
Julie Williamson, PhD
Chief Growth Enabler / Partner
Author & Experienced Keynote Speaker
Julie is the Chief Growth Enabler and a Partner at Karrikins Group as well as an experienced keynote speaker and published author. A leading voice in how alignment can transform leaders and organizations, Julie has worked around the world with some of the largest companies, helping them set and execute on strategy and transformation.
Julie is interested in how executive engagement happens and how leadership teams form and un-form. Her deep understanding of behavioral science combined with her executive experience and business acumen allows her to push past the barriers that hold back teams from finding alignment, transforming organizations and accelerating growth.
I’m passionate about making how matter for leaders and teams so that they can do amazing, transformational things together.
Background and Experience
Over her career, Julie has worked with many of the world’s most impactful companies, helping them set and deliver on strategy and transformation through powerfully aligned leadership. Julie has also worked with small, local organizations (for profit, non-profit, and government) to drive aligned leadership as they grow their revenue and impact on their communities, customers and team members.
In addition to her consultative work, Julie has also taught undergraduate and graduate level courses on organizational strategy, behavior, and change, and uses her consulting experience to help students connect the theoretical concepts to real-world applications.
A published author, her work with Peter Sheahan on the book “MATTER: Create more value, move beyond the competition, and become the obvious choice” highlights Julie’s commitment to working with clients on opportunities for growth and development. Her many articles, podcasts, and speaking engagements incorporate her professional and academic experiences to help clients and students expand their thinking on how to have impact and create growth through organizational alignment.
- Adjunct Professor at University of Colorado Denver Business School
- Vice President of The North Highland Company
- Senior Principal at CGI-AMS
- PhD in Organizational Communication from University of Colorado at Boulder
- MBA in Finance and Marketing from University of Denver
- BA in Information Systems and English from James Madison University
Recent Articles and Resources
Check out Julie's recent articles for her thought leadership on executive alignment, strategy, and more.

Minding the (Failure) Gap [Whitepaper + PDF]

Julie v Tree: A prologue to Intentional Optimism [Book preview]

Strategy is not a side hustle [Article]
Published Author of “Matter: Move Beyond the Competition, Create More Value, and Become the Obvious Choice”
Karrikins Group offers keynote speaking and breakout session facilitation covering topics around leadership, organizational innovation and transformation, and more. Our keynote speakers inspire clients and students to expand their thinking on how to have impact and create growth through organizational alignment.

Companies and people that matter have successfully become the obvious choice in the hearts and minds of their customers, their employees, and their communities. They elevate themselves by consistently finding ways to solve the most pressing needs their markets face.
The result? They create more value year after year and build a sustainable, differentiated organization.
In Matter, Peter Sheahan and Julie Williamson show you how to identify the place where you can create the most value—your edge of disruption—at the intersection of old and new, where your existing profits, reach, and reputation enable you to create the markets of the future.
Keynote and Breakout Session Topics
Building Generative Organizations – Driving Impact and Innovation
Generative organizations continuously create more impact on their customers, employees, and communities. As a result, they routinely are able to differentiate themselves and provide higher value products and services that drive more value. They are resilient in times of disruption, and they continually generate new solutions by proactively re-inventing their products, services, operating models, and even their markets.
This case-study rich presentation provides examples of companies that have delivered unique impact during incredibly disruptive times. Participants will learn three ways they can think about creating a generative environment within their own organization.
Watch a full length keynote with Julie Williamson on Building Generative Organizations.
Finding YOUR Edge of Disruption
Taking control of disruption and benefiting from it means finding the place where you can uniquely create the most value. How do you find that place where you can leverage the best of what you’ve delivered in the past with where the market is going – your edge of disruption? You have to commit to seeing the whole board, challenging assumptions, and choosing to be optimistic about the future.
This presentation walks the audience through an entertaining and engaging process to discover their own edge of disruption, as they work to stay ahead of changes in the market and find ways to matter more in their industries.
Generative Leadership – Thriving in Turbulent Times
Legacy models of leadership are leading people to work harder and harder, but without getting more done. Generative leaders know how to reduce the noise, and do the work that really matters – how to do less better, and in doing so create more space for their people to innovate new ways of providing value. How? Generative leaders do four things incredibly well: they co-create solutions, they focus on engagement with their teams and their customers, they visibly align themselves and their teams to higher-order strategic goals, and they are change-able themselves, while creating an environment where their teams are too. As a result, their teams are able to generate more results sustainably over time.
This engaging presentation will inspire people to become generative leaders in their own organizations, and provide concrete actions people can take immediately to do so.
Keynote Speaking Demo Reel & Sample Video
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