Public Speaking
SLEIMAN ABOU-HAMDAN
Principal Clinical Psychologist
Leadership and Mindset Coach
Sleiman Speaker Bio September 2018
As a professional speaker and registered psychologist, Sleiman’s vision is to awaken human potential for a humane, sustainable and thriving world.
After being expelled from three high schools, not being able to see the forest from the trees, and hitting rock bottom, Sleiman reinvented himself over and over again until he worked out the recipe through which he inspires others to take charge of their minds and their lives.
Origin story:
Sleiman was born at the beginning of the Lebanese civil war, when civilians were struggling to make sense of the destruction and catastrophic changes they faced. As an 8 year old he recalls running down flights of stairs from the sixth floor of a Beirut apartment building down into the underground shelters to escape the bombings. He lived the fear and the sadness, the death and destruction. Sleiman then migrated to Australia where he suffered through another battle, that of mental illness, living through social isolation, social anxiety and depression. Drugs and alcohol was how he coped, although he knew deep inside that he was much more than the graffiti tags, and the ego driven mask he wore.
Sleiman came to the realisation that it was to help other, get others out of the well, to realise their potential and unlock it. He then went about rediscovering his purpose, his strengths and his values.
Now, drawing on his experience in elite sports, military, federal government, leadership development, neuroscience and psychology, Sleiman brings this vision closer by inspiring his audience to discover their unlimited power through dynamic and practical activities.
Previous speaking engagements include:
The Department of Innovation and Science EL 2 Directors conference – Canberra Convention Centre 2017-2018 Resilience in Times of Change.
The Department of Industry, Science and Innovation Directors’ conference – Inclusive Leadership. In this engaging and practical talk, Sleiman shared the most common unconscious biases that inhibit decision makers from making the effective decisions required to promote diversity and inclusion. Expertly, Sleiman weaves in stories that highlight the power of diverse teams decision making capabilities and peak performance. Audience leave inspired with awareness and practical tools for managing unconscious biases in service of inclusive leadership and organisational performance.
The Department of Innovation and Science APS 6 conference 2018 Resilience in Times of Change. Canberra Convention Centre
Sleiman delivered for 2 years in a row a fun and engaging conference talk on resilience and practical methods to create it, share it and maintain it.
Sleiman delivered an engaging, relevant, and evidence-base talk leveraging his expertise in psychology, neuroscience, mindfulness and leadership development. This talk built on the participants’ understanding of resilience, its enablers and its inhibitors. The participants were then able to experientially apply self-awareness and self-regulation through practical methods, which enabled them to enable them to use the material to enhance resilience in themselves and their teams. The participants were able to:
Raise self-awareness of the enablers of resilience both personally and in their teams
Be familiar with mindfulness practice and its positive effects on resilience
Describe and apply the circle of influence and circle of concern concepts
Describe and apply the growth mindset as an enabler of resilience in times of change
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection - Leading for High Performance conference talk - Department of Home Affairs – Hilton Canberra
In this talk Sleiman engaged his audience through story telling and key messaging. Motivation, leadership potentials and learnings from the elite sports came to life in this engaging talk to leaders in the public service.