Book Doug Griffiths, Community Building Speaker

About This Speaker

Doug Griffiths is a wildly popular community strategist and author of two best-selling editions of “13 Ways to Kill Your Community”. He has supported, guided and inspired hundreds of communities to create effective change. Whether through speaking and presentations or through advising and consulting, he is dedicated to helping communities across North America find their own pathway to success.

Doug grew up on a ranch outside a small town where he learned the value of hard work, critical thinking skills, and the value of community. That background led him into politics, but he insists he has since been through rehab and is fully recovered. His experience in politics gave him a deep understanding of how to move people and get things done. Doug Griffiths deliberately retired from politics in January 2015, after serving for 13 years, to return to his passion for community building.

Doug Griffiths has an Executive MBA and Honors B. A Philosophy Degree, as well as his Bachelor of Education, all from the University of Alberta where he has taught community and municipal leadership courses for elected officials and administration.

What people are saying about Doug

Doug’s presentation was an absolute smash hit. I’ve had multiple requests for a repeat performance.

– UMNB

Doug is an outstanding speaker with vast expertise in community building and leadership. He had attendees on the edge of their seats, leaning in to hear more. His comments were inspiring and his delivery was spot on – a great combination of honesty, humor, and hope. The feedback we’ve received from attendees has been overwhelmingly positive and insistent that we find a way to bring Doug back.

– Union County Chamber of Commerce

Doug’s presentation was so dynamic! He really fired up those in attendance.

– Cosmos Publishing

His training activities were structured in a way that led our participants to map out their own goals and make tangible, action focused plans to achieve them. We would gladly welcome Doug back again and recommend him to others.

– CEO Northwest Territories Tourism

Doug’s energy and enthusiasm is contagious, he is a wake-up call for rural communities EVERYWHERE!

– B. Williams, Community Connector

Contact an agent to get Doug's availability and rates

Speaking Topics: Doug Griffiths

Leading in the Age of Immediacy: The ACE Model for Municipal Survival

We live in a hyper-competitive, on-demand world where citizens can summon global services with a single tap. In this "Age of Immediacy," communities must be adaptive and highly responsive to capture emerging opportunities and address shifting challenges—otherwise, they will inevitably fall behind. In this high-octane session, global community strategist Doug Griffiths dismantles traditional, slow-moving municipal bureaucracies and introduces a revolutionary operational solution: the ACE (Agile Community Ecosystem) structure. Moving beyond generic leadership theories, Doug shares a street-tested blueprint to transition town halls away from rigid vertical "chimneys" into nimble, outcome-driven internal networks. Leaders will discover how to eliminate executive bottlenecks, deploy cross-functional "C.A.T.s" (Action Teams) that pounce on community issues like prey, and operationalize a culture of internal ownership that protects your community’s relevance.

Unlike typical public sector presentations that focus on compliance or dry financial austerity, this topic is provocative, urgent, and highly liberating for exhausted administrators. Doug addresses the exact structural pain points that cause local governments to burn out, offering a concrete operational upgrade instead of vague inspiration. It leaves audiences energized, validated, and equipped with a 90-day pilot strategy to immediately unlock the hidden velocity within their own organization.

13 Ways to Kill Your Community

Why do some communities thrive while others fade away? Based on his bestselling book, Doug Griffiths reveals the 13 self-inflicted wounds that cause communities to sabotage their own success — and why the most dangerous enemy isn't the economy, government policy, or outside forces. It's us. With sharp wit and unflinching honesty, Doug diagnoses the attitudes and behaviors that hold communities back, leaving audiences laughing, nodding in recognition, and ready to take responsibility for their future. Warning: attendees often ask, "Did you write this about us?"

Audience Takeaways:
- Renewed sense of ownership and responsibility
- Recognition of specific challenges — and why they exist
- Basic tools to begin moving toward success
- Laughter — this is supposed to be fun

The 7 Essentials of Success

Most strategic plans gather dust on shelves because they're full of generic processes that ignore the real problem: attitude. In this energizing presentation, Doug Griffiths delivers a proven seven-step methodology for communities ready to stop planning and start succeeding. From meaningful engagement that actually works, to strategies that fit on two pages instead of thirty, to budgets that match what you say matters most — Doug shows how the best communities find their unique pathway to success. There's always a way. This presentation shows you how to find yours.

Community Psychology: Why Good Strategies Fail

Your community has a great strategic plan. So why isn't it working? The problem isn't the strategy — it's the psychology. Communities, like people, can develop conditions that sabotage success no matter how good their plans are. Drawing on his work as a "community therapist," Doug Griffiths reveals the neuroses that plague struggling communities: the depression that says "nothing will work here," the addiction to a single industry, the anxiety that prevents any decision, and the fear that sees enemies everywhere. This eye-opening presentation helps leaders recognize the patterns holding their community back — and offers a path to organizational resilience and health.

The Arrival of the Inevitable

Disruption has transformed almost every industry — but most communities have operated the same way for fifty years. That's about to change. Technology, demographics, remote work, and economic shifts are coming for communities whether they're ready or not. In this compelling presentation, Doug Griffiths explores why we resist change even when we know it's inevitable, and how that resistance guarantees the very outcomes we fear. More importantly, he shows how forward-thinking communities can position themselves to thrive amid disruption. Change always wins. The only question is whether you'll be ready when it arrives.

Audience Takeaways:
- Understanding why they and others resist change
- Recognition that the greatest challenge is not being prepared
- Consideration of opportunities created by change
- Confidence to lead their community through disruption

Stronger Together: The Case for Regional Collaboration

Investors don't see your town — they see your region. Yet communities across North America remain locked in petty rivalries, duplicating services, and competing for scraps while opportunities pass them by. Why? Ego and fear. In this provocative presentation, Doug Griffiths exposes how old grudges, turf protection, and fear of losing identity are bankrupting communities that refuse to collaborate. He reveals the cruel irony: by refusing to cooperate out of fear of losing autonomy, communities guarantee they'll lose everything. But it doesn't have to be this way. Doug shows how regions can overcome historical barriers to build partnerships that make everyone stronger — without sacrificing what makes each community unique.

Audience Takeaways:
- Understanding of why regional collaboration fails psychologically
- Recognition of how ego and fear are affecting their region
- Tools to start difficult conversations with neighbouring communities
- Framework for identifying collaboration opportunities
- Confidence that identity can be preserved through collaboration