Fahd Alhattab, CSP®, is an award-winning leadership keynote speaker who helps any team win like an underdog — scrappy, agile, and clear enough to outperform bigger, better-resourced rivals. He turns managers into leaders and ordinary teams into high-performing ones, drawing on a decade-plus spent building and scaling fast-moving companies and the research behind his Six Levels of High-Performing Teams.
Before turning 20, Fahd raised over $1 million for local charities and was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 20 Under 20 — the start of a conviction that leadership isn’t a title, it’s a set of everyday actions anyone can take. He went on to co-found multiple ventures, including a mobile tech startup and a student entrepreneurship centre at Carleton University that helped launch over 50 companies. Along the way he learned how to balance disruption with leadership: how small, mighty teams move fast without falling apart.
Across 15 years building companies, running incubators, and leading teams, Fahd identified the one ingredient that consistently separates high-performing teams from the rest — leaders who prioritize the performance of the team over individual success. He calls them Unicorn Leaders, and the behaviours behind them work in any organization, at any level, whether you’re a startup, a Fortune 500, an association, a government agency, or a nonprofit.
Fahd has spoken to over 100,000 people across more than 400 stages, sharing the stage with thinkers like Simon Sinek, Seth Godin, Dan Heath, Charles Duhigg, and Jocko Willink. His clients span tech (Shopify, Fullscript), corporate (Chick-fil-A, OPA), associations (Tech Talent North), governments, and nonprofits. He’s been named Rising Star Speaker and Most Entertaining Speaker, and holds the Certified Speaking Professional® (CSP®) designation — the highest earned recognition awarded by the National Speakers Association, held by only a small fraction of speakers worldwide.
He’s also the founder of Unicorn Labs, where he helps organizations build high-performing teams through the Six Levels of High-Performing Teams framework.
CEO, UnicornLabs
Fahd Alhattab, CSP® — award-winning leadership keynote speaker
Fahd’s path to leadership began with philanthropy. Compelled by his background as an at-risk immigrant from a low-income family, he raised over $1M for local charities, founded a camp for underprivileged children, and was awarded Canada’s Top 20 Under 20 for his dedication to the community. It was the start of a conviction that has shaped everything since: leadership isn’t a title you’re handed — it’s a set of everyday actions anyone can take, on any team.
In the pursuit of entrepreneurship, Fahd served two terms as President of the Carleton University Students’ Association, where he represented more than 25,000 students, managed a team of 150 staff, and oversaw a $9M budget.
In 2013, he launched a student entrepreneurship centre that has since helped found 50+ student startups and raise more than $450K in seed capital — which catapulted him into building a venture of his own.
In 2015, Fahd and three co-founders set out to launch a low-cost smartphone with a fun, cheeky brand that could capture customers’ imagination without breaking the bank. The journey was a roller coaster of wins and losses — raising funds, manufacturing units, and bringing a vision to life — and it taught him firsthand how small, mighty teams move fast without falling apart, and how scrappy underdogs can take on far bigger, better-resourced rivals.
Today, Fahd is both an education reformist and a leadership expert. He has trained university educators to embed experiential learning and leadership development into their teaching, successfully re-imagining 35 University of Ottawa courses to integrate entrepreneurship, social innovation, and leadership.
Built on 15 years of building successful teams, Fahd and his team identified — through their research — the one ingredient that consistently sets high-performing teams apart from the rest: leaders who prioritize the performance of the team over individual success. He named them Unicorn Leaders, and the behaviours behind them work in any organization, at any level — whether you’re a startup, a Fortune 500, an association, a government agency, or a nonprofit.
Delivered through captivating, actionable keynotes, Fahd retrains managers to become architects of high-performing teams — helping any team adopt the entrepreneurial behaviours that let underdogs win.
Fahd has delivered keynotes to over 100,000 people across more than 400 stages, sharing the stage with thinkers like Simon Sinek, Seth Godin, Dan Heath, Charles Duhigg, and Jocko Willink. His clients span tech (Shopify, Fullscript), corporate (Chick-fil-A, OPA), associations (Tech Talent North), governments, and nonprofits. He’s been recognized as a Rising Star Speaker and Most Entertaining Speaker by the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, and most recently earned the Certified Speaking Professional® (CSP®) designation — the National Speakers Association’s highest earned recognition, held by only a small fraction of speakers worldwide.
Alongside his team at Unicorn Labs, Fahd helps organizations build high-performing teams and turn managers into self-driven leaders through the Six Levels of High-Performing Teams.
