Dr. Rob Murray Speaker Biography
Global Authority in Leadership Transformation
Dr. Rob Murray is a renowned transformational leadership speaker, CEO and co-founder of Transformed Leader, an international consulting and coaching firm that empowers mission-driven organizations and executives to overcome their toughest leadership challenges. For over fifteen years, Dr. Rob Murray has blended rigorous research, hands-on coaching, and real-world consulting to help leaders move beyond outdated strategies and resources. Through experiential and transformative learning methodologies, he supports professionals who feel depleted, stressed, or overwhelmed — rewriting their habits, renewing their energy, and reshaping their organizations with heart, resilience, and purpose.
Bridging Business, Social Justice, and Leadership Excellence
At the crossroads of business, leadership, and social justice, Dr. Rob Murray brings a deeply human-centered lens to high-stakes organizational work. His background includes a Master’s in Social & Civic Entrepreneurship and a Doctorate in Transformational Leadership — an academic foundation that fuels his evidence-based yet deeply practical approach. Whether working with non-profits, mission-driven enterprises, or corporate teams seeking sustainability and impact, Dr. Rob Murray’s unique blend of social conscience and leadership acumen enables change that is both effective and enduring.
Author, Podcaster, and Thought Leader
As a published author and speaker, Dr. Rob Murray moves conversations beyond traditional management into the territory of emotional intelligence, personal renewal, and organizational culture. His books — The Human Operating System: Recovering the Heart and Soul of Your Leadership and Fighting for Heart: Why Leaders Are Tired and What to Do About It — explore why leaders often feel exhausted, disconnected, or out of alignment, and provide pathways for restoring energy, intention, and purpose. As the host of the Talk of Change podcast, Dr. Rob Murray invites global listeners into candid conversations about transformative change, self-awareness, and sustainable leadership practices.
What Audiences Gain from a Rob Murray Session
Engaging with Dr. Rob Murray offers a rare opportunity to experience transformational leadership training rooted in emotional intelligence and personal renewal. Attendees leave with revived energy, clearer direction, and actionable tools. Whether you are leading a nonprofit, a mission-driven business, or a community organization, Dr. Rob Murray combines compassion, research, and real-world insight into a compelling keynote or workshop. As a seasoned global speaker, he delivers not only inspiration — but practical strategies for real transformation.
A Life Anchored in Family and Purpose
Beyond his professional achievements, Dr. Rob Murray’s personal life reflects the values he brings to his work. He and his wife Natalie have been married for over 18 years and together raise their four children in Franklin, Tennessee. Grounded in family, community, and service, Dr. Rob Murray exemplifies the balanced, values-driven leadership he teaches — making him not just a speaker, but a living example of transformational leadership in action.
Dr. Rob Murray Speaking Topics
RECOVERING THE HEART & SOUL OF YOUR LEADERSHIP
Many leaders leverage their intelligence (mind) and competence (strength) into positions of great influence only to pay the price as their efforts begin to break down over time and under the overwhelming demands and complexities of commerce. With half their human system offline (heart & soul), leaders become frustrated and depleted, susceptible to things like burnout, exhaustion, and anxiety. We are paying a high price for such systemic collapse, and the cost shows up on the bottom line of financial statements, not to mention the bottom line of the human experience. There is another way. Rob outlines and guides through the five transformative principles of the Human Operating System inviting participants to rethink the foundations on which they have built their life and leadership. He illustrates these principles with his own research and stories, including those of countless leaders, teams, and organizations who have fumbled forward towards the transformative journey of recovering the heart and soul of their leadership.
FIGHTING FOR HEART
Why leaders are tired and what to do about it. Resourcing his personal journey and his doctoral research at the intersection of Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Development, Rob invites leaders to fight for their hearts in ways that can transform and infuse blood back into their personal and professional lives. Working with leaders across a vast spectrum of industry, most are hearing some version of that same message: “Get up, get out there, and deliver results. You can’t stop and don’t you dare drop.” Rob helps audiences slow down to consider a strategy of success that includes accessing and including your heart rather than gate checking it at the door each morning when you show up to work. We are paying a high price in relationships and productivity in environments that fail to foster emotional connection and growth. Something essential inside us is dying. We are losing some fundamental element of the human experience, making Rob even more determined to help others fight for heart. With his South African authenticity and leadership research, Rob invites audiences to learn about his Heart-Engaged EQ system to help recover and integrate their hearts to use it powerfully and unapologetically in every aspect of their life.
AT THE STROKE OF MIDLIFE
Crossing into Midlife with More Purpose, Intention, and Grace. Change is inevitable for every living human, but in some areas of our growth and development, we have a limited capacity to welcome, petition, delay, govern, or flat-out deny its existence. But you can’t hold out forever. A child will eventually look like and be considered an adult, whether they decide to behave like one. A young adult will eventually enter middle age, old age, and then finally die regardless of their desire to live forever. This is the beautiful and painful reality of being human, and we have been wrestling with it since the beginning of time. What if we could better understand the midlife transition in ways that can support and inform your growth rather than leave you reeling or guessing? Don’t leave your life in the hands of apathy or gravity. What if we could have more confidence and courage in the way we impact the future of our world? Rob Murray wrestles from within the trenches of his own midlife transition, which includes sewer drains, having a stroke, doctoral research, and the advice and expertise of others who have gone before him. The end result is a talk that illuminates a pathway of education, assurance, and inspiration to invite listeners to understand their own heart, soul, mind, and body journey and those of others around them.
Dr. Rob Murray Books
Fighting For Heart: How emotional intelligence can transform the way you live, love, and lead
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The Human Operating System: Recovering the Heart and Soul of Your Leadership
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Dr. Rob Murray Speaker Testimonials
Rob's vulnerability and delivery let us all in the audience connect to own fear, uncertainty, & loss is in ways that will positively unlock a more powerful future! Connected & impacting.
- Brad Stinson , CEO | The Collective Global
With a personal passion from his own transformative journey, Rob brings clarity and compassion into the room, leading with two foundational qualities in the conversation: safety and trust by knowing and being known. The results have offered me the opportunity to break through unhealthy thought patterns and catch a renewed vision for my leadership.
- Mike Lenda, CEO | The Well Coffee Company
Rob is clearly a thought leader on change and transformation. He immediately engaged attendees with strong insights, and personal experiences, while delivering practical applications for our next steps. I have been inspired towards becoming more transformative in my work.
- Bryan Doeshel, Chief Dev. Officer | Williamson, Inc.
