Keynotes

What I speak about

Talks that help leaders, teams and organisations perform when the stakes are real. Serious where it matters, funny where it helps, and always practical.

“In your work, people may say: relax, nobody will die. In mine, people do.”

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Elmi Muller on stage, explaining with both hands in front of a red light wave
Drawing of many gloved hands in different colours working together during an operation

01

Teams

In surgery, a team that met that morning has to work as one within minutes, and a life depends on it. I use the operating room to show why the people around you shape how well you can do your job, and what makes it easier for strangers to work together.

  • Why trust and clear roles matter as much as talent
  • How to work well with people you didn’t choose
  • Small habits that make a team safer and faster

For leadership teams, hospital and clinical teams, and professional conferences.

Drawing of a patient on an operating table in a boardroom, with a rising chart and a clock

02

Organisations and systems

Transplantation only works when hospitals, donors, families and governments line up. As a Dean, and as co-chair of the Declaration of Istanbul, I have had to change systems, not only people. This talk is about building structures that carry people through on their hardest day.

  • Spotting where a system lets good people down
  • Leading change in large, slow-moving organisations
  • Doing more with limited resources

For executives, HR and change leaders, and health and public-sector organisations.

Charcoal drawing of a liver beside a clock with the hours shaded orange

03

Self-management

Your decisions change how things turn out. I talk honestly about the hardest calls in surgery and in leadership, the difficult conversations that come with them, and how to stay well enough to keep making them.

  • Making decisions under pressure and uncertainty
  • Holding difficult conversations with care
  • Looking at your own part, without losing heart

For students and young professionals, leaders, and women in leadership.

In every talk

Four threads I always come back to

I draw every slide myself, one idea per drawing.

1Drawing of an anaesthetist in a green cap beside the monitors

Relax, nobody will die

Your work and my work, side by side. What changes when the stakes are life and death, and what doesn’t.

2Drawing of a surgeon in a pink cap and mask holding an instrument, beside the operating team

The people around you

The people you work with affect how well you can do your job, and good systems help strangers work well together.

3Drawing of gloved hands with scissors and a scalpel at an incision outlined in purple

Your decisions

Difficult decisions and difficult conversations change how things turn out.

4Pencil drawing of a balance scale weighing a sick organ against a healthy one

Second chances

A “marginal” organ can still save a life. With people, too: play the cards you’re dealt, and make them work.

Feedback

What organisers and audiences say

Within ten minutes a room of strangers was talking about how we work together, not just what we do. Our teams still use her language.
Head of People, professional services firm
We expected stories from the operating room. We got a lesson in how to make hard decisions and have hard conversations.
President, student surgical society
Funny, honest and practical. Our delegates left with something they could use on Monday.
Conference chair, professional association
Elmi on stage seen over the heads of the audience, a red light wave behind her

Audiences

I have spoken for

Elmi on stage in a full hall, her drawings on the screens behind her
Obstetrics and gynaecology conference · Recent talk

Professional organisations

Surgical, transplant and medical societies, from international congresses to specialist meetings in obstetrics and gynaecology.

View over the audience towards Elmi on stage
Student surgical society, London · January 2027

Student organisations

The next generation of surgeons, in the room and online, including a student surgical society in London.

Elmi speaking beside a glass table
HR practitioners’ conference, Stellenbosch · March 2027

Business organisations

Leaders, managers and HR practitioners who need teams to perform under pressure, including a conference in Stellenbosch.