Cy Wakeman is a drama researcher, New York Times best-selling author, Hall of FameSpeaker, and 2023 World’s #1 Leadership Guru who is recognized for her Reality- Based approach to leadership. Backed by over 25 years of unparalleled experience partnering with top brands spanning all industries, Cy’s philosophy offers a modern approach to leadership in which employees and managers alike can deliver better results with less drama, higher engagement without entitlement, and more happiness in even the most challenging workplace realities.
Deemed “the secret weapon to restoring sanity to the workplace and the worldplace,” Cy empowers leaders to love their teams up while calling them up to greatness. Her client list includes Google, Meta, Viacom, NBC Universal, Keurig Dr. Pepper, NASA, Pfizer, CVS, Johns Hopkins, Stanford Medicine, Bank of America, among others.
As a highly sought-after conference headliner, Cy holds a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation from the National Speaker’s Association, placing her within the top 3% of speakers worldwide.
Cy’s avid fanbase online has surpassed 250,000 followers. Her Reality-Based Leadership newsletter that often goes viral within organizations reaches over 30,000 raving fans who discuss and apply her modern leadership techniques each and every week with their teams.
She has published four best-selling books, the latest of which is Life’s Messy, Live Happy: Things Don’t Have to Be Perfect for You to Be Content (2022). Cy shares her latest leadership insights on the Reality-Based Leadership podcast where she offers practical ways to modernize how leaders evolve their teams beyond the challenges they face.