Available to book
Dave Kerpen
Dave Kerpen helps leaders sharpen judgment and relationships as AI takes on analytical work. An AI and leadership speaker and serial entrepreneur, he has built seven companies, sold three, and written five books, including a New York Times bestseller.
Dave Kerpen is a serial entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, and keynote speaker on AI and leadership. He shows leaders why judgment and relationships become the scarcest skills in business as AI absorbs more of the analytical work.
Dave has built seven companies and sold three, including Likeable Media and Apprentice, and has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Inc., TODAY, and the BBC. He is the author of five books, including Likeable Social Media and The Art of People. His sixth is The Human Edge.
Dave speaks from the operator's seat. He has hired teams, led them, delegated to them, and sold the businesses they built, through the shift from social media to AI. One of LinkedIn's top Influencers, with more than 640,000 followers, he has spoken to audiences of up to 17,000, and shows leaders where AI adds speed and where people still decide the outcome.
Audiences leave with a clear view of which decisions to keep human, practical ways to build trust with customers and colleagues, and a delegation approach that frees leaders to focus on the judgment calls. Each idea draws on his own companies and his books, including Get Over Yourself, his guide to leading and delegating.
Book Dave Kerpen to help your leaders put judgment and relationships at the center of how your organization works with AI.
Topics, sessions and talks
When AI can replicate a product, its copy, and its code overnight, Dave Kerpen asks what's left that it can't. Drawing on his forthcoming book, The Human Edge, and seven companies built and three sold, he introduces the HEART model: Humility, Empathy, Authenticity, Relationships, and Trust. Each skill comes with practical habits leaders can apply straight away. Leaders come away knowing where AI should carry the load and how to build the human strengths their teams will rely on next.
Most founders and managers hold on to too much work. Based on his bestselling book, Get Over Yourself, Dave Kerpen shares the blueprint he used to build and sell multiple companies without burning out. He walks through the SHARE model for deciding what to keep and what to hand off, the Five Cs of effective delegation, and how to build a team worth trusting. Leaders leave with more time, more freedom, and a business that serves their life.
Drawn from The Art of People, this keynote breaks likeability into specific, learnable behaviors that top performers use to build trust at scale, from listening and gratitude to storytelling and asking. Dave Kerpen illustrates each one with stories from his own companies and plenty of humor, so every idea is practical and easy to remember. Sales teams, customer-facing staff, and networkers come away with eleven simple people skills they can put to work on Monday morning.
Dave Kerpen sold Crunch 'n Munch in the stands at Fenway Park, financed his wedding with sponsors, built and sold Likeable Media and Apprentice, and lost an election along the way. This keynote turns those experiences into lessons on risk, resilience, and gratitude that apply in a startup or inside a large organization. Founders, students, and intrapreneurs come away with a practical way to bring an entrepreneurial mindset to whatever they run, whatever its size.
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frequently asked questions
Something we've not covered here?
Dave Kerpen builds his keynotes around real examples from his own companies, brings audiences into on-stage exercises and crowd participation, and often closes on the practice of saying thank you.
Dave Kerpen specializes in human skills for leading with AI, delegation and team building, likeability and people skills for sales and customer-facing teams, and entrepreneurship. He is the author of five books, including the New York Times bestseller Likeable Social Media, and has built seven companies and sold three, including Likeable Media and Apprentice.
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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.
