Grant Van Ulbrich Keynote Speaker

Forbes, Wall Street, MSN, Change Pioneer and Cover Entrepreneur Person of the Year
Founder and CEO Scared So What Ltd – The 1st Personal Change Management Methodology & Technology
Holds a doctorate in the field of transformation and change leadership – award winning author and coach

Grant Van Ulbrich's Biography

Dr Grant Van Ulbrich is an internationally recognised pioneer in Personal Change Management and the founder of Scared So What®, the world’s first personal change model, methodology, and app. His work empowers individuals and organisations to embrace transformation through leadership development, executive coaching, and scalable technology.

A Forbes, Wall Street, Entrepreneur-featured thought leader and TEDx speaker with just over 2M views, Grant’s career spans over two decades in global leadership roles within the cruise and hospitality industry before dedicating his research and practice to sales transformation and change leadership. He is the first person worldwide to be awarded both an MSc in Leading Sales Transformation and a Doctorate in Sales Transformation, achieved through the Consalia Sales Business School and Middlesex University.

Grant is a Fellow of Personal Change Management at the Integrity Centre, a Founding Fellow of the Institute of Sales Professionals, a Fellow of the Institute of Training and Occupational Learning (ITOL), and a Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University School of Management. His award-winning publications, including Transforming Sales Management: Lead Sales Teams Through Change (Kogan Page, 2023), and peer-reviewed articles in The Oxford Review and Change Management Review, are widely referenced in the field.

Why Does So Much Change Fail?

Discover the crucial difference between Organisational Change and Personal Change Management. Dr. Grant Van Ulbrich reveals why traditional change models fall short, explores the world’s leading approaches to OCM, and uncovers the missing human link that determines whether change truly succeeds. You’ll learn why personal change is the foundation of every successful transformation—and how to make it work in today’s complex world.

Going Beyond Change to Transformation

How do we move from simply managing change to truly transforming our organisations? Dr. Grant Van Ulbrich defines what “change” really means in the workplace—and why people instinctively return to their comfort zones. He then reveals the crucial differences between transactional and transformational leadership, showing why the latter is the essential mindset for leading sustainable, successful transformation in today’s ever-evolving world.

From Fear to Freedom: The Story Behind Scared So What®

Based on his TEDx talk with nearly 2 million views, Dr. Grant Van Ulbrich shares the extraordinary personal journey that led to the creation of the world’s first Personal Change Management model. From growing up differently in small-town Kansas to homelessness after naval service, from rebuilding his life to facing near death, Grant’s story is one of resilience, reinvention, and purpose. Today, as the first doctor in Sales Transformation, he reveals how confronting fear can unlock the courage to lead—and how Scared So What® helps anyone turn life’s toughest changes into breakthroughs.

He pioneered Personal Change Management through Scared So What®, a model and technology platform now recognised by Cranfield University that helps individuals and organisations build change capability at scale.
He brings practical transformation credibility from leading global sales and leadership change in major hospitality and cruise organisations, translating what works in the field into tools audiences can use immediately.
He equips leaders with research-backed frameworks as the author of Transforming Sales Management: Lead Sales Teams Through Change (Kogan Page, 2023), helping teams adopt change from the bottom up and sustain performance through disruption.
He delivers high-impact keynotes grounded in his TEDx work on managing personal change, giving audiences a clear methodology to move from fear and resistance to ownership, action and momentum.