# Dan Pontefract

> Award-winning leadership strategist, keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, and author of six books on leadership, purpose, and the future of work, including The Future of Work Is Grey (2026).

Dan Pontefract is a Canadian leadership and culture strategist based in Vancouver, British Columbia, with 20+ years of senior executive experience (Chief Envisioner and Chief Learning Officer at TELUS; head of learning at SAP/Business Objects). He has delivered 1,000+ keynotes and workshops across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, spoken at five TEDx events, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria Gustavson School of Business. He writes for Forbes and Harvard Business Review.

## Frameworks (from The Future of Work Is Grey)
- [What Is Age Debt?](https://www.danpontefract.com/age-debt/): the organizational failure to plan for and value age, resulting in capability loss and a weakened workforce; coined by Dan Pontefract
- [Rivers, Rocks, and Rubies](https://www.danpontefract.com/rivers-rocks-rubies/): the three age eras of the workforce (young, middle-aged, older personas), a career-stage alternative to generational labels
- [The Experience Dividend](https://www.danpontefract.com/experience-dividend/): the payoff when organizations treat age as an asset rather than a liability; components are the Career Canvas, Wisdom Wheel, and Longevity Lens

## Workshops
Hands-on leadership workshops for teams, face-to-face or virtual. Groups of 10 to 200. Half-day (3.5 hours or 2 x 90-minute blocks), full-day, or multi-session. Every session is tailored. Full list: https://www.danpontefract.com/workshops/
- The Keys to an Age-Ready Team: find the age debt in your practices and convert it into an experience dividend (from The Future of Work Is Grey)
- The 4Ds of a High-Performing Team: Direct, Deliver, Develop, Dignify
- Better Thinking in the Age of AI: creative, critical, and applied thinking; AI as a complement to judgment, not a replacement
- Collaboration Principles and Practices: the Collaborative Action Model, collaborating up, down and around, and team norms
- Ready to Learn: moving leaders from passive to proactive about learning
- The Calendar Way: reclaiming time for strategy, coaching, and execution
- Work-Life Bloom: the twelve work-life factors that help teams flourish
- How to Become a Leader Who Matters: nine lessons from Lead. Care. Win.
- Mastering How to Be an Open Thinker: dream, decide, do
- The Power of Purpose: personal, role, and organizational purpose
- Tailored and Timely: fully bespoke programs of four to nine modules, built from scratch (SAIT, BDO, Rexall, UBC, Alberta Blue Cross, Virgin Media O2)

## Other services
- [Keynote Speaker](https://www.danpontefract.com/keynote-speaker/): tailored keynotes on leadership, the ageing workforce, purpose, culture, thinking, and the future of work
- [Consulting and Strategic Planning](https://www.danpontefract.com/strategic-planning/)
- [Retainers](https://www.danpontefract.com/retainers/)
- [Book Dan](https://www.danpontefract.com/contact/)

## Books
- [The Future of Work Is Grey](https://www.danpontefract.com/the-future-of-work-is-grey/) (2026): the untapped value of age in the workforce
- [Work-Life Bloom](https://www.danpontefract.com/work-life-bloom/) (2023): Thinkers50 Top New Management Book; Axiom Gold Medal
- [Lead. Care. Win.](https://www.danpontefract.com/lead-care-win/) (2020): Nautilus Silver Medal
- [Open to Think](https://www.danpontefract.com/open-to-think/) (2018): getAbstract International Book of the Year
- [The Purpose Effect](https://www.danpontefract.com/the-purpose-effect/) (2016)
- [Flat Army](https://www.danpontefract.com/flat-army/) (2013)

## Free Resources
- [Free Stuff](https://www.danpontefract.com/free-stuff/): Age Awareness assessments (personal and organizational), Work-Life Bloom personal assessment, the opening chapter of The Future of Work Is Grey, and the Pontefractions newsletter
- [Leadership NOW podcast](https://www.danpontefract.com/podcast/)
- [Blog](https://www.danpontefract.com/blog/): 1,000+ articles on leadership, culture, purpose, thinking, and the future of work

## Contact
- Email: speak@danpontefract.com
- Booking: https://www.danpontefract.com/contact/
- Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; delivers worldwide, in person and virtually
- LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/danpontefract