Meet Cy Wakeman
Drama Researcher, NY-Times Bestselling Author and Leadership Consultant
I am a drama researcher, a career I discovered accidentally and have since quantified how much drama there is in the workplace. Our research has shown that the average employee spends nearly 2.5 hours per day in drama – gossiping, tattling, withholding buy-in, resisting change and stepping down from accountability.
Drama is emotional waste – any unproductive thought or behavior – and like any other waste in the workplace, I believe drama can be eliminated through great mental processes. My work is focused on giving leaders tools to recapture that emotional waste and upcycle it into results.
I started Reality-Based Leadership in order to teach leaders and individual contributors ways to lead in reality that diffuses drama in the workplace. We have formed that into an organization that does leadership development, speaking and training, and publishes unconventional tools and leadership programs to use to diffuse drama in the workplace.
My best advice ever? Stop Believing Everything You Think
Want to learn my philosophy quickly? Start with these 10 Core Philosophy Videos
Hire me as your next keynote!
All You Need to Know about Cy in 3-Minutes
More About Cy
Cy Wakeman is a drama researcher, international leadership speaker, and consultant. In 2001 she founded Reality-Based Leadership. She is the author of four books: Reality-Based Leadership: Ditch the Drama, Restore Sanity to the Workplace and Turn Excuses Into Results (2010), NY Times Bestseller, The Reality-Based Rules of the Workplace: Know What Boosts Your Value, Kills Your Chances, and Will Make You Happier (2013), No Ego: How Leaders Can Cut the Cost of Workplace Drama, End Entitlement, and Drive Big Results (2017), and her newest release, Life’s Messy, Live Happy. Deemed as “the secret weapon to restoring sanity to the workplace,” Cy Wakeman was voted in the top 100 leadership professionals to follow on twitter for 7 years in a row. In 2021, 2022, and 2023 she topped the Global Gurus list of Top 30 Leadership Professionals across the globe, coming in at #1.
Recent Clients
Google, Facebook, Uber, NASA, CDC, FDA, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, ADP, NBC Universal, Viacom, Keurig Dr. Pepper, Pfizer, Johns Hopkins, Stanford Healthcare, New York-Presbyterian, United Healthcare, Providence Healthcare, HCA Healthcare, Geisinger, White Castle, AMC Theatres, Citrix, Insomniac Games, Anaplan, Caterpillar, Wakefern, Women Lead Change, University of Oregon Ducks, SHRM, ANCC, WorkHuman, many more!
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