Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke
Rachel Cooke believes work doesn’t have to break people to produce results.
She’s spent her career proving that performance and wellbeing fuel each other when work is designed right. Rachel founded Lead Above Noise to help leaders escape the impossible bind of delivering more with less while keeping their teams healthy and engaged.
Rachel has delivered programs and keynotes to leaders across industries. Clients have included American Express, Wolters Kluwer, Cisco, Splunk, AMC Networks, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Scholastic, and more.
Named by Inc. Magazine as a Top 100 Leadership Speaker, Rachel’s insights have been featured in Inc. Magazine, Thrive Global, Bloomberg Quint, Fast Company, Business Insider, and HuffPost. Rachel is also the host of Macmillan’s Modern Mentor Podcast, a weekly show delivering actionable tips and insights for those striving to define and achieve their version of success.
Rachel Cooke holds a master’s degree in organizational psychology from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in human development from Cornell University.
Work Better By Design
This talk is for leaders who want healthy high performance to be built into how work runs, not bolted on as a program. This session introduces a clear four-part lens on the design of day-to-day work and shows how to run small, team-led experiments so doing the work itself builds capability, connection, and energy while still hitting ambitious goals.
Solving Burnout Without Slowing Down
Burnout is rampant in high-pressure environments, and most leaders assume it’s a volume problem. Since we can’t turn down the volume, we power through. But burnout isn’t just about how much we’re doing, but about how disconnected that work feels from impact, growth, and purpose. In this talk, Rachel breaks down what’s really driving exhaustion and offers practical strategies for leaders to dial up meaning, connection, and momentum so teams can deliver more, not less, without burning out.
Leading Change When Nothing Holds Still
Change used to show up as singular, discrete events with a beginning and an end. Now it’s pervasive. It doesn’t start and stop, it just is. Leaders feel overwhelmed trying to build plans when the ground won’t hold still. In this talk, Rachel equips leaders to lead through change as it’s in progress – not by having all the answers, but by knowing how to tap into their teams to build the path together. She offers practical strategies for leading with your people, not at them: staying agile, learning as you go, and making visible course corrections that keep work focused instead of chaotic.
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“Rachel is the epitome of professionalism combined with an amazing sense of humor and a wealth of expertise! Her ability to deliver complex ideas simply and actionably—with high energy along the way—is what made her truly stand out at our event.”
— Jay D., Vice President, Financial Services organization
“Rachel’s session was the reason I attended this event and she absolutely delivered! Her talk was incredibly engaging and now I’m returning home with so many ideas I can’t wait to implement with my team.”
— ATD OrgDev Conference Attendee
“Rachel is an absolute delight to work with! Her content was spot on. Plus, the short exercises she designed were structured to provide just the right amount of opportunities for us to openly share experiences as a group, partner in small groups, pause and reflect on responses, and identify where we could all support each other.”
— Adam O, Chief Technology Officer
