Storytelling + practical wisdom
Lisa combines research, storytelling, and practical wisdom to help organizations and their people thrive through mentoring and connection so that they can:
Build mentoring cultures that scale and sustain performance
Align individual development with organizational priorities
Foster intentional relationships that enhance trust, collaboration, and results
Her talks speak to everyone in the room, from senior leaders to emerging professionals, because the capacity to connect across difference and with purpose is essential at every level.
What Lisa Speaks About
- Mentoring and developmental networks as strategic growth drivers
- Building inclusive, connected workplaces
- Leadership through relationships
- Transforming culture through intentional connection
Lisa Speaks To
- Leadership and company-wide audiences
- Corporate, legal, and professional associations
- Learning & development and HR conferences
From conference keynotes to partner retreats to leadership summits, Lisa helps audiences act on connection as a business advantage.
Signature Keynotes
Beyond Mentoring: Better Judgment, Growth & Impact in a Complex World
For decades, professionals have been told that success comes from excellence, hard work, and independence. Yet organizations everywhere are discovering a paradox: even highly capable people can remain underutilized, disconnected, and unsure how to grow.
In this engaging and thought-provoking keynote, Lisa Z. Fain challenges the myth that excellence alone drives career success. Drawing on decades of experience, research on developmental networks, and stories from the workplace, she reveals why growth and leadership development depend on something deeper: intentionally designed ecosystems of learning and connection.
Instead of relying on a single mentor or informal relationships, Lisa shows how developmental networks, peer mentoring, and mentoring ecosystems create the conditions where insight travels, judgment improves, and leaders develop faster.
At the center of the keynote is Lisa’s Mentoring Ecosystem Alignment Model, which shows how organizations unlock human potential when individual agency and organizational structure work together by design rather than by chance. Beyond Mentoring Keynote Draft…
Through story, humor, and practical frameworks, audiences discover how to move from development by accident to learning ecosystems by design.
Participant Outcomes
Participants will learn how to:
- Shift from independence to intentional interdependence
- Build and activate developmental networks that expand perspective and judgment
- Recognize why traditional mentoring models are too limited for modern workplaces
- Use peer mentoring and cross-level learning to accelerate development
- Design learning ecosystems that unlock human potential
- Move from development by chance to development by design
Bridging Differences for Better Mentoring
Creating an Inclusive Workplace One Relationship at a Time
Many organizations aspire to inclusion but fall short when it comes to day-to-day relationships. This keynote shows how mentoring can be a catalyst for bridging differences,across identity, role, experience, and perspective.
Lisa offers audiences practical ways to talk about difference, build trust, and create cultures where connection becomes the norm, not the exception.
Audiences Will Explore:
- What mentoring does that other leadership tools don’t
- How to navigate discomfort and embrace authentic dialogue
- The role of trust, vulnerability, and intention in mentoring
- Steps to foster belonging through relationship design
- How mentors and mentees can model inclusive leadership daily
Delivered to global firms, legal associations, and leadership summits, this keynote transforms abstract DEI goals into personal, actionable mentoring practices.
The Center for Mentoring Excellence –
Books, Tools & Training
Lisa’s superpower is turning relationships into results, by design. Her approach blends:
• Deep mentoring expertise with global, legal, and corporate insight
• Practical tools rooted in adult learning and evidence-based practices
• The rare ability to connect across the room while moving ideas into action
Her presentations don’t just inspire, they equip. Attendees leave with real-world strategies to shift culture, strengthen performance, and elevate human connection at work.
Organizations engage Lisa when they want to move from talk about connection to a culture that lives it.
“Lisa is a master speaker and presenter. We were able to launch a speaker series that built buy-in and awareness across the organization.Thank you for your leadership and partnership.”
— Matthew Gill, Formerly Head of Diversity Strategy, Charles Schwab