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.
Use the enquiry form below, or email brad@bradleyhook.com.
Brad delivered an engaging and insightful presentation on wellbeing and performance that resonated strongly with our audience. The session attracted excellent feedback from attendees, who valued the practical relevance of his FLAME framework and his engaging presentation style.
What sets Brad apart is his ability to translate high-performance concepts into something tangible and actionable. We've seen the impact firsthand — not just in the moment, but in how our people keep applying the tools in their day-to-day roles.
His ability to bring together science, storytelling and practical ideas made the session incredibly relatable. Brad introduced the idea of our ‘body budget’ and how the everyday things we do, like sleep, movement, connection, nourishment and moments of calm, can either add to or draw from the energy we have available. Our people came away feeling energised, reflective and, as one person put it, ‘fired up!’
Brad has a remarkable ability to take important and sometimes complex topics and make them engaging, practical and relevant to everyday working life. What particularly stood out was his ability to connect the content with our own organizational context, making the experience feel genuinely tailored rather than like a standard webinar. People left with practical ideas they could apply immediately, and many asked for more opportunities to learn with Brad.
The FLAME full day workshop was an extremely engaging professional development opportunity for our team. Brad's authentic approach, expert facilitation, and ability to read the room created an environment that encouraged genuine reflection, connection, and learning. The practical frameworks with real-life experiences made the learning both meaningful and immediately applicable.
Brad delivered an outstanding session for our team at our Connexa Connect Session. His content was engaging, practical and highly relevant to the challenges and opportunities our people face every day. He has a unique ability to make important concepts around mindset, performance and resilience simple, relatable and actionable. Our people left with practical tools, a shared language and plenty to reflect on. I’d happily recommend Brad to any organisation looking to build more resilient teams.
I've had the pleasure of working with Brad over several years while supporting the wellbeing and development of a globally dispersed organisation of around 160 people. Brad has a rare ability to combine deep expertise with genuine warmth and humility. From the resilience-based thinking that underpinned our early work together to the development of the Values Institute and now FLAME, Brad has continued to refine and strengthen his approach while remaining human-centred and evidence-based. I would recommend him without hesitation.
What an insightful and thought-provoking session. There are a lot of takeaways, and we’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback on the tips and tricks we can all apply in our lives.
Quite honestly, the star of the two days training. His subject matter expertise was exceptional; delivery style was masterful and was a true inspiration to witness speak.
Bradley delivered an engaging, informative, and practical presentation that held everyone's attention and gave us plenty to reflect on. We would be happy to recommend Bradley to any organisation looking for a professional, insightful, and engaging speaker.
What a presentation — I honestly was blown away. All of what you presented resonated with me and my journey so far, from professional sport to my vocational life.
Engaging, thoughtful and deeply practical. Everyone is still talking about it days later!
The majority of attendees rated the session a perfect 5 out of 5, and many highlighted Brad's content as a personal highlight of the programme.
Brad's stories are engaging, and certainly resonated with all of us. We can highly recommend Brad.
Absolutely brilliant, engaging, practical, and energizing.
Outstanding presenter, facilitator, communicator and educator.
A special shout out to Bradley Hook, whose presentation skills were on a whole other TED Talk level!
My biggest takeaway was learning about his FLAME Method, a clear, actionable framework designed to help us “burn bright, not out” by redesigning our habits for the modern world. This framework is exactly what we need to sustain high energy levels, perform at our peak, and most importantly, avoid burnout.
Genuinely helps people improve their wellbeing and health.
It was great to hear Brad talk, and I've had a couple of good wins coming out of the session. My three-year-old's sleep routine is down to about 30 minutes — it used to take a couple of hours!
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?
Use the enquiry form on this page, or email brad@bradleyhook.com. 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 Brad
Book the values keynote.
Use the enquiry form below, or email brad@bradleyhook.com. Tell us about your event and we'll come back within a day or two.
- 1
Enquire
Send the form, or email brad@bradleyhook.com. Dates, audience and the question you want answered are the useful bits.
- 2
Discovery call
Twenty minutes with Brad to shape the session: your industry, your team's dynamics, what success looks like.
- 3
Confirm and prepare
A clear proposal, then a tailored session, with a resource pack for your people afterwards.