great business speakers

Every leader knows how important culture is. LISA BODELL approaches creating a high-performance culture from a different angle. “If organizations get the work right – they get the culture right,” she says. Leadership, culture, innovation, mental health, profitability – they’re all connected by how we spend our days.

AN EVENT PLANNER’S BIGGEST FEAR What’s your worst speaker nightmare? Mine is that the speaker doesn’t show up for the event. The only two things that can really derail a speaker’s appearance is bad weather/mechanical problems or ill health. You can’t avoid a health issue but travel can be guarded against. I’ve been doing this long enough to know that before we ever even accept an offer, we scope out travel to make sure there are sufficient backups in case of weather or mechanical issues. One more booking is not worth putting an event in jeopardy. In spite of careful planning, the unexpected can happen. That is my segue to talk about our speaker MIKE ABRASHOFF and his travel heroics last week.

IT NEARLY HAPPENED! The basketball legend was forced to change careers after a seemingly endless string of stress fractures in his foot during the late 70’s and early 80’s. He was told by doctors to stop playing basketball and, if things didn’t turn in the right direction soon, amputation of his foot was the most likely next step. A PIVOT TO LAW Embarking on a new and sedentary life, BILL WALTON entered Stanford Law School, in the fall of 1981. He went full-time for the first year. He played in no sports of any kind. He was just a student for the first time since fourth grade.

ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION

It’s about time! That’s what fans of basketball legend BILL WALTON said when they heard the news that ESPN honored him with a 30 for 30 documentary about his incredible life and career. But unlike most subjects covered in the 30 for 30 series, director Steven James, who directed Hoop Dreams, among other films, said that once he got into the project, he realized the story was bigger than he could have imagined. In the end, Bill’s documentary covered four episodes – not just a single hour – because Bill’s life can’t be distilled to 60 minutes without leaving out much of what’s so inspiring about the man.

The Power Code, the new book from KATTY KAY and Claire Shipman, offers a groundbreaking, provocative take on women and their relationship with power. Their conclusion: power today is not working, for women, men, or the world. For years, the narrative about women and power was simply that women needed more experience, more ambition, more something, and then, finally, they’d be ready for power. The problem, more or less, was with women. But looking to answer the maddening question of why women still don’t have anything close to an equal share of the world’s power, despite the fact that multiple studies show all organizations are better off with more women running things, they’ve unearthed some radical things about power itself. It turns out we don’t need to remake women; we need to remake power. Katty Kay explained in a recent conversation.

What’s one of the biggest challenges facing business leaders in the post-pandemic world? Employee well-being and mental health. We are living in a time when people are dealing with a lot more stress and anxiety – the ability to cope has become a challenge. Gallup® recently came out with a State of the Global Workplace report that showed only 33% of the world’s employees are thriving – and that percentage has only increased by 1% since the start of the pandemic in 2020. The needle has not moved much at all…why is this?

PREFACE Before I tell you about those happy smiles, I need to provide a bit of background. The magician BILL HERZ and his wife Gwenn are treasured friends.

THE EXHAUSTION EPIDEMIC Are you feeling tired, like most of the time? You’re not alone! In the face of the exhaustion epidemic we’re experiencing, it’s time to rethink conventional wisdom about high productivity behavior. Grit and hustle certainly have their place in business but over the long haul, they’re also scientifically associated with burnout. If the pandemic proved anything, it’s that success in business is inextricably tied to health and well-being. You can’t have one without the other! It’s no coincidence that organizations and leaders have started to pay attention to the emotional well-being of their people like never before.

When Duke's season ended just short of the 2022 NCAA Championship Game, it also brought to a close an entire era of college basketball. In that moment the sport lost perhaps its most recognizable name, Coach Mike Krzyzewski. Some consider Coach K to be the most accomplished coach in college basketball history. Others favor the legendary John Wooden, the former UCLA coach. Basketball icon BILL WALTON played for Wooden at UCLA. He helped win two national championships while there and was part of the squads that contributed to UCLA’s incredible 88-game winning streak, which still stands as an NCAA record. On the evening of Duke’s loss to North Carolina, Bill appeared on Westwood One’s "Rich Eisen Show" where Eisen asked Bill what he thought of the debate about who’s the greatest college basketball coach – Coach K or John Wooden?