Silvia Damiano

Silvia’s ground-breaking work

Silvia Damiano founded the About my Brain Institute in 2009, with the purpose of democratising leadership & neuroscience to shake up how we develop ‘the human’, ‘the leader’ and ‘the creative’ we all carry within. She has a passionately held belief, that leaders in our global innovation economy and their organisations must radically change long-held ideas of what constitutes effective leadership.

In 2013, the term ‘Brain-Friendly Cultures’ was coined in her ground-breaking book ‘Leadership Is Upside Down: The i4 Neuroleader™ Revolution’ which was published together with the launch of the i4 Neuroleader™ Certification, which has since certified over 800 practitioners in every continent. The aim of Silvia’s i4 Neuroleader™ Methdology, Assessment & Program is to transform current leadership practices in order to create brain-friendly leaders for the future, leaders who are more conscious, ethical, compassionate, healthy, integrated, imaginative, intuitive and inspirational.

In order to amplify this vision, in 2018 Silvia and her team self-funded and produced the ‘Make Me A Leader’ documentary which featured highly regarded experts and scientists who share the secrets of how leaders can optimise brain and body performance to thrive in the 21st Century. This perspective is again reflected in her 2020 book ‘Brain-Friendly Leadership: The 9 Habits Of A Future Fit Mind’.

Silvia is on a mission to ‘create a brain-friendly world’ to help organisations and their people become more balanced, authentic, confident, productive and happier. Seeing the continuous need for more practical leadership development and brain/mental health support, in 2021 the About my Brain Institute re-launched their service offering to develop a new breed of leader.

The i4 Neuroleader™ Platform, featuring Silvia’s complete body of work as well as her newest research, is a fully resourced and scalable eLearning space that provides wider access to the latest thinking in neuroscience and wellbeing applied to leadership and daily life.

Silvia’s global experience

From Australia to the world, Silvia Damiano has presented to thousands of audiences, both as a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator. Working in different countries and across many industries, Silvia has helped teams and organisations improve business performance. Silvia’s clients have described her as a passionate, dynamic, a highly experienced speaker and master facilitator on the topics of Emotional Intelligence, Cultural Change, Neuroleadership & Engagement.

With a blend of contagious energy, storytelling and interactivity, Silvia takes audiences on a journey of learning that awakens powerful insights in everyone that participates in her sessions. Silvia’s extensive experience in developing leaders and teams combined with her scientific background makes her topics not only fascinating but also applicable to daily situations. Silvia is a gifted and experienced communicator, with over 20 years of international experience in strategic consulting and leadership development who is able to delight any audience.

Silvia’s accolades & awards

Silvia is an award-winning and globally recognised leadership expert. Shortly after becoming a TEDx speaker in 2014, Silvia was voted “Best Speaker of the Year” by The Australian Legal Management Association of Australia (ALPMA).

Silvia’s Make Me A Leader documentary has won 8 international awards and her i4 Neuroleader™ Methodology & Program has been recognised by the ‘The 100% Human At Work’ Virgin Unite Initiative and voted as one of the Best Leadership Development Programs by the Australian Institute of Training & Development.

Silvia delivered 13 workshops for us at NAB and has been an absolute delight to work with. It’s not just her knowledge of neuroscience but also her passion for the brain that shines through in her delivery. And it’s this passion that makes what could be a very dry subject entertaining and leaves people wanting more. Silvia is easy to work with and open to feedback. I would recommend her to anyone wanting to harness brain power, especially at a leadership level.

Kirsty Freeman
HR Consultant
National Australia Bank

We engaged Silvia and the About my Brain Institute to support the development of our high performance executive team with a new and innovative approach. It proved to be the right decision. Silvia’s work was outstanding, providing a new and creative way to look at our leadership and personal effectiveness. Her scientific credibility, combined with an engaging and approachable personality, made the program both useful and enjoyable. The 360 degree assessment and Silvia's debrief helped all of us to understand our capabilities, but more importantly gave us the tools to make positive changes in the way we lead. Silvia was a joy to work with and we have decided to engage her to support further leadership development programs.

Kim Ellis
Director
Australian Antarctic Division

As a Conference Producer, I'm always on the lookout for talented speakers who can speak authentically about and inspiring story. Silvia meets each of those requirements and was an incredible addition to our event. She speaks with passion and purpose about her subject and connected with the audience. We were thrilled to include her as a keynote speaker at our conference. Her style and content are universal to any crowd. In this instance, she spoke to an audience of maintenance and reliability professionals and made as much of an impact as any other speaker. Silvia has spoken at our conferences around the world and we're always lucky to include such a renowned expert.

Erick Randolph
Content Strategist
Unboxed Training & Technology

Silvia Damiano is a shining light in the field of human development. Her work is extremely well-researched and bears the hallmarks of the trained scientist that she is. As a consultant she is instinctive and highly creative. As a facilitator she has a warm and highly personable style that disarms and engages even the most resistant participant. As a collaborator she is generous, inspiring and exacting. I find it easy to be creative when working with Silvia.

David McCubbin
Corporate Dramatist
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The Global Leadership Program (GLP) is a multi-award-winning co-curricular program that Macquarie University students can elect to undertake alongside their degree. Silvia has been a Convenor within the Program's Colloquium Series since 2017, and her Colloquium 'i4 Neuroleader Model: the leadership abilities for the 21st Century' was consistently booked out, receiving positive feedback from students, and has left a lasting impression on the Series. We are grateful for her contribution and impact on the Program over the last few years, and she will always be considered a part of the wonderful GLP-community of past and present staff, convenors, and students.

Vivian Chordi
Macquarie University
Global Leadership Program Advisor

Energetic, creative, original, inspirational, professional, fun. These are the first words that spring to mind when thinking of Silvia. I have the pleasure of having known her for nearly 2 years and have co-facilitated a good number of sessions with her since. Having worked with a number of the best leadership specialists in Australia, I would certainly count Silvia amongst them. However, when it comes to creativity and the flexibility to adjust programs midstream based on what happens in the group, I have seen no equal.

Maurizio Floris
Program Director
John Grill Centre for Project Leadership