Mike Abrashoff Former Commander of USS Benfold | Author of It’s Your Ship | Leadership and Accountability Speaker

It’s Your Ship

Mike Abrashoff faced that challenge as commander of USS Benfold. By listening to his sailors, earning their trust, and giving them ownership of the ship’s success, he helped turn an underperforming crew into one of the Navy’s best. His story gives business audiences a memorable way to think about leadership, culture, and results. The Sweeney Agency

Why Book Mike Abrashoff?

Mike makes accountability feel achievable. His message starts with what leaders and team members can influence today: how they listen, make decisions, solve problems, and support one another.

Audiences hear the story behind It’s Your Ship and leave with practical ideas for building trust, empowering people closest to the work, and improving performance without waiting for perfect conditions.

What Makes Mike Different?

• A real turnaround story led by the same crew under intense operational demands
• A message that gives people at every level responsibility for results
• Leadership lessons grounded in listening, trust, and ownership
• Practical ideas for teamwork, change, and execution
• A keynote he can tailor to the audience’s priorities The Sweeney Agency

Why Is Mike Right for Your Audience?

Mike is a strong choice for leadership meetings, company conferences, sales kickoffs, and organizations that want people to take greater ownership of outcomes. His story speaks to executives and frontline teams alike because everyone has a role in improving how the team works.

Book Mike when your audience needs to:

• Build a culture of trust and accountability
• Give people more ownership over decisions and results
• Improve engagement
• Work together more effectively under pressure
• Focus on changes within their control
• Raise expectations of what the team can achieve

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• Ready to ask better questions and listen to people closest to the work
• More willing to take responsibility for solving problems
• Equipped to recognize and use their team’s ideas
• Clearer on how trust and ownership support execution
• Motivated to improve results with the team they already have

Keynote Programs

It’s Your Ship: Achieving Breakthrough Performance

Mike shares how trust, engagement, and shared ownership helped transform USS Benfold. Audiences consider what they can change in their own teams to improve performance. Ideal for leadership, culture, accountability, and teamwork events.

No Limits: Don’t Let Goals Become Limitations

Mike challenges audiences to look beyond merely reaching an assigned target and question the limits they have placed on their own performance. Ideal for sales kickoffs and teams ready to raise their ambitions.

Go Deeper with the Leadership Roadmap

For groups that want to put the keynote into practice, half-day and full-day programs explore the habits of high-performing leaders, teams, and organizations. Ask about the format and facilitator for your event. The Sweeney Agency

Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?

Tell us what you want people to do differently after the event, and we’ll help you assess whether Mike’s message is the right fit. We can confirm his availability and current fee, discuss the best program and format, and help plan a presentation around your audience.

Is Mike Right for Your Event?

Tell us about your audience, the results you want to improve, and the leadership behaviour you want to encourage. We’ll help you assess the fit and plan the next step.

To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].

Shawn Achor: Keynote Speaker on Happiness, Positive Psychology & Human Potential | Bestselling Author | Harvard-Trained Researcher

What if one of the biggest opportunities to improve performance, engagement and resilience is changing the way people think about happiness?

Shawn Achor is a bestselling author and internationally recognized keynote speaker on happiness, positive psychology, leadership and human potential.

Known for bringing positive psychology research to life with humor, memorable stories and practical strategies, Shawn challenges the traditional belief that we have to become successful before we can be happy. Instead, he shows audiences how cultivating a more positive mindset can help people improve performance, strengthen resilience and bring greater energy to their work.

Why Book Shawn Achor?

Shawn takes a topic everyone understands—happiness—and connects it directly to the challenges organizations care about: performance, engagement, resilience, leadership and change.

His approach isn't simply about encouraging people to “think positively.” Shawn translates research in positive psychology into practical behaviors people can incorporate into their everyday lives.

The result is a keynote that is funny, thought-provoking and highly actionable—giving audiences a fresh perspective on how they approach work, relationships, challenges and success.

What Makes Shawn Achor Different?

• Leading voice in positive psychology — helped bring the science of happiness into the business world
• Bestselling author — known for books including The Happiness Advantage and Big Potential
• Research-based message — connects positive psychology with workplace performance
• Exceptionally entertaining — combines research with humor and memorable storytelling
• Immediately actionable — practical habits audiences can begin using right away
• Broad audience appeal — relevant to leaders, sales teams and employees across an organization
• Positive and energizing — leaves audiences thinking differently about success and their own potential

Why Is Shawn Right for Your Audience?

Shawn is an excellent choice when you want your audience to leave energized, optimistic and equipped with practical strategies for improving their performance and wellbeing.

He is particularly effective for leadership conferences, corporate meetings, sales kickoffs, association conferences, employee events and organizations focused on engagement, resilience and workplace culture.

Book Shawn when your audience needs to:

• Increase engagement and motivation
• Build greater resilience during challenging periods
• Improve performance without simply increasing pressure
• Create more positive and productive workplace relationships
• Strengthen optimism during uncertainty and change
• Improve collaboration and social connection
• Develop practical habits that support wellbeing
• Recognize how individual behavior can influence team performance

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• Understanding the relationship between mindset, happiness and performance
• Equipped with practical positive-psychology strategies they can use immediately
• Better prepared to maintain optimism during challenges
• More aware of how their behavior influences colleagues and teams
• Ready to strengthen relationships and social connection
• Motivated to create habits that support sustainable performance
• Inspired to rethink the traditional relationship between happiness and success

Shawn Achor Keynote Programs

The Happiness Advantage: What if happiness doesn't follow success—but actually helps create it?

Shawn challenges the conventional formula that says we'll be happy once we become more successful.

Drawing on positive psychology research, he shows audiences how developing a more positive mindset can influence motivation, creativity, resilience and performance.

Audiences leave with practical strategies for creating positive habits and bringing greater energy and optimism to both work and life.

Ideal for: Corporate conferences, leadership events, sales kickoffs, employee meetings and workplace wellbeing programs.

Big Potential: Our greatest potential isn't achieved alone. It's influenced by the people around us.

Shawn explores how individuals and organizations can move beyond focusing exclusively on individual achievement and instead create environments where people help one another perform at a higher level.

He demonstrates how stronger relationships, collaboration and positive influence can help teams unlock greater collective potential.

Ideal for: Leadership, teamwork, culture, collaboration and employee-engagement events.

Positive Leadership Through Change: During uncertainty, a leader's mindset doesn't affect only the leader—it can influence the entire team.

Shawn shows leaders how optimism, connection and positive behaviors can help teams remain engaged and resilient when circumstances are difficult or changing.

Audiences gain practical strategies for creating environments where people can continue learning, collaborating and performing despite uncertainty.

Ideal for: Executive meetings, leadership development, transformation initiatives and organizations navigating change.

Why Book Shawn Achor Through The Sweeney Agency?

Shawn Achor's combination of research, humor and practical positive psychology makes him an engaging choice for a wide range of audiences—but the real value comes from connecting his message directly to what you want your people to think, feel and do differently.

The Sweeney Agency can help you:

• Confirm Shawn Achor's availability and current speaking fee
• Determine which Shawn Achor keynote best fits your audience
• Discuss customization around your organization's objectives
• Coordinate format, timing and event logistics
• Compare Shawn with other leading motivational, leadership and workplace-culture speakers

Is Shawn Achor Right for Your Event?

Tell us what you want to improve—performance, engagement, resilience, leadership or workplace culture.

We'll help you determine whether Shawn is the right fit, confirm availability and fees, and make the booking process simple.

Planning a leadership conference, sales kickoff or corporate event? Contact The Sweeney Agency today [email protected] to discuss booking Shawn Achor as your keynote speaker.

Jon Acuff: New York Times Bestselling Author | Leadership Speaker | Expert on Goals, Overthinking and Change

Turn Good Intentions into Finished Work

Jon Acuff makes those habits easier to recognize and change. The author of Soundtracks, Finish, and All It Takes Is a Goal brings humour, relatable stories, and practical tools to audiences that want to adapt to change and follow through. The Sweeney Agency

Why Book Jon Acuff?

Jon takes challenges that can feel personal—self-doubt, perfectionism, and procrastination—and shows how they affect team performance. He gives people useful language for the thoughts that slow them down and simple ways to take action.

For organizations asking people to embrace change or meet ambitious goals, Jon delivers an upbeat keynote with a practical next step.

What Makes Jon Different?

• Humour and storytelling that make difficult habits easy to recognize
• A clear framework for changing patterns of overthinking
• Practical ideas audiences can apply to their work
• A message that connects individual habits to team results
• Programs focused on mindset, change, and finishing goals

Why Is Jon Right for Your Audience?

Jon is a strong fit for leadership meetings, company conferences, sales kickoffs, and teams navigating change. He is especially valuable when people know what they need to accomplish but need help getting past hesitation, distraction, or the pressure to do everything perfectly.

Book Jon when your audience needs to:

• Stop overthinking and start taking useful action
• Navigate change with greater curiosity and confidence
• Turn ambitious goals into consistent progress
• Reduce the drag of perfectionism and procrastination
• Build a shared language for more productive thinking
• Finish important work

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• Able to spot recurring thoughts that hold them back
• Equipped to replace those thoughts with ones that support action
• More confident about taking the next step amid uncertainty
• Ready to make visible progress toward their goals
• Motivated to follow through on work that matters to their team

Keynote Programs

Soundtracks

Jon shows teams how to recognize repetitive thoughts that fuel overthinking, replace them with more useful ones, and reinforce new habits. Ideal for change, productivity, and performance events.

The AI Mindset

When AI changes faster than a team can plan for it, fear and overthinking can stall progress. Jon applies his Soundtracks framework to help audiences approach AI with curiosity and a mindset ready for change.

From Start to Finish

Jon explores why capable people leave goals incomplete and how to build the habits that help them finish. Ideal for sales teams, leadership conferences, and organizations focused on execution. The Sweeney Agency

Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?

Tell us what is slowing your team down and what you want them to accomplish after the event. We can help you choose Jon’s most relevant program, discuss the format, and confirm his availability and current fee.

Is Jon Right for Your Event?

Tell us about your audience, the goals in front of them, and the obstacles to making progress. We’ll help you assess Jon’s fit and plan the next step.

To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].

Afterburner is a diverse team of elite military professionals composed of current and former Fighter Pilots. Their keynote speakers take the mindset and ways of working they learned in the cockpit of their high-performance fighter jets and transfer those lessons into your organization. They inspire teams, align them on their purpose, and help execute their plan to accelerate their performance. They connect strategy to execution with their cutting-edge training programs that include keynotes, team building seminars, workshops, training, coaching, and consulting programs.

Thousands of companies including Microsoft, Google, Home Depot, and Nike have all learned the secrets to accelerating the development of their strategy and execution – and you can too! From executive leaders to the frontline team, Afterburner’s programs are crafted to inspire your leaders and their teams to consistently surpass expectations!

Afterburner’s dynamic, high-energy keynote speakers will inspire your audience to take action and set the foundation for you to build highly engaged, outcome-focused teams. They’ll bring out your inner fighter pilot and show you what it’s like at the edge of the human performance envelope, physically and mentally.

David Allen is an author, consultant, international speaker, Founder and Chairman of the David Allen Company. He is widely recognized as the world's leading authority on personal and organizational productivity. His thirty years of pioneering research, motivation and education of some of the world's highest-performing professionals, corporations and institutions - has earned him Forbes' recognition as one of the top five executive coaches in the United States, and as one of the Top 100 thought leaders by Leadership magazine. Fast Company hailed David Allen One of the world's most influential thinkers in the arena of personal productivity, for his outstanding programs and writing on time and stress management, the power of aligned focus and vision in the face of change - and his groundbreaking methodologies in management and executive peak performance. Time Magazine labeled his first book, Getting Things Done, as the defining self-help business book of the decade.

David Allen is the author of three books; the international best-seller, Getting Things Done: the Art of Stress-Free Productivity (GTD - as the method is popularly known), Ready for Anything, and Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and Business of Life. Getting Things Done has been a perennial business best-seller since it's publication in 2001, and is now published in 28 languages.

Getting Things Done has spawned an international movement of devoted adopters from executives, techies, soldiers, entrepreneurs, university professors, musicians, students and the clergy. It has given rise to a thriving GTD industry of web sites, blogs and software applications. Internet searches bring up tens of millions of references. David Allen is a rarity in the twitter world - as one of the few non-celebrities with over a million followers hanging on his wit and inspiration.

Piloting a productivity seminar for a thousand managers at Lockheed in 1983, David has continued to test and refine the techniques and principles we now know as GTD - a powerful method to manage commitments, information, and communication. This pioneering and proven system is the result of those twenty plus years of David's consulting, private coaching and organizational programs with over a half million people internationally. GTD has well earned its recognition as the gold standard in personal management and productivity for many of the world's best and brightest people and companies.

Sophisticated without being confining, the subtle effectiveness of GTD lies in its radically common sense notion that with a complete and current inventory of all your commitments , organized and reviewed in a systematic way, you can focus clearly, view your world from optimal angles and make trusted choices about what to do (and not do) at any moment. GTD embodies an easy, step-by-step and highly efficient method for achieving this relaxed, productive state. It includes:

• Capturing anything and everything that has your attention
• Defining actionable things discretely into outcomes and concrete next steps
• Organizing reminders and information in the most streamlined way, in appropriate categories, based on how and when you need to access them
• Keeping current and on your game with appropriately frequent reviews of the six horizons of your commitments - purpose, vision, goals, areas of focus, projects, and actions

Implementing GTD alleviates the feeling of being overwhelmed, instills confidence - and releases a flood of creative energy. It provides structure without constraint and managing details with maximum flexibility. The system rigorously adheres to the core principles of productivity - while allowing tremendous freedom in the how. The only right way to do GTD is getting meaningful things done with truly the least amount of invested attention and energy. Coaching thousands of people, where they work, about their work - has informed the GTD method with the best practices
of how to work (and live), in that most efficient and productive way. GTDs simplicity, flexibility, and immediacy are its attraction. Its ability to enliven, enlighten, and empower is its magic. What, indeed, is GTD? More than meets the eye...

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Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour:  Keynote Speaker on Leadership, Courage & High Performance | America’s First Black Female Combat Pilot | Former U.S. Marine | Author

Break Through Barriers. Take the Gutsy Move. What could your people accomplish if they stopped letting fear, uncertainty and obstacles determine what was possible?

As America’s first Black female combat pilot, Vernice knows what it takes to break through barriers, perform under pressure and take decisive action when the stakes are high. Her dynamic keynotes challenge audiences to move beyond excuses, embrace bold action and develop the mindset needed to accomplish ambitious goals.

Why Book Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour?

Vernice doesn't simply talk about courage and performance. She has lived them in one of the world's most demanding environments.

From breaking barriers in military aviation to flying combat missions, Vernice learned that success requires more than talent. It requires preparation, confidence, teamwork and the willingness to act when circumstances are uncertain.

She translates those lessons into a powerful business message that helps audiences move from thinking about what they should do to actually doing it.

Her combination of extraordinary stories, practical strategies and contagious energy makes Vernice especially effective when you want to energize a room and inspire immediate action.

What Makes Vernice Different?

• Barrier-breaking combat pilot — America's first Black female combat pilot
• Battle-tested leadership — lessons developed in demanding, high-pressure environments
• High-energy delivery — brings exceptional enthusiasm and presence to the stage
• Action-oriented message — challenges audiences to move from ideas to execution
• Powerful business relevance — connects aviation lessons to leadership, sales and performance
• Courage under pressure — helps people act confidently despite fear and uncertainty
• Broad audience appeal — connects with executives, leaders, sales teams and employees
• Memorable storytelling — combines inspiration, humor and practical lessons

Why Is Vernice Right for Your Audience?

Vernice is an outstanding choice when you need your audience to raise their energy, take greater ownership and act more decisively.

She is particularly effective for leadership conferences, sales kickoffs, corporate meetings, women's leadership events and organizations pursuing ambitious growth or transformation.

Book Vernice when your audience needs to:

• Take bold action instead of waiting for perfect conditions
• Break through barriers and limiting beliefs
• Perform confidently under pressure
• Strengthen accountability and personal ownership
• Turn strategy into execution
• Navigate uncertainty with courage
• Build stronger teamwork and trust
• Raise expectations for what's possible

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• More confident taking action despite uncertainty
• Better prepared to push through obstacles and setbacks
• Understanding why courage is essential to leadership
• More willing to take ownership of results
• Equipped with a stronger mindset for high-pressure situations
• Ready to turn intentions into action
• Energized to make their own “gutsy moves”

Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour Keynote Programs

Get Gutsy: Make the Gutsy Move. What happens when you stop waiting for circumstances to be perfect and start taking action?

Vernice challenges audiences to identify the barriers standing between where they are and where they want to go—and then make the courageous moves necessary to break through them.

Drawing from her experiences as a combat pilot, she shows how preparation, mindset and decisive action can help people move forward even when uncertainty is high.

Ideal for: Leadership conferences, corporate meetings, transformation events and organizations pursuing ambitious goals.

Zero to Breakthrough. Breakthrough performance starts when people take ownership of creating a different result.

Vernice helps audiences move beyond excuses, obstacles and limiting assumptions and focus on the actions that can move them forward.

Her message encourages people to clarify their goals, identify what's holding them back and take practical steps toward achieving meaningful results.

Ideal for: Sales kickoffs, high-performance teams, leadership meetings and organizations focused on execution.

Leading From the Cockpit. When the pressure rises, leadership becomes visible.

Drawing on lessons from military aviation, Vernice explores how effective leaders build trust, communicate clearly, make decisions and keep teams focused on the mission.

She translates the discipline and teamwork of the cockpit into practical leadership lessons audiences can apply in their own organizations.

Ideal for: Executive meetings, leadership development, teamwork and high-performance audiences.

Is Vernice Armour Right for Your Event?

Tell us the breakthrough you need your people to make—and what's standing in their way.

We'll help you determine whether Vernice is the right fit, confirm availability and fees, and make the booking process simple.

To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].

Joey Aviles is recognized as a 2022 LinkedIn’s Racial Equity Top Voice, 2021 Top 15 Champion of Diversity by Diversity Global Magazine, as a Top 100 Executive Leader by Diversity MBA Magazine, and featured as an Inclusion Innovator by the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM).

Joey is the Founder and Chief Belonging Officer of MJA & CO, LLC, a Minority-owned consulting firm helping leaders leverage Diversity, Equity & Inclusion as a catalyst to increase engagement, innovation, and retention.

Joey served as the first civilian Chief of Diversity and Inclusion in the history of the US Coast Guard. He is a DEI Thought Leader with over 15 years of experience serving clients like Dell Technologies, Ferrara, University of Phoenix, Highmark Health, Peace Corps, FDIC, FDA, NIH, Department of Defense, Department of Interior, Department of Homeland Security, and other organizations. Miguel is a TEDx speaker, and has been featured at the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Telemundo, the Change Management Conference, the Human Capital Institute, the SHRM Talent Management and D&I Conferences.

Graduate of the Yale School of Management Fostering Inclusion and Diversity Certificate, Joey is a certified Professional Diversity Coach by the Coach Diversity Institute. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez.

For over a decade he held several leadership positions in 3 major Federal Departments; DOI’s Division Chief of the Office of Recruitment and Retention Programs; DOD’s Deputy Program Manager of the Executive Leadership Development Program, the Defense Civilian Emerging Leaders Program, and the Managerial and Supervisory Training Program. He started his federal career as a Diversity Recruiter intern in Mayaguez, PR and served as an HR Specialist in the DOD’s Recruitment Assistance Division. Miguel is the former President of Young Government Leaders, a 12,000+ member national Affinity Group.

Kristel Bauer: Leadership and High Performance Speaker | Author of Work-Life Tango | Founder of Live Greatly

Perform Well Without Running on Empty

Kristel Bauer helps leaders and teams answer that question. Drawing on her background in healthcare, behavioral science, and leadership, she offers practical habits for strengthening performance, resilience, and well-being in demanding workplaces.

Why Book Kristel Bauer?

Kristel connects high performance with the daily choices that make it sustainable. Her presentations help audiences rethink how they manage energy, attention, and competing priorities so they can do their best work over time.

Her experience as a Physician Assistant in integrative psychiatry and her work as the author of Work-Life Tango give her a distinctive perspective on stress, behaviour change, and leadership.

What Makes Kristel Different?

• A healthcare background that informs her approach to stress and resilience
• Practical habits that connect personal well-being with team performance
• A message relevant to leaders and individual contributors
• Research-informed ideas delivered with warmth and energy
• Actionable guidance for navigating pressure and change

Why Is Kristel Right for Your Audience?

Kristel is a strong fit for leadership conferences, employee events, healthcare meetings, and organizations focused on performance and culture. She is particularly valuable when people are stretched thin and need ways to stay engaged, focused, and adaptable.

Book Kristel when your audience needs to:

• Sustain strong performance during demanding periods
• Improve focus and manage competing priorities
• Lead teams more effectively under pressure
• Respond to change with greater confidence
• Reduce habits that contribute to burnout
• Build a culture that supports both results and well-being

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• Better able to identify habits that drain or restore their energy
• Equipped to improve focus and decision-making under pressure
• Ready to make practical changes to how they work each day
• More confident leading or adapting through uncertainty
• Motivated to pursue success they can sustain

Keynote Programs

High-Performance Habits: Unlocking Energy, Focus, and Sustainable Success

Kristel shares practical ways to strengthen attention, productivity, and resilience through better daily habits. Ideal for companywide events and teams seeking strong results without chronic exhaustion.

Embracing Change: Unlocking Motivation and Momentum in Times of Uncertainty

Kristel helps audiences approach change with greater adaptability and a growth-oriented mindset. Ideal for organizations facing transition, new demands, or persistent uncertainty.

Leadership Under Pressure: The Mindset & Habits of Sustainable High Performance

Kristel focuses on the communication, self-leadership, and decision-making habits that help leaders support their people while delivering results. Ideal for management and leadership conferences.

Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?

Tell us whether your audience’s priority is energy, adaptability, or leadership effectiveness. We’ll help you select Kristel’s most relevant program, discuss customization, and confirm her availability and current fee.

Is Kristel Right for Your Event?

Tell us about your audience, the pressures it faces, and what you want people to do differently after the event. We’ll help you assess Kristel’s fit and plan the next step.

To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].

Jack Becker: Keynote Speaker on Leadership, Accountability & High Performance | Former U.S. Navy Fighter Pilot | Founder of Supersonic Success

Bring Fighter-Pilot Precision to Business Performance

What could your team accomplish if they prepared, communicated and executed with the discipline of elite fighter pilots?

Jack Becker is a former U.S. Navy fighter pilot and dynamic keynote speaker on leadership, accountability, teamwork and high performance.

Why Book Jack Becker?

Jack doesn't simply tell exciting fighter-pilot stories. He translates the disciplines of military aviation into practical strategies business teams can use.

His message focuses on the behaviors that drive consistent performance: preparation, accountability, communication, execution and learning from every experience.

For organizations looking to improve performance rather than simply motivate people for an hour, Jack delivers a keynote designed to help audiences turn lessons into action and action into better results.

What Makes Jack Becker Different?

• Former U.S. Navy fighter pilot — brings lessons from an elite performance environment
• Business-focused message — translates aviation principles into workplace strategies
• Accountability driven — encourages people to take ownership of their performance
• Execution focused — helps close the gap between strategy and results
• Practical debriefing approach — emphasizes learning and continuous improvement
• Team performance — demonstrates why trust and communication matter under pressure
• High-energy delivery — engages audiences with compelling aviation experiences
• Actionable takeaways — gives teams concepts they can apply immediately

Why Is Jack Right for Your Audience?

Jack is an outstanding choice when you want your audience to improve execution, strengthen accountability and work together more effectively.

He is particularly effective for leadership conferences, sales kickoffs, corporate meetings, management events and organizations focused on operational excellence.

Book Jack when your audience needs to:

• Turn strategy into consistent execution
• Strengthen personal accountability
• Improve communication across teams
• Build greater trust and collaboration
• Prepare more effectively for important opportunities
• Learn quickly from wins and mistakes
• Perform more consistently under pressure
• Create a culture of continuous improvement

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• Understanding how preparation improves execution
• More willing to take ownership of results
• Better equipped to communicate when the stakes are high
• Recognizing the importance of effective debriefing
• More focused on learning rather than assigning blame
• Better prepared to collaborate across teams
• Ready to apply continuous improvement to everyday performance

Jack Becker Keynote Programs

Supersonic Success: What can business teams learn from the way fighter pilots prepare, execute and improve?

Jack takes audiences inside the world of military aviation to demonstrate how high-performing teams prepare for demanding missions and execute when the pressure is on.

He then translates those lessons into practical business strategies that can help organizations improve communication, accountability and performance.

Ideal for: Leadership conferences, corporate meetings, management teams and organizations focused on execution.

The Fighter Pilot Mindset: High performance doesn't happen by accident.

Jack explores the habits and disciplines that help elite performers stay focused, make decisions and deliver results in demanding environments.

Audiences learn how stronger preparation, clearer expectations and personal accountability can improve performance across an organization.

Ideal for: Sales kickoffs, leadership meetings and high-performance teams.

Debrief to Win: What happens after the mission may be just as important as what happens during it.

Jack demonstrates how effective debriefing can help teams identify what worked, understand what didn't and continuously improve without creating a culture of blame.

Applied to business, this approach can strengthen communication, accelerate learning and help teams perform better on the next mission.

Ideal for: Leadership teams, sales organizations, project teams and companies building a culture of continuous improvement.

Why Book Jack Becker Through The Sweeney Agency?

Jack Becker combines fighter-pilot experience with practical business strategies for improving execution, accountability and teamwork—but the real value comes from connecting those lessons to the performance challenges facing your organization.

The Sweeney Agency can help you:

• Confirm Jack Becker's availability and current speaking fee
• Determine which Jack Becker keynote best fits your audience
• Discuss customization around your event objectives
• Coordinate format, timing and event logistics
• Compare Jack with other leading leadership, teamwork and high-performance speakers

Is Jack Becker Right for Your Event?

Tell us where your team needs to improve execution, accountability or collaboration.

We'll help you determine whether Jack is the right fit, confirm availability and fees, and make the booking process simple.

Planning a leadership conference, sales kickoff or corporate event? Contact The Sweeney Agency today [email protected] to discuss booking Jack Becker as your keynote speaker.

Kim Becking: Keynote Speaker | Bestselling Author | Expert on Change, Resilience and Unstoppable Momentum

Build Momentum Through Change

Kim Becking helps audiences turn that question into action. Drawing on her research into change, resilience, and human behavior, she gives people practical ways to shift their mindset, strengthen connections, and build momentum amid uncertainty.

Why Book Kim Becking?

Kim brings energy and useful tools to conversations about change. She helps audiences recognize what they can influence, respond more effectively to setbacks, and take the next step even when circumstances remain uncertain.

Her message can be tailored to leaders, teams, sales professionals, and association audiences facing rapid change or sustained pressure.

What Makes Kim Different?

• A research-informed approach to change, resilience, and human behavior
• Practical strategies audiences can use during periods of uncertainty
• A focus on moving forward together
• Experience speaking to corporate and association audiences
• An energetic style that makes serious challenges easier to discuss and act on

Why Is Kim Right for Your Audience?

Kim is a strong fit for leadership conferences, employee events, association meetings, and sales gatherings. She is especially relevant when people are managing constant change, competing demands, or a loss of momentum.

Book Kim when your audience needs to:

• Adapt to change with greater confidence
• Build resilience during demanding periods
• Replace overwhelm with a practical next step
• Strengthen connection and collaboration across teams
• Lead others through uncertainty
• Sustain motivation toward shared goals

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• Better able to recognize and reframe unhelpful reactions to change
• Equipped with practical ways to regain focus and move forward
• More aware of how connection supports resilient teams
• Ready to take ownership of actions within their control
• Motivated to build momentum for themselves and others

Keynote Programs

Ignite Unstoppable Momentum

Kim shows audiences how to use adaptability, resilience, and mindset to navigate a fast-changing world. Ideal for conference and employee audiences seeking renewed energy and a practical path forward.

Resign as General Manager of the Universe

This keynote invites people to release the pressure to manage everything, refuel, and refocus on what matters. Ideal for audiences experiencing overwhelm or sustained demands.

Unleash Unstoppable Momentum in Others

Kim explores how leaders can strengthen connection, engagement, and resilience through a more human approach to leadership. Ideal for managers and executive teams guiding people through change.

Build Unstoppable Momentum Together

Kim focuses on the connection and collaboration teams need to move forward together. Ideal for organizations working across functions or rebuilding shared energy around a goal.

Accelerate Unstoppable Momentum

Kim addresses the mindset and persistence sales teams need when conditions shift. Ideal for sales meetings and teams looking to maintain focus through uncertainty.

Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?

Tell us what is changing for your audience and the kind of momentum you want to create. We can help you choose the most relevant keynote, discuss customization, and confirm Kim’s availability and current fee.

Is Kim Right for Your Event?

Tell us about your audience, the challenges it faces, and what you want people to do differently after the event. We’ll help you assess Kim’s fit and plan the next step.

To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected]

Robyn Benincasa: World Champion Adventure Racer | New York Times Bestselling Author | Firefighter | Extreme Teamwork Expert

Make Winning Inevitable

Robyn Benincasa shows audiences how to become that kind of team. A World Champion adventure racer, veteran San Diego firefighter, bestselling author and founder of the Project Athena Foundation, she combines gripping stories, dramatic footage and practical strategies that help people collaborate, embrace change and perform under pressure.

Why Book Robyn Benincasa?

Robyn gives audiences more than temporary inspiration. She provides a memorable operating system for achieving difficult goals together.

Her lessons come from 17 years of expedition adventure racing, where every teammate had to reach the finish line together, and more than 23 years as a firefighter. Her energetic multimedia presentations make teamwork, resilience and leadership real, relevant and immediately useful.

What Makes Robyn Different?

• Extraordinary real-world credibility and a powerful stage presence
• Unforgettable stories that make business lessons easy to remember
• Practical habits audiences can apply immediately
• A message that connects departments, generations and leadership levels
• Customization around the organization’s challenges and objectives

Why Is Robyn Right for Your Audience?

Robyn is an excellent choice when an organization needs people to move beyond individual achievement and perform as one team. She is particularly effective for leadership conferences, sales kickoffs, association events and organizations navigating change.

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• Ready to shift from “me thinking” to “we thinking”
• Equipped with practical habits for strengthening teamwork and trust
• Better prepared to turn pressure and setbacks into momentum
• Focused on the team’s most important finish line
• Inspired to lead with greater courage, empathy and determination

Keynote Programs

Adapt, Overcome and Win as One

Robyn shows teams how to move decisively through disruption, create stability in uncertain conditions and turn change into opportunity. Ideal for transformation, restructuring, rapid growth, AI adoption and competitive pressure.

Extreme T.E.A.M.W.O.R.K.

Audiences discover how trust, shared ownership and commitment to one another turn talented individuals into an exceptional team. Ideal for strengthening culture, collaboration and collective performance.

Why Winners Win

Created for sales and high-performance audiences, this keynote demonstrates how top performers can share knowledge, combine strengths and compete as one. Ideal for sales kickoffs, revenue teams and ambitious growth initiatives.

Inspiring Greatness Through G.R.I.T.

Robyn reveals how sustainable resilience grows from connection—to the mission, to teammates and to the leader we choose to become. Ideal for audiences facing setbacks, prolonged uncertainty or depleted morale.

Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?

The right speaker must do more than impress. They must fit your audience, address the challenge behind the event and support the outcome you want to achieve.

Contact us to:

• Confirm Robyn’s availability and current fee
• Identify the best keynote for your objectives
• Discuss customization, format and event logistics
• Receive comparable recommendations if another speaker may be a stronger fit

Is Robyn Right for Your Event?

Tell us about your audience, their challenges and what you want them to think, feel or do differently. We will provide an honest assessment of Robyn’s fit, confirm availability and fees, and help you move forward with confidence.

Contact The Sweeney Agency to discuss booking Robyn Benincasa.

• CLICK HERE TO CHECK ROBYN BENINCASA'S AVAILABILITY NOW

Ty Bennett: Leadership Speaker | Bestselling Author | Expert on Storytelling and High Performance

Turn Better Communication Into Better Results

Ty Bennett helps audiences answer both questions. A bestselling author and entrepreneur, he combines storytelling, leadership experience, and research on performance to give people practical ways to connect, influence, and achieve more.

Why Book Ty Bennett?

Ty makes communication a skill audiences can use immediately. He shows leaders how to build trust and commitment, and helps sales teams tell stories that make their value clear and memorable.

His entrepreneurial background gives those ideas weight: he built a direct sales business with his brother to more than $20 million in annual revenue by age 21. He brings that experience to keynotes that are energetic, engaging, and focused on action.

What Makes Ty Different?

• An accomplished storyteller who demonstrates the communication skills he teaches
• Experience building and leading a successful sales organization
• Bestselling books on storytelling, influence, and partnership leadership
• Research-informed insights into high performance
• Practical ideas for leaders and sales professionals to apply after the event

Why Is Ty Right for Your Audience?

Ty is a strong fit for leadership conferences, sales kickoffs, association events, and company meetings. He is especially valuable when an organization wants stronger relationships, clearer communication, or greater commitment to a shared goal.

Book Ty when your audience needs to:

• Earn buy-in and strengthen trust across teams
• Communicate ideas in ways people remember
• Make sales conversations more relevant and engaging
• Build collaboration instead of relying on authority
• Improve performance while sustaining long-term results
• Turn inspiration into specific changes in behavior

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• Better equipped to use stories to explain ideas and move people to action
• Ready to ask better questions and create more meaningful conversations
• Clearer on how partnership builds commitment and collaboration
• Able to apply practical leadership and communication techniques
• Motivated to improve how they lead, sell, or work

Keynote Programs

Partnership Is the New Leadership

Ty shows leaders how to build commitment through communication, trust, and genuine partnership. Audiences learn ways to encourage collaboration and build stronger relationships across their organizations. Ideal for leadership and management events.

The Power of Storytelling

Ty teaches audiences how to use stories to make messages easier to understand, remember, and act on. He connects storytelling to leadership, sales, and customer relationships, giving participants tools to make everyday communication more effective. Ideal for sales, marketing, and leadership audiences.

Redefining High Performance

Drawing on his performance research and entrepreneurial experience, Ty challenges audiences to rethink how they pursue results. He explores ways to lead, sell, and perform more effectively while sustaining progress over time. Ideal for sales kickoffs and organizations aiming to raise performance.

Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?

Tell us where your audience needs to improve: leadership commitment, sales conversations, storytelling, or performance. We can help identify Ty’s most relevant keynote, discuss how it can fit your event, and confirm his availability and current fee.

Is Ty Right for Your Event?

Tell us about your audience, the challenges it faces, and what you want people to do differently afterward. We’ll help you assess Ty’s fit and plan the next step.

To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].

Dr. Jasmin Bergeron: University Professor | Researcher | Speaker on the WOW Effect in Sales, Service and Leadership

Give People a Reason to Remember You

Dr. Jasmin Bergeron helps audiences create what he calls the WOW Effect: practical moments of value that strengthen relationships and leave a lasting impression. A university professor and researcher, he makes his findings useful through humor, interaction, and examples tailored to the people in the room.

Why Book Dr. Jasmin Bergeron?

Jasmin connects research with everyday decisions. He shows sales and service professionals how to manage expectations, increase perceived value, and build loyalty. For leaders and teams, he offers ways to improve recognition, participation, and collaboration.

He has delivered more than 2,000 presentations and workshops across industries. His programs can be customized for your organization and presented in English, French, or both.

What Makes Jasmin Different?

• A university professor who translates research into practical actions
• More than 2,000 keynote presentations and workshops
• Experience across financial services, healthcare, education, hospitality, and other sectors
• Interactive presentations that use humor and audience participation
• Bilingual delivery and the ability to tailor or combine topics for your event

Why Is Jasmin Right for Your Audience?

Jasmin is a strong fit for sales conferences, customer experience events, leadership meetings, and association programs. He is especially valuable when an organization wants its people to turn a broad goal such as “better service” into behaviors they can use immediately.

Book Jasmin when your audience needs to:

• Make customer interactions more memorable
• Strengthen trust and long-term loyalty
• Sell on value rather than relying on price
• Handle expectations and complaints more effectively
• Help managers recognize and engage their teams
• Build greater participation and cooperation among colleagues

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• Clearer on the behaviors that create a positive lasting impression
• Ready to improve how they manage expectations
• Equipped with practical ways to build stronger customer relationships
• Better able to connect service, sales, and teamwork to daily habits
• Motivated to create WOW moments in their own roles

Keynote Programs

The WOW Effect!

Jasmin explores what makes an experience memorable and gives audiences practical ways to create more positive moments for customers, colleagues, and other important relationships. Ideal for a broad conference audience.

The WOW Effect in Sales and Business Development

Jasmin shows sales professionals how to increase the value customers see, build credibility, strengthen loyalty, and approach closing without undue pressure. Ideal for sales kickoffs and client-facing teams.

The WOW Effect in Customer Service

This keynote focuses on the interpersonal skills and service habits that help customers feel valued. Jasmin addresses expectations, complaints, and the impressions that shape satisfaction and loyalty. Ideal for service and customer experience events.

The WOW Effect in Leadership

Jasmin gives leaders practical ways to build trust, recognize contributions, and engage employees through change. Ideal for managers who want stronger teams and more consistent collaboration.

The WOW Effect in Teamwork

Jasmin explores how colleagues can increase participation, use their different strengths, and create a more supportive team environment. Ideal for organization-wide gatherings and team meetings.

Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?

Tell us where your audience needs to create a stronger impression: sales, service, leadership, or teamwork. We can help select or combine the most relevant topics, discuss the presentation language and format, and confirm Jasmin’s availability and current fee.

Is Jasmin Right for Your Event?

Tell us about your audience, the interactions you want to improve, and what you want attendees to do differently afterward. We’ll help you assess Jasmin’s fit and plan the next step.

To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].

• Ross talks about why certain teams are SUCCESSFUL whereas others aren’t, based on his research of over 1,000 professional athletes and coaches in this highly personalized presentation.

• Audiences leave motivated by the 100 unique characteristics and traits that are common among champions, told through poignant life lessons and inspirational stories.

• Ross Bernstein is a best-selling author of nearly 50 sports books, and an award-winning business speaker.

• Past clients include: Tempurpedic, Anytime Fitness, Chatham Steel, Milk Specialties Industries, Allianz Life Financial Services and Levi Strauss & Co.

Ever wonder why certain teams win consistently, whereas others come up short? Ross Bernstein explains why - in an engaging and visually entertaining style that's designed to improve your organization's productivity, morale and bottom-line profitability...

The best-selling author of nearly 50 sports books, Ross Bernstein is an award-winning business speaker who helps companies and organizations perform more like champions. Ross and his books have been featured on thousands of television and radio programs over the past 20 years, including CNN, MSNBC, CBS This Morning, FOX News, Bloomberg, ESPN, Sports Illustrated and the CBC, as well as in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, L.A. Times, USA Today, and Maxim Magazine.

Ross' signature program, The Champion's Code: Life Lessons of Ethics & Accountability from the Sports World to the Business World, is based on more than six years of research that resulted in two critically acclaimed series of sports-business books. The first examines how and why certain teams win world championships; while the other chronicles the unwritten and unspoken rules in the world of sports, or codes as they are known, which explores the fine line between cheating and gamesmanship - and the consequences involved when that line is crossed.

Ross interviewed more than 1,000 professional athletes and coaches for the six books and along the way he saw some fascinating patterns, metrics and trends develop among certain individuals who possessed a very unique DNA. For these unique individuals, or champions, it wasn't always about winning, it was about following their moral compass in order to play the game the right way - with respect and integrity - in order to achieve success. In his presentation, Ross identifies upwards of 100 unique characteristics and traits that are common among champions, which he then ties into poignant life lessons and inspirational stories that relate back to his client's event theme and desired learner outcomes.

Based largely on the Good to Great ideology of how the best companies are able to separate them- selves from the rest of the pack through dynamic leadership and extraordinary customer service, Ross' program reinforces the concept that individuals win games, but TEAMS win championships. Momentum, roles, buy-in, motivation, consistency, sacrifice, trust, chemistry, work-ethic, innovation, karma, and being humble - they're all a part of what it takes to become the best of the best - a champion both on and off the field.

So... who are the champions in your organization? Ross speaks about 100 dates a year and he'd love to customize a keynote (from one to six hours) for your next annual conference, corporate event, or sales meeting - his passion and energy is contagious and he'd be honored to be a member of YOUR team for the day!

Carl Bernstein: Watergate Journalist | Bestselling Author | Political Analyst

Hear the Story Behind the Headlines

Carl Bernstein brings audiences inside the reporting that exposed Watergate and changed the course of a presidency. From his work with Bob Woodward at The Washington Post to decades of books and political reporting, he offers a firsthand perspective on journalism, public accountability, and American democracy.

Why Book Carl Bernstein?

Carl can tell a story few speakers have lived. He explains how patient reporting revealed the Watergate scandal, then connects those lessons to the challenge of finding trustworthy information and holding powerful institutions accountable today.

His presentations give audiences a chance to hear history from a journalist who helped uncover it—and to consider what rigorous reporting requires when public trust is under strain.

What Makes Carl Different?

• Firsthand experience reporting the Watergate story with Bob Woodward
• Decades of investigative reporting on politics and public affairs
• Bestselling books including All the President’s Men, The Final Days, and Chasing History
• A perspective spanning major changes in journalism and American politics
• Stories that bring the work behind consequential headlines to life

Why Is Carl Right for Your Audience?

Carl is a strong fit for university events, leadership forums, journalism conferences, public affairs programs, and audiences interested in history and democracy. He is especially compelling when an event calls for a respected voice who can examine both a defining political moment and its continuing relevance.

Book Carl when your audience needs to:

• Hear the firsthand story of the Watergate investigation
• Understand how investigative reporters establish and verify facts
• Consider the role of journalism in holding power accountable
• Discuss the relationship between trustworthy information and public debate
• Explore how political history informs present-day questions
• Engage with a speaker whose reporting shaped a national conversation

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• With a deeper understanding of the reporting behind Watergate
• Better able to appreciate the persistence and verification investigative journalism demands
• Thinking more critically about evidence, sources, and competing claims
• Clearer on why an informed public matters to democratic institutions
• With questions to carry into conversations about journalism and civic life

Keynote Programs

An Evening with Carl Bernstein: The System Can Work

From his early days as a teenage copyboy to his reporting on national politics, Carl reflects on journalism, the public interest, and the search for the best obtainable version of the truth. Ideal for broad audiences and moderated conversations.

The Lessons of Watergate

Carl takes audiences behind the scenes of the reporting and political drama that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation. He considers what Watergate reveals about institutions, accountability, and the work required to uncover facts. Ideal for history, journalism, and public affairs events.

The Problem of Washington

Carl examines the responsibilities of elected officials, the press, and citizens in shaping political life. Ideal for leadership forums and audiences looking for a candid discussion about public debate and the state of American democracy.

Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?

Tell us what your audience wants to explore: Watergate, investigative journalism, political history, or the role of the press. We can help identify the right topic and format for your event and confirm Carl’s availability and current fee.

Is Carl Right for Your Event?

Tell us about your audience, the questions it wants to examine, and whether you envision a keynote or a moderated discussion. We’ll help you assess Carl’s fit and plan the next step.

To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected]

Jeanne Bliss helps companies and people become the best version of themselves. She guides them to define, build and live the behaviors and actions that will fuse customers to them, and ultimately create deep and memorable relationships.  Creating these deeper relationships has been Jeanne’s singular mission for over 35 years.

Often referred to as the “Godmother of Customer Experience,” she is one of the foremost experts on customer-centric leadership. She pioneered the role of the Chief Customer Officer, holding the first ever CCO role at Lands’ End, Microsoft, Coldwell Banker and Allstate Corporations. Reporting to each company’s CEO, she moved the customer to the strategic agenda, redirecting priorities to create transformational changes to each brands’ customer experience. She has driven achievement of 95 percent loyalty rates, improving customer experiences across 50,000-person organizations.

Her ability to effectively guide leaders and companies to earn customer-driven growth is based on these experiences as a practitioner for over 35 years working across organizations to unite the C-Suite and organizational silos; as well as guiding over 20,000 leaders around the world to understand that improving lives should be their most important strategic vision.

Jeanne is the Founder and President of CustomerBliss, and the Co-Founder of The Customer Experience Professionals Association, and she has delivered over 2,000 speeches and workshops for nearly every business vertical in B2B and C2B companies on how to build the roadmap toward these deep and genuine customer experiences that earn passionate advocates both inside and outside of your business.

Jeanne is also a Bestselling Author of Chief Customer Officer, Would You Do that To Your Mother?, and Chief Customer Officer 2.0.

Lisa Bodell:  Keynote Speaker on Simplification, Innovation & Leadership | Founder & CEO of FutureThink | Bestselling Author of Why Simple Wins

Simplify Work. Unlock Better Thinking. What could your people accomplish if they stopped wasting time on unnecessary work and focused their energy on what actually matters?

Lisa helps organizations eliminate the complexity, bureaucracy and low-value work that prevent people from thinking, leading and innovating at their best. Her message is provocative, practical and immediately actionable: stop adding more—and start removing what gets in the way.

Why Book Lisa Bodell?

Lisa doesn't just inspire people to work differently. She gives them practical tools to actually do it.

Her keynotes challenge one of the biggest problems facing organizations today: people are overwhelmed by meetings, processes, approvals and unnecessary complexity while leaders simultaneously ask them to innovate, move faster and accomplish more.

Lisa shows audiences how to create capacity by eliminating low-value work, simplifying decision-making and giving people more space to think.

The result is a keynote that can change not just how your audience thinks—but how they work the very next day.

What Makes Lisa Bodell Different?

• Founder & CEO of FutureThink — helping organizations simplify and innovate since 2003
• Bestselling author — author of Why Simple Wins and Kill the Company
• Simplification expert — helps organizations eliminate unnecessary complexity
• Innovation authority — teaches people how to challenge assumptions and think differently
• Highly interactive — incorporates audience participation and live exercises
• Immediately actionable — audiences leave with tools they can actually use
• Human-centered AI perspective — focuses on strengthening the capabilities technology can't replace
• Extensive corporate experience — has worked with leading organizations around the world

Why Is Lisa Right for Your Audience?

Lisa is an outstanding choice when your people are overwhelmed, moving too slowly or spending too much time on work that doesn't create enough value.

She is particularly effective for leadership conferences, executive meetings, innovation summits, transformation initiatives and organizations navigating AI-driven change.

Book Lisa when your audience needs to:

• Eliminate unnecessary complexity
• Create more time for meaningful work
• Make decisions faster
• Reduce bureaucracy and low-value processes
• Give leaders more capacity to actually lead
• Challenge outdated assumptions
• Strengthen innovation and creative problem-solving
• Determine where humans add the greatest value in an AI-enabled workplace

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• Identifying unnecessary work they can stop doing
• Better equipped to simplify meetings, processes and decision-making
• Understanding how complexity can undermine innovation
• More willing to challenge outdated rules and assumptions
• Equipped with practical tools they can apply immediately
• Better prepared to create space for higher-value work
• Thinking differently about leadership in an AI-enabled workplace
• Ready to simplify how work gets done

Lisa Bodell Keynote Programs

Unleash the Power of Simple. What if the fastest way to improve performance isn't adding something new—but eliminating what no longer matters?

Drawing from her bestselling book Why Simple Wins, Lisa shows audiences how unnecessary complexity steals time, energy and attention from the work that creates the most value.

Through practical tools, interactive exercises and real-world examples, she helps people identify what they can eliminate, simplify or change so they can spend more time on meaningful work.

Ideal for: Leadership conferences, corporate meetings, transformation initiatives and organizations struggling with complexity.

Let Leaders Lead. How much time do your leaders actually spend leading?

Too often, managers become trapped in meetings, approvals, processes and administrative work that leave too little time for coaching, decision-making and developing their people.

Lisa challenges organizations to remove the bureaucracy preventing leaders from doing what they were hired to do: lead.

She gives managers practical ways to simplify work, remove barriers and create more capacity for the leadership activities that drive performance.

Ideal for: Executive meetings, leadership development, management conferences and organizations focused on improving leadership effectiveness.

Unleashing Innovation: AI-Enabled, Human-Led. As AI becomes more capable, what becomes more important for humans to do exceptionally well?

Lisa reframes the AI conversation around a critical opportunity: using technology to amplify human capability rather than simply replace human activity.

She explores how organizations can use AI to remove lower-value work while strengthening the distinctly human capabilities that drive innovation—including judgment, curiosity, creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving.

The goal isn't humans versus AI. It's creating organizations where AI handles more of the work while people do more of the thinking that matters.

Ideal for: AI conferences, leadership events, innovation summits and organizations navigating the future of work.

Why Book Lisa Bodell Through The Sweeney Agency?

Lisa Bodell combines provocative thinking with practical tools audiences can use immediately—but the real value comes from identifying where complexity is getting in the way of your organization's performance.

The Sweeney Agency can help you:

• Confirm Lisa Bodell's availability and current speaking fee
• Determine which Lisa Bodell keynote best fits your audience
• Discuss customization around your organization's challenges
• Coordinate format, timing and event logistics
• Compare Lisa with other leading innovation, change and leadership speakers

Is Lisa Bodell Right for Your Event?

Tell us what's slowing your people down—and what you want them spending more time doing instead.

We'll help you determine whether Lisa is the right fit, confirm availability and fees, and make the booking process simple.

Planning a leadership conference, innovation summit or corporate event? Contact The Sweeney Agency today [email protected] to discuss booking Lisa Bodell as your keynote speaker.

Kris Boesch: Founder of Choose People | Author of Culture Works | Speaker on Workplace Culture and Team Connection

Make Work a Place People Want to Be

Kris Boesch helps leaders and teams answer that question with practical changes to the way they work together. As founder of Choose People and a former company CEO, she combines research on workplace culture with firsthand experience improving morale, collaboration, and retention.

Why Book Kris Boesch?

Kris makes culture specific. She helps audiences see how everyday behaviors—recognition, candid communication, kindness, and shared responsibility—shape the experience of coming to work.

Her ideas grew out of the challenges she faced while leading a moving company with high turnover and a struggling culture. She brings that experience to presentations designed to give participants tools they can use with their own teams.

What Makes Kris Different?

• Experience improving workplace culture as a company CEO
• Founder of Choose People and author of Culture Works: How to Create Happiness in the Workplace
• Research-informed tools for strengthening employee experience
• Interactive presentations that invite people to apply the ideas
• Practical approaches to difficult conversations, trust, and teamwork

Why Is Kris Right for Your Audience?

Kris is a strong fit for leadership conferences, HR events, employee gatherings, and team meetings. She is especially valuable when people want to improve culture but need a clearer picture of what to do differently on Monday morning.

Book Kris when your audience needs to:

• Strengthen trust and camaraderie at work
• Address conflict directly and constructively
• Reduce divisions between teams or departments
• Support employees facing change or burnout
• Make accountability feel shared and constructive
• Build a workplace where people feel their work matters

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• Better able to identify behaviors that strengthen workplace culture
• Equipped to approach difficult conversations with care and candor
• Ready to create more connection across team boundaries
• Clearer on how leaders can support shared ownership
• Motivated to take practical steps toward a healthier work experience

Keynote Programs

Social Super Glue

Kris explores how kindness, connection, and shared identity encourage people to collaborate and support one another. Ideal for organizations seeking a more cohesive culture and stronger employee commitment.

Freedom from Funkytown

Kris gives audiences a framework for raising concerns and resolving conflict with communication that is kind, candid, and constructive. Ideal for teams that want less workplace drama and more trust.

Beat Burnout & Renew Vitality

Kris helps audiences examine patterns of overwhelm and find ways to regain energy and enjoyment in their work. Ideal for teams under sustained pressure.

Real Deal Change Management

Kris addresses the human side of change, helping audiences understand resistance, expand their comfort zones, and take part in what comes next. Ideal for organizations navigating a transition.

Break Down Silos & Build Up Trust

Kris helps colleagues recognize how their work depends on one another and build a stronger sense of shared responsibility. Ideal for cross-functional teams and organization-wide meetings.

Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?

Tell us what is getting in the way of a stronger culture: conflict, silos, burnout, or change. We can help choose the most relevant program, discuss the format, and confirm Kris’s availability and current fee.

Is Kris Right for Your Event?

Tell us about your audience, the culture you want to create, and the behaviors you want to see afterward. We’ll help you assess Kris’s fit and plan the next step.

To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected]

Liz Bohannon is the Founder and CEO of socially conscious fashion brand Sseko Designs, which she founded in 2008 as a way to provide educational and economic opportunities for women in East Africa. Liz shares the lessons learned from her 10-year journey growing Sseko from three women under a mango tree, into a successful international fashion brand that provides employment, educational and entrepreneurial opportunities to thousands of women across the globe.

Her story is filled with lessons for success that are grounded in the principle of having a beginner’s mind, which Liz sums up in her new book, Beginner’s Pluck: Build Your Life of Purpose and Impact Now. In it, as in her presentations, she shares uncommon ideas toward success like, Own Your Average, Stop Trying to Find Your Passion…Create It, and Dream Small so you can do big things. Liz continues to channel her inner beginner as she manages 100s of employees across multiple continents, and her mindset sets her apart as a courageous, creative and effective leader.

The Sseko story has been featured in dozens of publications including, Vogue Magazine, Redbook Magazine, O Magazine, Inc., Fortune and others. Sseko has appeared on national broadcasts including ABC's Shark Tank and Good Morning America.

Among other notable honors, Liz was named a Top Three Transformation Leader by John Maxwell, Forbes listed her as a top 20 public speaker in the U.S. and Bloomberg Businessweek named Sseko as a top social enterprise to watch.
Liz now splits her time between Uganda and Portland, Oregon, where she and her husband Ben run Sseko Designs and raise their two young sons.

Eric Boles: Leadership & Performance Expert | President, The Game Changers, Inc. | Former NFL Player | Author of Moving to Great

Turn Potential Into Performance

Eric Boles helps leaders and teams close that gap.

President of The Game Changers, Inc. and a former NFL player, Eric combines powerful storytelling, high energy and practical strategies to help people strengthen accountability, embrace change and perform at a higher level.

Why Book Eric Boles?

Eric doesn't simply motivate people to do better. He challenges them to take greater ownership of how they think, lead and perform.

For more than two decades, Eric has worked with organizations including Starbucks, FedEx, Meta, Mayo Clinic, IBM, PwC, Alaska Airlines and the U.S. Air Force.

His message is straightforward: sustainable performance comes from clarity, accountability and consistent execution—not good intentions.

What Makes Eric Different?

• Former NFL player who understands high-performance environments
• More than two decades working with leaders and organizations
• Powerful combination of energy, humor and practical business insight
• Expertise in leadership, accountability, change and peak performance
• Challenges audiences without talking down to them
• Creates urgency around turning ideas into action
• Customizes his message around the organization's goals and challenges

Why Is Eric Right for Your Audience?

Eric is an excellent choice when an organization needs people to raise their game, embrace accountability and execute at a higher level.

He is particularly effective for sales kickoffs, leadership conferences, corporate meetings, team events and organizations navigating significant change.

Book Eric when your audience needs to:

• Take greater ownership of results
• Move from intention to execution
• Raise expectations for themselves and others
• Navigate change with greater confidence
• Break through complacency and self-imposed limitations
• Strengthen teamwork and accountability
• Perform effectively under pressure

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• Motivated to take greater ownership of their performance
• Better equipped to turn good intentions into action
• Ready to challenge habits that may be limiting results
• More confident navigating change and uncertainty
• Clearer about the role accountability plays in high performance
• Energized to raise their personal and professional expectations

Keynote Programs

Performance Catalyst™ Align, Elevate and Accelerate Performance

Eric challenges audiences to examine the behaviors that separate potential from sustainable performance.

He helps leaders strengthen alignment, accountability and execution while creating greater urgency around the actions required to achieve organizational goals.

Ideal for leadership conferences, executive meetings, sales kickoffs and organizations focused on accelerating performance.

Moving to Great: Unleash Your Best More of the Time

What keeps talented people from consistently performing at their best?

Eric helps audiences recognize the fears, habits and self-imposed limitations that can hold them back—and provides practical strategies for moving beyond them.

The result is a highly motivational presentation with a strong business message about personal responsibility, growth and performance.

Ideal for sales meetings, corporate conferences, recognition events and organizations looking to re-energize their people.

Leading Through Change

Change creates uncertainty—but it also creates an opportunity for stronger leadership.

Eric helps leaders understand how their mindset, communication and behavior influence the way people respond to change. He challenges audiences to move beyond fear, have difficult conversations, make decisions and create positive momentum.

Ideal for organizations experiencing transformation, growth or significant disruption.

Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?

A high-energy keynote can create excitement. The right keynote can turn that excitement into action.

Contact us to:

• Confirm Eric's availability and current fee
• Determine which presentation best supports your objectives
• Discuss customization around your business challenges
• Explore keynote, breakout and leadership-development options
• Receive comparable recommendations if another speaker may be a stronger fit

Click Here to Watch Eric's Virtual Presentation

Did last year's speaker knock your socks off? Not sure where to go next? Let our team of experienced professionals help you find your next great speaker. 

Here's a quick guide to help you get started:

Find A Theme

Decide on a theme or topic for your event.

Going through a period of transition? Looking to shake up your creative? Building trust within your teams? We have great speakers on all of those topics.

Having trouble? Check out our IDEA GENERATOR for inspiration.

Get in Touch

Get in touch with your Event Date & Theme.

We will ask you some key questions to find the perfect speaker for your live or virtual event.

We pride ourselves on our personal touch. We are small team of dedicated professionals with over 20 years experience. When you call us, you speak to us directly... and quickly.

Shortlist

By now, we have a great idea of what you are looking for and will send you a shortlist of exceptional speakers.

Each speaker will be vetted with YOUR event in mind, along with our personal thoughts on how that speaker can inspire your attendees.

Let's talk

From the shortlist, you've narrowed it down to two great speakers. Let's discuss your needs to help make the final decision.

With over 20 years experience, you can trust us to provide all of the information you need to choose the right speaker.

We work with you to find the best format for your presentation, including live streams, Q&A sessions and even follow up programs to ensure maximum engagement for your key stakeholders.

The Details

We will facilitate a call with your leadership team & our speaker to do a deep dive into your business to make sure their presentation really hits home.

As trusted experts, you can rest easy knowing our experience will guide you every step of the way.

get in touch

Get in touch to book your next great speaker.

Anthony “AB” Bourke: Former F-16 Fighter Pilot | Business Leader | Speaker on Execution, Leadership and Peak Performance

Turn a Strong Plan Into Strong Execution

What helps a team stay aligned, communicate honestly, and improve when the stakes are high and conditions keep changing?

Anthony “AB” Bourke draws on his experience as an F-16 fighter pilot and business leader to answer that question. He shows audiences how the habits of high-performing flight teams—clear preparation, precise execution, and regular debriefing—can help organizations work better together.

Why Book Anthony Bourke?

Anthony makes the difference between strategy and execution easy to see. Using stories from the cockpit, he explains how teams establish a shared plan, communicate during demanding work, and learn from what happened afterward.

He also brings business experience to the stage, connecting those lessons to leadership, sales, and organizational performance. Audiences leave with ideas they can use to improve the way their own teams prepare and follow through.

What Makes Anthony Different?

• Experience flying F-16 tactical missions
• Business leadership and sales experience beyond the cockpit
• A practical model of briefing, execution, and debriefing
• Strong examples of alignment and communication under pressure
• Interactive presentations that connect aviation lessons to workplace challenges

Why Is Anthony Right for Your Audience?

Anthony is a strong fit for leadership conferences, sales meetings, management retreats, and company events focused on performance. He is especially valuable when an organization has a capable team and a sound strategy but needs more consistent execution.

Book Anthony when your audience needs to:

• Align around a plan before acting
• Communicate more openly about what is working
• Close gaps between strategy and execution
• Learn from results without turning feedback into blame
• Lead teams through fast-changing conditions
• Build habits that support continuous improvement

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• Clearer on how preparation improves team execution
• Better equipped to give and receive useful feedback
• Ready to use debriefs to learn from both successes and setbacks
• More aware of how each person contributes to a shared mission
• Motivated to make small, repeatable improvements in performance

Keynote Programs

Executing at Mach 2

Anthony shows how fighter squadrons align their people and plans so they can perform under pressure. Ideal for teams that need to turn good strategy into dependable results.

Communicating at Mach 2

Anthony explores how honest feedback helps high-performing teams identify problems early and improve. Ideal for organizations seeking more candid communication and stronger collaboration.

Leading at Mach 2

Anthony draws on fighter-pilot leadership practices to discuss preparation, developing people, and improving as a team. Ideal for managers and executives responsible for performance in demanding environments.

Selling at Mach 2

Anthony connects the discipline of fighter-pilot training with the preparation and execution required in sales. Ideal for sales kickoffs and teams working to build more consistent performance.

The Feedback Loop: Fighter Pilot Lessons for Continuous Improvement

Anthony explains the value of regular briefing and debriefing: set expectations, carry out the plan, examine the result, and make the next effort stronger. Ideal for teams that want a practical way to learn and adapt together.

Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?

Tell us where execution breaks down for your audience: alignment, communication, feedback, leadership, or sales. We can help choose the most relevant program, discuss customization, and confirm Anthony’s availability and current fee.

Is Anthony Right for Your Event?

Tell us about your audience, its performance goals, and what you want people to do differently afterward. We’ll help you assess Anthony’s fit and plan the next step.

To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected]

Dr. Travis Bradberry: Bestselling Author | Emotional Intelligence Expert | Speaker on Leadership and Performance

Make Emotional Intelligence a Daily Skill

Dr. Travis Bradberry helps audiences develop emotional intelligence they can use in real situations. Co-author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and author of The New Emotional Intelligence, he translates psychology into practical ways to improve self-awareness, manage reactions, read a room, and work more effectively with others.

Why Book Dr. Travis Bradberry?

Travis gives leaders and teams a clear path from understanding emotional intelligence to practicing it. Rather than treating EQ as a fixed trait, he shows how people can strengthen specific skills through attention and repeated action.

His message is especially useful for organizations where difficult conversations, rapid change, or the pressures of leadership make it important to respond thoughtfully instead of reacting automatically.

What Makes Travis Different?

• Co-author of the bestselling Emotional Intelligence 2.0
• Author of The New Emotional Intelligence
• A background in clinical and industrial-organizational psychology
• Experience helping organizations apply EQ to workplace behavior
• Practical strategies organized around four core emotional intelligence skills

Why Is Travis Right for Your Audience?

Travis is a strong fit for leadership conferences, management development programs, HR events, and company meetings. He is particularly relevant when people need better communication and judgment in demanding situations.

Book Travis when your audience needs to:

• Recognize emotional triggers before they shape a response
• Stay more composed during pressure or uncertainty
• Understand how others experience their communication
• Handle difficult conversations with greater awareness
• Strengthen trust and working relationships
• Apply EQ skills to everyday leadership decisions

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• Clearer on the four core skills of emotional intelligence
• Better able to notice how emotions affect behavior at work
• Equipped with steps for improving self-management
• More attentive to the needs and reactions of others
• Ready to practice EQ in conversations and team interactions

Keynote Programs

Emotional Intelligence 2.0: Taking Your Game to the Next Level

Travis explains what EQ is, why it matters at work, and how people can develop it through a step-by-step process. Ideal for leadership audiences and teams seeking a practical introduction to emotional intelligence.

Potential Focus: The New Emotional Intelligence

Drawing on his newer book, Travis can explore self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management, with attention to the habits that strengthen each skill. Ask us about shaping this focus for your audience.

Potential Focus: Emotional Intelligence in Leadership and Change

For leadership events, the discussion can focus on how managers use EQ when giving feedback, responding to pressure, and guiding people through change. Ask us about tailoring the session to your organization’s challenges.

Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?

Tell us where stronger emotional intelligence would help your audience most: leadership, communication, change, or team relationships. We can discuss the right focus and format, then confirm Travis’s availability and current fee.

Is Travis Right for Your Event?

Tell us about your audience, the situations its members find challenging, and what you want them to handle differently afterward. We’ll help you assess Travis’s fit and plan the next step.

To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected]

Dr. Gary Bradt: Keynote Speaker on Change, Leadership & Resilience | Clinical Psychologist | Bestselling Author | Business Transformation Expert

Turn Change Into Opportunity.  Change is inevitable. How your people respond to it isn't.

Gary helps leaders and employees navigate uncertainty, let go of what they can't control and focus their energy on the actions that move them forward. Combining psychology, compelling stories, humor and practical strategies, he turns the often-overwhelming subject of change into something audiences can understand—and act on.

Why Book Dr. Gary Bradt?

Gary doesn't simply tell people they need to embrace change. He helps them understand why change can be so difficult and gives them practical strategies for responding more effectively.

His background as a clinical psychologist gives Gary a distinctive perspective on the human side of organizational change—how people react when familiar routines disappear, expectations shift and uncertainty increases.

His presentations are engaging, relatable and highly practical, helping audiences move beyond resistance and focus on what they can control, what they can influence and what they can do next.

What Makes Gary Bradt Different?

• Clinical psychologist — brings a deep understanding of how people respond to change
• Bestselling author — recognized for his practical insights on change and resilience
• Change expertise — helps organizations address the human side of transformation
• Immediately actionable — practical strategies audiences can apply at work and in life
• Leadership focused — gives leaders tools for helping others navigate uncertainty
• Engaging and relatable — combines psychology, humor and real-world stories
• Business relevant — connects individual behavior directly to organizational performance

Why Is Gary Right for Your Audience?

Gary is an excellent choice when your organization needs people to stop fighting what they can't control and start taking ownership of what they can.

He is particularly effective for leadership conferences, corporate meetings, association events and organizations navigating restructuring, transformation, growth or significant workplace change.

Book Gary when your audience needs to:

• Adapt more effectively to organizational change
• Build greater resilience during uncertainty
• Focus on what they can control and influence
• Move beyond resistance and take productive action
• Maintain performance during periods of disruption
• Lead others confidently through change
• Strengthen personal accountability
• Approach uncertainty with greater optimism and perspective

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• Better prepared to navigate uncertainty and change
• Understanding why people naturally resist disruption
• Equipped with practical strategies for responding more productively
• More focused on the actions within their control
• Better able to maintain perspective when circumstances become difficult
• Ready to take greater ownership of their response to change
• More confident helping others move forward

Dr. Gary Bradt Keynote Programs

Navigating Change: When circumstances change, you may not control what happens—but you can control how you respond.

Gary helps audiences understand the psychological realities of change and why uncertainty can trigger resistance, frustration and fear.

He then provides practical strategies for moving beyond those reactions, adapting more quickly and focusing energy on the choices and behaviors that create forward momentum.

Ideal for: Organizational transformation, corporate meetings, leadership conferences and organizations navigating significant change.

Leading Through Change: A leader's job isn't simply to announce change. It's to help people successfully move through it.

Gary gives leaders practical insights into how people experience change and what they need from leadership during periods of uncertainty.

Audiences learn how to communicate more effectively, maintain trust, encourage accountability and help teams stay focused on what comes next.

Ideal for: Executive meetings, leadership development, management conferences and transformation initiatives.

Resilience: Moving Forward When Things Don't Go as Planned: Resilience isn't about pretending everything is fine. It's about choosing a productive response when it isn't.

Drawing on psychology and decades of experience helping individuals and organizations navigate difficult transitions, Gary shows audiences how to regain perspective, manage uncertainty and continue moving forward.

Ideal for: Leadership, resilience, workplace wellbeing and high-performance events.

Why Book Dr. Gary Bradt Through The Sweeney Agency?

Gary Bradt's background in psychology and organizational change gives him a powerful perspective on transformation—but the real value comes from connecting his message directly to the change your people are experiencing.

The Sweeney Agency can help you:

• Confirm Dr. Gary Bradt's availability and current speaking fee
• Determine which Gary Bradt keynote best fits your audience
• Discuss customization around your organization's specific change or challenge
• Coordinate format, timing and event logistics
• Compare Gary with other leading change, leadership and resilience speakers

Is Gary Bradt Right for Your Event?

Tell us what's changing in your organization—and how you need your people to respond.

We'll help you determine whether Gary is the right fit, confirm availability and fees, and make the booking process simple.

Planning a leadership conference, transformation event or corporate meeting? Contact The Sweeney Agency today [email protected] to discuss booking Dr. Gary Bradt as your keynote speaker.

• Peter teaches leaders how to lead with emotional courage by increasing their confidence, ability to connect with others and embrace change

• Audiences leave with the tools to engage on with their teams on an emotional level to guide change and support performance

• Peter is an author and contributor to more than 16 books, and a regular contributor to Bloomberg Business Week, Forbes, Fast Company and The Financial Times

• Past clients include: Allianz, American Express, Brunswick Group, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, FEI, GE Capital, Merck, Clear Channel, Nike, and UNICEF

Peter Bregman is recognized as the #1 executive coach in the world by Leading Global Coaches. Peter coaches CEOs and senior leaders in many of the world’s premier organizations. Having started his career teaching leadership on wilderness and mountaineering expeditions, Peter is CEO of Bregman Partners - an executive coaching company that helps successful people become exceptional leaders and stellar human beings.

Peter is ranked as a top 30 thought leader by Thinkers 50 Radar - and selected as one of the top 8 thought leaders in leadership. He is the award-winning, best-selling author and contributor of 16 books - including, most recently, Leading with Emotional Courage: How to Have Hard Conversations, Create Accountability, and Inspire Action on Your Most Important Work. His book, 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done, was a Wall Street Journal best-seller, winner of the Gold medal from the Axiom Business Book awards, named the best business book of the year by NPR - and selected by Publisher’s Weekly and the New York Post as a top ten business book. He is also the author of Four Seconds: All the Time You Need to Replace Counter-Productive Habits with Ones That Really Work, a New York Post "Top Pick for Your Career" in 2015, and Point B: A Short Guide to Leading a Big Change.

Peter is the host of the Bregman Leadership Podcast, which offers insightful conversations with industry thought leaders - on how to become more powerful, courageous leaders. He is also a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review, and his articles and commentary appear frequently in Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Fast Company, Psychology Today, Forbes, The Financial Times , PBS, ABC, CNN, NPR, and FOX Business News.

Peter created and leads the Bregman Leadership Intensive, a four-day program that transforms the way people lead - by increasing their confidence in themselves, their ability to connect with others, their commitment to what’s most important, and their emotional courage.

Peter designed the Bregman Partners proven, proprietary Big Arrow process - to align people to work together to accomplish an organization’s most important work. The Bregman Arrow Measurement tool (BAM)©tm - quantifies the leadership and organizational gaps that block successful execution.

He has implemented his proprietary solutions with CEOs and senior leaders in many of the world’s premier organizations, including Allianz, American Express, Brunswick Group, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, FEI, GE Capital, Merck, Clear Channel, Nike, UNICEF, among others.

Peter earned his B.A. from Princeton University and his M.B.A. from Columbia University.

Kevin Brown: Creator of The Hero Effect® | Bestselling Author | Speaker on Leadership and Customer Experience

Why Book Kevin Brown?

Kevin brings the message to life through stories and business experience. As part of the leadership team that helped grow SERVPRO into a major franchise brand, he saw how culture, customer loyalty, and individual commitment work together. His keynotes give audiences a memorable reason to show up at their best when it matters most.

Why Is Kevin Brown Right for Your Audience?

Kevin is a strong fit for leadership conferences, franchise meetings, sales kickoffs, customer service events, and company gatherings. He is especially valuable when an organization wants employees at every level to feel responsible for the experience they create for customers and colleagues.

Book Kevin when your audience needs to:

• Take greater ownership of daily actions and results
• Strengthen customer relationships through personal service
• Build a culture where people look for ways to help
• Connect individual purpose with organizational goals
• Turn stated values into visible behavior
• Leave energized and ready to make a positive difference

Audience Takeaways

Attendees will leave:

• Clearer on how small actions shape a customer’s experience
• Ready to take responsibility for the moments they can influence
• More aware of the difference between meeting expectations and exceeding them
• Equipped to build stronger relationships with customers and teammates
• Motivated to follow through on what they say matters

Keynote Programs

The Hero Effect®: Being Your Best When It Matters the Most
Kevin’s signature keynote shows how people in any role can create meaningful moments for those they serve and work beside. Ideal for broad employee, sales, and customer experience audiences.

The Hero Effect® for Leaders: Creating a Culture of Extraordinary
Kevin focuses his message on leaders who want to help people perform at their best. Drawing on his executive experience, he explores how to build commitment, connect personal and organizational goals, and develop others. Ideal for management and leadership events.

If It Matters, Prove It!™
Kevin challenges teams to close the gap between good intentions and consistent action. Ideal for audiences that need stronger accountability, follow-through, and visible progress toward their goals.

Is Kevin Brown Right for Your Event?

Tell us about your audience, the experience you want people to create, and what you want them to do differently after the event. We can help select Kevin’s most relevant program, discuss customization, and confirm his availability and fee.

Contact The Sweeney Agency 1-866-727-7555 or [email protected] for more information on this speaker.

• Marcus talks about how managers can create environments in which individuals thrive, discover their talents and use their best selves daily.

• Audiences learn the four key demands a manager must fulfill in order to provide the kind of environment that enables people to achieve peak performance on a regular basis.

• Marcus Buckingham is the author of more than 10 books and is the author of two of the best-selling business books of all time. He is the co-creator of the StrengthsFinder tool, and CEO and found of The Marcus Buckingham Company.

• Past clients include: Toyota, Facebook, lululemon, Coca-Cola, Box, Master Foods, Wells Fargo, Microsoft, and Disney.

Marcus Buckingham has dedicated his career to addressing the complex issue of a workplace ruled by efficiency and competency - and where personal strengths fit in. Using his nearly two decades of experience as a Senior Researcher at Gallup Organization, he has challenged entrenched preconceptions about achievement to get to the core of what drives success. As a speaker, Buckingham offers important insights into maximizing strengths, understanding the crucial differences between leadership and management, and fulfilling the quest for long-lasting personal satisfaction in work and in life.

The definitive treatment of strengths in the workplace can be found in Buckingham's best-selling books: First, Break All the Rules (co-authored with Curt Coffman); Now, Discover Your Strengths (co-authored with Donald O. Clifton); The One Thing You Need to Know; Go Put Your Strengths to Work; The Truth about You and Find Your Strongest Life. His latest book Nine Lies about Work: A Freethinking Leader's Guide to the Real World (co-authored with Ashley Goodall) speaks about how the time has come for a manifesto for truth and change at work - and reveals the unimpeachable data about how humans actually work.

A recent project and best-seller listed on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, StandOut, is a book and strengths assessment combination that uses new research methodology to reveal your top two strength roles - your areas of comparative advantage. StandOut goes beyond description to give people practical innovations that fit their strengths and provide managers with quick insights on how to get the best from each of their team members.

The goal is to move companies toward greater success and productivity by creating a workplace culture in which employees spend more than 75% of each day on the job using their strongest skills and engaged in their favorite tasks, basically doing exactly what they want to do. Companies that focus on cultivating employees' strengths rather than simply improving their weaknesses stand to dramatically increase efficiency while allowing for maximum personal growth. If such a theory sounds revolutionary, that's because it is. Buckingham calls it the strengths revolution - and he founded The Marcus Buckingham Company (TMBC) in 2005 to help jump-start a worldwide conversation about how to get people focused on their strengths.

As he addresses more than 250,000 people around the globe each year, Buckingham touts this strengths revolution as the key to finding the most effective route to personal achievement and the missing link to the efficiency, competence, and high performance for which companies constantly strive. He challenges conventional wisdom and shows the correlation between engaged employees and business fundamentals such as turnover rates, customer satisfaction, profits and productivity.

In his role as an author, independent consultant and speaker, Marcus Buckingham has been the subject of in-depth profiles in The New York Times, Fortune, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. He has appeared on numerous television programs, including The Today Show and The Oprah Winfrey Show, and is routinely lauded by such corporations as Toyota, Coca-Cola, Master Foods, Wells Fargo, Microsoft and Disney - as an invaluable resource in informing, challenging, mentoring and inspiring people to find their strengths and sustain long-lasting personal success.

Marcus Buckingham graduated from Cambridge University in 1987 with a master's degree in social and political science.

Michael C. Bush is a global chief executive with over 25 years of experience leading small and mid-sized organizations through transformational growth. Driven by a love of business and an unwavering commitment to fair and equitable treatment, in 2015 Michael acquired ownership and currently serves as global CEO of Great Place to Work® headquartered in Oakland, California with operations in more than 60 countries worldwide. Great Place to Work® is a global people analytics and consulting firm that helps companies of all sizes produce better business results by focusing on the work experience for every employee. Through certification programs, Great Place to Work® recognizes outstanding workplaces and produces Fortune’s annual list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, the World’s Best Workplaces™ list, the 100 Best Workplaces for Women™ list, the Best Workplaces for Diversity™ list and dozens of other distinguished workplace rankings around the world.

Originally hired to help the founder of Great Place to Work® exit the business, Michael accomplished this successful exit and within six months of taking control set an aggressive new course for the business and brand. This new, market-shifting course began with setting a clear mission for the company: to build a better world by helping every organization become a Great Place to Work For All™ by the year 2030. Re-building the business out of virtual bankruptcy, he created a valuable new set of algorithms and globally launched a new methodology known as “Great Place to Work For All™.” This bold move expanded the market for employee surveys to improve business performance and productivity from employee surveys only for the sake of employer branding. This new For All™ methodology analytically captured renewed interest in the business value that diversity and inclusion bring to innovation. A new SaaS product, “Emprising™” was born in 2018 to enable Michael’s vision for the market shift and transformation of Great Place to Work®’s financial trajectory. Emprising’s remarkably rapid customer adoption rate has resulted in a 15% annual revenue increase with the entire business currently exceeding 100 million dollars annually with EBITDA of 25%.

In addition to the book Michael Bush authored “A Great Place to Work For All™” (2018, publisher Berrett-Koehler), he is a sought after keynoter and regular contributor to Fortune and has been featured along with Great Place to Work® in numerous publications including Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Inc., ThriveGlobal, Chief Executive Magazine, Huffington Post, CNBC, and TED.

Prior to his current role, from 2003 to 2015, Michael led private equity backed turn-arounds. In two different businesses he became the CEO and managed both exits that substantially rewarded all investors and stakeholders. In addition, Michael founded an online training platform for small business entrepreneurs that led to him becoming a member of President Obama’s White House Business Council where he focused on Inner City Job creation.

During this time, 2002-2012, Michael served on the Board of Inner City Advisors – a non-profit helping small business create jobs and pay a living wage. He also founded the non-profit private equity firm Fund Good Jobs in 2012. This fund provides capital to small business who cannot attract capital from the traditional sources.

From 1996 to 2003, Michael spent one year as the COO of Whalen and Company a global telecommunications project management firm that was purchased in 1997 by Tetra Tech Communications. Following that acquisition, Michael was promoted to CEO of Tetra Tech Communications, where revenues grew from 40 million dollars annually to 300 million, until 2003.

Michael was a member of the Board of Directors at Workday, Inc. until September 2021 when Great Place to Work was acquired by UKG, Inc.

Michael Bush received his MS in Management from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business in 1994. Michael is a student and teacher of business having taught Entrepreneurship at Stanford University and Mills College from 2003 to 2015.

Susan Cain is the author of the best-sellers Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts and Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, which has been translated into 40 languages, is in its seventh year on the New York Times best- seller list, and was named the #1 best book of the year by Fast Company magazine, which also named Cain one of its Most Creative People in Business. LinkedIn named her the 6th Top Influencer in the world.

Susan has partnered with Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant and Dan Pink to launch the Next Big Idea Book Club; they donate all their proceeds to children’s literacy programs.

Her writing has appeared in the The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. Her record-smashing TED talk has been viewed over 30 million times on TED.com and YouTube combined, and was named by Bill Gates one of his all-time favorite talks.

Cain has also spoken at Microsoft, Google, the U.S. Treasury, the S.E.C., Harvard, Yale, West Point and the US Naval Academy.

She received Harvard Law School’s Celebration Award for Thought Leadership, the Toastmasters International Golden Gavel Award for Communication and Leadership, and was named one of the world’s top 50 Leadership and Management Experts by Inc. Magazine. She is an honours graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School.

She lives in the Hudson River Valley with her husband and two sons.