Keynote · Values & Purpose
Start with values.
Brad Hook is a values and purpose speaker based in New Zealand, speaking internationally. Founder of the Values Institute, author of Start With Values (Penguin Random House), and the researcher behind the Global Values Report — with a keynote that turns 'know what matters' from a poster into a practice.
Why Brad
He didn't borrow this topic. He built the research.
Values are Brad's life's work. He founded the Values Institute, wrote Start With Values (Penguin Random House, 2025), publishes the Global Values Report, and has been running his values assessment since 2020 — evolving it ever since, with the latest version used across 114 countries. When the keynote cites data about what people value and how that shapes their decisions, it's citing his own research.
The workplace thread runs just as deep. Brad spent a decade with Life by Design, the award-winning Australian employee-engagement company, working alongside founder and CEO Ian Hutchinson — building lifestyle-design platforms like meCentral and reaching more than 100,000 people across Australasia and beyond. Engagement, it turns out, is what happens when work and values point the same way.
The keynote makes that practical: how individuals find their genuine values (not the aspirational ones), how teams surface the values they actually operate by, and how leaders use both to make faster, cleaner decisions.
What the keynote covers
From poster words to operating system.
Finding your real values
The research-backed process behind Start With Values: how to tell genuine values from inherited or aspirational ones, and why the difference changes everything.
What the world values
The latest findings from the Global Values Report, drawn from an assessment used across 114 countries: what people around the world say matters most — rarely what the headlines suggest — and what it means for how we lead.
Values as decision fuel
How clear values speed up hard choices — for individuals at a crossroads and teams under pressure — and what happens to energy and engagement when work and values align.
Purpose without the pressure
A grounded take on meaning: not one grand calling, but a practice of noticing what matters and building toward it. Includes tools every participant can use the same week.
How it works
Keynote, workshop or both.
The values keynote runs 45–60 minutes and is tailored to your audience — conference main stage, leadership offsite or culture programme. Many organisations pair it with the free values assessment beforehand, so the room arrives knowing their own results.
For teams who want to go deeper, it extends into half-day or full-day workshops on personal and team values, built on the same research. Every participant receives a follow-up resource pack. Virtual and hybrid formats are available.
Bookings run through FLAME, Brad's human performance company.
Absolutely brilliant, engaging, practical, and energizing.
Outstanding presenter, facilitator, communicator and educator.
Genuinely helps people improve their wellbeing and health.
Trusted by leading organisations
Questions
Booking a values speaker: the practical bits.
What does Brad's values keynote cover?
How to identify genuine personal values, what global research says people value most, and how values clarity changes decisions, engagement and teams. It draws on Brad's own research — the Global Values Report and the assessment behind Start With Values — and finishes with tools people can use the same week.
What makes Brad credible on values?
He founded the Values Institute, wrote Start With Values (Penguin Random House, 2025), publishes the Global Values Report, and has run his values assessment since 2020, with the latest version used across 114 countries. Before that he spent a decade in employee engagement with Australia's Life by Design, reaching more than 100,000 people.
Can our team take the values assessment before the event?
Yes — the free assessment at values.institute takes about 15 minutes, and many organisations run it beforehand so the keynote lands on a room that already knows its own results. Team versions are available for deeper work.
Who is the keynote for?
Conferences, leadership teams and organisations working on culture, engagement or purpose. Brad has worked with organisations including PwC, Electronic Arts, Shell, Fonterra and Fletcher Building, and tailors every session to the audience.
How do I book, and is Brad available virtually?
Bookings run through FLAME at flame.live, or you can contact Brad directly. He is based in New Zealand and speaks internationally, in person and virtually, with interactive online formats for distributed teams.
Go deeper
Brad writes extensively about values and meaning.
Book the values keynote.
Enquiries and bookings run through FLAME. Tell us about your event and we'll come back within a day or two.