DR. IRVINE NUGENT, CSP, PCC
WORKPLACE CONFLICT KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Don’t Let Conflict Drive
Growing up amid Northern Ireland’s conflict shaped Irvine Nugent’s life. Today, he helps leaders navigate workplace conflict with clarity, courage and care.
Trusted by Organizations Navigating Real Pressure
I Grew Up Afraid of Conflict. Then I Became a Leader.
Growing up during Northern Ireland’s Troubles, I saw conflict affect families, friendships and communities. I learned to fear what it could do.
Years later, as a leader, I thought keeping the peace meant I was doing a good job. Sometimes, it meant avoiding the conversation someone needed me to have.
You don’t need to have grown up where I did to recognize that feeling: something needs to be said, and staying quiet feels safer.
Through stories, humor and practical tools, I help leaders build the conflict capacity to stay grounded, speak candidly and respond constructively when tension rises.
Watch Irvine in Action
See how Irvine brings audiences into his stories—and helps them recognize their own responses to conflict. Watch a preview of the experience he can bring to your event.
SIGNATURE KEYNOTE
Don’t Let Conflict Drive
How Leaders Navigate Tension Without Losing Direction
Conflict can begin driving leaders before they realize it—narrowing what they notice, hardening their assumptions and shaping what they say and do next.
Dr. Irvine Nugent helps leaders recognize when pressure is taking the wheel, regain choice and respond with greater clarity and intention.
Audiences leave better able to:
Notice when conflict begins shaping their response
Regain choice and challenge narrowing assumptions
Make a constructive next move in difficult conversations
Keynotes For The Conflicts Leaders Are Already Facing
MORE KEYNOTES
Stop Walking on Eggshells
How Leaders Create Candor Without Creating Casualties
When honesty feels risky, important conversations remain unspoken. This keynote helps leaders address what matters with greater candor, care and accountability.
When Conflict Lands on Your Desk
Helping Without Becoming the Messenger, Referee or Fixer
Leaders, managers and HR professionals are often pulled into conflicts that belong to someone else. This keynote helps them support others without taking over.
Proven in Rooms Where Pressure is Real
“Irvine had us at hello. Through masterful storytelling and sharp humor, he reframed how our senior leadership team thinks about conflict. His approach was immediately practical and deeply human.”
Pam Coffey,
VP Learning, FHFA
“Irvine has a rare gift—he makes you laugh while completely shifting how you think about conflict. I walked away with a new understanding of my own emotional intelligence.”
Tom DeBose,
HR Director
“The breakout session led by Irvine was one of the highlights of our event. It provided clear, actionable strategies that helped attendees feel more confident when handling workplace conflict.”
Mary Evans,
NAPO Annual Conference
MEET IRVINE
Conflict Has Never Been an Abstract Subject
Dr. Irvine Nugent brings senior leadership experience, doctoral research on leadership behavior under pressure, and his work as an executive coach and workplace mediator to the stage.
Having led organizations himself, he understands the responsibility of making difficult decisions and having conversations that would be easier to avoid.
As co-founder of Conflict EQ alongside Trista Schoonmaker, he helps leaders build the capacity to stay grounded, communicate candidly and navigate tension constructively.
A Certified Speaking Professional and author of Leadership Lessons From the Pub, Irvine combines practical insight with warmth, humor and the perspective of a “recovering conflict coward.” He invites audiences to recognize themselves in his stories—and consider what they might do differently.
PhD • CSP • PCC • Workplace Mediator
FOR EVENT PLANNERS
Relevant on Stage. Reliable Behind the Scenes.
Every audience brings its own pressures, language and workplace realities. Irvine works with event organizers to understand the purpose of the gathering and what participants are navigating.
Stories, examples and emphasis are thoughtfully adapted so the keynote feels relevant to the people in the room while preserving the integrity of the program.
A focused pre-event consultation
Thoughtful customization for your audience
Prompt, responsive communication
A collaborative, low-stress planning experience
Meeting planners can expect:
CONFLICT EQ
The Work Behind the Keynotes
Irvine’s keynotes are grounded in Conflict EQ™, a research-informed body of work focused on what conflict does to people under pressure—and what helps them remain grounded, clear and constructive when tension rises.
Developed through the work of co-founders Dr. Irvine Nugent and Trista Schoonmaker, Conflict EQ includes the Conflict-to-Connection Approach and the Conflict EQ Compass—practical models for understanding conflict, engaging constructively and sustaining connection.
For organizations seeking support beyond the keynote, Conflict EQ offers workplace conflict training, coaching, mediation, team conflict support and research-informed resources.
BRING IRVINE TO YOUR EVENT
Give Your Audience a Better Way to Navigate Conflict
If your audience is facing difficult conversations, workplace tension, competing perspectives or the pressure of leading people, Dr. Irvine Nugent helps them understand what conflict does under pressure, and how to choose a more constructive next move.
Let’s talk about your audience, your event and what would make the experience matter.