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Rebecca Heiss, PhD    

Science-Backed Leadership & Performance Speaker; Stress Management Expert, Biologist, Chief Happiness Sparker & Author of "Instinct"

Called “transformative” by the National Science Foundation, evolutionary biologist Dr. Rebecca Heiss’s breakthrough research examines the prehistoric fears and primitive instincts that our human brains have subconsciously carried forward into our complex, modern world. Sharing science-backed explanations and thought-provoking storytelling, she shows us how to overcome the reflexes that served us well 20,000 years ago but sabotage us today. Whether you are a corporate leader looking to build and lead stronger teams, an organization seeking to understand the ingrained instincts behind unconscious bias, or simply wishing to manage stress and anxiety and adopt a more successful, positive mindset, Dr. Heiss’s highly interactive talks will rock your perceptions about how people universally think, behave, and interact.

Dr. Heiss is the author of "Instinct: Rewire Your Brain with Science-Backed Solutions to Increase Productivity and Achieve Success", which has been described as “a revolutionary approach to unlocking your innate ability to achieve success in business and in life.” She is also the founder and CEO of icueity, a continuous 360 review app that provides users with ongoing “fearless feedback” and challenges them to grow in self-awareness. She taught at the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics and later was recruited to be among the founding faculty members to develop a startup school to nurture entrepreneurial minds and approach learning through impact. Dr. Heiss holds a BS and MS in Biology from Binghamton University and a PhD in stress physiology from University of Memphis.

Her talks have inspired audiences around the world, including organizations such as Charles Schwab, ADP, SHRM, and Case Western Reserve University. Believing that “the scariest thing is living a life governed by fear,” Dr. Heiss challenges us to BECOME FEAR(LESS)™ while providing the tools to achieve it. Audiences leave with actionable takeaways on how to overcome their own biology, take control of stress and anxiety, be more effective and productive, break through the barriers to optimal performance—and live happier, fear(less) lives.

Speech Topics


THE STRESS SOLUTION

Transforming Fear into Rocket Fuel to Supercharge Performance

Stress isn’t inherently bad. In fact, the highest-performing athletes and leaders have learned the secrets to the upside of stress, using it to fuel their performance rather than hinder it.

Rather than allowing our environments and our natural biological tendencies toward anxiety to hold us back, we can use the same energy to work with us, unlocking our highest potential and learning that when we fear(less), we make room for so much more.

Keynote audiences will leave with tools that enable them to:

  • Understand the root of our stress response and recalibrate it to work with us in the modern world.
  • Engage with our fears to reframe them as energy that can optimize performance.
  • Adopt a simple plan for rewiring our brains to respond differently to threats as challenges, to reduce burnout and restore purpose and fulfillment to our work.

THE ALL-IN EFFECT

Leading Teams to Excel Through Change

The past years have brought increased stress, challenge, and unpredictable change to all industries, resulting in a confidence gap with leaders – afraid to step up, afraid to be vulnerable, afraid that they will flounder.

Imagine if you could instead lead from a space that allows you to go ALL-IN, transforming fear into fuel, and allowing you to enhance productivity by more than 25%, stay more focused, more creative, more motivated, and more engaged … all by fearing less. That’s the ALL-IN Effect.

Keynote audiences will leave with tools that enable them to:

  • Utilize a 3-step science-backed strategy to recalibrate the stress response to work to your advantage immediately, rather than working against you.
  • Discover a key method for harnessing an adventure mindset to become more resilient in high-pressure situations.
  • Experience an inspired ability to link the challenge of change, to purpose and connection in order to increase engagement across your organization."

FEAR(LESS) LEADERSHIP

Leading with Awe

Our brains aren’t built for optimal performance, happiness, or inspired leadership. They are built simply to keep us alive. The result? We avoid difficult conversation, and confrontations, workers are disengaged, and we exist our way through work and live. MEH. But the solution lies within each of us. Rather than allowing our biology to hold us back, we can use it to work for us, unlocking our highest potential and learning that we fear(leads), we make room for so much more.

Keynote audiences will leave with tools that enable them to:

  • Identify and break through personal biological barriers to optimal performance
  • Evaluate and neutralize subconscious fears that prevent them from playing all in
  • Utilize awe in place of fear to drive performance, collaboration, and engagement

FEAR(LESS) MINDSET

Finding Adventure in Ambiguity

Our brains believe the stories we tell them. Without conscious effort, they are negativity seeking missiles, but we have the power to change that.

By consciously crafting a mindset that helps us lean into these challenges rather than treat them as threats, we’ll be able to avoid the burnout, frustration, and turnover that might otherwise plague us and our clients. Rather than allowing our stress to spiral resulting in decreased performance and an array of health problems, we can use our biology to work with us, turning stress into a positive experience that pushes us into better outcomes.

Keynote audiences will leave with tools that enable them to:

  • Re-categorize stress as a strength that can drive performance
  • Utilize a 3-step scientific technique to shift stress mindsets from ordeal to adventure
  • Enable positive communication, ideation, and creative collaborations to lead through ambiguity with a beginner’s mind

Our brains aren’t built for this rapidly changing world… But they are adaptable.

By consciously crafting a mindset that helps us lean into these challenges rather than treat them as threats, we’ll be able to avoid the burnout, frustration, and turnover that might otherwise plague us and our clients. And, perhaps most importantly, we can deepen the connections we had to the purpose and people that drew us into this industry we love to begin with.

Keynote audiences will leave with tools that enable them to:

Re-categorize stress as a strength that can drive performance Utilize a 3-step scientific technique to shift stress mindsets from ordeal to adventure Enable positive communication, ideation, and creative collaborations to lead through ambiguity with a beginner’s mind"

FEAR(LESS) DIVERSITY

Celebrations & Critical Conversations

No blame. No finger pointing. No guilt. Fear(less) Diversity is all about not running away from the critical conversations we need to better understand the instincts and systems that drive us to carry bias. No matter our background, we all carry some shortcuts and biases about others (and ourselves!). It doesn’t make us bad people – it makes us human! But when we understand the programming that drive these stories, we can be more effective in intervening before they negatively affect out relationships and performance.

Keynote audiences will leave with tools that enable them to:

  • Understand the root of subconscious bias and stories that lead to unproductive behaviours
  • Engage with these fear in difficult conversations
  • Adopt a clear common external enemy to decrease internal conflict and increase cooperation and connection

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