Available to book
Charles Leadbeater
Creativity
Innovation
Charles Leadbeater helps organisations turn new ideas into lasting change. An innovation, creativity, and systems change speaker, Charles co-founded System Shift UK, advised Tony Blair, and wrote the bestsellers Living on Thin Air and We-Think.
Educator
Innovator
Digital Expert
Entrepreneur
Thought Leader
Business Leader
Author
Philanthropy
Personal Development
Charles Leadbeater is one of the UK's leading authorities on innovation, and he's spent three decades working out how new ideas grow into systems that change how people live and work.
Charles began as a journalist, spending ten years at the Financial Times as industrial editor and Tokyo bureau chief before moving to The Independent, where he helped Helen Fielding devise Bridget Jones's Diary. He went on to advise Tony Blair and the 10 Downing Street Policy Unit, and wrote the bestsellers Living on Thin Air and We-Think, translated into more than 20 languages.
He's advised the BBC, Vodafone, Microsoft, the European Commission, and the government of Shanghai, and has worked in more than 30 countries. He wrote the first British report on social entrepreneurship, co-founded the public service design agency Participle, and was founding chair of Apps for Good. Today he's co-founder and executive director of System Shift UK, helping foundations, innovators, and policymakers build better systems for the common good.
Charles gives audiences a practical anatomy of breakthrough innovation, showing how the biggest changes come from movements that combine new technology, organisation, and culture. Organisations come away knowing how to spot where power sits in a system, how to build a coalition that'll carry an idea, and how to move from the system as it is to the system as it could be.
His TED talks have been watched more than four million times. Book Charles when your event needs an evidence-led account of how big change happens.
Topics, sessions and talks
Charles Leadbeater draws on his work with governments, foundations, and companies in more than 30 countries to show how creative ideas become change that lasts. Using his anatomy of breakthrough innovation, from the modern restaurant to the contraceptive pill, Charles explains why the biggest breakthroughs come from movements that combine new thinking with technology, organisation, and culture. Teams leave with a clearer sense of where their own ideas could go and what it'll take to get them there.
Charles Leadbeater pairs three decades advising governments, including 10 Downing Street, with current work at System Shift UK helping foundations and policymakers redesign systems. That mix of policy experience and live practice gives audiences innovation thinking that's already been tested outside the conference room.
often considered together
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Digital Transformation
Innovation
Decision Making
Benita Matofska
Effective Leadership
Future Trends
Sustainability
Mike Barry
Sustainability
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Digital Transformation
frequently asked questions
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To book Charles Leadbeater, email charles.leadbeater@getapeptalk.com or call PepTalk on +44 20 3835 2929 (UK) or +1 737 888 5112 (US), and one of our speaker agents will contact you within hours to confirm Charles' availability and speaking fee. If you can, please include your budget upfront – it helps us fast-track your request. It’s also helpful to know the date, format (virtual or in-person), location, and about your audience.
No. PepTalk adds no booking fee, so you pay the speaker's fee and nothing beyond it. The service, from shortlist through to contracts and event-day logistics, is included. For repeat or multi-event bookings, PepTalk can agree preferential rates with your procurement team.
Share your event date, audience, format, objectives and budget, and PepTalk sends a hand-picked shortlist within 24 hours. Each suggestion comes with a profile, a fee and a recommendation on the strongest fit. Once you choose, PepTalk handles contracts, travel and logistics through to event day.
The typical fee range is the speaker's standard in-person fee in their home market, shown in their local currency. It moves with format, location, date and session length: virtual sessions and shorter slots usually cost less, while international travel and peak dates cost more. Send your brief to PepTalk and the team will confirm the exact fee in your currency.
Not all of them, and it makes no difference to your booking. PepTalk's network of 15,000+ speakers covers talent the team works with directly alongside speakers represented by agents and agencies worldwide. PepTalk approaches the speaker, negotiates the fee and handles contracting either way.
Three to six months ahead is comfortable for most events, and 12 months is better for large conferences, peak-season dates or one specific in-demand speaker. Shorter timelines are workable, and PepTalk regularly fills last-minute and replacement bookings within days. Availability is the constraint, so get in touch as soon as you have a date.
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