Andy Lopata

Professional Relationships Strategist, Author, Podcast Host & Speaker

Andy Lopata is an internationally recognised speaker and authority on Relationship Intelligence, trust and human-centred leadership in the age of AI.

For nearly 30 years, Andy has helped organisations strengthen the professional relationships that drive collaboration, influence, innovation and performance — particularly in complex, fast-moving and increasingly technology-driven workplaces.

As organisations accelerate AI adoption, Andy’s work focuses on a growing leadership challenge: while technology is making work faster and more efficient, human connection is often weakening. Hybrid working, overloaded teams and siloed structures are making trust, stakeholder alignment and collaboration harder to sustain. Andy helps leaders and organisations balance AI with HI – Human Interaction – so that strategy, change and leadership initiatives gain genuine traction.

Andy is the creator of The Relationship Matrix, a practical framework that helps leaders identify, strengthen and leverage the relationships most critical to success. His work combines strategic insight with practical tools that enable leaders to build trust, influence without authority and create stronger cultures of collaboration.

The author of six books, including Connected Leadership and The Financial Times Guide to Mentoring, Andy is a regular contributor to Psychology Today and has written for Harvard Business Review, including contributing a chapter to the HBR Guide to Retaining Your Best People. He is also host of The Connected Leadership Podcast.

Recognised globally for his expertise, Andy, along with his co-author, Dr Ruth Gotian, was shortlisted for the 2025 Thinkers50 Coaching and Mentoring Award. He is a Fellow of both the Professional Speaking Association and the Learning and Performance Institute, and a member of the Association of Business Mentors, the Society of Authors and the Meetings Industry Association.

Andy has worked with organisations including Google, PayPal, Harrods, the BBC, HSBC and Saïd Business School, as well as governments and leadership teams around the world.

Known for combining thought-provoking insight, engaging storytelling and immediately actionable ideas, Andy helps audiences rethink the role of trust, influence and professional relationships in a world increasingly shaped by AI.

SPEAKING TOPICS

Relationship Intelligence in the Age of AI –Why professional relationships quietly determine who gets traction, support, and results

AI is transforming how organisations operate.cBut while companies invest heavily in technology, many are quietly losing the human relationships that make strategy, collaboration and change actually work. Hybrid working, overloaded teams and increasingly transactional cultures have weakened trust, reduced informal collaboration and made influence harder than ever.

The organisations that thrive in the next decade will not be those with the most technology.They will be those that best balance AI with HI  – Human Interaction.

This keynote explores why Relationship Intelligence is becoming one of the defining leadership skills of the AI era.

• Where gaps typically exist in professional relationships
• Understanding the Relationship Matrix and how it supports deliver
• How to uncover blind spots in your network
• The Seven Stages of Professional Relationships
• The key foundations people forget when trying to build trusted relationships
• What stops us asking for help
• How to make it easier for others to support you when the time is right

Building Trust-Based Professional Relationships – Moving from digital connection to genuine trust, influence and support

In a world of instant connections, AI-generated outreach and increasingly digital interactions, it has never been easier to connect with people — or harder to build genuine trust.

This session explores why trust remains the foundation of successful professional relationships and how leaders and professionals can move beyond transactional interactions to create meaningful, mutually valuable connections. Drawing on research, practical frameworks and real-world examples, Andy demonstrates how trust is built, strengthened and sometimes broken, and what it takes to create professional relationships that lead to collaboration, influence, support and long-term success.

Key Content

• Why a “click and connect” culture is weakening professional relationships
• The impact of AI on relationship-building and human connection
• Why people help each other: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
• The Seven Stages of Professional Relationships and how relationships develop over time
• The Trust Equation and the key drivers of trust
• The Curiosity Cycle and the role of genuine interest in building relationships
• Corridors of Conversation: moving beyond superficial interactions
• Authenticity and why trust cannot be manufactured
• The three elements of trust and where trust commonly breaks down
• Seeing situations from other people’s perspectives
• Navigating difficult conversations without damaging relationships
• Practical strategies for strengthening trust in everyday interactions

Influence Without Authority – Building trust, credibility and stakeholder buy-in in complex organisations

In matrixed organisations, influence rarely follows hierarchy. This session helps professionals understand how influence really works, why some people consistently gain traction without formal authority, and how relationships, credibility, and perception shape outcomes. Delivered as a keynote or deeper masterclass, this experience blends insight with practical application.

Key Content

• What REAL Influence really is — and what blocks it
• Mapping stakeholders using the Relationship Matrix
• Understanding how trust and credibility are built over time
• The role of emotional intelligence and communication
• Exploring real-world influence challenges
• Developing a personal influence strategy that participants can apply immediately

Why Smart People Don’t Struggle Alone –Why Seeking Support is Your Greatest Strength

Many professionals underestimate how much more they could achieve with the right support around them. This session explores why people resist asking for help, how professional relationships make support easier to access, and why vulnerability plays a critical role in growth, learning, and performance.

Key content

• Why we resist asking for help
• The importance of a trusted network
• When and where to share challenges
• The role of mentors and sponsors
• Why vulnerability strengthens, rather than weakens, professional credibility

Leading with Strength, Not Certainty – Why the most effective leaders don’t pretend to have all the answers

We often grow up with a narrow idea of what leadership strength looks like: being decisive, resilient, confident, and visibly in control. Vulnerability, by contrast, is frequently seen as something that weakens authority or undermines credibility.

This talk challenges that assumption.

Rather than positioning vulnerability as the opposite of strong leadership, Andy shows how it enhances the very qualities we most admire in leaders. Through practical examples and clear reframing, participants explore how admitting mistakes, asking for support, and leading without all the answers can strengthen credibility, resilience, and trust.

The result is a more sustainable, human, and effective model of leadership, one that enables people to grow, collaborate, and perform without the pressure of pretence. The session explores three core leadership expectations — and how vulnerability strengthens each of them

Being strong

• Why admitting mistakes and weaknesses builds credibility rather than diminishing it
• How openness creates learning, growth and greater trust
• Why leaders who acknowledge limits are more likely to be listened to

Being resilient

• Reframing resilience as progress towards an outcome, not emotional self-sufficiency
• The role of support, honesty and self-awareness in sustaining performance
• Why looking after physical and mental health is a leadership responsibility, not a personal indulgence

Being seen to take the lead

• Moving from “having the answers” to curating the best thinking
• Leading from among others, not above them
• How clarity, judgement and decision-making matter more than certainty

Throughout the session, Andy connects these ideas back to everyday leadership behaviour and professional relationships, showing how trust and influence are built through consistency, intent and authenticity.

Why Most Mentoring Falls Flat – How to create mentoring relationships that genuinely support growth

Mentoring is widely valued but often poorly understood. This session explores why mentoring relationships succeed or fail, what both mentors and mentees need to take responsibility for, and how mentoring can become a meaningful part of professional development, rather than a tick-box initiative.

Key Content

• The gap between belief in mentoring and real engagement
• What mentees can do to ensure they receive value
• How mentors can increase their impact
• Why mentoring needs advocacy, not assumption
• The role of relationships in successful mentoring

Mentoring Has Changed: Have You? –Rethinking mentoring for diverse, fast-moving workplaces

Traditional mentoring models often struggle in today’s complex, multi-generational, and technology-enabled workplaces. This session explores how mentoring needs to adapt, recognising individual needs, generational expectations, cultural differences, and the role of AI and modern tools.

Key Content

• Why traditional mentoring models fall short
• Understanding individual mentoring needs
• Adapting mentoring styles across generations and cultures
• Balancing challenge and support
• Using both personal and digital tools to enhance mentoring