Not everything that matters can be fixed.
For eight years, Gary Shaw lived a double life.
A former New Zealand Police detective, Gary worked undercover across twelve countries, infiltrating human trafficking networks and entering places most of us will never see. He went there believing freedom was something he could give another person. What he encountered ultimately transformed his understanding of freedom, suffering, courage and what it means to help another human being. Those experiences now sit at the heart of Gary’s work as a speaker.
Gary has spent more than two decades working across law enforcement, human rights, international development, business and social change. He founded an anti-trafficking organisation, has advised government on modern slavery legislation, worked with businesses on human rights and sustainability and built partnerships across corporate, government, academic and civil-society sectors.
But Gary’s speaking reaches beyond modern slavery. Drawing on extraordinary firsthand experiences, he explores some of the deeper questions confronting people and organisations today: How do we respond when there is no easy answer? How do we remain open to suffering without becoming overwhelmed? What happens when certainty disappears and our familiar ways of solving problems stop working? And what might become possible when we loosen our need to control outcomes and learn to see differently?
Gary combines compelling storytelling with insights from psychology, human rights, leadership, systems thinking and contemplative wisdom. Rather than offering audiences another formula for success, he creates space for something increasingly rare: reflection, curiosity and the possibility of seeing ourselves and the challenges we face from a different perspective.
His work is particularly relevant to leaders and organisations navigating uncertainty, complexity, sustainability, purpose and change.
For security reasons, Gary wrote an account of his undercover work under a pseudonym. He has recently completed his first novel, inspired by events he experienced during that time.
Whether speaking to business leaders, government, universities or public audiences, Gary brings warmth, vulnerability and an unusual capacity to take people into difficult places without leaving them there.
His stories may begin in some of the darkest corners of the world, but they do not end there. They lead toward hope, possibility and an inspiring vision of what it means to be fully human.
Talking Points
WHEN THERE IS NO EASY ANSWER
Clarity, courage and the capacity to stay present in uncertainty.WHEN THERE IS NO EASY ANSWER
We live and lead in a culture that rewards solutions. Identify the problem. Develop the strategy. Measure the outcome. Fix what is broken. But what happens when we encounter something we cannot fix?
Drawing on extraordinary experiences from more than two decades across human rights, law enforcement, business and social change, Gary explores what happens when the challenges we face exceed our capacity to control or resolve them.
What do we do when there is no clear solution, when our best efforts are not enough, or when the outcomes that matter most are beyond our control?
In this deeply human keynote, Gary asks how we can remain open to difficult realities without turning away or becoming overwhelmed, how we can act meaningfully without the assurance of success and how uncertainty itself can become a place from which a different kind of leadership emerges.
Moving between gripping firsthand storytelling, organisational life, psychology and contemplative wisdom, Gary challenges the assumption that courage always means overcoming, fixing or winning.
Sometimes courage means remaining open. Remaining present. Remaining curious. Remaining connected. And continuing to act with love and integrity even when we cannot control what happens next.
A powerful keynote for leaders and organisations navigating uncertainty, complexity, change, sustainability and challenges for which there are no simple answers.
WHAT SLAVERY CAN TEACH US ABOUT FREEDOM
Gary Shaw spent years entering brothels, trafficking networks and other places of extraordinary human captivity believing freedom was something he could help give another person.WHAT SLAVERY CAN TEACH US ABOUT FREEDOM
Then he began encountering people who challenged everything he thought he understood about what it means to be free.
What if some of the things that imprison us most effectively have no locks, chains or walls?
Through extraordinary firsthand stories from his years investigating human trafficking, Gary explores the invisible ways human beings become captive to identity, certainty, success, fear, expectations and the stories we tell ourselves about who we are supposed to be.
And he asks a provocative question: What if freedom is not something we have to attain, but something we learn to recognise?
This is not a conventional presentation about modern slavery. It is an exploration of the human condition, told by someone who has witnessed both extraordinary captivity and extraordinary freedom at close range.
Gary invites audiences to examine the identities they have built, the assumptions they rarely question and the subtle ways our need for certainty and control can limit our capacity to live, lead and relate freely.
Unexpected, moving and ultimately hopeful, this keynote offers a radically different perspective on freedom and on what it might mean to become more fully human.
BEYOND RISK
Why seeing clearly matters more than managing what we already know.BEYOND RISK
Organisations have become extraordinarily sophisticated at managing risk. We build frameworks, dashboards, audits, policies, controls and increasingly complex systems designed to help us predict what might go wrong.
But what if some of our most important challenges cannot be solved by better risk management?
After years investigating human trafficking networks and later working inside businesses and supply chains, Gary Shaw has seen the same paradox from radically different perspectives: the systems designed to reassure us can sometimes prevent us from seeing what is actually happening.
Modern slavery provides an extreme example. Exploitation is deliberately hidden. Audits can be manipulated. Workers may be afraid to speak. Suppliers learn what organisations want to hear. A dashboard can be green while human beings are being harmed.
But the lesson extends far beyond human rights. In complex environments, the quality of our response depends not simply on having more information, but on our capacity to remain curious, build relationships, hear uncomfortable truths and question the assumptions through which we interpret what we see.
Drawing on experiences spanning undercover investigations, NGO leadership, government, sustainability and business, Gary explores how leaders can move beyond the illusion of certainty and create organisations capable of seeing more clearly.
Because sometimes the most important question is not: “What is our risk?” It is: “What are we not seeing?”
A challenging and practical keynote for organisations working in sustainability, leadership, governance, risk, supply chains, ESG and complex systems.
