Most leaders don’t lose themselves all at once. It happens quietly—while building, scaling, solving, and performing at a level that looks impressive on the outside but
feels unsustainable on the inside. The result is leadership that delivers results yet drifts farther and farther from who you actually are. In this keynote, Sheryl Raphael Whitaker—Leadership Expert and #1 Amazon Best Selling author of It Starts with Joy—reveals why so many high-achieving leaders end up depleted, disconnected, or operating on autopilot. Through the story of her own “joy ambush,” she exposes the moment every leader eventually faces: when fear, pressure, and performance begin making decisions for you. Drawing from her JoyShift™ Method, Sheryl reframes joy as a strategic operating system, not a feeling. When joy leads, clarity sharpens, people trust you, and your leadership becomes sustainable. When joy is missing, leaders lose presence, teams lose connection, and cultures quietly erode. With candor, humor, and lived experience, Sheryl helps leaders understand the true cost of leading on empty—and the extraordinary impact of leading from alignment.