Cynthia Fortlage Keynote Speaker

Former C-suite executive with more than 25 years' leadership experience
Creator of the Acceptance without Understanding™ leadership framework
International speaker on leadership, psychological safety, organisational culture and the human side of AI

Cynthia Fortlage's Biography

Cynthia Fortlage is an author, international keynote speaker, and former C-suite executive whose work helps leaders navigate dignity, trust, psychological safety, inclusion, technology, culture, and polarisation in today’s workplace.

With more than 25 years in senior leadership, including as a former CIO, Cynthia brings a rare combination of executive experience, systems thinking, lived insight, and powerful storytelling. Her work sits at the intersection of leadership behaviour, human systems, organisational culture, gender, technology, and the future of work.

Cynthia is best known for her signature philosophy, Acceptance without Understanding™, which helps leaders and organisations build respect without requiring agreement, ideological alignment, or complete understanding. It offers a practical way to lead across difference, especially when conversations feel complex, personal, or contested.

She has delivered speaking and advisory work for hundreds of organisations across more than 30 countries, working with global businesses, public bodies, senior leadership audiences, employee networks, and culture-focused events. Her sessions are known for combining warmth, clarity, honesty, and practical application, helping audiences feel both challenged and invited into the conversation.

Cynthia speaks on leadership across difference, systems leadership, psychological safety, gender and power, inclusive cultures, the human side of AI leadership, and how organisations can create trust and forward movement in times of complexity and change.

Leadership in the Messy Middle

Modern leadership requires navigating complexity, disagreement, and rapid change. Cynthia’s talks explore how leaders hold difficult conversations, make responsible decisions, and lead with clarity when the answers are not simple.

Power, Dignity, and Belonging

Organisational culture is shaped by everyday leadership choices. Cynthia explores how power, identity, and belonging influence who feels seen, heard, and able to contribute within teams and institutions.

This theme draws on Cynthia’s work across corporate environments, the national women’s movement, and international LGBTQ+ advocacy.

Psychological Safety in Practice

Psychological safety is often discussed but rarely understood in practice. Cynthia’s talks examine the real behaviours and leadership habits that build trust, accountability, and healthy team dynamics.

Acceptance without Understanding™

Cynthia’s signature leadership philosophy explores how people can work effectively across difference without requiring agreement, shared lived experience, or the same worldview. This approach gives leaders a practical way to navigate polarisation, disagreement, and complex social issues while protecting trust, dignity, and performance.

She helps leaders and organisations build cultures of trust, dignity and psychological safety, enabling teams to navigate complexity, difference and change with confidence.
She translates executive leadership experience and systems thinking into practical strategies for inclusive leadership, organisational culture and the human side of technology, helping organisations foster respect without requiring agreement.
She combines experience as a former C-suite executive, author and global adviser with deep expertise in leadership behaviour, gender, AI and organisational systems, offering a distinctive perspective on leading in today’s workplace.
As the creator of the Acceptance without Understanding™ framework, she has worked with organisations in more than 30 countries, helping leaders strengthen trust, collaboration and resilience across diverse teams.
Her engaging keynotes equip audiences with practical tools to lead across difference, build psychologically safe cultures and create meaningful progress in an increasingly complex and polarised world.

Videos of Cynthia Fortlage

If Not Now, When? Clarity, Courage & Simple Systems

ISG Women in Digital Talks | Episode 9 with Cynthia Fortlage

Articles, Media & Podcasts

Podcast: Holding It Both Ways

Podcast: Pause. And Rewind... with Cynthia Fortlage | Purposeful. Spiritual. Aspirational.

Podcast: Cycles, Gender & The Power of Listening ...with Cynthia Fortlage

Podcast: Navigating Workplace Transitions: A Journey of Inclusion and Understanding with Cynthia Fortlage 

The Period Press

Cynthia Fortlage on the power of inclusivity and technology

DIVA Magazine

Dignity Without Agreement: How Cynthia Fortlage Is Closing the Gap Between Leadership Intent and Lived Experience

Founded by Women

"Lesbians need to be visible to ensure we’re not forgotten"

LGBT Insurance Network 

Book IWD Speaker: Cynthia Fortlage

International Women's Day

Books by Cynthia Fortlage

Case Study: Working Through the EHRC Code

Mentoring in a Minute

Comments & Testimonials

“Cynthia brought a level of honesty, humanity and lived experience to the Evolving HR Conference 2025 in Bristol that cut through the noise and reached people exactly where it mattered. As someone committed to reshaping the future of work, I found her voice not just refreshing but essential. Cynthia doesn’t offer theory wrapped in slides; she brings real stories, real vulnerability and real provocation. She has the rare ability to make a room stop, reflect and evolve its thinking in real time. If you curate people, culture or future of work events and you want a speaker who can shift mindsets rather than simply fill a slot, Cynthia should be at the top of your list.”

Toby Kheng Evolving HR Conference

“Cynthia is an exceptional speaker and workshop facilitator. She delivered a workshop exploring her personal journey through a ‘This is Me’ approach. She combines her personal and professional experiences to provide an authentic and insightful learning opportunity and really connects the audience with her delivery style and messages. Whilst being rooted in insight, she provided practical guidance and considerations for others to support their thinking and approaches. On understanding the brief for the workshop, Cynthia was really interested in understanding the audiences/network she’d be engaging to pitch the content and land meaningful messages. Highly recommend!”

Lee Warren Premier League Charitable Fund

“Cynthia held a learning session for our Pride Employee Resource Group on her motto, Acceptance without Understanding. Cynthia provided so much value and education on transgender terminology, history, and her experience working as a corporate C-suite executive. Our group was instantly engaged and Cynthia did a tremendous job at creating a personable, safe space for everyone to speak openly and freely. This event was our highest-attended event to date and I recommend anyone considering Cynthia, to look no further!”

Julia Champine Ferguson

“Cynthia facilitated a panel discussion for Sky UK’s LGBTQ+ employee network as part of Trans Awareness Week. I was hugely impressed by the care and thought she put into every aspect of the session. She did an extraordinary amount of preparation to ensure that we had a truly bespoke event, created a warm and engaging environment for the panellists, and guided the conversation with real skill and sensitivity. The discussion was thoughtful, inclusive and impactful, and the feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive. Cynthia is a skilled facilitator who brings both professionalism and genuine care to her work, and I happily recommend her.”

Kirsten Whitworth Sky UK

“Cynthia joined EQUAL, PepsiCo’s LGBTQ+ ERG, and Thrive, PepsiCo’s Women’s Network, to give a talk on One Leader, Two Genders between Trans Day of Visibility and International Women’s Day. Her talk was thought provoking and leant into the idea of Acceptance without Understanding. She shared her insight in navigating her C-suite positions as two genders and touched on allyship and how company culture is made from the top down and lived from the bottom up. A thoroughly interesting talk I highly recommend.”

Joseph Curtis PepsiCo

“Cynthia was our guest speaker at The King’s Fund in honour of Trans Day of Visibility and our team are still talking about the session she led weeks later. In advance of the session, Cynthia took the time to get to know the team and understand how best she could tailor her message to make the session accessible and ensure it met our objectives and expectations. On the day itself she was a true professional — gracious and open in the sharing of her personal story and in her invitation for questions. Cynthia was able to open a conversation which had previously felt inaccessible and used the power of connection to stimulate learning, combat misinformation and promote acceptance. I could not be more pleased with the way the session unfolded and thoroughly recommend her services.”

Dana James-Edwards The King’s Fund