Book IWD Speaker: Abigail Ireland

Abigail Ireland is an internationally recognised Peak Performance Strategist, keynote speaker and founder of Understanding Performance.  She is also the author of Performance Instinct: Harness Your Natural Edge to Achieve Excellence at Work, a book that provides impactful, actionable ideas for peak performance.

Abigail enables ambitious professionals, leaders and organisations to unlock higher levels of performance by transforming how people think, operate and execute in today’s fast-moving world.

With over a decade in banking, including roles within private equity and acquisition finance, Abigail understands first-hand the pressures of operating in high-performance environments. She combines this commercial experience with expertise in performance psychology, physiology and behavioural science to help individuals sharpen focus, elevate energy and consistently perform at their best.

A Chartered Banker, qualified Executive Coach, NLP Practitioner, Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach, Abigail brings together evidence-based research with practical strategies that people can implement immediately. Her work has supported hundreds of organisations around the world - positively impacting over 25,000 participants across financial services, technology, professional services, pharmaceuticals and the public sector, with clients including Blackstone, Accenture, Warner Bros. Discovery, Just Eat Takeaway, EY, BNP Paribas, Ipsen, the Office of National Statistics and many more.

Known for her energetic delivery, relatable storytelling and practical insights, Abigail’s sessions challenge conventional thinking around performance.  She equips audiences with science-backed frameworks that enable them to think more clearly, break ineffective habits, manage energy and execute what matters most.

Audiences leave feeling inspired, equipped and ready to perform at a higher level - not by doing more, but by optimising their psychology, physiology and ways of working.  In addition to her talks Abigail is happy to deliver workshops and webinars.  

Keynotes:

The Human Advantage: Peak Performance in an AI-Driven World -
This session positions peak performance for today’s world - not driven by burnout-fuelled intensity, but focusing on sustainable excellence.

From Busy to Elite Execution: Winning Back Focus in a Distracted World -
Modern work rewards responsiveness, yet the most valuable work demands focus.

The Performance Instinct: Harness Your Natural Edge -
Peak performance isn’t about pushing ourselves to the limit. It’s about understanding how humans operate at their best and then applying this to achieve long-term excellence

Unlock Your Potential: Master the Mindset of Peak Performance -
In this keynote, Abigail explores the transformative power of your mindset and how you can take practical steps to level up your performance and tap into your full potential

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