great business speakers

It's a ritual for business folk to take stock at the end of the year and consider changes that might make business in the new year even better. If that’s on your agenda too, the conversation I had with Dario Presutto, the man who's cut my hair for more than 33 years, might be of interest. Dario Salon is on West 55th Street in New York and he is absolutely amazing. If you’re ever in the city – Dario really IS the man to see!

BBC News anchor KATTY KAY can cross off two big honors this month. SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE PARODIED KATTY IN A SKIT THIS WEEKEND BBC News anchor can cross off two big honors this month. First, Saturday Night Live parodied MSNBC’s Morning Joe program following the announcement that the show’s co-hosts, Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, got married in November. "Katty" was shown trying to get a word in edgewise – and then comes back at the very end. Watch the whole 6:06 if you can – very funny. Katty later posted on Twitter, "So now that Claire Foy’s played me on SNL⁩ - can I play the Queen?"

"BILL WALTON is as good on stage as a speaker as he was on the court as a player. My client, the donors, and guests were completely blown away,” said the organizer from the Utah Clean Air Partnership fund-raiser. The email went on, "To be honest, our board of directors questioned my recommendation of Bill as the keynote speaker. After the event, they apologized for questioning me...profusely. We are not sure how we will top Bill's passion and the memorable delivery he gave at next year's event.”

On September 11th, the 19th book by legendary investigative journalist Bob Woodward will be released. Fear: Trump in the White House is the inside story of President Trump as only Bob Woodward can tell it.

THE INDOMITABLE SPIRIT OF NICOLE MALACHOWSKI

Imagine this: you've just taken command of the near-worst performing ship in the U.S. Navy. Your job is to try and turn things around - something others before you have tried and failed to do. Where do you start? What's the first thing you'd do? That’s was the intriguing question that was posed to MIKE ABRASHOFF during the Q&A session last month. Mike is the former Navy captain who came to the world’s attention in a Fast Company magazine cover story. The magazine heard that he’d taken command of a poorly-performing performing ship in the Navy and transformed it in just about a year's time into the best ship in the fleet – using the same crew. That’s some organizational transformation and the magazine wanted to know how he did it.

IT AFFECTS GIRLS WAY MORE THAN BOYS It’s a paradox – girls are achieving like never before, yet they’re consumed with doubt on the inside. Girls worry constantly about how they look, what people think, whether to try out for a sports team or school play, why they aren’t getting “perfect” grades, and how many “likes” and followers they have online.

The World’s Greatest Leaders list for 2018 has just been announced by Fortune. Five years ago, GEOFF COLVIN (a long-time speaker on business for D’Amelio Network) led the first-ever effort to create Fortune’s fresh look at leaders through a different lens. It’s not the usual suspects of well-known business and political leaders, but instead, a list that celebrates the passion, commitment, and ingenuity of a surprisingly broad range of those who are making a difference in the world.

“Nearly three-quarters of Americans age 17 to 24 are ineligible for military service due to obesity, other health problems, criminal backgrounds or lack of education, according to government data. That's a harsh reality check for the Pentagon’s plan to recruit tens of thousands of new soldiers, sailors, pilots and cyber specialists over the next five years.” So says this article on Politico last week. The piece is definitely worth reading.

COL. NICOLE MALACHOWSKI (USAF, RET.) has an indomitable spirit. Determined from the age of five to fly fighter jets, she went on to a distinguished 21-year career in the United States Air Force and became the first woman to be part of the Thunderbirds, the elite USAF air demonstration squadron. The ultimate high-performance-under-pressure team, Nicole and five other Thunderbirds flew at over 400 mph and 300 feet off the ground – separated by as little as 36 inches. Nicole is a rock star in military aviation and was inducted into the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame Museum.