David Harkin

About

David is a husband and father of three who built 8billionideas to prepare young people with the real-world skills and mindset schools often miss. Under his leadership the organisation has reached more than 500,000 students across 25 countries and sectors, championing what he calls the Critical Curriculum: Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Career Education, Performance and Financial Literacy.

His work in education has won international recognition ranked 8th globally by ISC Research (2022), awarded the EduFuturist Award, shortlisted for Creative Entrepreneur of the Year (2022) and Global Entrepreneur of the Year (2023), and in 2024 8billionideas won the GESS Award for Startup Company of the Year. David is the author of The Ripple Effect: How Surprisingly Small Changes in Mindset Make Big Things Happen and has delivered two TEDx talks.

Before education he worked in tech at IBM, where he led a multi-million-dollar business at 24 and became the youngest professional to receive the company’s CEO Award. He now speaks and designs programmes that help schools, businesses and leaders turn mindset and simple practical habits into measurable impact.

Key Topics

1. My Hopes For Education — Why passion-led learning from early years onwards (entrepreneurship + creativity) will transform future careers and fulfilment.

2. The 3 Es to Leadership — Emotion, Energy, Educate: how leaders influence culture through feeling, momentum and ongoing learning.

3. Legacy: Make Your Mark — Daily legacy: small, repeatable actions that leave organisations better every day.

4. Attitude: Positive & Relentless — Attitude matters: practical steps to cultivate a positive, relentless mindset that improves performance and wellbeing.

5. Embracing a World-Class Mentality — World-class habits: lessons from elite sport and high performance that any team can adopt.

6. Adopting a Culture of Intrapreneurship — Enable innovation: frameworks and practices schools and organisations can use to surface and scale great ideas from inside.

7. Being Brilliantly Busy — Work smarter: time, energy and communication techniques to maximise output without burning out.

8. The F Word — Failure as fuel: reframe setbacks into growth opportunities with simple behaviour shifts and resilience tactics.

9. The Business Body — Health = Performance: how physical wellbeing improves mental clarity, decision-making and organisational results.

10. The Resilience Bubble — Protective mindset: build a personal resilience routine to stay focused and push through when things get tough.

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