About
The Leading Place, a purpose-driven startup helping organisations reimagine leadership and build cultures where both people and performance thrive.
Founded in July 2024 by Michelle McDaid, The Leading Place provides leadership development, communication, strategy, and culture change consulting. We work with organisations to implement successful strategies with practical, actionable steps to create workplaces of high trust and psychological safety where all talent can do their best work.
Experience
Through The Leading Place, Michelle supports organisations with leadership development, communication strategy, and culture change - grounded in psychological safety, trust, and authentic human connection. She is particularly passionate about inclusive leadership, gender equity, and enabling women to advocate for themselves in systems that often work against them. Michelle is passionate about DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging), with a special interest in Gender Equity and Women in STEM. Through her senior roles in technology, Michelle has championed ERGs (Employee Resource Groups) and has led many initiatives which delivered tangible DEIB results.
Michelle has mentored on the STEM Passport for Inclusion programme with NUI Maynooth, and TU Dublin Saer Mentorship Programme.
Michelle completed the Board Ready programme 2023 run by 30% Club Ireland and Deloitte.
Michelle has been recognised as a finalist in the Everywoman in Tech Awards and the Diversity in Tech Awards, and was listed in Diversein’s 133 Women Who Change the World. Her thought leadership has been featured by CTO Craft, Silicon Republic, and The Business Post, and she is a frequent speaker at conferences, and on podcasts and panels. You can check out some of Michelle’s podcast interviews here
What’s Different?
Founder Michelle McDaid brings 25+ years of experience leading successful global distributed teams in technology, combined with coaching expertise, an MSc (Hons) in Work & Organisational Behaviour (DCU), and progressive, collaborative approaches to enable client success.
What we support:
Often the presenting problem is not the real problem. We work with clients to understand what is getting in the way of successful outcomes for their business, people, and customers.
Areas we support include:
Attraction and retention of top talent
Building high-performing teams
Inclusive leadership and DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging)
Building trust and psychological safety
Enhancing communication and collaboration
Leading distributed teams (on-site, hybrid, remote)
Sustainable work practices and preventing burnout
Career development and navigating systemic barriers
Team building and dynamics
Managing conflict and microaggressions
We provide teams and individuals with practical tools, research-backed approaches, and actionable insights to leverage their strengths, unlock their potential, and achieve sustainable high performance.
Happy employees deliver exceptional customer experience.
It starts with trust.
Company Info
31 Hollystown Demesne, Hollystown, Dublin
Company reg no. 748939