Author: leadgen

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Whether you’re looking for a keynote business speaker who can fix your company’s broken culture or a multigenerational or diversity expert to bridge your company’s divide, BigSpeak’s list of Top Diversity and Human Resource Speakers has someone for you.

These top business speakers each have a unique outlook on building healthy company cultures and, in turn, creating a more productive business. Read more to find out which keynote speaker is perfect for your company.

Paul Moya

Paul Moya is a human resource speaker and the CEO of Millennial Labs—a global consulting firm focused on segmentation marketing and generational behavior. He is known as the Harvard Millennial Expert after serving as Student Government Associate at Harvard, where he grew and led operations on large scales while engaging and retaining millennial employees, consumers, and voters.

His focus is on generational differences in the workplace and creating a space where all members of the team are heard, despite their inherently different approaches. He also speaks on maximizing your workforce by targeting the millennials through workplace policies.

Ian Siegel

Ian Siegel is a technology and entrepreneur speaker, and CEO and co-founder of ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter revolutionized the job search industry by providing an online platform that enabled companies to post to multiple free job boards with a single submission.In addition, Ian has held Executive Product and Technology Leadership roles at a number of early-stage to mid-size startups including CitySearch, Stamps.com, Rent.com, and Pictage.

In his speaking, Siegel discusses how to build an elite team with true talent in any labor market, the difference between leaders and individual contributors to a team, and how to maintain a quality product through growth and change. He believes that while most companies innovate and add to a product, another way to grow is to make noise about the quality product you already have.

Liz Wiseman

Liz Wiseman is a human resource speaker and the President of the Wiseman Group, a leadership development and research firm. She is the author of three best-selling books:  Rookie Smarts: Why Learning Beats Knowing in the New Game of Work, Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter and The Multiplier Effect: Tapping the Genius Inside Our Schools. Her speaking focuses on creating an inspiring work environment through adopting the idea of lifelong learning.

Robert Richman

Robert Richman is a keynote speaker, company cultural strategist, and co-creator of Zappos Insights, an innovative program focused on educating companies on the secrets behind Zappos’ amazing employee culture.

As a cultural architect, Richman specializes in digging deep within a company to help the team take ownership of the problem and the solution. He eases the growing pains every developing company encounters by ‘culture hacking’ and creating a healthier work environment.

Michael Parrish DuDell

Michael Parrish DuDell is a keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and the bestselling author of Shark Tank Jump Start Your Business—the official book from ABC’s hit show Shark Tank on how to successfully launch and grow a company from concept to cash.

DuDell’s speaking focuses on attracting the best of the new generation to your company, to your product, and to your brand. He uses the entrepreneurial spirit of the millennial to predict how to prepare for the next wave of leaders.

Patty McCord

Patty McCord is a human resource speaker and former chief talent officer of Netflix, where she served for fourteen years and helped create the Netflix Culture Deck. McCord participated in IPOs at Netflix and, before that, Pure Atria Software. A veteran of Sun Microsystems, Borland, and Seagate Technologies, she has also worked with small startups.

McCord’s views on HR are revolutionary. She teaches companies to reimagine the negative terms associated with changing jobs, so as to honor everyone’s service to the company and give employees the power to manage their own career.

Ben Casnocha

Ben Casnocha is a top human resource speaker and founder of the e-government technology firm, Comcate. He currently works as both the advisor to venture capital firm Wasabi Ventures and as a mentor to the startup incubator Techstars. He has established his expertise by authoring two bestselling books The Start-Up of You and The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age, which provide a framework on how to recruit, manage, and retain entrepreneurial employees.

He discusses ways to keep up with the changing technologies. His speaking topics include recruiting and holding onto quality talent in the network age, working within and breaking out of the LinkedIn/social media standards for networking, and crossing generational divides.

Kim Scott

Kim Scott is a diversity speaker, co-founder and CEO of Radical Candor, Inc which builds software tools for managers, and an advisor to Dropbox, Twitter, and several other Silicon Valley companies. Her book Radical Candor: How To Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity provides a blueprint for how to lead teams well.

While she generally focuses on building a healthy leader/employee relationship through radical candor, she has recently implemented radical candor to tackle workplace diversity issues. She has developed a workshop in which companies can safely discuss the difficult conversations, including gender disputes.

Risha Grant

Risha Grant is a diversity speaker and the Founder and CEO of Risha Grant LLC, an award-winning diversity consulting and communications firm. Her mission is to utilize diversity communication strategies, tactics and training as a catalyst to create an inclusive culture in every company and community. Additionally, Risha created DiversityConneX.com, a highly successful online recruitment tool utilized by both small organizations and Fortune 500 companies to connect diverse professionals to their career opportunities, internships, and non-profit and corporate board positions.

Grant speaks about getting rid of your implicit and conscious biases in order to build an inclusive culture. She discusses the benefits of inclusivity for company culture, but also highlights how a diverse team actually makes for a more profitable company.

Seth Mattison

Seth Mattison is a human resource speaker and Founder and Chief Movement Officer of FutureSight Labs. Seth Mattison advises many of the world’s leading brand and organizations on the key shifts happening around talent management, change and innovation, leadership, and the future of work.

Mattison’s speaking focuses on adapting to workplace trends. From connecting in the digital age to unleashing the power and perspective of every generation, to predicting how to better plan for the new world of work, his insights are transformational.

Adrian Gostick

Adrian Gostick is a human resources speaker, global workplace expert, and thought leader in the fields of corporate culture, leadership, and engagement. He is founder of the training and consulting company The Culture Works and author of the number one New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestsellers All In and The Carrot Principle.

He works to help companies develop a culture of belief that drives big results, as well as how to properly engage your employees and be an effective leader. His keynote speaking is diverse enough to encompass a large range of workplace issues.

 

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Use ‘way power’ and better communication to inspire your teams.

In our fast-paced, ever-changing work environment, employees are looking for inspiration and guidance. When the only certainty is change, every member of the team has to keep up to maintain a prosperous company. Employees want to be inspired rather than directed and a compelling leader has no shortage of inspiration.

Leaders can be anyone, not just the higher-ups in the corner office. As long as they can inspire individuals to be more passionate about their work they can lead from any position. Ultimately, it is individuals, not a board of executives, who will lead an organization to success, says executive coach and hope researcher Libby Gill.

Gill is the author of the award-winning book, You Unstuck: Mastering the New Rules of Risk-taking in Work and Life, which won an Independent Publisher Book Award in the category of self-help. Her forthcoming business book, The Hope-Driven Leader: Harness the Power of Positivity at Work, uses the science of hope and positive psychology to inspire leaders to inspire others.

Hope is not optimism

Hope is not to be confused with optimism, Gill explained, which is a general point of view (e.g., do you see glass as half-full or half-empty?). Instead, hope is linked to actions and behavioral outcomes. It is the idea that you recognize your situation is not pretty, you have obstacles to overcome, but you believe your actions can and will change your future.

Not only is hope important for our well-being, it’s all important for our success. Research by positive psychologist Dr. Charles. R Snyder, author of the textbook Positive Psychology, has shown hopeful people set more goals, reach for higher goals, and are more successful at attaining goals than less hopeful people.

In her new book, Gill explained there are two ways leaders can inspire hope in employees so they can be more successful.

Use ‘way power’ to inspire employees

Leaders can inspire employees by recognizing and appreciating that there are multiple pathways to problem-solving. In businesses, sometimes leaders emphasize there is only one way to do things, which ignores employees’ individual strengths and abilities. However, there are always multiple ways to complete a task.

According to Gill, smart leaders inspire hope, drive, and direction in their teams by giving employees license to follow their individual paths to solving problems.

Use effective communication to create collaborative teams

Another way to inspire hope in employees is to have more effective communication with your teams. In her book, Gill highlights how research has shown that better communication makes for effective teams by encouraging equal participation and higher levels of engagement.

According to Gill, the key for leaders inspiring teams is to speak less and allow space for full-on team participation, where team members feel safe to challenge each other. This style of communication gives ownership to a team’s actions, which inspires hope that they can change situations.

Gill adds the science of hope is not just for millennials and startups. In her coaching and keynote talks, she has found she gets the biggest response from leaders in mature companies, who are seeking new ways to handle changes affecting their industries.

And for them, she has one message, “Feed hope and people will follow.”

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Kyle Crocco is the Content Marketing Coordinator for BigSpeak, an appreciator of microbrews in Santa Barbara, and writes a column on Medium and Born2Invest.

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In today’s corporate world, the workplace is a minefield of potential conflict. There is an ever-intensifying tug-of-war between the behavior of the past and the progression of the future. This generational shift in office dynamics didn’t come with a protocol meeting or a “new policies” tutorial. It is the loud response to decades of subtle, subversive tactics, and it’s causing quite a stir.

Kim Scott, author of Radical Candor and founder/CEO of Candor Inc., wants to help you and your team navigate the turbulent waters of difficult conversations. In her new interactive workshop, Scott primarily focuses on gender conversations in the office but uses examples and lessons that are applicable to all sensitive topics.

Her company and bestselling book are built on the idea that openness and honesty will not only save your employees’ feelings in the long run but also your company. She focuses on the benefits of giving and receiving feedback and its imperative role in building a healthier and more vibrant company.

Scott’s team is now using radical candor to offer guidance within the shifting workplace dynamic. In her workshop, she explains the framework for overcoming the “rage syndrome” and breaking out of your silence. She approaches dilemmas from every angle and allows participants to understand how it feels to be the disrespected, why the disrespector acts the way he or she does, and what you can do as an observer.

Scott puts names to commonplace aggressive behaviors that were once ignored because of their commonality, like “mansplaining,” “triggers,” and “unconscious bias,” and then explains how to break out of these habits and become more respectful and inclusive.

In the end, she even provides a safe and nonjudgmental space for your team to apply what they’ve learned. By using radical candor in difficult conversations, Scott believes we can create a safer and more supportive workplace. And if that’s not enough to motivate you to get with the times, companies with happier employees are 12 percent more productive.

So be the leader your employees brag about; the one they want to achieve higher standards for because they feel they are treated with the same respect.

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Jessica Welch is the Content Marketing Associate at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau, holding a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Anthropology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Her business thought articles often appear on Business 2 Community, Born 2 Invest, and YF Entrepreneurs.

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To recognize O’Brien’s commitment to not only the food allergy community but also the health and standards of American food for everyone, End Allergies Together (E.A.T.) Foundation is honoring her with the Courage Award at their third annual fundraiser.

After Robyn O’Brien’s youngest child was sent to the emergency room from a severe food allergy, O’Brien asked a question that sparked a movement: “Are we allergic to our food or what we’ve done to it?”

Since her child’s diagnosis, O”Brien has been a strong voice for the food allergy community. In 2010, she founded the Allergy Kid Foundation to draw attention to the skyrocketing food allergy rates and fund research to prevent its spread. She wrote a bestselling book The Unhealthy Truth that drew attention to the dramatic increase in food allergies and the American food system’s role in the epidemic. She also led the fight against the drastic price increase on the life-saving technology of the EpiPen in 2016.

O’Brien’s advocacy spans from politicians, to corporations, to direct families. She has been called “food’s Erin Brockovich” by Bloomberg and The New York Times. Her daring stances on American food has pinned her against some of the most notorious food giants in the nation.

Thank you, Robyn O’Brien, for your tireless efforts to make America a healthier country and congratulations on your Courage Award. You deserve it.

To read more about the E.A.T. Foundation and its event visit https://patch.com/connecticut/greenwich/end-allergies-together-host-fundraiser-greenwich.

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Jessica Welch is the Content Marketing Associate at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau, holding a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Anthropology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Her business thought articles often appear on Business 2 Community, Born 2 Invest, and YF Entrepreneurs.

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Welcome to the second machine age. Say hello to insta-holograms with your favorite droid and say goodbye to factory work and writing boring reports—we have an algorithm for that!

The first machine age infinitely increased our strength and mobility. With fuel powered machines, we could lift more and move faster than we ever had before.

We are now in the second machine age, which is overcoming the limitations of our brains and infinitely increasing our knowledge power.

Machines are not just beating us at games like Chess and Jeopardy, they are demonstrating skills they’ve never had before—understanding, speaking, hearing, seeing, writing…and they’re still acquiring new skills. Machines can translate languages, drive cars, help us find the best route through traffic, and respond to our voice queries.

According to technology optimist Andrew McAfee, this new machine age will create a fantastic world that is only limited by our lack of imagination. Instead of a dystopian future where machines destroy our lives (hello West World, Terminator, etc.), machines will free us from the chains of the industrial revolution, where we’re tethered to machines in long, death-march assembly lines.

How the second machine age will improve our lives

The second machine revolution is good news for jobs for three reasons, says digital futurist, TED speaker, and bestselling author of The Second Machine Age, McAfee.

First, with machines creating our products, both output and quality will go up while prices will come down. The result is an economy of abundance, which is exactly what you want.

Second, with machines doing the drudge tasks and completing our rote work, people who used to be craftsmen and hobbyists will now be makers and innovators; knowledge workers will be free to think, innovate, and take on new challenges.

Third, instead of a digital divide of haves and have-nots—those who experience the benefits of technology while the poor watch from the outside–technology will be so cheap and pervasive that it will instead create a digital provide, where all people will benefit.

In fact, the digital provide is already here. In a study by economist Robert Jensen, he showed the digital renaissance is already happening to fishing villages in India with the introduction of cell phones. In the villages he studied, production went up and waste was eliminated when fishermen and women were better able to communicate and share information with each other and their buyers.

This is not to say there won’t be disruption along the way. There will be. But the end result of the second machine is a better world for all of us, one that will go way beyond what we can even imagine today.

 

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Kyle Crocco is the Content Marketing Coordinator for BigSpeak, has an unframed Ph.D. in Education from UCSB on his bookshelf, and is featured in the Duh Professors video So Sexy.

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Use the six steps of “We Thinking” to build a winning team.

Adventure racing is more like business than you would think. Business people may not be scaling mountains or paddling rapids, but the approach to success is the same.

Like the early days of adventure racing, team leaders would try to recruit the best individuals in a specific skill area in order to succeed. The leader would hire the best mountain biker, the best paddler, or the best navigator, just like organizations try to hire the best manager, the best CEO, or the best marketer in the industry. However, these adventure “super teams” with the best individuals often didn’t make it halfway through the race, let alone win.

Why did these “super teams” fail, while teams without superstars flourished? Simple. These “super teams” weren’t teams at all, but merely a collection of individuals with superior skills.

Most people think of a team as a group of individuals moving together toward a common goal. But a “we thinking” leader inspires their team to not just walk forward side by side —but to literally and figuratively carry one another when a teammate needs it.

When it comes to team building, the most overlooked aspect to success is “We Thinking.” If you want to be successful with your teams, you need to follow the six rules of we thinking.

1) Strive to take everyone across the finish line together

Winning is often thought of as an individual effort with one person standing on the podium holding the trophy. We celebrate the quarterback, but rarely the front line that protects him so he can throw a touchdown.

However, we thinking is about the collective effort of winning. On our World Class Teams, we all win and lose the race together.

This means you share both your strengths and weaknesses with your team. When you’re strong, you don’t conserve your strength, you use it when someone is falling behind. And when you feel weak, you don’t hide it, you share it so someone strong on your team can lend a hand or carry your weight when you need it the most. This is often where the “super team” fails. When you’re conditioned to think of yourself as the best, it’s hard to accept help.

In business, if someone falls behind on their part of the project, you offer to lend a hand. You don’t say, “That’s not my job,” because it’s your job as a team to succeed together.

2) Accept responsibility for success and failure as a team

In we thinking, there is no finger pointing at individual weaknesses or mistakes. We thinking teammates don’t say, “Bob didn’t train enough,” or “Amy really blew that section.” These individuals are most likely aware of their errors and don’t need them pointed out.

In we thinking, every team member accepts complete responsibility for the group’s successes and failures. We thinking teams say, “We lost our way,” or “We struggled in that section.”

So when you get to your company meeting, don’t throw your teammates under the bus or put them on a pedestal. Accept praise and failure equally.

3) Suffer equally

World Class Teams who use we thinking always find a way to “suffer equally” during the race. In order for everyone to come across the line together, everyone must suffer equal pain.

This doesn’t mean everyone on the team is treated the same. For instance, when our team carried equipment in the Adventure Race, we didn’t all carry the same amount of weight. Instead, we redistributed the weight of our equipment so the stronger person carried more and the weaker person carried less. However, we all suffered equally.

Teammates who consistently share their strengths and their weaknesses will always get to the finish line before a team of superstar soloists in the long run. So when you have a team project, distribute the tasks to suffer equally. Sally may be better with numbers, while John is better with writing. Things will get done faster if you don’t share the writing and math, but assign them who can do them easiest.

4) Your problems = my problems

In we thinking teams, all problems are team problems. You rarely hear teammates say, “That’s not my job,” or “That’s not my problem.” For example, I once lost a pedal off my mountain bike during a race.

Other teams might have said, “Sucks to be you, Robyn.” But with we thinking, everyone was off their bikes and looking for a solution. We never did get the bike completely fixed. Instead, each team member took a turn riding the broken bike, or riding alongside the person on the broken bike and pushing that person on the broken bike via a hand on their lower back as we rode down the trail.

This is the same in business. You all succeed or fail together. For example, if some team member lost some of their data, then the team helps out to recover or rebuild that data. If you want to win as a team, all problems are the team’s problems.

5) Don’t compare, compete, or criticize

We thinking teams cut out the negativity, gossip, and backstabbing. During an adventure race, I saw a team who did this to their regret. Their team leader, who was an army ranger, systematically tore down all the teammates for what he saw as their personal failings. His team did not finish the race.

We thinking team members are the ones who use the 3 As: they accept, acknowledge, and appreciate the positive things about their teammates.

6) Seek synergy everywhere

Finally, we thinking teams always look to create synergy in every interaction. This goes even outside the immediate team members.

In a six-to-ten-day Adventure Race, your team needs to create distance from the pack to win. We found the best way to do this was to seek synergy with other Adventure Racing teams. The best teams would work together to separate from the pack and then it was each team for itself towards the end.

Synergy draws people together and brings out the team builders in them. It’s amazing how much people will give when the person across the table from them has the intention to give back.

So remember these six rules when you are working with your teams. Success is not about the individual, it’s about everyone looking out for each other and accepting responsibility for the team’s efforts.

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Robyn Benincasa is a leadership and teamwork expert, adventure racing world champion, CNN Hero, and New York Times bestselling author of How Winning Works.

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The fountain of youth is real. It’s been presented to us each time a baby is born in the world, but until now it has been thrown away as biochemical hazardous material. What is this key to being forever young, never balding, never wrinkling? Postpartum placentas.

Top futurist speaker and X-Prize Founder, Dr. Peter Diamandis and his partner, Dr. Bob Hariri, have co-founded Celularity, a biotechnology company researching stem cells for the purpose of improving human immunity, longevity, and regeneration. The startup just raised $250 million because of their promising goals.

Through extensive research, we know that stem cells found in the placenta are not yet specialized and can be influenced to grow into any type of cell found in the body. Diamandis believes with more research stem cells will be the key to regeneration, increased lifespans, and improved immunity systems.

His confidence in stem cell research is founded in the body’s ability to accept the foreign cells— unlike typical transplants and outside cells. When a surrogate mother carries a baby with no shared DNA, the body does not reject the baby, nor does the baby reject the carrier. This ability to integrate make stem cells unique from other body tissue.

In the past, stem cell research was controversial because the cells were taken from embryos. The new practice is to use the placenta (an organ the mother creates solely to sustain the developing baby). Since this is considered trash after the birth, there is no moral dilemma. Placentas cannot be bought or sold but can be donated to the LifeBank USA. This is the only donation center and it is owned and operated by Celularity.

Right now it is the only company in the nation performing this kind of stem cell biotechnology research. Since they control access to the placenta tissue, it may be hard for any other biotech startups to follow their lead.

Diamandis envisions a future where stem cells help cure cancer and autoimmune diseases, as well as delay aging and replace amputated limbs. He personally plans to live to 150 and has saved his sons’ placentas with the wild hope of one day using the tissue to better their lives in some way. Peter believes the future holds incredible science feats that will make our world a better place. And he plans to hurry those along.

For deeper insights into the science behind Celularity, watch Peter Diamandis on Bloomberg TV.

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Original article by Glenn Llopis can be found on Forbes. 

With all of the uncertainty in the workplace and marketplace, how do we solve for it? Is it a new strategic plan, more consultants, new leaders, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, cultural transformation . . . ?  I have spoken to over 40 executives and organizations in the past quarter and all of these were topics discussed but there was no common denominator, except one:  They all want to be less dependent on their employees to deal with the uncertainty. They don’t seem to have the confidence they once did in their people given the unusual speed of change. They would rather find other ways to multiply resources or leverage existing assets into new lines of business. Anything but rely more on their people.

That seems odd when you consider that companies will be increasingly dependent on those people once they acquire a company, forge new partnerships and/or reinvent themselves. While artificial intelligence, automation, and new efficiencies are attempting to replace people, human capital is still a crucial component in helping organizations get out in front of the change and uncertainty. The need to maximize the utilization of human capital is at an all-time high. What these companies and leaders fail to see is that their mismanagement of people – and their ineffective deployment of human capital – created all of the uncertainty to begin with. They created the “people problem” they refuse to be dependent on to solve!

Here are four burning issues to prove this point:

• Speed of Change and Transformation: Transformation is a buzzword for becoming relevant again. Yet the reason organizations are in transformation mode is they are trying to learn how to serve more informed individuals: employees in the workplace and consumers in the marketplace. These are the same individuals they refuse to include in solving for uncertainty. Until they do, the uncertainty will multiply, and more informed individuals will continue to lose trust in their leaders and the organizations they serve.
• The Old Ways of Doing Things Don’t Work: Uncertainty has reached new heights because leaders and organizations are realizing that the old ways of doing things no longer apply. The predictability models of the past just don’t work anymore. Yet companies continue to tell people what to do inside the box they are given instead of allowing those people to influence more by creating an environment where the box no longer exists.
• Silos Are Widening: Companies still define their people’s capabilities and aptitudes based on their job titles and descriptions. The reality is that leaders and their organizations don’t know who their people truly are and how they can best contribute. As a result, those people are operating in widening silos because their leaders are creating environments of disconnected thinking that is creating confusion and further cultivating uncertainty.

• Leaders Aren’t Listening: Though leaders will tell you that they do listen, they are not paying close enough attention nor taking action on what their employees are telling them. Because leaders are uncomfortable hearing the truth and admitting that they don’t have all the answers. As a result, they are completely out of touch with the new realities of the workplace and the marketplace, which contributes to the uncertainty and puts their organizations at risk.

All these burning issues perpetuate uncertainty, but the more significant consequence is that companies and their leaders have been solving for the wrong opportunities for years because they underutilize their human capital. How can leaders and organizations solve for the right opportunities when they don’t know what their own people solve for?  Is it any wonder their people just do what they’re told? They have no influence, so they have no reason to act and help solve for the uncertainty.

So what’s the secret to overcoming this uncertainty? The ability to operationalize and lead INCLUSION as a growth strategy.

Inclusion is a system for making sure organizations are welcoming at every level to every individual. Inclusion is about diversity of thought – about finding like-mindedness in our differences. Inclusion is not about diversity because diversity doesn’t solve for inclusion. In fact, inclusion solves for diversity, and today’s new realities in the workplace and marketplace allow inclusion to solve for much more.  This is why we need to think about inclusion as a way to maximize an organization’s intellectual and human capital, its leaders’ and employees’ full potential.

Here are six outcomes inclusion immediately brings to an organization that is attempting to overcome growing uncertainty in the workplace and marketplace:

1. Culture and Purpose: Corporate cultures and teams find like-mindedness in differences not forced assimilation.
2. Individuality and Belonging: Individuals define the business guided by leaders who create teams of individuals that function together as part of a healthy whole.
3. Values and Beliefs: People no longer feel that permission is required to live their values and core beliefs and encourage others to do the same.
4. Trust and Engagement: Leaders who go beyond engagement to rebuild trust to maximize organizational and people potential to drive growth.
5. Impact and Influence: A shift from assimilation and victimization to authenticity and allowing employees to influence of the future.
6. Growth and Evolution: Leaders and employees who are clear about what they solve for and how they influence the future of the organization.

These six things ultimately allow you to solve for the right opportunities. Opportunities in the workplace and marketplace that have been previously unseen.

Simply put, inclusion is the last remaining true growth opportunity. But to see and seize this opportunity you must move inclusion away from diversity and human resources – and place it where growth lies: corporate strategy. Inclusion is all about letting the individual touch the business, influence more and help the organization mitigate risk and neutralize uncertainty. Inclusion is about creating interdependency on people and their unique experiences and capabilities. It is about fostering environments in which leaders can best see, sow, grow and share opportunities for the betterment of a healthier whole. Click here to measure your organization’s ability to lead inclusion as a growth strategy.

It’s time to diffuse uncertainty and make our organizations healthy again – from the inside out and the outside in – through inclusion. That’s how we breed a healthy mindset for and about people that propels innovation and initiative.

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When the stakes are high, go all-in with Molly Bloom, subject of Molly’s Game

About BigSpeak’s Newest Exclusive Speaker, Molly Bloom

Molly Bloom is an inspirational keynote speaker, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and former owner and operator of the world’s most exclusive, high-stakes poker game. Her memoir Molly’s Game was recently made into an Oscar-nominated movie. The film Molly’s Game, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, stars Jessica Chastain (as Molly), Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Brian d’Arcy James, and Chris O’Dowd.

After ranking No. 3 in North America for mogul skiing, Bloom moved to Los Angeles where she planned to take a gap year before starting Law school. However, her temporary job as an office assistant turned into a 10-year career running an underground poker game with A-lister celebrities, billionaire businessmen, and world-famous athletes, like Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, Tobey Maguire, and A-rod.

After leaving the poker life, Bloom wrote her bestselling memoir and worked tirelessly to put it in the hands of critically acclaimed screenplay writer Aaron Sorkin.

Bloom is now working exclusively with BigSpeak to spread the lessons she learned through leadership and entrepreneurial keynote speaking. Bloom has appeared on numerous shows and in media outlets such as Ellen, Vice, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, Vulture. She has been asked to speak at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women, for companies like Blackrock Financial, SiriusXM Radio, and will deliver the 2018 commencement speech at Colorado State University.

Why Molly?

Bloom is a unique voice in the vast world of entrepreneurial speakers. As a women entrepreneur, she breached an industry that was not only unfamiliar to her and completely hidden from the majority of the world, but also dominated by men. Bloom knows how to command success and build a business. Her life story alone was exciting enough to inspire an Oscar-nominated film; but, combined with the business and life lessons she’s gained, her speaking is as insightful as it is interesting.

An event with Bloom is a step into a world you never imagined existed. Her speaking is honest and real. Although you’ve probably never fronted money to the richest men in America, you will still align with her business sense and learn from her expertise in entrepreneurship.

Molly speaks on…

1. Molly’s Game: The True Story of the Woman Behind the Most Exclusive, High-Stakes Underground Poker Game in the World
2. Bet on Yourself and You’ll Always Win
3. Showing Your Hand: The Power of Authenticity and Storytelling
4. How to UnF**k Your Life: Starting Over After Addiction, Assault, and Felony Charges

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Jessica Welch is the Content Marketing Associate at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau, holding a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Anthropology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Her business thought articles often appear on Business 2 Community, Born 2 Invest, and YF Entrepreneurs.

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Forbes’ “30 Under 30” and Business Insider’s “Most Powerful People Under 30,” Alex Banayan, gained those accolades by skipping out on studying for his Freshman college finals to audition for The Price is Right.

He won a sailboat as a contestant on the show and despite his disinterest in weathering the seas, this detour from academia turned out to be the best decision he ever made.

With the money he pocketed from selling the boat, Banayan could finally invest in his real fascination—discovering the key to success. He embarked on a quest to figure out how the world’s most successful people launched their careers. That meant chasing down and getting the attention of some of the most famous; not to mention, busiest people in the world.

He ended up trading his dorm room for exclusive parties with Steven Spielberg, the dressing room of Lady Gaga, and the secret office of Bill Gates. He spent years nagging celebrities for interviews, trying to understand how someone can go from being rejected by every film school to the most decorated director in Hollywood or from waiting tables to singing in the Super Bowl halftime show.

He surveyed people from contrasting backgrounds in different industries, and after talking to as many A-list stars, business moguls, and creative geniuses as he could, he found an answer.

These celebrities all took the third door.

Taking the third door

What does that mean? In his upcoming book The Third Door (being released June 5, 2018), Alex Banayan describes the third door by comparing success to a nightclub.

There are always three ways in. There’s the First Door: the main entrance, where 99 percent of people wait in line, hoping to get in. The Second Door: the VIP entrance, where the billionaires and celebrities slip through. But what no one tells you is that there is always, always…the Third Door. It’s the entrance where you have to jump out of line, run down the alley, bang on the door a hundred times, climb over a dumpster, crack open the window, sneak through the kitchen—there’s always a way.

He discusses the secret to being successful even if you were never invited in through the second door. Banayan focuses on celebrities who used true grit and determination to become the self-made public figures they are today. These icons are famous because they didn’t wait in line with the rest of the world. Instead, they got crafty and found their own third door.

Finding your third door

Banayan found his own third door. With a wad of cash from hacking a game show, he pursued success through various forms of “sneaking in the back door”. During his quest to find the secret to success he met with members of a high-tech venture capital firm, Alsop Louie Partners. Within months he went from ordinary college student to the world’s youngest Venture Capitalist.

He also contributes to FastCompany, The Washington Post, HuffPost Tech, VentureBeat, Entrepreneur Magazine, and TechCrunch. He’s been featured in major media including Businessweek, Forbes, Fortune, Bloomberg TV, CBS News, Fox News, and CNN.

Banayan made it into the nightclub of success at such a young age because of his unique idea to simply search for it.

After speaking at a conference for Apple, people said “Banayan represents the voice of entrepreneurship, the power of hustle, and the energy of unlimited potential. “ All of which are channeled into his upcoming business self-help book.

So, if you feel like you’ve been waiting in line your whole life, pre-order a copy of Alex Banayan’s book The Third Door and learn how to find your way into the party.

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Jessica Welch is the Content Marketing Associate at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau, holding a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Anthropology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Her business thought articles often appear on Business 2 Community, Born 2 Invest, and YF Entrepreneurs.

As seen on BigSpeak.com

In an interview with organizational change expert, Robert Sutton, Business Insider uncovered his three steps for living an asshole-free life. Sutton is a Stanford business professor and the author of The No Asshole Rule, in which he examines how jerks impact your work and life.

Learn to identify an asshole.  The first step to eliminating assholes is learning to identify an asshole. If you know who they are, it’s easier to avoid them in the future, as well as ditch the ones that are currently bullying you. Sutton shares his methods for picking out the true assholes among the generally cranky public. You can’t mistake assertiveness and boundary-setting for assholery. He helps you make the distinction between this and many other social interactions in the full article.

Deal with the asshole. As we all know, assholes come in all shapes and sizes. No asshole is alike. So dealing with your asshole has to be specific to that person. Sutton lays out a few different methods for you to choose from in dealing with your personal kind of asshole. If he’s overwhelmingly controlling, find humor in his neurotic tendencies.

Get rid of the asshole. Sutton will help you examine your power dynamic with your asshole and explore ways to use it to your advantage. This is obviously the ideal outcome for every asshole in our lives—but Sutton says that it isn’t always possible. That’s when you have to get really good at step 2—dealing with the asshole. Read the full article about How to Deal With Assholes.

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There’s no surprise that the top-ten, most-requested celebrity speakers all have talents that go beyond the screen. BigSpeak’s top-ten celebrity speakers are also great business speakers, motivational speakers, entrepreneur speakers, and more. These keynote celebrity speakers are the most requested because of the experience they bring to their talks from so many different industries.

Molly Bloom

Molly Bloom is a top entrepreneur and leadership speaker, bestselling author of Molly’s Game, and prior owner and operator of the most exclusive, high-stakes poker game in the world. As the subject of the Oscar-nominated film Molly’s Game (adapted from her memoir), she is currently the most requested celebrity speaker. Her insights into the hidden world of high roller poker and running a multi-million dollar business make her an expert in entrepreneurship and creative innovation.

Her speaking covers everything from her fascinating story of running a billionaire boys club to lessons about starting a business with nothing to your name to overcoming addiction and rebuilding your life.

Daymond John

Daymond John is a top business speaker and motivational speaker, founder and CEO of FUBU clothing, reality TV judge on Shark Tank, and bestselling author. He became a household name after appearing as a Shark investor on Shark Tank, but his business savvy came long before his celebrity status.

His New York Times bestselling, motivational business book The Power of Broke, recounts the growth of FUBU clothing from garage startup to multi-million dollar company. He speaks on everything entrepreneurial, from branding to negotiation to motivating through tough times.

Fredrik Eklund

Top motivational sales speaker Fredrik Eklund brought his business to Bravo TV when he signed on to the show Million Dollar Listing. As the number one broker in the nation, he capitalized on his charm and an insane knack for sales by starring in a TV show centered around his high-end real estate sales in Manhattan.

In his keynote addresses, he shares his sales secrets and brings any audience to life with his high energy. This firecracker is sought after for his sales expertise and his ability to entertain alike.

Kevin O’Leary

Kevin O’Leary is a top entrepreneur speaker, author, venture capitalist, and reality TV judge on Shark Tank. O’Leary co-founded SoftKey Software Products, which later became the Learning Company, and was acquired by Mattel for 3.7 billion.

He lives up to his role as a shark in every sense of the term. He has gained the reputation of a hard hitter in the entrepreneurial world with his serious demeanor and even more serious investments. He brings this no-nonsense attitude to his speaking engagements. His keynotes will expose the audience to the cold, hard truths of working with giants and how to become one yourself.

Steve Wozniak

Steve Wozniak might be less of a celebrity and more of a cult icon. His following grew as it became clear his understanding of the tech world was far beyond most others of his time. He is is a highly sought after keynote speaker because he is seen as a pivotal figure of the 21st century. Nowadays, Steve Wozniak is known as a top technology speaker and innovation expert, co-founder of Apple Computer, and a bestselling author.

His speaking focuses on innovation, creativity, and the overall mindset behind the creation of Apple Computer.

Jay Leno

We all know Jay Leno as the host of The Tonight Show, where his comedic social commentary won over the ratings for two consecutive decades. Leno is a global phenomenon, speaking everywhere from Afghanistan to Italy to Bosnia.

An indefatigable performer, Leno’s humor on screen is only amplified by a live audience. Even after winning multiple awards for his late-night TV show, he continues to perform over 100 live appearances in nightclubs, theaters, and stadiums each year. He has been touted as one of the nicest people in show business and is also recognized as a hard-working celebrity. When you book him as your keynote speaker you are signing up for a night with the unabridged Jay Leno.

Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban is a top business speaker, technology and media entrepreneur, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and chairman and co-founder of HDNet/AXS TV. He was first introduced to the spotlight as Kevin O’Leary’s cheery foil and Shark investor on Shark Tank, but like most of his fellow hosts, he has an impressive resume that goes beyond his celebrity smile.

As a keynote business speaker, Cuban breaks down entrepreneurship to its most basic elements. His approachable, down-to-earth nature makes his speaking accessible and comfortable while broadening your view of the fierce business world he navigates with grace.

Bethenny Frankel

Bethenny Frankel is a top entrepreneur speaker, reality TV star, bestselling author, and founder of Skinnygirl Cocktails. She used her fame to launch and brand her lifestyle empire, as well as branch out into different fields of interest. Her newest venture is a Bravo TV show in which she’s teamed up with longtime friend Fredrik Eklund to explore her natural adeptness for flipping houses.

Frankel is an entrepreneur who wears many hats and her speaking reflects this. Her speaking topics vary from gutsy leadership to mommy mogul to reality TV in business. Her speaking is tailored to her crowd and she has something to offer every audience.

Earvin Magic Johnson

Earvin “Magic” Johnson is best known for his 13-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Team. He broke virtually every record for every statistic on the Lakers team and is considered one of the best NBA players in history. He was diagnosed with the HIV Virus in 1991 and went on to win the gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

His speaking is inspirational as an HIV survivor, world-class athlete, and an entrepreneur whose company focuses on building up underdeveloped urban communities.

Barbara Corcoran

Barbara Corcoran is another investor shark on Shark Tank; however, she is also a real estate mogul, entrepreneur, author, and top business speaker. When she was 23 she borrowed $1,000 and quit her job as a waitress to start a tiny real estate company in New York City. Over the next 25 years, Corcoran would parlay that $1,000 loan into a $5 billion real estate empire, building the largest and best-known brand in the business.

She speaks on building a business from the ground up, leadership, and branding. Her rags-to-riches story is as inspiring as it is instructive and hopeful.

See Below For More Top Keynote Speakers:

Top Famous Motivational Keynote Speakers

All Top Keynote Speakers

What To Expect When Booking a Celebrity Keynote Speaker