Cheryl Cran
- Future of Work Expert
- Founder, NextMapping™ | NextMapping.com
- CEO, Synthesis at Work Inc.
- Bestselling Author and Host, 'NextNow' Podcast
- Beacon Health System
- Fairstone
- CIO Association of Canada
- Minto Group
- Community Futures
- Alera Group
- Bimbo Canada Bread
- Dental Trade Alliance
- Project Management Institute
- Alberta Central
"Cheryl Cran’s keynote was a major hit with our leaders – her keynote “The Future of Leadership” had it all – audience polling, trends research, usable strategies AND delivered with massive energy that kept everyone entertained and engaged throughout."
-Alberta Central"Cheryl Cran was our event closing keynote speaker and our group was blown away! The energy, research and remarkable insights really resonated with the audience, expanding their perspectives about the now and future of work. We also engaged Cheryl to facilitate a panel to follow her keynote, with three local business leaders – her warm, engaging style along with her ability to adapt, quickly made for a dynamic panel dialogue that really brought some earlier topics to life. Thank you, Cheryl, for making our event remarkable."
-Project Management Institute"If you are looking for a workforce expert to speak at your next meeting, look no further! Cheryl Cran is wonderful to work with and provides an energetic and inspirational session your teams won’t want to miss!"
-Dental Trade Alliance"Cheryl was the keynote speaker at our annual summit in Toronto and shared her thoughts on “The Future of Work” with 170 of our leaders. After a tumultuous year of unprecedented challenges with labour, inflation and the changing work environment, Cheryl’s insights and perspectives were both reassuring that we’re not alone and eye-opening in terms of how to tackle issues that aren’t going away anytime soon. Her ability to connect with the audience and make stories relatable and actionable was terrific. Cheryl’s keynote set the stage for two days of learning and inspiration for our leaders on how to embrace the future with confidence, resilience and conviction that we can win in business and in the hearts and minds of our associates."
-Bimbo Canada Bread"Thank you Cheryl! Your closing keynote for our Raising The Bar conference in Orlando was spot on. Our leaders gained immense value from your strategic insights on how to leverage collaboration for greater success. The ‘me to we’ model provided all of us with a framework to self assess and improve our leadership abilities. We loved your interactive style of texting and polling with the group – we were engaged! You definitely helped us ‘raise the bar’!"
-Alera Group"Cheryl, we want to thank you again for such a fantastic afternoon. Keynote speaking is an art form, and you have mastered it with your ability to inspire, inform, and captivate the audience. Sitting at the back of the room, I saw a sea of heads taking notes, completely enthralled, which was so great to see—The afternoon was an experience that will stay with many for a while afterward. Feedback from those we have heard from has been nothing but positive, and I’m awaiting similar replies once attendees fill out the post-event survey. Thank you for being so personable, and I hope to connect again in the future. We will be watching your journey and cheering you on from the sidelines!"
-Community Futures"The event was incredible on Tuesday, as Cheryl was very engaging and promoted great discussion! The team really enjoyed her keynote and some of the tools she showcased. We couldn’t have asked for a greater way to bring the team together on a day 1 of our meeting!"
-Minto Group"On behalf of the Board of Directors and the entire CIOCAN Team, thank you for contributing your time, insight, and expertise to this year’s CIO Peer Forum in Vancouver. With over 270 attendees, it was our most successful forum yet, and your thought leadership played a major role in that success. I don’t always have the opportunity to sit in on all the sessions, fortunately I was present for yours and saw how you both connected with our audience. Your style, content and presence resonated with our community! If you would like to extend your PPT presentation to our community, we’ll be happy to share. We’re grateful for partners like you who help strengthen the CIO Association of Canada and support our mission to connect IT leaders, share best practices, and foster executive development across the country. Thank you again for being part of this milestone event."
-CIO Association of Canada"I’m happy to report that Cheryl Cran was a huge success as our inspirational speaker. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback on her content and on they way she delivered it as well. She was knowledgeable, engaging and really kept the crowd engaged the whole way through. I loved the effects and technology from her virtual studio and taking in comments and questions live – it made the session so much more personalized."
-Fairstone
What The Flux? Lead Change Through Uncertainty: How to lead change when nothing feels certain anymore
How to lead change when nothing feels certain anymore
When everything happening in the world, at work, and in our personal lives makes us ask, “What the…?” — it’s a sign we’re trying to make sense of chaos in real time.
Nothing seems clear anymore. It’s harder to know what’s real, what’s AI-generated, and how to trust our own judgment.
World events, economic uncertainty, AI acceleration, workforce fatigue, and personal stressors are colliding — leaving leaders and teams overwhelmed, reactive, and exhausted.
This keynote reframes disruption as a deeply human experience and offers profound ways to meet change with hope, inspiration, and clarity that leads to meaningful action.
The audience will leave with:
- A new way to understand change as a human state, not a series of circumstances — shifting from resistance and anxiety to resilient adaptability and deep empowerment
- Practical ideas and tools to stay centered, focused, and effective amid uncertainty, pressure, and competing demands
- A powerful model to make sense of ongoing change challenges by asking better questions of ourselves and others — questions that cut through illusion and lead directly to truth and solutions
- Insight into how AI, market shifts, and social change are impacting people emotionally, and how to consciously leverage emotional intelligence during these times
- Renewed energy to lead — and live — with optimism, clarity, and faith in the future
The Future is Flex: How Human Adaptability Will Define the Future in an Age of AI, Complexity, and Continuous Change
In a world of rapid transformation, strategy alone isn’t enough. The true differentiator is human adaptability — the ability to respond, recalibrate, and stay relevant without losing trust, purpose, or wellbeing.
This keynote shows why flexibility is the future-ready core leadership trait and organizational capability — and how it can be consciously cultivated.
Audiences will leave with
- Research-backed insight confirming why adaptability is the most critical leadership skill today.
- Practical ways to reduce resistance, fear, and rigidity during transformation and change initiative.
- Clear understanding of how AI can be leveraged and optimized to free humans for higher-value, human-to-human collaboration.
- Tools to help teams move from control and certainty-seeking to trust, discernment, and responsive decision-making.
- A mindset model that supports both increased wellbeing and personal performance in fast-changing environments.
The Power of Flow - Create Ease and Alignment In Life & Work: Leading and Working at Your Best In a World That Never Slows Down
Most leaders and teams are operating in a constant state of push — trying to do more, move faster, and keep up in systems that never seem to pause. The result isn’t higher performance; it’s change fatigue, fragmentation, and overwhelmed leaders and teams.
This keynote reframes flow as a practical, strategic advantage — showing how alignment, clarity, and energy intelligence create sustainable results without burnout or over-effort.
Unlike resilience or stress-management talks that focus on coping, this keynote focuses on resourcing ourselves and aligning with flow strategies.
Audiences will leave with:
- A clear understanding of flow in how we structure our work and personally structure our energy for optimal outputs
- Insight into energy intelligence and hot to leverage it to increase our ability to enhance focus, creativity, and decision-making
- Practical ways leaders can empower teams to self-resource, and create outstanding results
- Ideas to support mutual accountability, increased engagement, and next level collaboration
- A new lens on hustle culture that helps us to prioritize alignment, clarity, and long-term effectiveness
