Dr. Dana SinclairPerformance Psychology and Mental Strength Keynote Speaker

Dialed In: Perform Your Best When It Matters Most

What do a major league baseball catcher struggling with pop ups, an operating room doctor tense before a surgery, and a slumping sixteen-year-old tennis prodigy all have in common? They’re elite performers who are not achieving excellence, and they’re not sure how to improve.

Enter Dr. Dana Sinclair. For over 20 years, she has been helping performers — from top athletes and Olympians to business leaders, educators, and students — shift their focus and deliver optimal performance in high-pressure moments that define greatness. Her approach is simple: figure out what gets in your way, develop actions to address it in the moment, and then stick to the plan. It’s not about how you feel, it’s about what you do!

Drawing from her book, Dialed In, Sinclair shares some of her key concepts, illustrating them with real-world examples. This includes:

Exploring why some people perform better.

What the true difference makers are, including the world's greatest people—those with exceptional talent, knowledge, and a down-to-earth nature that makes them relatable and impactful.

Breaking down the true nature of confidence (Hint: it’s overrated).

Why character counts more than talent.

And much more.

Audiences leave with a three-step process to make their own performance plans. Dana's guidance helps high performers develop focus, resilience, and high-performance strategies through practical advice and actionable frameworks.

Sinclair customizes her presentation for each audience, digging into key themes that will help clients achieve their specific goals.

Leadership and Culture

Dr. Dana Sinclair stands at the forefront of performance psychology, renowned for her ability to help organizations and individuals deliver optimal performance when it matters most. As a clinical assistant professor with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, Sinclair brings over twenty years of experience working with elite performers—from top athletes and Olympic teams to prominent business leaders—guiding them through high-pressure moments that define greatness.

Sinclair’s approach to cultivating a performance culture is rooted in the belief that true excellence comes from the behavior and mindset of people, not just their technical abilities. She works closely with organizations to implement performance competencies that drive success, showing leaders how to recruit and develop talent based on behavioral makeup. By focusing on the actions that matter in the moment, Sinclair helps teams and individuals develop their own performance plans, enabling them to persist through obstacles and setbacks with resilience and clarity.

Drawing on real-world examples—such as a major league baseball catcher struggling with pop ups or an operating room doctor tense before a critical procedure—Sinclair demonstrates how her key concepts translate into practical strategies for achieving high performance. Her work emphasizes the true nature of confidence, the importance of character over talent, and the value of good routines over unhelpful superstitions. These insights, detailed in her book Dialed In, provide leaders and teams with a personalized performance plan to address challenges and deliver their best when it matters.

Sinclair’s guidance empowers leaders to assume responsibility for building a strong performance culture, fostering an environment where teams can thrive under pressure. Her influence is recognized by quality colleagues and true difference makers, including NBA Champion Head Coach Nick Nurse, who credits her with helping performers shift their focus and achieve optimal performance in high-stakes situations.

As a British Columbia author and top performance psychologist, Sinclair customizes her approach to meet the unique needs of each organization, ensuring that clients achieve their specific goals. Her expertise in developing actions to address performance challenges has made her a trusted advisor to some of the world’s greatest people and organizations. By following Sinclair’s proven framework, leaders can define greatness for their teams, implement performance competencies, and cultivate a culture that consistently delivers excellence—even in the most demanding environments.

Cultivating a Performance Culture

Top performance psychologist Dr. Dana Sinclair shows organizations how to identify and implement performance competencies that lead to success.

The performance culture of a group is dependent on the behaviour of its people. Having worked with top athletes and elite performers across industries, Sinclair dives deep into teambuilding and hiring practices. She explores the importance of recruiting people based on behavioural makeup vs. technical abilities, and shares strategies to help leaders and their teams effectively manage challenges and persist through any obstacles and setbacks to get results.