Zuby

Zuby is best known as a rapper, author, keynote speaker, entrepreneur, socio/political commentator and if that’s not enough, he’s also the host of the ‘Real Talk with Zuby’ podcast. He is also a social media business and marketing expert and… a health guru, whose no nonsense approach to fitness and nutrition has helped countless people look better, feel better, and become more confident. 

Zuby is a rising public figure (AKA a rising star, in multiple arenas – from music to politics and business…), and has fast become a respected and influential voice of reason – whose unique perspective, authenticity and positive energy has earned him over one million followers on social media and 15 million+ online video views. He has caught the attention of some of the most popular media personalities in the world, appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience, The Adam Carolla Show, The Glenn Beck Podcast, The Rubin Report, The Ben Shapiro Show, and The Candace Owens Show, as well as other news outlets such as BBC, Fox News, Sky News and RT. 

Zuby has, over the past few years, been a voice of common sense and sanity. He has helped so many of his listeners, readers and followers make sense of, and cope with, our constantly changing world. And on that note, his newest keynote presentation is based on a social media thread he wrote, that went completely viral – literally, millions of people read that post. This talk is based on the post “20 Things I’ve Learned or Had Confirmed About Humanity During the Pandemic” and it is a must hear keynote, no matter what side of the fence you might be on.

Zuby’s talks appeals to many different kinds of audiences. He’s spoken everywhere from college campuses to corporations, and has been a featured keynote speaker at large, multi day events, gracing the same stages with some of the worlds most popular speakers.  

Videos

BOOKS:

Read More

Eric Termuende

Eric Termuende is helping leaders build incredible teams and tomorrow’s greatest places to work. His one-degree shift methodology enables leaders to build trust, remove friction, and create a culture of experimentation. But – why create a culture of experimentation? Well – if there is one thing we’ve all learned in the recent years, it is that the future is impossible to predict. Knowing that, how do we build teams that thrive in the weeks, months and years to come?

The answer lies in one-degree shifts: small, consistent changes that enable teams to build trust, remove friction, and build a culture of innovation. With hybrid teams, i.e., some working from home, some not, staggered days in and out of the workplace, new cultures need to be created, and the best way to do that, is to create that culture of experimentation.

Eric delivers a powerful, practical roadmap for building exceptional teams and leading in the future of work. Drawing on years of in-depth research and collaboration with hundreds of industry-leading companies and associations,

Eric combines intellect, heart, and real-world strategies to help audiences navigate today’s rapidly changing workplace. 

His keynotes have energized organizations like IBM, Zoom, Amazon, and Nationwide, among many others. A dynamic conference opener, Eric captivates audiences, sets an energizing tone for the rest of your conference or event.

Video

BIOGRAPHY:

Eric Termuende is the Co-Founder of NoW of Work, author of Rethink Work, trusted advisor, and award-winning speaker on leadership, culture, and the future of work. His research into the DNA of top performing workplaces reveals the secrets of exceptional leadership and building resilient, forward-thinking teams.

Eric has worked with leading brands like Amazon, Coca-Cola, IBM, Zoom, and Toyota, helping them embrace the future with confidence and optimism. His expertise has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, and Inc., cementing his reputation as a global thought leader shaping the future of work.

As co-founder of NoW of Work, Eric drives workplace innovation and has been recognized as one of American Express’s Top 100 Emerging Innovators. His influence extends beyond the stage, helping organizations navigate change and build thriving cultures.

Eric’s keynotes combine entertainment, actionable insights, and practical strategies. Audiences consistently praise his talks as inspiring and immediately impactful, leaving them equipped to create and excel in the workplaces of tomorrow.

SPEECH TOPICS 

BLUEPRINT TO THE FUTURE:

Leading in a New World of Work

Whether it is next week’s weather or the yet-to-be created technology that is sure to evolve how we work, the future is truly impossible to predict. And while the trends, charts, and forecasting are interesting, we must shift from trying to anticipate what future looks like to a focus on building resilient systems and teams that can help us navigate whatever the future may bring.

In this engaging, insight-filled, and actionable presentation, workplace culture and leadership expert Eric Termuende delivers a customized and research-backed blueprint that has helped thousands of category-leading teams build trust, remove friction, and prepare for a future that is changing constantly, unpredictably, and faster than ever before.

Attendees will receive a practical guide to building teams that are more productive, engaged, creative, and innovative. They’ll learn from the experiences of industry leaders, icons, and trailblazers from around the world about the importance of building trust, removing friction, and creating a culture of experimentation.

Takeaways: 

  • Practical strategies to boost trust, resilience, and camaraderie
  • Research-backed insights on building team agility and excitement toward impending change
  • An understanding of how to harness the power of one-degree shifts
  • Methods for finding and reducing friction within teams
  • Actionable steps to cultivate a culture of experimentation, risk free

 

Complete Leadership: A Human-Centric Approach to Navigating the New World of Work

It is no secret that technology is changing faster than it ever has before, that a new generation with new expectations are entering the workplace, and that uncertainty is around every corner. And while the skills and characteristics of yesterday served us well, those same skills are quickly becoming antiquated, outdated, and incomplete.

The leader that thrives in 2030 and beyond will need to master what workplace culture and leadership expert Eric Termuende calls Complete Leadership, adding an imperative dimension of tomorrow’s highest performing leaders.

In this high-energy, actionable keynote, attendees will learn that Complete Leadership adds the ever-important dimension of human-centricity and expands well beyond team performance and the success of the job that needs to get done. This final element includes an empathy factor that transforms our teams to be the best versions of themselves, deepens connection, trust, relatability, and belonging, and simultaneously improves performance while reducing friction and stress across the team.

Leaders that learn and embody Complete Leadership simply build the strongest teams, are remembered long past their tenure, and navigate change and perform the best.

Attendees will learn:

  • The difference between Complete and Partial Leadership
  • How to unlock the Empathy Factor
  • What a 2030 high-performing leader embodies that today’s leaders don’t
  • How to build peak performance on increasingly diverse teams
  • What to lean into, and what to avoid in tomorrow’s world of work

 

UNWAVERING:

Building Incredible Teams for the Future of Work

Uncertainty is inevitable in the new world of work. In the face of ongoing change, will we see our people running for the exits, or will they be there to support and help each other? Change is happening faster than ever before and building unwavering teams that are resilient, ultra-collaborative, and even excited about that change has never been more important. But how do we build unwavering teams? Trust, empathy, and ongoing experimentation.

Workplace culture and leadership expert Eric Termuende has spent nearly a decade decoding exactly what creates unwavering teams: those that are resilient, rooted in belonging, and have a deep sense of safety and inclusivity. These are the types of teams that thrive through change because they know that while change may be difficult, the only thing worse is standing still. Eric has created a playbook for cultivating unwavering teams, and in this session, attendees will both learn it and be able to take it home with them.

By discovering how to enhance collaboration, developing excitement for all of the possibilities experimentation yields, and deciphering the root of trust across a team, attendees will come away from this session understanding how to become the incredible leader who inspires their teams to perform at their best and stand strong through anything the future may hold.

What audiences come away with:

  • Deep knowledge about the root of collaboration and how to enhance it across the team
  • Research-backed insights around trust, psychological safety, and belonging at work
  • How to enhance excitement about change and how to involve the whole team in the process
  • The most important question to ask to get engagement and buy-in
  • Why the future is something to be excited about, not scared of

 

LEADERSHIP AND AI:

Building High-performing Teams in the New World of Work

Weaving its way into nearly every conversation from the boardroom to the dinner table, we talk about AI like we talk about any news story of the day. AI isn’t just a news story though, nor is it a flash-in-the-pan. It is a revolutionary technology that is turning the page and starting a brand-new chapter in the world of work and leadership.

Today, leaders of category-leading companies, associations, and non-profits need to not only understand what AI truly is, they’ll also need to know how it will change the world of work in the years to come, and how the foundations of building trust, belonging, and connection haven’t changed one bit.

The very best leaders don’t just know what AI is, they know how to build high-performing teams as AI continues to invade the workplace. AI isn’t just about technology and tools; it is about change like we’ve never seen before, and leaders need to know exactly what to do about it. Eric will show them the way.

In this insightful, actionable, and eye-opening keynote, leaders will understand specifically how to build resilient, trusting, and engaged teams both because of and despite AI in a world that is changing faster than we’ll ever understand. While AI won’t replace us, the leaders that understand AI and know what to do about it most certainly will. In this keynote, Eric Termuende will teach exactly how to be a better leader in a world dominated by AI.

Takeaways: 

  • What AI really is, how it is changing the world of work, and what to watch out for
  • How to build trust on their team when change appears to be constant
  • 3 tips to boost engagement, remove friction, and navigate uncertainty
  • Why AI is a tool and not a threat
  • Strategies to boost camaraderie and experimentation across teams
  • The ethics of AI and what we truly need to know

 

SNOWFLAKES AND FINGERPRINTS:

How to Attract Top Talent in the Future of Work

Regardless of where we look, talent shortages are impacting nearly every industry, and competition is fierce. With an entire generation on the precipice of retirement, and not enough workers ready to replace them, the situation is only going to get fiercer. More than ever before, we need to do whatever we can to attract and retain top talent. But what is that?

After a decade of research on the world’s greatest places to work, workplace culture and leadership expert Eric Termuende has the answer.

Like snowflakes and fingerprints, it all comes down to uniqueness. The days of job listings demanding an extensive list of skills and attributes from potential employees are gone. Instead, we need to talk about the larger workplace experience and the difference our organizations are making in the world. To attract the right talent in today’s environment, we must plant our metaphorical flag in the ground and emphasize what makes us, as employers, different from the rest.

In this fun and takeaway-filled presentation, attendees will not only learn how to create their own compelling stories to attract the right talent to their organization, but they’ll also leave with a talent attraction framework they can continue to refine as the world of work keeps evolving.

Takeaways:

  • Actionable ways to create and share a unique, sticky, and impactful employee value proposition
  • Key strategies for leveraging your best recruiters (a.k.a. your existing team)
  • An understanding of why creating a ‘best’ place to work might not mean what you think it does (and what licorice, cilantro, and pineapple pizza has to do with it)
  • Knowledge of where culture lives, and how to adapt your story based on the team/location you’re hiring for
 
TESTIMONIALS
 

This is feedback from our CEO:

“Please share the following feedback with Eric. People really liked him and found him very inspirational. He energized everyone and was definitely a highlight of the afternoon!

  • Relevant
  • Great stories, powerful
  • Very articulate
  • Relatable 

-LINDT CHOCOLATE

We had Eric Termuende speak at two of our national leadership events in 2023. His message was a total hit as we continue to win and grow in the future of work. His engaging and entertaining keynotes were tailored, relevant, and gave all of our leaders the insights and tools they needed to build incredible teams and remain excited about the uncertain future we’re all trying to navigate.
 
-LOBLAW

Today’s presentation was great and I’m delighted at the response from the Team. The videos, the

customization, and of course, your presence, knowledge, and energy made it a huge success! I’ve

contracted and supported many Executive Leadership Summits for the agency over the years and it is not often that they say…”This is the best Summit we’ve ever had!” There’s been a lot of that type of feedback today and it is much deserved and well-earned praise.

– SUSAN SCHOENBERG, NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

In October 2020, in the middle of this Pandemic crisis, we had the pleasure to work with Eric for one of our episodes of our Dell Technologies Thought Leader Series. In addition to being a very fun person to work with, Eric was very generous of his time and an amazing presenter that our customers love!!!! His story was very inspiring and helped people with a different perspective during these difficult times.

– MICHEL LAGACÉ , DELL TECHNOLOGIES

Wow, just WOW. Safe to say that was the best virtual presentation we’ve done yet, and not just

for this event! The comments section definitely showcased that.

Thank you very much for that incredible presentation. I will be in touch again very soon.

– NADIA AHMED, SENIOR CONFERENCE PRODUCER, KEY MEDIA

We had the opportunity to bring Eric in as the keynote speaker for our annual strategic planning

workshop with all of our Senior Leaders. Eric did an excellent job of helping us understand and

connect the links between strategy and culture with some “one degree shifts” in our thinking

about people and process. This slight change in our thinking was a great catalyst for the

subsequent discussions as we built out our strategies for the coming year.

– DAN KLASSEN, VICE PRESIDENT HUMAN RESOURCES AT TOYOTA MATERIAL HANDLING

Eric delivered an engaging, inspiring and thought-provoking session to our audience. It was

a pleasure working with Eric – he delivered the perfect presentation. Eric is a charismatic and

passionate storyteller with great insights, real-world experience and exceptional presentation

skills. It was a pleasure to work with Eric and I would highly encourage any organization to

invite Eric to present to their community!

-JOSHUA ZAPORZAN, UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA, STU CLARK CENTRE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP

 
BOOKS
 

Rethink Work tackles one of the big problems’ employers face today: finding and keeping the best employees, especially at a time when young workers typically quit after only three years on the job. Targeted at those entering the workforce, in job transition, or anyone looking for that perfect candidate, Rethink Work stands out from other books in this category because the author is one of those young people: Eric Termuende, a rising star on the international speakers’ circuit. Click here for more info.

 

 

Read More

Kyle Kemper

Kyle Kemper is truly a 21st century renaissance man.

His mission is to connect with us, and collaborate with us, and perhaps, to help us… to facilitate what Kyle calls “this great awakening of humanity”, which is really just a unique collaboration together towards building new systems of governance and finance – to usher in a new era, creating more health, wealth and spiritual fulfillment for everyone. And yes, cryptocurrencies will be a big part of it.

Kyle is a visionary strategist, technologist, artist, and of course, a family-man. (More on that in his biography section; he has quite the pedigree!). He is also the founder of Swiss Key crypto wallet, and is the co-host of the new Love and Freedom Show. He is a serial entrepreneur, a keynote speaker, and an advisor to many projects – both big and small.

Kyle is committed to seeing the world have an easy and secure way to use and benefit from crypto, NFTs and blockchain – while assuring these technologies are used for the betterment of people- for liberty, for value creation, and abundant new systems that can change the world.

Kyle Kemper has been featured in major media, podcasts, and as a speaker at conferences. Right now he has published part 1 of his newest book as a booklet. In it, he explores how blockchain technology, DAOs, and NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) make liquid democracy and delegative democracy possible, and how we implement it to become radically abundant as a nation and as a civilization.

Videos

Read More

Bruce Dickinson

747 Pilot, Aviation Businessman and incidentally, ROCK STAR lead singer of the legendary rock band icons, IRON MAIDEN. 

Bruce Dickinson is widely regarded as a true polymath, and for very good reason. He has a myriad of experience in business, entrepreneurialism, mentoring and creative thinking, alongside his larger-than-life persona as lead singer for Iron Maiden, all of which makes him unique in his ever-expanding professional fields and consequently being always in great demand, as a Keynote Speaker, to share the secrets of his proficiency, insight and knowledge. In fact, Bruce will be taking his Keynote Presentation / spoken word tour ‘An Evening With Bruce Dickinson’ on an extensive US and Canada run in early 2022, and hopefully beyond. He also did a recent “virtual” Ted talk – see the video below. 

And yes, Bruce has been known to fly the band on the 747 to various concert dates all over the world! 

Aside from his aviation and music accomplishments, some of Bruce’s other achievements include: an award-winning beer brewer, film scriptwriter, international fencer, TV presenter & sports commentator, and Sunday Times #1 best-selling author with the publication of his autobiography What Does This Button Do? 

Truly a new age iconoclast, there is much to learn from Bruce, and many takeaways from his talks. A throat cancer survivor, he discusses overcoming adversity and persevering when things look bleakest, especially for a rock singer! Though, while always inspirational, his wealth of business experience, rock star and aviation experience, the business takeaways are many as well – and encompassed in a talk with self deprecating humor, nuance, and infused with the energy and soul only a true hard rocker can bring.  To learn more click here.

Video

BIOGRAPHY:

Bruce Dickinson is widely regarded as a true polymath, and for very good reason. He has a myriad of experience in business, entrepreneurialism, mentoring and creative thinking, alongside his larger-than-life persona as lead singer for Iron Maiden, all of which makes him unique in his ever-expanding professional fields and consequently being always in great demand to share the secrets of his proficiency, insight and knowledge.

As a qualified pilot and commercial airline captain, Bruce took advantage of this know-how to set up his own aircraft business Caerdav (formerly Cardiff Aviation) to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircraft as well as pilot training. He has invested in the British manufacturer of the Airlander HAV (hybrid air vehicle), an eco-friendly helium airship currently in development which will be capable of transporting cargo or people to remote corners of the earth, and in Pouncer – an edible drone developed by Windhorse Aerospace which can carry humanitarian aid into hard to access disaster areas. Furthermore Bruce was recently appointed as an RAF honorary group captain in the prestigious 601 Squadron, a position which involves him giving advice, acting as an advocate and fulfilling an ambassadorial role.

Aside from his aviation and music accomplishments, some of Bruce’s other achievements include: an award-winning beer brewer, film scriptwriter, international fencer, TV presenter & sports commentator, and Sunday Times #1 best-selling author with the publication of his autobiography What Does This Button Do?

With this wealth of experience to draw upon for inspiration, Bruce delivers world class speeches to corporations around the globe, explaining how the challenges of operating in the seemingly disparate realms of rock music and commercial aviation mirror those of everyday business worlds, be it a multi-national corporation, local company or start-up initiative; emphasizing the importance of teamwork, communication, forward planning and recognizing that inevitable setbacks can and should be an incentive to learn, adapt and move on successfully.

SPEECH TOPICS 

Split into two parts, the first section of the keynote presentation sees Bruce taking a humorous and often satirical look at the world from his own very personal perspective, treating the audience to private insights into his drive and ambition, peppered with plenty of Maiden anecdotes, and a myriad of other experiences encompassing not just the giddy heights but also the extreme lows, told first-hand in his inimitable anarchic style, punctuated with photographs and sometimes even erupting into song acapella, to illustrate a point.

The final section of his talk is devoted entirely to a Q&A session, with the opportunity to pose questions on any subject whatsoever. As Bruce’s answers will all be completely improvised – the more left-field and quirky the question, the more interesting and compelling the response is likely to be!

Topics include: 

  • From Rock Star to Businessman
  • Turning Your Customers into Fans
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Corporate Culture
  • Business Start-Ups
  • Business Turnaround
  • Risk Management
  • The Travel & Aviation Industry
  • Team Building
  • The Life and Times of Bruce
  • Motivation & Inspiration
  • Business Creativity
 
TESTIMONIALS
Bruce was excellent, very entertaining and absolutely perfect for our marketing and media event.

-Literary Event Organisers

Armed only with his humor, charm and a simple slideshow, Bruce Dickinson offers an intimate idea of his dazzling life.

-Media Group

In a generally risk averse environment, it was inspiring to hear Bruce talking about risk and almost embracing it as a strategy for managing it and maximising on the opportunities it can bring.

-Travel Industry Forum

 
BOOKS
‘What Does This Button Do?’  is the long-awaited memoir from the larger-than-life, multifaceted lead vocalist of Iron Maiden, one of the most successful, influential and enduring rock bands ever.

Pioneers of Britain’s nascent Rock & Metal scene back in the late 1970s, Iron Maiden smashed its way to the top, thanks in no small part to the high-octane performances, operatic singing style, and stage presence of its second, but twice-longest-serving, lead singer, Bruce Dickinson.

Dickinson turns his unbridled creativity, passion, and anarchic humor to reveal some fascinating stories from his life, including his thirty years with Maiden, his solo career, his childhood within the eccentric British school system, his early bands, fatherhood and family, and his recent battle with cancer.

Bold, honest, intelligent and very funny, his memoir is an up-close look inside the life, heart, and mind of one of the most unique and interesting men in the world; a true icon of rock.

This book reached No. 1 on The Sunday Times Bestselling Autobiography list.

 

Read More

Liv Boeree

Think Like a Poker Player

Liv first caught the poker bug when she was picked to take part in a reality poker TV show in the UK back in 2005. Soon after she became a regular host on various poker coverage shows, and it wasn’t long before she was making waves at the table herself. Liv’s first major live cash came when she won the European Ladies Championship in 2008 for $42,000, followed by a string of other impressive money finishes at events around the world. Highlights included an impressive run at the 2009 Five Star World Poker Classic in Las Vegas, where she final tabled two side tournaments and made a top 40 finish in the $25,000 WPT Championship Main Event.

Then came the moment that would change Liv’s life forever, and make the poker world give her the credit her game deserves. Liv travelled to Italy to play at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Season 6 Sanremo event in 2010 – a tournament that proved to be one of the biggest ever, with a packed field of 1,240 runners. After days of intense action, Liv found herself on the final table, and duly went on to crush the remaining players to take the title and a massive seven figure payday, confirming Liv’s status as one of the finest players the UK has ever produced.

Liv Boeree is a science communicator and games specialist. Now, she’s a former professional poker player who has won multiple championship titles on the international poker circuit, and was the #1 ranked female player in 2016. Previously, she studied astrophysics and became fascinated with applying scientific thinking to everyday life. This introduced her to effective altruism: a philosophical movement that uses evidence and reason to identify and mitigate the world’s most pressing problems. In 2014, she co-founded Raising for Effective Giving, a non-profit that fund raises for the most globally impactful charities and research organizations.

Videos

Read More

Bob Gray

Meet Bob Gray: he’s like your favorite college professor but with a sense of humor.  With an unforgettable mix of fun, interaction and laughs, Bob is changing the stigma of what it is to be a “Memory Expert”. Not the pocket protector, white coat wearing kind; he immediately dispels the mystery behind memory. He says “An excellent memory isn’t a gift, it’s attainable by everyone.”

A recognized authority on memory systems, Bob has spent the last twenty five years traveling the globe entertaining and training corporations, governments, and associations to adapt memory systems for their particular needs. To date, Gray’s clients have included Wells Fargo, Ford, FedEx, GE, General Motors, Hilton Hotels, DuPont, and Great West Life, to name just a few.

His latest talk is called Digital Amnesia: How technology is stealing your memory (And how to steal it back). But just what is digital amnesia? It’s the experience of forgetting something important because you trust a connected device! In this highly interactive, empowering, and humorous presentation, Bob shows you how to keep your memory in shape, how to steal your brain back from technology…and how you’ll never again need to say “Sorry, I forgot your name”.

Videos

Read More

Daymond John

From his wildly successful role on ABC’s smash hit, Shark Tank, to his distinguished status as a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship, Daymond John has become globally recognized for his relentless commitment to promoting and supporting entrepreneurs.

Daymond initially made his mark as the entrepreneur and branding expert behind the groundbreaking lifestyle brand, FUBU, which eclipsed more than $6 billion in global retail sales. From the streets of Hollis, Queens, Daymond started a global movement from the basement of his mother’s house by capitalizing on the then fledgling hip-hop culture. Today, the streetwear market that FUBU pioneered is a $20 billion dollar industry.

Since then, Daymond has continued to challenge himself and the business world in which he operates. In 2009, Daymond was tapped by lauded television producer, Mark Burnett, to join the cast of a new business-reality concept, Shark Tank. After 11 seasons, 4 Emmy Awards, multiple Critic’s Choice Awards and millions of dollars in investments, the show has become the most watched program on Friday nights, and one of the most successful business reality series of all time. Over the course of the series, Daymond has been a mainstay of the cast of Sharks and is now affectionately referred to as, “The People’s Shark.”

As a dynamic speaker with more than twenty-five years of proven business experience, Daymond has become one of the most highly sought after speakers in the country. He regularly speaks at Fortune 100 companies, conferences, universities, and independent businesses alike. Daymond’s high energy presentations give audiences relatable advice and practical takeaways. His S.H.A.R.K. Points are actionable principles that bring long term results. Entrepreneurship, marketing and branding, financial literacy and goal-setting are among his most popular topics.

Video

BIOGRAPHY:

An entrepreneur in every sense of the word, Daymond John has come a long way from taking out a $100,000 mortgage on his mother’s house and moving his business operation into its basement. John is CEO and Founder of FUBU, a much-celebrated global lifestyle brand, and a pioneer in the fashion industry with over $6 billion in product sales world-wide. Former President Barack Obama appointed Daymond John a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE) to harness his energy, ideas, and experience to help develop the next generation of entrepreneurs both at home and abroad.

John is an award-winning entrepreneur and has received 100s of awards including the Brand Week Marketer of the Year, Advertising Age Marketing 1000 Award for Outstanding Ad Campaign, Ernst & Young’s New York Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and was named #2 on LinkedIn’s Top 20 Voices, a list of the top influencers, who are using their voice to help us analyze today’s changing world of work, navigate our industries, and find balance.  Most recently, Real Leaders Magazine named Daymond John one of the Top 50 Keynote Speakers in the World in 2022, a list of “real teachers — people who speak from experience.”

His marketing strategies and ability to build successful brands has made him a highly influential consultant and motivational speaker today. His marketing firm The Shark Group offers advice on how to effectively communicate to consumers through innovative means and connects brands with the world’s top celebrities for everything from endorsements to product extensions.

John is also an author of 5 best-selling books including his New York Times best-selling books, The Power of Broke (2016) and Rise and Grind (2018). In 2020, John released his fifth book, Powershift, that walks through his tried-and-true process of how to transform any situation, close any deal and achieve any outcome.  John’s most recent book is his first for kids.  Little Daymond Learns to Earn (March 2023) illustrates the process of starting a business and provides a glossary of financial literacy terms for kids 4-8 years old.

Finally, John is celebrating his 14th season on ABC TV’s critically acclaimed business reality show Shark Tank by renowned producer Mark Burnett, which has reinvigorated entrepreneurship around the world. Shark Tank has now gone on to win five Emmy® in the US and millions of weekly viewers world-wide tune into the show as John demonstrates his marketing prowess and entrepreneurial insights.

SPEECH TOPIC:

Read More

Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal

Dr. Taryn Marie is the #1 international expert on resilience, mental health, and wellbeing in leadership after conducting original research with hundreds of people over the course of two decades, giving rise to the resilience roadmap, The 5 Practices of Highly Resilient People, now a #1 WSJ bestselling book.

  • Author of the book The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People – Why some flourish When Others Fold. (A Wall Street Journal #1 Best Seller in 2023!)
  • Lead, Nike’s Global Executive Leadership Development Strategy
  • Former Head, Cigna’s Leadership Development & Executive Programs
  • Doctorate degree, University of Maryland, College Park
  • Neuropsychology Fellow with the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center

Dr. Taryn Stejskal is one of the leading authorities on Resilience Leadership.  Nike named her the head of their global leadership training and her work is resonating throughout the Fortune 500.  As she describes it, “We are a world in which our human experience is defined by facing challenge, change, and complexity on an order of magnitude to which prior generations have not been exposed. The concept of resilience is built on the very ideology that we have the capacity to face hard things: trauma, loss, misfortune, and the like, and come out on the other side; not diminished, but instead, enhanced.”

Video

BIOGRAPHY

As the #1 international expert on resilience and mental wellbeing, Dr. Taryn Marie has inspired audiences ranging from big stages of thousands to intimate gatherings of executives, sharing how we can all effectively face the inevitable moments of challenge, change, and complexity.

LA Progressive magazine calls her “the go-to person” and “a secret weapon” for organizations and teams who want to find their edge and rise above the competition. She has received standing ovations from audiences on topics related to change, leadership, confidence, compassion & empathy, innovation, wellbeing, and, of course, resilience. Audience members say her keynotes are:

“Uplifting. Thought provoking. Unforgettable. Your life and view of the world will not be the same after hearing Dr. Taryn Marie speak!”

She is a #1 Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Bestselling Author of the book, The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People: Why some flourish when others fold, and the Founder and Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) of the Resilience Leadership Institute (RLI). By conducting two decades of original research on resilience, Dr. Taryn Marie developed the empirically based framework, The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People and believes that resilience is the key to individual, teams, and organizational growth and acceleration across the globe. Her mission is to positively impact the lives of 1 billion people through the practices of resilience.

Prior to founding RLI, she served as the Head of Executive Leadership Development & Talent Strategy
at Nike, as well as Head of Global Leadership Development at Cigna.

Global Gurus has recognized Dr. Taryn Marie as a Top 30 Thinker in Leadership, she is a Marshall Goldsmith Top 100 Global Executive Coach (MG100), and she was a finalist for the Tony Hsieh Award, named for the former CEO of Zappos, awarded to those who are leading human capital innovation. Her work has been featured by Fox and NBC News, Bloomberg Business, Thrive Global, and Forbes. Her TEDx talk entitled “How Resilience Breaks Us Out of Our Vulnerability Cage” has been viewed over 1 million times!

Dr. Taryn Marie earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, along with master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park, and completed pre- and postdoctoral fellowships in neuropsychology at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. She is the host of the top 1% acclaimed podcast Flourish or Fold: Stories of Resilience, where well-known people tell their lesser well-known story of facing challenge to remind us that adversity is a necessary ingredient in life.

She is honored to be an ambassador for The African Community and Conservation Foundation (ACCF), along with serving as a sought-after trusted advisor and board member, to amplify resilience, engagement, and talent strategy. She also serves as Chief Product Officer (CPO) and Chief Happiness Officer (CHO) for Wicked Happy, a global aspirational apparel brand that promotes positivity and possibility through inspirational messages. Her two sons, Samson and Sawyer, are always teaching her about resilience! To learn more just click here.

SPEECH TOPICS

Flourish or Fold: The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People

What are the attributes that determine whether a leader, team, or organization will flourish or fold? After conducting 20 years of research to understand how people harness resilience in leadership and life, resilience is emerging as the key differentiator that sustains people in moments of difficulty, ambiguity, and adversity. Put simply, our ability to be resilient is the active ingredient that determines whether we flourish or fold. At a time when business is facing challenge, change, and complexity, enhancing resilience has never been more important. World renowned resilience expert and former head of executive development at Nike, Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal, shares with audiences The Five Practices of Particularly Resilient People; the five behaviors we can all access to increase our resilience. Resilience, is fundamentally at the core of what it means to be human and to be a leader and has been the element of leadership development that has been both overlooked and largely misunderstood. Dr. Taryn Marie inspires and engages audiences with a practical, tangible, and relevant approaches to enhancing resilience. She inspires audiences with the practical, tangible, and evidence-based framework, The 5 Practices of Highly Resilient People, based on her #1 WSJ Bestselling book, where attendees will identify and adopt practices that will enhance their wellbeing and sustain their resilience. Attendees will:

▹ LEARN THE 5 PRACTICES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE
▹ APPRECIATE THE IMPORTANCE OF EMPATHY & AUTHENTICITY IN LEADERSHIP
▹ UNDERSTAND THE PERVASIVE MYTHS THAT OFTEN BLOCK THEIR ABILITY TO ACCESS RESILIENCE
▹ INCREASE RESILIENCE

The (Not-So-Surprising) Link Between Resilience, Innovation, and Creativity

How can organizations & leaders foster cultures that leverage innovation and creativity as fuel? While organizations have sought to understand the secret sauce that allows their people to effectively address challenge and pursue innovation, they often overlook a key ingredient that fosters innovation:
resilience. In this talk, Dr. Taryn Marie reveals how individuals, teams, and organization can harness and enhance resilience, through her proven framework, The 5 Practices of Highly Resilient People, that help eliminate fear of failure and take action toward amplifying innovation to make the seemingly
impossible, becomes possible. Attendees will:

▹ UNDERSTAND HOW PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY IS A KEY FOUNDATION FOR INNOVATION & CREATIVITY
▹ LEARN HOW THE 5 PRACTICES FRAMEWORK MAKES THE SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE, POSSIBLE
▹ APPRECIATE THE MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN RESILIENCE, CREATIVITY, & INNOVATION

From Burnout to Balance – Practices to Restore & Optimize Engagement

The sheer volume of challenge and rate of change has left people feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. In this signature talk, Dr. Taryn Marie provides practical, actionable, and research-based solutions for individuals, teams, and organizations to find greater balance, peace, and well-being.
Drawing on her unique background heading global leadership development for organizations across the globe, and her empirical framework, The 5 Practices of Highly Resilient People, this keynote provides a roadmap for how we can we flourish in our places of work. Attendees will:

▹ RECEIVE PRACTICAL, TIME-TESTED STRATEGIES TO INCREASE RESILIENCE, REDUCE STRESS, & ENHANCE ENGAGEMENT
▹ FEEL EQUIPPED TO MANAGE THE UPS AND DOWNS OF LIFE
▹ UNDERSTAND HOW TO BUILD TEAM & ORGANIZATIONAL PRACTICES THAT ENHANCE WELL-BEING
▹ RECOGNIZE AND COMBAT BURNOUT, EXHAUSTION, AND STRESS

Harness Resilience to Advance the Future of Work: Effectively Navigating Uncertainty & Ambiguity

As the landscape continues to shift at lightning speeds with economic & digital advancements, including AI, leaders and teams have a golden opportunity to dig deep and uncover new ways to advance the future of work by harnessing courage, conviction, and candor.

In this insightful talk, Dr. Taryn Marie takes the audience through a proven framework to find grounding in times of high-stress and uncover opportunities that exist to propel the team & organization forward. Developing a culture of resilience is the antidote to the immense challenge, change and complexity we find ourselves in today. Attendees will:

▹ LEARN HOW THE FIVE PRACTICES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE CAN SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS & TEAMS IN TIMES OF HIGH STRESS
▹ RECOGNIZE HOW TO FIND OPPORTUNITY IN TIMES OF UNCERTAINTY
▹ HEAR THE KEY MINDSET HACK LEVERAGED BY TOP LEADERS ALL OVER THE WORLD THAT OPTIMIZES PERFORMANCE
▹ UNDERSTAND WHY PERCEIVED FAILURE HITS WOMEN AND GIRLS HARDER AND HOW TO AVOID PARALYSIS

Women, Wellness, and Worthiness: How to Achieve the Seemingly Impossible

As a former executive at Cigna and Nike, Dr. Taryn Marie has a unique ability to support women with their ambition and desire to accomplish big goals without sacrificing personal life, well-being, or sanity. Her message of radical possibility, combined with The 5 Practices of Highly Resilient People, leaves audiences inspired and equipped with practical tools. Dr. Taryn Marie gives audiences a candid look at ways well-
meaning women sacrifice wellness, sabotage themselves and others, and feel unworthy. She provides insight to uplift not only themselves, but those around them, with the ability to find a flow in both work and family life, while believing more deeply in their inherent enough-ness! Attendees will:

▹ LEARN HOW THE 5 PRACTICES FRAMEWORK ALLOWS THEM TO ACCOMPLISH BIG GOALS
▹ IDENTIFY THE #1 THING THAT HOLDS THEM BACK FROM ACCOMPLISHING THEIR GOALS
▹ UNCOVER HOW TO LIVE A LIFE WITH LESS STRESS AND MORE MEANING
▹ APPRECIATE PROVEN METHODS TO AMPLIFY CONFIDENCE AND BANISH FEELINGS OF UNWORTHINESS FOR GOOD

TESTIMONIALS:

Read More

Alex Banayan

Alex Banayan is the only nationally bestselling business author under 30 in America. His book The Third Door: The Wild Quest to Uncover How the World’s Most Successful People Launched Their Careers has been translated into more than a dozen languages. Over the course of his unprecedented seven-year journey, Banayan interviewed the most innovative leaders of the past half-century, including Bill Gates, Lady Gaga, Larry King, Maya Angelou, Steve Wozniak, Jane Goodall, Jessica Alba, Quincy Jones, and more.

The day before his freshman-year final exams, Banayan hacked The Price is Right, won a sailboat, sold it, and used the money to fund his larger-than-life adventure. Since then, Banayan has been named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list, Business Insider’s Most Powerful People Under 30, and been featured in major media, including The Washington Post, Fortune, CNBC, MSNBC, Fox News, and NBC News. An acclaimed keynote speaker, Banayan has presented the Third Door framework to business conferences and corporate leadership teams around the world, including Apple, Google, Nike, IBM, Snapchat, Salesforce, and Disney.

Why book Alex? Here are the top 10 reasons:

1.   HONED, POLISHED, AND RELIABLE

Having done hundreds of high-profile keynotes over the past decade, Banayan is a seasoned keynote speaker who comes prepared to set the tone for any event. Google has said that Banayan is one of the most professional speakers they’ve worked with.

Disney said that Banayan received the best feedback from any speaker they’ve had. And the president of Merrill Lynch said the feedback about Banayan’s keynote was off the charts.

2.   ELECTRIC ENERGY

Whether it’s a room of 50 executives or an arena of 5,000 salespeople, Banayan has a way of lighting up any stage and elevating the energy of an event unlike anyone else. Nike’s VP of Global Brand Creative said that Banayan’s energy was contagious, and Red Hat’s Senior Director said Banayan unleashed their team’s energy in a way they’ve never seen before.

3.   MEMORABLE AND IMPACTFUL

For years, audience members have sent messages after events saying Banayan’s keynote changed their lives. Intuit said that Banayan’s keynote received the highest rating out of all the speakers at their annual Quickbooks Connect conference. Banayan leaves a long-lasting impact after every keynote, ensuring that your event will be unforgettable.

4.   VULNERABLE AND AUTHENTIC

Stories of fear and rejection remind audience members that they’re not alone in life’s challenges. Banayan takes audiences on a journey of vulnerability, from curling up on the floor of a Motel 8 feeling cold, lost, and defeated, to the comforts of Jessica Alba’s office during a gut-wrenching discussion about both of their families’ battles with cancer. Through his humility, Banayan connects deeply with audiences, providing new insights to universal experiences.

5.   REMARKABLY PROFESSIONAL

Banayan is committed to making the jobs of meeting planners as easy and straightforward as possible. From the pre-event call to backstage on event day, Banayan’s professionalism and courteousness are on display every step of the way.

6.   WILDLY ENTERTAINING

From winning The Price is Right to his larger-than-life quest to track down Bill Gates, audiences go on a rollercoaster of emotion, from laughing out loud to sitting on the edge of their seats. Packed with wild stories, including chasing Larry King through a grocery store and hacking Warren Buffett’s shareholders meeting, it’s no surprise the CEO of Life Is Good said that Banayan is one of the best storytellers he’s seen.

7.   RADICALLY COMMITTED TO AUDIENCE CONNECTION

From his authentic interactions with the crowd during the keynote to his one-on-one conversations with audience members after the speech, Banayan builds meaningful connections, making him the perfect speaker both on and off the stage. Approachable and fully present at book signings and meet and greets, Banayan is focused on personal connections with every attendee he meets at your event.

8.   TIME-TESTED RESEARCH AND PRACTICAL LESSONS

Banayan has spent a decade researching exponential success, poring over hundreds of biographies and interviewing the most innovative leaders in America, from Microsoft founder Bill Gates to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. The Third Door is a #1 international bestseller and has been translated into more than seventeen languages.

9.   CUSTOM TAILORED MESSAGE

In the pre-event call, Banayan learns as much as he can about your organization, ensuring that every keynote is custom-tailored to the needs of each event. Want two pre-event calls? You got it.

10.   MASTERFUL STAGE PRESENCE

From his pacing and tonality to his movement on stage and through the audience, it’s no surprise why CEOs and event planners alike rave about Banayan’s world-class speaking style. Ford said that Banayan has a “masterful way of bringing the audience along for a journey,” and that out of all the events they’ve planned, Banayan’s keynote was one of the best.

Video

BIOGRAPHY:

ALEX BANAYAN is the youngest bestselling business author in American history. The Third Door chronicles Banayan’s seven-year quest to decode the definitive mindset of growth and success. The book is a #1 international bestseller and has been translated into seventeen languages.

Over the course of his unprecedented journey, Banayan’s research led him to interview the most innovative leaders of the past half-century, including Bill Gates, Lady Gaga, Larry King, Jane Goodall, Maya Angelou, Steve Wozniak, Pitbull, Jessica Alba, Quincy Jones, and others.

Banayan is one of the world’s leading experts on high performance and personal development, having been featured in Fortune, Forbes, CNBC, Businessweek, The Washington Post, MSNBC, Fox News, and NBC News. A renowned keynote speaker, Banayan presents the Third Door framework regularly to corporate leadership teams around the globe, including Apple, Google, Nike, IBM, Salesforce, Delta Airlines, Bank of America, Mastercard, and Disney.

SPEECH TOPICS

THE MINDSET OF EXPONENTIAL GROWTH:

HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR THINKING, TAKE THE THIRD DOOR, AND ACHIEVE YOUR MOST IMPORTANT GOALS

We all face rejection. We all deal with fear. Whether it’s in our personal lives or careers, there are always dozens of obstacles holding us back from achieving our biggest goals.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are certain mindsets and tools that can not only clear the obstacles along your path, but can also add rocket fuel to your success. After spending ten years researching and interviewing the most innovative leaders, bestselling author Alex Banayan’s widely-acclaimed Third Door™ framework can help any organization achieve its goals and radically accelerate its overall growth.

In this riveting keynote, Banayan takes audiences on an unprecedented adventure, from hacking The Price is Right to chasing Larry King through a grocery store to the multi-year quest to learn from Bill Gates and Lady Gaga. Alongside these larger-than- life stories, Banayan takes the principles from his bestselling book The Third Door and pushes them to a whole new level, making them practical and applicable for organizations of all sizes. This powerful presentation teaches you how to:

  • Cultivate perseverance
  • Instill the mindset of persistence
  • Fuel growth, no matter the external economic environment
  • Become more capable of achieving your company’s biggest objectives

This wildly-entertaining keynote is packed with insights and lessons guaranteed to transform anyone to believe that, no matter what obstacles they’re facing… there’s always a way.

THERE’S ALWAYS A WAY:

HOW TO CULTIVATE PERSEVERANCE AND PERSISTENCE DURING UNCERTAIN TIMES

The pace of change in the business world is faster than ever. It has never been more critical to an organization’s survival for teams to cultivate a DNA of resiliency, perseverance, and solution-orientated problem solving.

In this empowering keynote, bestselling author Alex Banayan masterfully decodes the most critical and elusive skills needed for any organization to cultivate the mindsets of exponential growth, particularly during times of rapid change and uncertainty.

After interviews with Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, and dozens more of the world’s most iconic leaders, Banayan uncovered that there are fundamental skills that every

organization needs—but that most people don’t talk about—to achieve their biggest goals during disruptive times. This keynote covers it all, with lessons including:

  • How do you transform persistence from being an esoteric word to being a living, breathing part of your day-to-day culture?
  • What are the unspoken dangers of over-persistence and how can you prevent them at your organization?
  • Why is the opposite of success not failure—and how does that shift in mindset help your employees take more risks and grow exponentially?
  • What’s the surprising difference between fearlessness and courage— and why does that critical difference lead to consistent breakthroughs in organizations of all sizes?

If you care about elevating your business—if you care about your employees being more resilient, more courageous, and more capable of making smart, innovative decisions—this keynote is what you’ve been waiting for. To learn more click here.

V.I.S.T.A. STORYTELLING FOR BUSINESS GROWTH:

HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR ORGANIZATION AND ELEVATE YOUR CAREER USING THE 5 KEYS OF RADICALLY COMPELLING STORIES

The world has never been noisier.

How do you command the attention of your customers, sales prospects, strategic partners, or industry at-large? Once you have their attention, how do you transform those stakeholders into lifelong advocates for you and your business?

After a decade of researching the world’s most successful leaders and organizations, bestselling author Alex Banayan uncovered what the single most underrated skill is that can radically boost the growth of any company’s sales, marketing, or business development efforts.

The secret is storytelling—but not just any kind. Banayan’s research led him to decode the keys to remarkably compelling, gripping, and emotional storytelling that can be used by businesses of all sizes to supercharge their goals. This is a specific, teachable skill set that can transform prospects into blue-chip clients and customers into evangelists, and can inject an entirely new sense of possibility into the DNA of your company culture.

Drawing from his years of research and the international success of The Third Door’s unique narrative style, Banayan distills in this keynote how anyone in your organization—from C-suite executives to your newest team members—can use the five elements of Banayan’s V.I.S.T.A. Storytelling Framework to transform your business.

Because at the end of the day, everything in life and business comes down to a story. And it’s time your organization uses that to its advantage.

THE THIRD DOOR FOR TOP-LINE GROWTH:

HOW TO RE-TRAIN AND RE-INVIGORATE YOUR TEAM TO FIND A WAY THROUGH ANY DOOR

What happens when some of the hardest-to-reach people are your prospects? How does a salesperson or financial advisor persevere through the inevitable onslaught of rejections? Sometimes sales pipelines feel like pipedreams. Often weeks and months are spent on a deal, only for it to fall through at the last minute. Over time, the sting of rejection can multiply until it becomes crippling.

After seven years of learning directly from the most successful entrepreneurs on earth, bestselling author Alex Banayan gained invaluable sales lessons from Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, and dozens more.

In this empowering keynote, Banayan shows teams how to deploy new approaches to establishing relationships with leads so that you’re more than just another name in an inbox, from re-imagining prospect meetings to making a lasting impression.

His presentation also sheds light on new frameworks to view rejections and failures, offering surprising insights on what to do next. Audiences come away with practical tools to apply the Third Door™ framework to their sales process, including:

  • Finding your “Inside Man”
  • Overcoming “The Flinch”
  • Utilizing “Borrowed Credibility”
  • The surprising science of cold emails

From Larry King’s interviewing secrets that help warm up prospects to Quincy Jones’ key to continued growth and success, this keynote is for any sales team serious about taking their top-line results to the next level.

WORKSHOPS

CAREER GROWTH WORKSHOP

FUEL PERSONAL GROWTH BY INSTILLING THE THIRD DOOR MINDSET

90 MINS

In this interactive workshop, bestselling author Alex Banayan guides your audience through easy-to-implement exercises that are derived from his ten years of research on high performance and success.

Banayan presents practical tools that garner on-the-spot results within each individual, along with take-home exercises your audience can utilize after the event to continue cultivating growth, both personally and professionally. These tools help your audience get unstuck, rediscover what makes them come alive, and find clarity on some of the biggest obstacles they are bound to face as they navigate their paths to achieving their biggest goals, no matter what stage they are in their careers.

If instilling a sustainable and consistent mindset of growth within your attendees is a priority, then this workshop is for you.

STORYTELLING FOR BUSINESS GROWTH WORKSHOP

ACCELERATE TOP-LINE GROWTH THROUGH RADICALLY COMPELLING STORIES

90 MINS

After a decade of studying and interviewing the world’s most innovative leaders, bestselling author Alex Banayan has honed in on the one lever that can be pulled to accelerate your business growth in a whole new way: storytelling.

This goes beyond telling stories for marketing or advertising—this is about elevating your team’s ability to tell emotionally compelling narratives. Participants will radically improve their approach to the most critical components of top-line growth, ranging from sales and client communications, to executive leadership and investor relations, to how quickly and effectively new initiatives can be implemented internally.

This workshop produces dramatic results in real-time. Banayan not only teaches your audience his proprietary V.I.S.T.A. Storytelling Framework that can be used at any level of your organization, but he also guides your group through an interactive exercise where your audience walks away with brand new, rewritten stories.

This experience brings your event to new heights—not only changing the way audience members see themselves and their colleagues, but most important, changing the way they’re able to fuel your organization’s growth for years to come.

EXECUTIVE GROWTH STRATEGY SESSION

TURN THE LESSONS INTO A TANGIBLE PLAN OF ACTION

60 MINS

This session is only available to groups of thirty attendees or fewer, and is strongly advised to be used only with executive leadership, select upper management, or a top-priority team. To be coupled with the Exponential Growth keynote, this highly- dynamic session creates the space to create an actionable strategy for the upcoming quarter or fiscal year of your organization.

This session turns the principles of the Third Door framework into tangible plans specific to your organization’s goals. Each strategy session is tailored for the specific needs and goals of each organization.

By the end of the Executive Growth Strategy Session, your team members will not only see new pathways and approaches to achieve your most critical business objectives, but they will also be infused with an energy of possibility, perseverance, and enthusiasm for the rest of your fiscal year

TESTIMONIALS:

Partial list:

“The speech was an absolute home run. And it changed my life.”

– CEO, Intuit

“The feedback about Alex Banayan’s keynote has been off the charts. It was an outstanding event! Alex knocked it out of the park!”

—Andy Sieg, President, Merrill Lynch

“Banayan is one of the most professional and polished speakers I’ve worked with. And his talk couldn’t have gone better. His stories were enthralling, his insights were incredibly tangible, and his message was spot on.”

—Megan Green, Google Play Business Development, Google

“After Banayan’s keynote at Disney, we sent out a survey to all of the attendees. I must say, it was the best feedback we’ve ever received from any speaker. Hands down.”

—Laurie H. Allred, Head of Y@DCPI, Disney

“Alex Banayan’s keynote was entertaining, informative, and most of all, memorable. Thousands of our team members were in the audience and Banayan’s storytelling made it feel like we were all sitting down with him, one on one, as he spoke directly to each of us. It was exactly the kind of engaging keynote we were looking for.”

—Mike Miedler, CEO, Century 21 Real Estate

“When Alex Banayan spoke at my department’s off-site, his energy was contagious, his stories were inspiring, and his ideas pushed my team’s leadership. If you’re looking for someone with insight and passion, then Banayan is your man.”

—Jesse Stollak, VP of Global Brand Creative, Nike

“As a keynote speaker for our employee retention series, Alex Banayan brought a perfect mix of lively stories and practical exercises for some of our most tenured colleagues. Banayan’s keynote was able to strike the rare balance of entertaining, informative, and useful—which is exactly what we needed.”

—Courtney Loomis, Director of Employee Events, Salesforce

“Alex Banayan is an unbelievable storyteller! His keynote was thoughtful, engaging, and dynamic. Banayan represents the energy of unlimited potential.”

—Arturo Nunez, Head of ALAC Marketing, Apple

“Alex Banayan was the closing keynote at our top advisor summit and his message of ambition, growth, and perseverance were phenomenal! It was everything I was looking for and more.”

—Frederick E. Yates, Corporate Vice President, New York Life

“Banayan’s keynote kicked-off our event perfectly! His charismatic personality draws you in, and then his insights and stories prove to be both immensely entertaining and deeply emotional. Whether you work in sales or marketing, every department will find tremendous value in Banayan’s keynote. On top of that, we then decided to gift copies of The Third Door to our top clients, and they all loved it. Once you start reading the book, you can’t stop. The keynote coupled with the book is magic.”

—Sevan Leipziger, Senior Head of SAE Entertainment Sales, Delta Airlines

“The feedback on Alex Banayan’s keynote has been terrific! Our team left more energized and more informed. It was the perfect way to close out our event!”

—Kevin Squibb, Senior Manager of Digital Field Sales,

General Motors

“It was a fantastic keynote! The team is still talking about Alex’s presentation and using his take-aways and repeating his quotes left- and-right. Alex’s speech was one of our company’s favorites by far, and possibly the best Q&A we’ve ever seen.”

—Elysha R. McMurtry, Director of Corporate Affairs,

Monster Energy Drinks

“Banayan’s keynote and Q&A were on point for our attendees, his topics and takeaways were very effective for our group of top advisors. Alex even took the time to do a book signing and connected one on one with our advisors afterward. He was an amazing person to work with before and during our event.”

—Sarah Potts, Senior Specialist of Field Meetings,

Northwestern Mutual

Read More

Chris Mathers

Chris Mathers is a professional public speaker and trainer, and the author of the bestselling book, Crime School: Money Laundering.

Chris spent most of his life working undercover for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the US Drug Enforcement Administration, and the US Customs Service.  Posing as a gangster(!), a drug trafficker, and even as a money launderer, Chris takes audiences into the underworld that only he can describe, letting people in on the stunning stories and secrets harbored by terrorists and those involved in organized crime.

Touching on issues from cyber security, hiring decisions and background checks to money laundering schemes, corporate fraud, bribery, blackmail, extortion and more, Chris offers insights on human character and organizational culture that can help you to spot and avoid the perils of white collar crime. Chris is a unique, humorous, and fascinating speaker.

Also a popular media commentator and speaker, Chris has served as a consultant on several feature films and documentaries relating to organized crime, espionage and money laundering. He has appeared on television and radio interviews on CNN, PBS, MSNBC, all of the Canadian national news networks as well as media outlets in Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia and the Caribbean.

Video

BIOGRAPHY:

Chris Mathers spent most of his adult life working undercover for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, US Drug Enforcement Administration and the F.B.I., posing as a gangster, a drug trafficker and a money launderer.  He is the author of the Canadian bestseller, CRIME SCHOOL: Money Laundering.

Chris was the senior undercover operator at the RCMP Proceeds of Crime Section where he established and operated several “storefront” money laundering businesses in Canada and the US, targeting Colombian, Russian and Asian organized crime groups.  Chris personally infiltrated criminal organizations in North America, the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe.  His decorations include, the RCMP Long Service Medal and the Commanding Officer’s Commendation for Exemplary Action.

Chris now operates a successful investigation and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., Canada, and Panama.  His firm’s current focus is asset recovery for victims of large frauds as well as the use of artificial intelligence by criminal organizations.

Known for his unique style, Chris’ describes the secret underworld of gangsters and spies, explaining the realities of crime and espionage in a candid, no-punches-pulled style.

Chris is a popular media commentator and has served as a consultant on several feature films and documentaries relating to organized crime, espionage and money laundering. He has appeared on BBC, CNN, PBS, MSNBC, all of the Canadian national news networks as well as media outlets in Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia and the Caribbean.

He is currently involved in developing a Canada- U.K. co-production TV series based on his life undercover.

SPEECH TOPICS

AI and Crime

Artificial Intelligence is software that mimics human cognition in order to perform complex tasks and learn from them. Its positive potential is limitless but, like any technology, it can be abused.

Criminals are already using audio and video impersonation to defraud and extort us. Foreign governments are using AI to influence our political beliefs.

On the upside, AI can detect fraud, spam calls, and phishing attempts much better than people can. AI never sleeps or even gets tired and it won’t call in sick.

Join Chris Mathers as he shares the latest amazing advances in AI, describing how the bad guys are using this amazing technology against us and how the good guys are using it to catch them.

 

Cybersecurity: The Invisible War

You may not know it, but we are at war. Not in Iraq. Not in Afghanistan. But in our own country.

Every minute of every day, companies and governments are under attack from an invisible enemy. An enemy who is not limited by rules of engagement or ethical boundaries. An enemy whose goal is to develop the capability to disrupt our commerce, our infrastructure, and our military.

Here are some scary stats:

The energy company, BP, reports 50,000 hacking attempts every day.

The Pentagon reports 10 million hacking attempts every day.

However, it is not just companies who are combatants in this invisible war. It’s also you and me. Every single day criminals, spies, and vandals attack us online in an attempt to steal our identity and our money.

What can you do to reduce your chances of becoming a victim? Quite a lot, in fact.

Chris Mathers will explain who exactly the bad guys are, what they’re trying to do, and how you can protect yourself and your organization from becoming the next headline.

 

Chris Mathers: Undercover

Chris Mathers is an in-demand keynote speaker. Whether the audiences are frontline staff, sales managers, corporate executives, teachers, entrepreneurs, trades people, or parents, there are many lessons to be learned from his life of crime.

Touching on issues from security, hiring decisions, and background checks to money laundering schemes, corporate fraud, bribery, blackmail, extortion, and more, Mathers offers wise insights on human character and organizational culture that can help you to spot and avoid the perils of white-collar crime.

 

Future-Proof Your Business: Privacy, Safety, and Security Post-COVID

Although working from home has reduced some of the risk to employees and customers, it has drastically increased the risk to businesses, particularly as it relates to cyber crime and data theft.

COVID-19 also demonstrated how adept organized crime groups are at dealing with change. Within days of the outbreak, they had changed their business model, identified new opportunities, and found new ways to commit fraud and theft.

In order to safeguard information, business owners need to ask important questions of employees who will continue to work remotely:

Are they willing to submit to increased cybersecurity measures? Measures that may require use of their biometrics? Or location tracking?

How much of their privacy are they willing to sacrifice? For convenience? For personal security?

Join Chris Mathers as he describes how recent changes in the world have created new opportunities for organized crime and state-sponsored criminals and the profound impact it will have, both on the way we do business and how we live our lives.

Read More