The Energy of Leadership

Most people agree that leaders should inspire and provide a vision—but most leaders fall short of inspiration. How do leaders inspire and foster healthy teams?

Healthy teams have actively practice the behaviors of psychological safety, trust, and practice constructive conflict. Yet, there is a fine line between high performing and dysfunctional teams. This research-based talk provides tips and tools to increase empathy and curiosity in interactions for individual and team success.

What Story Does Your Culture Tell?

Culture is a top priority, yet many companies are unclear on how to create a flexible culture that can adjust to a changing business environment. Especially with hybrid work. Culture doesn’t exist within walls, it is demonstrated and reinforced through interactions.

Every culture tells a story. Not just at the organizational level, but through teams and how values are demonstrated day-to-day. The story of your culture is told as your employees talk to fellow team members, friends, family, and possibly recruits. Knowing the story your culture tells gives you the true experience of work, and it helps you intentionally shape what is desired.

As a former Global Head of Culture at GE and Head of Leadership Development at Deloitte, Karen helps Fortune 500 organizations implement practical behaviors at all levels to shape culture, especially on teams. This researched, story-based talk covers the neuroscience behind culture, common challenges faced, how to discover the story of your culture, and how to equip leaders and teams to shape the desired culture for your organization.

Why Storytelling Is More Trustworthy Than Data

Ever sit in a meeting when the presenter droned on about data, not realizing the audience was no longer listening? We tend to think it is more trustworthy to present data than using a story.

This talk builds on the concepts in The Perfect Story: How to Tell Stories that Inform, Influence, and Inspire. It shows you how to use stories to make your data more trustworthy and guide decision-making.

The Perfect Story: How to Tell Stories That Inform, Influence, and Inspire

Today’s world values connections and clear and compelling information. Your ability to connect with the hearts and minds of your audience determines success.

Whether in person or virtual, storytelling can help sell a product or service, land an idea in a meeting, or communicate with a loved one. It's memorable, informative, and builds trust. Especially when communicating data.

But it's not enough to tell a story. The way you tell one makes a difference in the experience for the listener and how their brain engages with the story.

This talk is based on The Perfect Story, and covers:

Describing and applying the science of storytelling with the Five Factory Settings of the Brain.

Finding endless ideas for stories to tell.

Defining your audience and desired outcomes.

Applying a structure to the story.

Including details and emotions that engage the brain.

*This talk can be tailored to demonstrate how to tell stories in any context, including Sales, Data Analytics teams, People Leaders, and Business Units (e.g., HR or Engineering) or to reinforce a desired culture (e.g., Well-being or sustainability).