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Craig Kielburger          

Co-Founder of the WE Organization, Social Entrepreneur, Humanitarian & New York Times Best-Selling Author

Craig Kielburger is a social entrepreneur and the co-founder of a family of organizations dedicated to the power of WE, a movement of people coming together to change the world.

Since the age of 12, Kielburger has been inspiring people to make a difference and helping them connect with their purpose. His incredible life journey starts in his parents’ living room, and takes him to slums around the world, to Oprah’s couch, to building a global organization.

Along with his brother Marc Kielburger, Kielburger co-founded WE Charity, which provides a holistic development model called WE Villages, helping to lift more than one million people out of poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Back at home in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, WE Schools and WE Day provide comprehensive service learning programs to 10,000 schools, engaging 2.4 million young change-makers.

Lastly, he is the co-founder of ME to WE, a pioneering social enterprise, the profits from which help sustain the work of his charitable organization. His work has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, 60 Minutes and the BBC.

Kielburger is the youngest ever graduate from the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program. He has also received 15 honorary doctorates and degrees for his work in the fields of education and human rights. Kielburger is a New York Times bestselling author, who has published 12 books, as well as a nationally syndicated columnist.

Kielburger has received The Order of Canada, the Nelson Mandela Freedom Medal and the World Children’s Prize. He was recently voted by Canadians as one of Canada’s top most trusted influencers in a Readers Digest poll, and along with his brother Marc, he was named Canada’s Most Admired CEO in the public sector in 2015.

Speech Topics


Making Caring Cool Again: Engaging and Inspiring Next Generation Philanthropists

Thought-provoking and informative for intimate conversations or large audiences of philanthropic individuals, YPO families, and Giving Pledge families.

In the age where selfies and the “me” not “we” mentality is more prevalent than ever, how do parents raise caring and compassionate children and set them on a life path for success and start a family tradition of giving back?

WE is the answer. In this speech, leading social activist, New York Times best-selling author and co-founder of the WE movement, Craig Kielburger will share an insider’s perspective on empowering today’s youth and offer tips that will help families find their North Star in values that will engage kids in philanthropy for a lifetime.

With a life-time of first-hand experience working with young people, combined with a wealth of research and interviews with experts from the philanthropic and education worlds, and by learning from expert partners such as Foundation Source, Craig will help give families the tools to inspire families to find their cause, rally together and set up young people to become stewards of their family’s legacy and become the next generation of world change-makers today.

Inspiring the next generation to find their place and change the world.

Unconventional Leadership: Lessons l learned from Oprah, Nelson Mandela, Grandma, and more

Inspiring for corporate, non-profit, association and university and college business audiences

In this highly interactive keynote that pushes the boundaries of traditional speeches with stunning videos, visuals and a choose-your-own-adventure delivery allowing audience members to pick the stories they want to hear, Craig shares actionable leadership lessons that anyone relate to and employ in their work, education or personal life.

Over the course of Craig’s dynamic presentation, he will share powerful stories and lessons of leadership he and his brother Marc Kielburger have learned from their mentors and some of the world’s greatest leaders, from Mother Teresa to Nelson Mandela. Relevant whether you are a company, association, community group, planning an educators conference or student leadership conference, participants will walk away with thought-provoking ideas and tips for creating personal and organizational change.

Weaving the tale of his journey from a 12 year old starting a charity in his parents’ living room, determined to make a difference, to become the leader of a global enterprise with over 1000 employees spanning 5 continents, Craig will share intimate stories that helped shape the strategic decisions that were made along the way. Craig will provide insights and lessons from the extraordinary leaders who have coached and mentored him in some of the most important leadership lessons one can receive – from taking big risks, to accountability, emotional intelligence and being a shameless idealist. This multimedia-rich speech asks the audience to pick which stories they want Craig to tell, creating an engaging experience that will resonate for large or intimate audiences, tailor-made to be relevant for the audience, whether it’s the C-suite or junior employees.

This true choose-your-speech journey takes audience interaction to a new level. Featuring surprise gifts for participating audience members, this interactive experience lets the audience pick from over 100 well-known Nobel Laureates, heads of state, titans of industry and more to hear the stories they most want told.

Unlike any speech you’ve ever seen before, Unconventional Leadership mixes inspiration with strong educational value. This engaging and visually rich keynote experience delivers important lessons that everyone – from the C-Suite to the intern and the educator to the business student – needs to know.

As Craig weaves the tale of his journey to becoming leader of a global enterprise spanning 5 continents, employing over 1000 people, his savvy insights and advice are peppered with accounts of the extraordinary leaders who have coached and mentored him. Whether it’s an anecdote involving President Clinton or Kid President, Sheryl Sandberg or Richard Branson, Mohammad Ali or Magic Johnson, Mother Teresa or one of the many top CEOs who have shared their wisdom, attendees will be entertained, inspired and come away with actions and advice they can apply to their own professional and personal lives.

The WEconomy: How Your Company Can Profit from Purpose

Thought-provoking and informative for all levels of your company as well as business students. Great for professional development sessions, company retreats to celebrate the company’s purpose and CSR efforts.

Purpose and profit are the greatest human motivators. WEconomy is the definitive roadmap for bringing the power of both forces together—achieving purpose with profit in your career, company, and changing the world.

We all inherently know that purpose is powerful, but in this speech, based on the revolutionary new book by Craig and Marc Kielburger and Holly Branson, WEconomy: You can find meaning, make a living, and change the world, Craig will share, how to unleash purpose within your career, company, and life goals. This speech will help you profit with purpose, whether you’re the one calling the shots or a junior employee looking to advance.

Custom building from your company’s unique mission, vision and values, Craig will celebrate with your team the inherent purpose of your company and the power you have to make a difference in the world. In this talk, he will outline strategies to:

• Find a cause that drives your company and your career goals to new heights • Boost employee productivity and their love for the company and mission • Inspire brand fanatics to stay loyal to you, your company, and your cause • Add a halo to your product, grow your geographic reach, innovate for “the next big thing”, engage Boomers to Gen Z, and much more!

Your audience will walk away feeling inspired and empowered with a road map of tips that can be implemented in your office today—either simple steps or a comprehensive plan, tailored to your needs. This is your blueprint for living by your personal values, achieving career success, and changing the world.

Craig will share his story about how he and his brother Marc founded WE, an organization with a start-up mentality that grew from 12 kids in the suburbs to a $50 million a year charity that makes doing good, doable. WE has partnered with some of the biggest companies in the world, helping them tap into their purpose, including KPMG, Unilever, Microsoft and Virgin. Craig will share learnings from some of WE’s biggest supporters, from world-class business leaders like Sheryl Sandberg and Sir Richard Branson, to the methods of megastars he has encountered like Oprah Winfrey and Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who make the world a better place through purposeful—and highly profitable—business strategies. These cross-sector relationships aren’t just good for the charity—WE partners are proven to gain increased brand recognition and intent to purchase.

More than MBA = BMW: What For-Profit Companies can learn from High Performing Social Enterprises, and Non-Profits.

Craig and Marc Kielburger, founders of Me to We, are pioneering social entrepreneurs who have shown that you can make good and make money.

Marc, with a law degree from Oxford University, and Craig, the youngest-ever graduate from the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program, are leading a revolution in business.

They are the founders of Me to We, a social enterprise that measures the bottom line by the number of lives changed and the positive social and environmental impact it makes.

Me to We partners with the world's leading companies such as KPMG and Virgin Atlantic to build robust corporate citizenship programs to engage employees and clients. Me to We provides socially-responsible products and experiences for hundreds of thousands of consumers every year, including international volunteer travel programs, a sweatshop-free clothing line, internationally-acclaimed jewelry and accessories providing economic empowerment to women in developing countries, a publishing house, and inspirational speakers service.

A new generation of business leaders increasingly wants to make an impact beyond the bottom line. In this speech Craig and Marc will show:

  • How they built one of the largest social media followings in the world with 2.4 million Facebook followers. And how your company can leverage social media.
  • How to attract and retain some of the best talent in the marketplace, especially the millennial generation of employees who are looking for meaning and a paycheck.
  • How to differentiate your product to highlight and celebrate its social values and to reach the rapidly-growing socially-conscious market.

They will also share six simple teachings while running the non-profit Free The Children that will help for-profits improve their work places and their bottom lines: Trust, Empathy, Community, Gratitude, Celebration and Legacy.

The World Needs Your Kid: How to Raise Kids Who Care and Contribute

Through Craig and Marc Kielburger's work with Free The Children -- the worlds largest youth-driven charity -- they have empowered 1.7 million extraordinary young people.

Their We Day empowerment event is attended annually by 100,000 students from 3000 schools, who earn their entry through service. It is also one of the largest Facebook causes in the world, with 2.4 million followers.

All these young people want to make a difference. They are looking for a place to begin.

Thats where parents and educators come in.

There is no greater privilege and no more important responsibility in life than to raise the next generation. It's the job of parents and educators to shine the light and guide the way.

In this inspiring speech, Craig and Marc draw stories from their own extraordinary upbringings and from the wisdom of their parents, who were teachers. Their parents let them take risks, fail, choose a different path, and find their own unique voices. Craig and Marc also draw on teachings from leading experts on compassion, empathy, mentoring, service learning, citizenship and achievement.

Based on the national bestseller "The World Needs Your Kid: Raising Children who Care and Contribute," this address delves into everything you need to know about raising and mentoring kids to be active, engaged citizens.

  • Learn how to help your children realize their own special gifts and passions.
  • Explore the Three C's for raising socially conscious kids: Compassion, Courage and Community.
  • Learn how small, everyday actions can have a lasting influence on a child's life -- resulting in new friendships, improved grades and higher self-esteem.
  • Learn how to introduce effective service-learning programs into schools.

The world needs your kids. Craig and Marc will help you be their guide, mentor and inspiration.

Me to We: Making Doing Good, Doable

An uplifting and inspirational speech that will give you the tools to start making a difference today. Inspiring for all audiences

In this uplifting, inspirational, and deeply personal speech that will bring forth laughter and emotions from all audiences, Craig will share his moving story about how he started a movement to change the world when he was just 12 years old and brought a newspaper clipping to class about a young boy in Pakistan who was killed for speaking up about child labour.

His group of twelve 12-year-olds led him to Oprah Winfrey’s couch where she vouched to help him build 100 schools, changing thousands of lives around the world, and careening Craig’s to new heights. Over two decades later, Craig is the leader of WE, an organization responsible for building thousands of schools and school houses around the world, helping millions of people lift themselves out of poverty.

In their two decades of humanitarian work, Craig and Marc Kielburger have visited dozens of countries, meeting people from all walks of life. They have learned from some of the greatest leaders of our time, including Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa, and have shared simple meals with families struggling in the world’s slums and war zones. Along the way, they have discovered a simple but profound truth—that anyone has the power to change the world, and that real fulfillment starts with having the courage to reach out and help others.

By sharing the ME to WE philosophy, described in their New York Times bestseller, ME to WE: Finding Meaning in a Material World, Craig will provide your audience with, - The inspiration for you to discover your own purpose and help you start your own journey to make a difference; - Provide tangible tips for anyone to make a difference – whether as a parent, student, front-line staff or CEO.

News


United America: How Young People Are Putting the Country Back ...
Craig Kielburger Co-Founder of WE, social entrepreneur, author and speaker. Christian Burgos' 18-year-old sister Alexandria Imani arrived at a party in ...
Craig Kielburger: Why The World Needs You To Let Your Kids Fail
By Craig and Marc Kielburger Silicon Valley has an unofficial motto: "Fail." Whenever we visit the California tech hub, we see evidence of pr...
Sunday Sitdown: WE Schools founder pushes for student service ...
WE Schools founder Craig Kielburger on the student service program and plans to pair high school Advance Placement Program students with service work.

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