Cheryle Hays | AI Leadership Keynote Speaker

Amazon Best-Selling Leadership Co-Author - People Fusion (11 categories)

The One Skill AI Can't Replace: Courageous Curiosity™

A Human-Centered Leadership Playbook for the AI Age

COMING DECEMBER 2025 - my new book - 'Courageous Curiosity'.

Stay tuned for updates and sneak peeks!

This isn’t a tech talk; it’s a trust and clarity playbook for the AI age - so leaders unlock AI's power without losing the human edge.

As tools take on more work, team members can quietly offload judgment — eroding critical thinking, flattening originality, and undermining decision quality.

Courageous Curiosity™ is the counterweight: it teaches leaders to ask what AI can’t—purpose, context, consequences, and what’s missing—and then act with courage. R³ (Reflect, Reframe, Respond) turns that into daily habits that keep people engaged and accountable, so they think first, decide clearly, and lead by design.

Audiences leave ready to protect the human edge, spark innovation, and scale AI with integrity.

Because when everyone is chasing answers, advantage belongs to those who ask better questions—and have the courage to act.

Is your audience leading human-in-the-loop teams? This keynotes helps preserve judgment and originality as you scale AI—without defaulting decisions to the model.

Book Cheryle To Speak

This isn’t a tech talk; it’s a trust and clarity playbook for the AI age - so leaders unlock AI's power without losing the human edge.

As tools take on more work, team members can quietly offload judgment — eroding critical thinking, flattening originality, and undermining decision quality.

Audiences leave ready to protect the human edge, spark innovation, and scale AI with integrity.

Because when everyone is chasing answers, advantage belongs to those who ask better questions—and have the courage to act.

Is your audience leading human-in-the-loop teams? This keynotes helps them preserve judgment and originality as you scale AI—without defaulting decisions to the model.

Book Cheryle To Speak

Audience Takeaways

✔️

Lead by design with Courageous Curiosity, keep people engaged and psychologically safe to challenge AI and think before they abdicate.

✔️

Apply R³ (Reflect, Reframe, Respond) set clear decision rights, verify assumptions, and turn AI-era complexity into clear, human action.

✔️

Ask better, braver questions — protect originality and values, raise the bar for AI-assisted work, and keep ownership with leaders.

Trusted By Leading Organizations:

What Audiences Say:

It was amazing. This event left me with a lot to think about. I had three powerful takeaways that really struck a chord with me:

Be curious – Approach others with a genuine desire to learn and understand.

Respond, don’t react – Thoughtful responses build bridges, while reactions can sometimes build walls.

How we lead and include matters more than ever – Leadership today requires us to create environments where everyone feels valued.”

— Daris Frencha, CEO and President, The Benefit Boutique

“Cheryle will leave you feeling more empowered, grounded, and equipped with tools you can use immediately.”

— Dr. Jaime Hope, Emergency Physician & Host, Navigating H.O.P.E Podcast

“Cheryle not only captured my attention, but that of everyone in the room.”

— Pat Alva-Kraker, Founder, majestic Coaching Group, ABWA

“I can’t stop telling everyone about what I learned from you. Your wealth of knowledge and wisdom is unmatched”.

- Tania Madah, CEO Lean-Architect

Audience Approval:

Audiences consistently praise Cheryle for delivering actionable insights, an engaging style, and highly relevant content

—100% of respondents said they would gladly hear her speak again.

I'M INTRIGUED AND WANT TO TALK

Why This Talk is Needed Now

Real de-skilling is showing up. After regular AI use, endoscopists’ performance fell when AI was removed. The Lancet The ASCO Post
Confidence in AI ↓ critical-thinking effort. Knowledge workers who feel more confident in GenAI report doing less critical thinking and shifting to shallow verification. ACM Digital LibraryMicrosoft
Creativity + memory take a hit. MIT Media Lab finds lower neural engagement and more formulaic output when writing with ChatGPT; recall also drops. MIT Media LabEducation Week
Adoption is outpacing guardrails. 75% use GenAI at work; ~78% are bringing their own tools—raising risk without leadership habits in place. Microsoft+1Source
Governance warns of over-reliance. NIST flags automation bias and human-in-the-loop risks; leaders must set behaviors that keep people in charge. NIST PublicationsDLA Piper

Bottom line: AI is accelerating; human judgment is slipping. Courageous Curiosity™ + R³ gives leaders the everyday mechanics to keep people engaged, decisions human, and AI truly assistive.

Sources last reviewed: August 2025.

FAQ's

Is this a technical AI talk?
No. It’s human-centered leadership for the AI era—how to reassert judgment so teams don’t outsource thinking to tools.

Is this just for AI decisions?

No - this is a leadership tool - a methodology that keep the human at the center, growing leaders and teams in every aspect of their job, their relationships, their impact.

How does Courageous Curiosity reduce over-reliance on AI?
By installing decision rules: when to consult AI, when to verify with people, and when to make the call.

What’s the Monday-morning move?
Run one R³ on a decision your team keeps remaking; add a simple guardrail (inputs, decider, by-when).

Will examples fit our industry?
Yes—content is tailored to your context and risk profile.

🔹 Transform Your Organization / Inspire Your Association Members

DISCOVER MORE

THE NOT-SO-HIDDEN COSTS OF LEADERSHIP

💡When leadership strategies - including DEI 1.0 - stay stuck in the past, businesses pay the price.

✔ $550 billion lost in disengagement annually—employees aren’t just quiet quitting; they’re checked out entirely. (Gallup)

✔ $50 billion spent on wellness programs that aren't impacting real change. ^(Gallup)

✔ $322 billion lost to burnout-related turnover - employees go where they feel valued. ^(Gallup)

✔ DEI efforts focused on compliance instead of inclusion fuel resistance, disengagement, and culture breakdowns.

🛑 What This Means To You

When DEI efforts fail to drive engagement, psychological safety is missing

and leadership is missing a MASSIVE opportunity -

The Cost? Your Team and Your Businesses are paying the price.

Beyond financial losses, ineffective DEI strategies weaken trust, lower engagement, and stifle innovation—hurting your competitive edge.

So - at the top of the list? the PEOPLE cost!