Our Founder Nicole Dessain is a sought-after speaker, facilitator, and educator who inspires audiences to re-imagine work through human-centered transformation, employee experience design, and innovation capability building.
She brings 20 years of global HR and consulting experience to every stage — helping participants see what’s possible when they apply design thinking to culture, leadership, and talent.
SPEAKING STYLE
Nicole’s sessions are interactive, creative, and energizing — blending facilitation, storytelling, and practical exercises that bring concepts to life. Audiences describe her as “engaging, generous, and full of ideas that make you want to take action immediately.”
Don’t get too comfortable — Nicole always brings a creative twist!
SIGNATURE Speaking Topics
Each of Nicole’s talks is customized for your audience and blends insight, interaction, and storytelling to spark action.
🤖 Leading HR in the Age of AI: Re-imagine the role of HR in an AI-augmented workplace.
This engaging keynote and workshop explore how HR leaders can harness the power of AI responsibly — using design thinking to ensure technology enhances, rather than replaces, the human experience at work. Audiences leave with tools to re-frame AI as a catalyst for creativity, inclusion, and transformation.
✨ Human-Centered Transformation: How to design change with — not for — your people.
Learn practical tools to build empathy, engage stakeholders, and drive adoption through co-creation.
💡 Building Innovation Capability: Turn curiosity into capability.
Discover how to embed innovation mindsets and design thinking methods across HR and business teams.
🌿 Employee Experience by Design: Design experiences that matter.
Explore how empathy, research, and experimentation can transform your people strategy and improve engagement.
🧩 Design Thinking for HR Leaders: Your competitive advantage starts with design.
Nicole translates design thinking principles into simple, powerful applications for HR, learning, and change professionals.
EXPERIENCE NICOLE IN ACTION
“Nicole was our opening keynote at the Staffing Management Association of Seattle Symposium and she was a great way to start our day! Nicole was well received by our audience, receiving high marks for the delivery of her message. Attendees felt that they were able to take away ideas that would be useful to them in their roles, meeting a goal that we ask our speakers to strive for! Nicole was responsive and easy to work with in preparation for our event. She is confident, poised, and knowledgeable, and I personally look forward to more learning from her in the future!”
ABOUT NICOLE DESSAIN
Nicole Dessain is the Founder of talent.imperative inc., an employee experience design consultancy that helps organizations co-create more human-centered workplaces. Over her 20-year career, she has worked with organizations such as Accenture, Cisco, BASF, Mercedes-Benz, UNIQLO, Walgreens, and Comcast, helping them transform their people practices through empathy and experimentation. In 2016, Nicole co-founded the DisruptHR Chicago chapter, moderating innovative gatherings that drew 250 people per event.
A recognized expert in design thinking for HR, Nicole holds certifications from IDEO U and the LUMA Institute and teaches at Northwestern University’s Master’s in Learning and Organizational Change program. She has been featured in HR Magazine, Workforce, Training Industry, and The Chicago Tribune, and has spoken at leading conferences including The Conference Board, ATD, SHRM, ISPI, and ERE. Nicole hosts the Talent Tales podcast and is currently authoring her first book on applying design thinking to the field of Human Resources.
Book NIcole
Ready to energize your next event, conference, or leadership session? Let’s design an experience your audience will remember.
SELECT PAST ENGAGEMENTS
Conferences & Keynotes
The Conference Board: Workshop “Prototyping and Building Agility in HR”
Chicago SHRM Annual Conference: Speaker “Using People Analytics to Fuel Performance”
Employee Engagement Awards: Panelist “Driving Culture in the Workplace”
Association of Change Management Professionals Midwest: Workshop “Design Thinking Meets Change Management”
TechRecruit Midwest - Workshop “Design Thinking for Talent Acquisition”
PODCASTS & MEDIA
Future Proof HR Podcast: Co-Creating AI-Ready, Truly Human Workplaces
Workshops Work Podcast: Transforming HR with Design Thinking
The Experience Designers Podcast: “Turning HR Into Design Thinking Superheroes”
Talent:Unfiltered Podcast: “The Hybrid Employee Experience”
HR DesignCast: “Creativity in HR and Building HR Community”
COMMUNITY & THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
HR.Hackathon Alliance Panel Moderator: Ask the Authors - Human-Centered Leadership
HR.Hackathon Alliance Panel Moderator: Design Thinking Meets Org Design
#HRvsVirus Virtual Hackathon - Organizer & Facilitator