Clay's presentation on 'How to Lead When You're Not in Charge' came just at the right time for our organization. His engaging, witty, and real-life approach to leadership is simple and applicable no matter where you are in your leadership journey. We appreciate Clay's insights and the impact he has made on our associates.
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Clay Scroggins
Best-Selling Author and Leadership Expert on Leading Through Influence—Not Authority
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Fee Range
$20,000Travels From
Atlanta, GA
Clay Scroggins
Biography
Clay Scroggins is a best-selling author, leadership expert, and sought-after keynote speaker who helps leaders build influence, clarity, and momentum—especially when they don’t have formal authority. With a rare ability to blend practical leadership frameworks, emotional intelligence, and real-world experience, Clay equips leaders to create healthier teams and cultures that perform at a higher level.
Before launching his speaking and consulting work, Clay spent nearly two decades in organizational leadership, most notably serving in senior roles at North Point Ministries, one of the largest and most influential churches in the United States. There, he led large teams through growth, change, and complexity—experience that now shapes his deeply practical approach to leadership development.
Clay is the author of multiple books, including the best-seller How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge, which has sold more than 500,000 copies and is widely used by organizations to develop high-potential leaders. His work focuses on helping leaders navigate influence, trust, emotional health, and execution, particularly in environments where collaboration matters more than command-and-control leadership.
Today, Clay speaks to leaders across corporate, nonprofit, and association audiences, including Fortune 500 companies, industry associations, and executive teams. Known for his engaging style, relatable stories, and immediately applicable insights, Clay helps leaders move from insight to action by creating momentum not just in what they do, but in how they lead.
Clay Scroggins
Featured Video
Current: 2026 Speaker Reel
Time 02:36
Clay Scroggins
Featured Keynote Programs
The Hidden Secret of Healthy Leadership
In The Hidden Secret of Healthy Leadership, Clay Scroggins explores the overlooked reality that leadership effectiveness is inseparable from personal and emotional health. In a world marked by constant distraction, pressure, and noise, Clay challenges leaders to slow down long enough to pay attention to what’s happening beneath the surface. Through practical frameworks and relatable stories, this session helps leaders recognize how unmanaged stress, emotional avoidance, and overload quietly erode trust, clarity, and influence. Participants walk away with tangible strategies for leading with greater self-awareness, resilience, and sustainability, so they can stay healthy while leading others well.
What Tomorrow’s Best Leaders Do Differently
In What Tomorrow’s Best Leaders Do Differently, Clay Scroggins helps leaders understand how the rules of leadership are shifting, and what it takes to stay relevant in a rapidly changing world. Drawing from research, real-world experience, and emerging workplace trends, Clay identifies the key leadership behaviors that will matter most in the future, including influence over authority, adaptability over certainty, and learning over control. This keynote equips leaders at every level to prepare for what’s next, not by predicting the future, but by developing the mindset and skills required to lead effectively as change accelerates.
Bosses Are Out; Coaches Are In
In Bosses Are Out; Coaches Are In, Clay Scroggins reframes what effective leadership looks like in today’s workplace. As command-and-control leadership loses influence, organizations need leaders who know how to develop people, not just direct them. Clay makes the case that the most successful leaders today operate more like coaches than bosses by asking better questions, giving clearer feedback, and creating ownership instead of compliance. Through practical examples and actionable tools, this session helps leaders shift from managing tasks to developing people, resulting in stronger teams, higher engagement, and better long-term performance.
Clay Scroggins
Featured Books
How to Lead in a World of Distraction: Four Simple Habits for Turning Down the Noise
by Clay Scroggins
How to replace inner chaos with an emotional awareness that will maximize your influence and result in a calmer, less stressful, and more fulfilling life.
While many leaders train themselves on how to tune-out external distractions that keep them from being productive, they remain deaf to the inner desires and emotions churning beneath the surface. Pastor and author Clay Scroggins describes spiritual disciplines and tangible daily steps to help you incorporate four noise-cancelling habits into your daily life:
- Finding simplicity – how does simplicity bring clarity?
- Speaking to yourself – you're not crazy. Many of us do it; and there are real benefits!
- Getting quiet – silence is difficult. Why emotionally healthy leaders make time for it.
- Pressing pause – what does the word sabbath even mean, and why is it so important--on both a practical and a spiritual level?
By embracing these habits--business, church, and ministry leaders will be able to identify and understand their emotions and develop a calm and effective leadership style.
In this follow up to his bestselling book, How to Lead When You're Not in Charge, Clay Scroggins focuses on the real dangers of distraction and how to create space for personal evaluation and exploration.
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"This book is such a valuable resource - not just for leaders but for anyone longing to make a difference in the world." (Dave Ramsey)
"Clay helps you move beyond the distractions to a moment-by-moment awareness that will help you regulate the way you think, act, and feel." (Ian Morgan Cron)
"In this book Clay provides leaders with practical ways to turn down the noise personally and organizationally." (Andy Stanley)
The Aspiring Leader's Guide to the Future: 9 Surprising Ways Leadership is Changing
by Clay Scroggins
You may not hold a position of leadership or think of yourself as a leader. But if you want to create, change, or impact the world around you—even in a modest way—then you're guided by a leader's impulse and shaped by a leader's principles.
You are an aspiring leader.
But the fact is that you've come to this role at a time when leadership—like everything else—is rapidly changing...and too many leaders are addressing the problems of today and tomorrow with the style and substance of yesterday's leadership. We need an update.
In The Aspiring Leader's Guide to the Future, Clay Scroggins (author of How to Lead When You're Not in Charge) explores nine new principles of leadership that will help leaders adapt to a changing world and work culture, such as:
- Today's leaders lean into vulnerability.
- Today's leaders develop relationships primarily around trust.
- Today's leaders celebrate the successes of others.
These may seem like counter-intuitive principles, but they provide a new way forward for leaders and teams and will prove versatile in the event of change and durable in the face of conflict. With humor and a pastor's candor, Clay will show you why the old ways need updating and what developing new leadership skills could look like for your future.
To be clear, the author of this book does not know the future. If he did, he would have used his talents on sports betting or stock trading. What he does know is that yesterday's leadership axioms are today's myths and what that means. The way forward requires an understanding of the past, a conviction of what's at stake today, and a vision for how different tomorrow will be.
You don't have to be a young entrepreneur with big dreams or someone looking to land a leadership role just to be considered an aspiring leader. You are one now. And by developing your skills for the future, you can become today's version of a leader worth following.
How to Lead When You're Not in Charge: Leveraging Influence When You Lack Authority
by Clay Scroggins
Are you hungry to help others through leadership but don't feel like you have the authority?
"If you're ready to lead right where you are, this book can show you how to start." - Dave Ramsey, #1 National bestselling author and host of The Ramsey Show.
One of the greatest myths of leadership is that you must be in charge in order to lead. Great leaders don't buy it. Great leaders--whether they have the official authority or not--learn how to be an influential presence wherever they are.
In How to Lead When You're Not in Charge, author and pastor Clay Scroggins explains the nature of leadership and what's needed to be a great leader--even when you answer to someone else.
Drawing from biblical principles and his experience as the lead pastor of Buckhead Church in Atlanta, Georgia, Clay will help you nurture your vision and cultivate influence with integrity and confidence, even when you lack authority in your organization or ministry.
In this book, Clay will walk you through the challenge of leadership and the four basic behaviors all great leaders have and how to cultivate them:
- Leading yourself
- Choosing positivity
- Thinking critically
- Rejecting passivity
With practical wisdom and humor, Clay Scroggins will help you free yourself to become the great leader you want to be so you can make a difference. Even when you're not in charge.
Clay Scroggins
Featured Reviews
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to some of the most common questions about booking Clay Scroggins for your event.
How do I book Clay Scroggins for my event?
Booking Clay Scroggins with Premiere Speakers Bureau is a streamlined 4-step process:
- Availability Check: Contact us with your event date and budget to verify if your desired speaker is available.
- Hold Date: We place a temporary "hold" on the speaker's calendar while you finalize internal approval.
- Contracting: We issue a contract outlining the fee, cancellation policy, and event expectations.
- Logistics: Once signed, our event management team handles all travel booking, itinerary, and AV requirements.
Why should I partner with Premiere Speakers Bureau rather than contacting speakers directly?
Partnering with Premiere Speakers Bureau provides a comprehensive safety net for your event that direct booking cannot match. You get the same speaker for the same price, but with a dedicated team with over 30 years of event experience handling contracts, logistics, and are prepared for any emergency. We know what it takes to run an excellent event.
What makes Premiere Speakers Bureau unique compared to other agencies?
Premiere Speakers Bureau distinguishes itself by having over 30 years of experience while partnering with more than 35,000 events. PSB has also built a streamlined, fully online process that makes booking a speaker, handling travel and payments extremely easy for anyone looking to plan a speaker led event.
How does Premiere Speakers Bureau's 'Zero Cost Service' model work?
Premiere Speakers Bureau operates on a 'Zero Cost Service' model for event planners. Our services—including research, booking, and logistics—are always free to the client. The speaker covers our commission from their standard honorarium as payment for our role in marketing and managing their engagements.
How are speaker fees structured, and what is typically included?
A speaker's fee typically covers the keynote presentation, a pre-event planning call, and standard customization. Travel expenses are usually billed separately.
What are the standard policies for speaker travel and expenses?
Travel expenses are negotiated during contracting. We generally recommend a flat travel fee for simplicity, though we also offer line-by-line invoicing when preferred. PSB ensures these expenses adhere to professional standards, and our Event Portal allows for easy tracking and invoicing.