Speaking & Workshops

Tara McMullin explores how work and culture are changing in the 21st-century economy. She empowers audiences to dismantle what isn’t working—and create a practice of work that reflects their needs, capacity, and vision. She offers a vision for work that’s humane and sustainable.

Tara’s book, What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal-Setting, has been hailed as game-changing for the way it deconstructs the cultural forces that lead to more stress, anxiety, and doubt in the way we work.

Tara’s signature workshop, Work In Practice, applies her framework to daily work. She guides participants to recalibrate the way they plan and execute to make space for creative and critical thinking.

What is Work In Practice?

Our work today is knowledge-based, care-based, or creative—and often, all three. And it requires a dramatically different approach when it comes to how the work gets done.

Yet our goals and expectations at work are still shaped by 20th-century management science. We prioritize efficiency and productivity. We optimize and quantify. We track and automate.

The result? Employees disengage. Collaboration breaks down. Creative thinking is squeezed out. Over time, the constant pressure to produce more and more in an uncertain environment leads to stress, frustration, and burnout.

Work In Practice is a new vision for work. It helps team members and managers turn values like sustainability, care, inclusivity, and collaboration into daily work practice. It catalyzes a “culture of practice” that leads to both organizational and individual learning. And Work In Practice helps people at all levels leverage creative and critical thinking.

Work In Practice is delivered as a 45-90-minute interactive workshop, available in person or virtually.

%

More than half of all workers report feeling exhausted daily, according to the 2022 Mercer “Inside Employees’ Minds” report.

%

The U.S. Surgeon General’s Workplace Well-Being reports 84% of workers claim workplace conditions contribute to at least one mental health challenge.

%

Gallup reports that 61% of workers want greater work-life balance and better personal well-being in their next position.

Experience

Tara has been speaking and teaching about the future of work since 2011. She’s a leading instructor with CreativeLive—where her classes reach tens of thousands of students. She also developed and taught an exclusive training for Wondrium (The Great Courses). And she gave a TEDx talk on the power of focusing on remarkable work.

She’s spoken at numerous conferences for creatives and small business owners including SXSWi, Chris Guillebeau’s World Domination Summit and Pioneer Nation in Portland, Brian Clark’s Digital Commerce Summit in Denver, the Small Is Beautiful Conference in Glasgow, the Being Boss retreat in Chattanooga, and VenturePop in New Orleans.

What Works Podcast

Tara is the host of What Works, a podcast that explores how to navigate the 21st-century economy without losing your humanity. The show has aired over 400 episodes and has been downloaded nearly 3 million times. The podcast tackles business and work topics through the lens of history, philosophy, politics, feminism, and cultural studies. 

What Works Podcast with Tara McMullin

Keynote Pricing

Tara’s keynote speaking fees range from $10-20,000, depending on format, location, and duration. The speaking fee typically covers:

  • A 30-minute pre-event planning call with event organizers
  • A 60-90-minute interactive keynote presentation (in-person or virtual)
  • A post-event book signing (optional)

Tara is also available to add on a breakout session or panel facilitation, depending on the event.

Travel is charged as a flat fee upfront to save everyone the extra reimbursement paperwork. 

Occasionally, Tara makes an exception and speaks for lower than her quoted fees. Please get in touch and tell us more about your event! If it’s not a fit, we’ll be sure to recommend other exceptional speakers.

Invite Tara to speak at your next retreat, conference, or career development event!

Fill out the form below to tell us more about you and your event. Or email hello@explorewhatworks.com