David DeLong

David DeLong spent years studying what happens when organizations lose experienced employees faster than they can transfer what those employees know. What he found was costly: critical knowledge disappearing with retiring workers, leaving companies slower, more error-prone, and strategically exposed. His book Lost Knowledge became the foundational text in a field that has only grown more urgent.

The Knowledge Transfer Imperative

DeLong’s keynotes help leadership teams understand the specific ways talent loss erodes organizational capability and what to do about it. His frameworks are built on decades of original research and consulting work with major employers navigating demographic change. He helps audiences assess where their own organizations are most vulnerable and develop practical strategies for preserving institutional knowledge before it walks out the door.

Research That Drives Strategy

A research fellow at MIT AgeLab and a frequent contributor to major business publications, DeLong brings academic rigor to a topic that many organizations treat as an HR problem rather than a strategic one. His work reframes workforce demographic shifts as a leadership challenge requiring executive attention and proactive planning, not just process documentation.

David DeLong keynotes are booked for events focused on knowledge management, talent retention, workforce strategy, and preparing organizations for the leadership and demographic challenges that define the modern workplace.

Showing HR Where to Go: How to Lead Management from the Top

How can leaders have an immediate impact on their organization’s talent management efforts? Drawing on recent interviews with over 70 senior executives, participants will learn how to prioritize talent-related risks, evaluate current and potential investments, drive more integrated solutions, and measure results more effectively.

Building Tomorrow’s Workforce in Today’s Economy: A Framework for Action

Based on workforce speaker David DeLong’s latest research, this presentation teaches executives how to effectively address talent management challenges like the hoarding of high potential candidates, ineffective knowledge transfer, a clogged talent pipeline, and identifying new leadership skills.

Reloading Your Talent Pipeline: Accelerating Leadership Development to Drive Growth

The changing workforce has created five major talent risk factors for organizations, including a dangerously thin leadership pool and the loss of crucial highly-skilled employees. This talk shows executives how to pinpoint the risk that pose the greatest threat to their future leadership talent and five action steps that will accelerate development of a new generation of leaders

The High Cost of Coming and Going: Accelerating Knowledge Transfer Across Generations

More Baby Boomer retirements and onboarding of new hires greatly increases the organizational costs of lower productivity, lost knowledge, and failed promotions. This presentation teaches managers how to reduce the risks of ineffective transitions, disillusioned young employees, and critical capability loss as many organizations go through seismic shifts in the makeup of their workforce.

Avoiding “Failure at Launch”: How to Be a Huge Success in Your First Job

The workplace is changing – fast! New technologies, new tasks, new bosses. Having a job today means non-stop learning, which is both exciting and scary. Your new colleagues on the job are too busy to teach you what you really need to know to succeed. So you’re going to have to train them to be great mentors. This high-energy talk shows you how to be a great apprentice. No, Donald Trump won’t hire you, but you will learn how to:

• Be recognized immediately as a great colleague
• Set up a critical “first meeting” with your new boss
• Use texting, email, and cell phones to maximize your productivity
• Get the basic tools you need immediately to do your job
• Make almost every interaction with your boss a great learning experience
• Get trained in the way that works best for your learning style
• Ask for feedback that’s really useful

This presentation is designed for students getting ready to enter the workforce. It’s also highly valuable for people who are already working and want to take their career to the next level, which makes it very useful and fun for college staff and administrators. Students will leave energized and confident they have a new set of tools to help them soar into the workplace.