great business speakers

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.

ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION

TOP LEADERSHIP SPEAKER MIKE ABRASHOFF ON TALENT RETENTION STRATEGIES MIKE ABRASHOFF has been an influential speaker on leadership and organizational culture since Fast Company profiled him over 20 years ago. His bestselling book, It’s Your Ship, came shortly thereafter and has sold 1.2 million copies to date. Mike’s success as a speaker came because he is brilliant at providing audiences with actionable insights on the most pressing problems facing business. He draws on lessons learned after taking command of the near-worst ship in the fleet and overseeing its transformation to becoming the best ship in the entire U.S. Navy.

MIKE ABRASHOFF is widely known for his role in one of the most storied of organizational turnarounds. At age 36, Mike took command of the U.S. Navy's near-worst ship in the Pacific fleet, the USS Benfold. Within 12 months it became the best ship in the entire Navy…using the very same crew! That transformation vaulted Mike into near legendary status. He wrote three books on the subject - the most successful, It's Your Ship, has sold over 1.1 million copies. Like all of us, there's more to Mike than what we know at the surface. Here are 5 fun you couldn't possible know about Mike Abrashoff - until now:

DEVELOPING THE LEADERSHIP PIPELINE I have worked with thousands of executive teams since I left the Navy and one of the common complaints I hear is where to find the time to mentor the next generation. Schedules are double and triple blocked as it is. “I just don't have the energy or the time,” is the common refrain.

THE SHIP THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND (PLUS) SPEECHES In 1999 Fast Company magazine ran an article that got my attention. It featured a Navy captain who took command of a ship that was near the bottom of the performance rankings in just about every category. Twelve months later – under this new captain - the ship was the best performing ship in the fleet. How did that happen? Everyone wanted to know.

Mike Abrashoff - "It Was All About the Culture" Imagine you’re put in charge of a new project. You’re given goals and objectives and a team of people to work with. This team, though, has a horrible performance history. In fact, they are among the worst teams in the organization, yet your job is to meet the objectives – no excuses. And – you can’t fire bad performers, or financially reward good performers, or hire new help. What would you do?

A LEADERSHIP SPEAKER LIKE NO OTHER I saw MIKE ABRASHOFF, author of the bestselling leadership book It's Your Ship, speak to a group of state administrators from across the country in Orlando recently. One of the top business speakers, the message from this great leadership expert to the audience was simple: you can’t order excellence. You can tell people what they need to do but they don’t have to invest themselves in it. As a result, there's just no guarantee that things will get done the way they should. Instead, Mike offered a different vision of leadership – one that swaps command and control leadership for commitment and cohesion.

MIKE ABRASHOFF – A TOP KEYNOTE SPEAKER IN TWO WORDS I took a look through the pages and pages of testimonial quotes that I have on file for MIKE ABRASHOFF this weekend. I was amazed how many times pairs of words would stick as writers talked about the impact Mike and his message had on their audience. It’s absolutely remarkable the fan mail he receives after his talks. I thought it would be fun to share some of them in the graphic above to illustrate why he’s considered a top keynote speaker.