Lead with Intensity.

Leadership Speaker  |  Executive Coach  |  Writer

You’re not losing deals or trust because you’re not capable.

You’re losing them in the moments pressure shifts your intensity.

Overexplaining. Moving too fast. Stepping in too early. Holding back too much. Intensity shapes how leaders are experienced in high stakes moments.

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KEYNOTES

Regulate. Lead. Prove Nothing.

Because high stakes moments reveal who you are as a leader.

Regulate to Lead

Leadership conferences · Annual kick-offs · Senior away-days

A woman giving a presentation in front of a screen displaying a slide titled 'The 4 Sources of Energy,' showing a diagram with four levels labeled 'Spiritual,' 'Mental,' 'Emotional,' and 'Physical.' She is smiling and gesturing with her hands.

Behavioural mechanics of intensity under pressure.

In a deal, you explain too much. In a meeting, you move too fast. With your team, you step in too early or hold back too long.

A framework for recognising when intensity drives performance and when it works against you.

Grounded in EQ, neuroscience, and two decades inside high-pressure financial environments.

Healthy Intensity

IWD events · Women's leadership programmes · ERG keynotes

A woman with glasses and shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a green patterned shirt and teal scarf, is sitting and speaking in a group setting, with a blackboard with sticky notes in the background. The image is framed by blurred people in the foreground.

Women leaders are often labelled "too intense" while the same behaviours in men are rewarded as conviction, ambition, or leadership presence.

What women are rarely taught is how to use that intensity strategically without shrinking.

This talk explores the hidden cost of overproving and how women can lead with intensity in a way that builds trust, influence, and momentum.

Nothing to Prove

Global summits · Invitation-only forums · International stages

Tatiana Poliakova speaking at a leadership event.

Not about becoming less ambitious. About leading from instinctual self-trust rather than fear, validation, or attachment to outcome.

The highest-performing leaders are committed to the vision while detached from the outcome. Present, curious, and excited by possibility rather than consumed by control.

This talk explores what happens when intensity shifts from proving to purpose.

Speaker. Host. Trusted Advisor.

Tatiana left the former Soviet Union at 19 with 40 Deutsche Marks in her pocket. She built a global career across Germany, New York, and London, earned her MBA from Columbia Business School, and spent more than two decades in international investment banking.

At Nomura, she became the only woman in the firm's front office promoted to Managing Director and Head of Loan Sales, while working four days a week.

She worked on multibillion-dollar transactions across global credit markets.  She was once described as one of the most intense leaders in Fixed Income Sales in London. And yet, she was also known for building deep, long-term trust in one of the industry's most competitive environments.

Most people assumed you had to choose. She didn't.

That tension, between intensity and trust, between conviction and connection, became the foundation of her work.  Her leadership experience and eight years of advising senior leaders and entrepreneurs shaped her talks: what it actually takes to lead at the top, not just the ambition and the results, but what your intensity costs the people around you, what it costs you, and how to use it as your greatest asset.

Alongside all of it, she built a 27-year marriage and raised two accomplished daughters. She is Partner at ADAPTAA, host of the Embracing Intensity conversation series, and trustee of Smile Train UK.

 

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EXECUTIVE COACHING

The Inside Work.

Tatiana works with a small number of senior leaders on a one-to-one basis. This is for high performers who are ready to go further without burning self or others.

Book an exploratory conversation →

CONVERSATIONS

The word "Embracing" written in white cursive font on a black background.

Intensity

A conversation series exploring ambition, intensity, and the hidden dynamics of leadership.

Tatiana speaks with coaches, athletes, entrepreneurs, and leaders who have learned to channel intensity as a source of creativity, purpose, and aliveness.

Evelyne Brink, guest on the Embracing Intensity series with Tatiana Poliakova.
Dr Ara Suppiah, guest on the Embracing Intensity series with Tatiana Poliakova.
Lane Lewis, guest on the Embracing Intensity series with Tatiana Poliakova.

From Performer to Powerhouse

Evelyne Brink

High Performance, No Burnout: Here’s How

Lane Lewis

How Do Top Performers Stay Calm Under Extreme Pressure?

Dr. Ara Suppiah

Watch all conversations →

FEATURED ON

Explore Tatiana on other podcasts

Tatiana featuring on Shameless Careers Podcast. Three women participating in a podcast discussion with microphones and a purple background, with the text 'What do you really want?'
Tatiana guest on Mandy Lehto Podcast, enough with two women smiling on a split blue and white background, text indicating the podcast title 'Enough' and the episode with Tatiana Poliakova and Antonia Kirkby.

  • "She guided me to make the realisations myself."

    "Tatiana led me to several real lightbulb moments. The realisations were all the more powerful because she guided me to make them myself rather than telling or lecturing me." — Nick, Investment Director, Growthdeck

  • "I found my zone of genius and learned to say no."

    “My sessions with Tatiana opened me to risk-taking and a leap of faith in myself. I had an unwavering belief I could make my own destiny without limitations or trade-offs." — Gabby, Senior Executive, Financial Services

  • "You take my mind to places that provide exponential growth."

    "You do to my mind what my personal trainer does to my body take me to places that provide exponential growth. I don't know how you do that." — Moe, CEO and Mountaineer  

  • "We were inundated with feedback saying how energising the session was."

    “I truly cannot thank you enough for joining us and sharing your gifts and insights with our community. We have been truly inundated by feedback from the attendees saying how energizing and helpful the session was.” - Alison Lindland, CMO Movable Ink

  • "Tatiana enabled me to identify my core strengths and channelise my energy constructively."

    “I was fortunate to have Tatiana as a coach at a very challenging period of transition in my team. She enabled me to identify my core strengths as a manager and channel my energy in a more constructive way whilst creating healthy boundaries.” - Head of FX Sales at a bulge bracket Investment Bank

  • "You feel expanded. You can go back to your path and find your way through."

    "One of Tatiana's superpowers is unblocking mental challenges and hurdles, and she does it fast. Not in ten hours, not in three hours, but within minutes. There is some unblocking, some oiling, some loosening, and then there is an expansion of thinking. The impact of sitting with her is that you feel expanded. You can go back to your path and find your way through" - Wafa Al Obaidat, founder and CEO of PLAYBOOK

  • "One word on my work with Tatiana: liberating."

    "My biggest fear was working at a surface level. What was different with Tatiana is that she always leads you to zoom out, and that by default leads to a deeper discussion. Sometimes you need somebody on your side to challenge the stories you carry - not giving you a different frame, but opening you up to finding one. I trust myself more now, I come across as stronger, more resilient and more open. When I hear 'Nadya, you are moving mountains', I attribute that to my ability to lead transformation and energise our entire company. One word on my work with Tatiana: liberating." - Nadya Frost, Co-Founder of @ShareShift.io, Former COO & MD

  • "I found my zone of genius and learned to say no to everything outside it."

    “Working with Tatiana, I understood more deeply my way of thinking and stopped doubting my opinions - now I go with my gut. I found my zone of genius and learned to say No to everything outside it. I became more direct, more authentic, and clear on my boundaries. There is now a buzz about my business: it's growing. And the relationships that matter most to me have flourished. Top sportspeople have a coach,  why shouldn't business leaders?" - Sofia Charalambous, Founder and Business Owner of Origins Living Ltd

  • “Recognised as Most Trusted Leadership Development Expert 2026, UK.”

    By AI international 

Work with Tatiana

If your event calls for a speaker who has been inside the rooms your leaders are standing in.

Tell me about your event. Let's see if we're the right fit.

In the rooms that matter

  • Tatiana Poliakova delivering a keynote on regulating intensity in leadership.
  • Tatiana Poliakova facilitating a leadership session.
  • Tatiana Poliakova facilitating a leadership workshop, corporate off site in Romania
  • Tatiana Poliakova presenting a leadership framework at a retreat. Audacious Leaders Retreat by Adaptaa
  • Tatiana Poliakova speaking on a panel at a women's leadership conference.
  • Tatiana Poliakova sharing an embrace at a women's leadership event.
  • Tatiana Poliakova with fellow speakers at the Movable Pink women's leadership event.
  • Tatiana Poliakova speaking at a leadership event, conference. Corporate event. Executive Coaching
  • A group of five women in a professional setting engaged in a lively conversation, smiling and laughing.
  • Tatiana Poliakova leading an Adaptaa leadership offsite for a finance team.

Tatiana is Partner at Adaptaa, the leadership development firm for organisations where performance under pressure is non-negotiable.

If you want to go further, start here.

Visit Adaptaa →