in a fast-paced world. Built for wellbeing programming, burnout-heavy workforces and audiences running at capacity.
This is not a productivity talk. It is for anyone who has felt isolated in their own overwhelm and quietly concluded they are the only one failing to keep up.
Jody unpacks why we use busyness as a shield, and what it takes to put the shield down. Her reframe is the part audiences remember: the struggle is not what separates you from the room, it is the thing you have in common with it.
Program Takeaways
- Spot three signs you are working harder rather than smarter
- Identify the four biggest drains on your time and energy
- Uncover the personal patterns quietly stealing your joy
- Build real connection in a workplace that feels fragmented
Take this job and love it: your work, your way. Built for frontline and clinical audiences, employee appreciation events and association conferences. Jody delivers a healthcare-specific version as The Joy of the Career.
A comedy-filled, real-world guide to turning work from a grind into something people look forward to. The premise is that meaning at work is created rather than assigned, and that stress does not control you so much as your response to it does.
For healthcare audiences in particular, the session is about protecting the joy that drew people into the profession in the first place, before the pressure of the job quietly trains it out of them.
Program Takeaways
- Inject genuine fun back into daily work
- Turn challenges into opportunities instead of grievances
- Make stress a sidekick rather than a boss
- Become the energy you want to see at work
Where leadership meets real life. Built for leadership summits, municipal leadership audiences, supervisor development and team culture events.
The best leaders are not always out front. A lot of the work happens walking alongside people, listening to their stories and having their backs.
Jody turns traditional leadership upside down here: leadership is not a title, it is how you influence people. And the goal is not making people fit the mould, it is making them feel they matter. She swaps culture fit for culture transformation.
Program Takeaways
- Build trust by giving people your undivided attention
- Create a team that wants to show up rather than has to
- Make every person feel they genuinely belong
- Lead with heart rather than authority alone
Jody tailors every keynote to your audience and industry, and is available for in-person and virtual programs.
What People Say
Jody creates breakthrough moments of self-reflection that fundamentally change how teams collaborate.
Tracy Dejong, Discover CardJody's use of comedy helped break down our defences and encouraged our team to stop living on autopilot.
Victoria McPheat, Sun Life Global InvestmentsThis isn't about another motivational speech. It's about rewiring how professionals authentically engage, lead, and create meaningful workplace connections.
Marisol Kroll, KrugerIt's a huge relief to experience a motivational speaker with no PowerPoint. You are authentic, hilarious and relatable.
Donna Balter, Cambridge Health AllianceOne of the top human resources keynote speakers. Our teams are still talking about your speech!
AspiraJody's dynamic keynote was insightful, packed with useable ideas and funny. Just what we were looking for.
ManpowerSelected Clients
Where Jody Appears
Jody Urquhart is featured on these Amplify Speakers rosters: