Life is challenging, capricious, and agonizing. It is also wondrous, beautiful, and beneficent. Working (and living) within these two realities requires us to develop skills of resilience and the ability to rise while under stress.  Research from the fields of positive psychology and resilience provide guidance for us as we seek to enable others to strengthen capacity while elevating our own. This presentation provides insight into principles and practices that increase resilience on the fly such as:  reframing stress into opportunity, activating a growth mindset, leveraging character strengths, and heightening a grounded optimism.

Leadership is a privilege, and it requires action.  To elevate our teams such that we enable systemic resilience, I share with you the compelling research, exemplar stories and practical skills that are most effective in the presence of uncertainty and upheaval. We’ll discuss how to drive positive change with courage and clarity, how to navigate difficult emotions and thoughts, and the prioritization of what really matters while minimizing wasted energy.

To seek an inner sense of summer...a sense of strength, optimism, efficacy, and energy, then we must cultivate the practices and perspectives that bring us to both serenity and appreciation. The science of Appreciative Living does just that. It grounds us in a mindset that acknowledges the difficult and elevates the good anyway. With Appreciative Living practices, we see the obstacles and can traverse them with the best of ourselves, creating a more positive impact around us. We become empowered to see the world anew, and move in the direction of vitality, health, and hope with little strain, while finding much more fulfillment in our days.

We live in a time of an abundance of knowledge...knowledge that offers us compelling data about the field of happiness and why it matters to the success of our lives at work and at home.  In this presentation we explore the definition of happiness, how to elevate it, and how it correlates with both individual and team success in terms of creativity, engagement, success and meaning.  We examine the intersection of positivity and resilience and study the tools and attitudes that enable us to increase well-being, capacity and optimism within our organizations, our families and within ourselves.

No one remembers a power point.

Everyone remembers the story you tell…and how they felt when you told it.

Research in the last two decades continues to point to storytelling as a necessary and increasingly important leadership competency.  With the current relentless, erratic nature of change at work, high levels of disengagement, and escalating desire for meaning and conscious, ethical leadership from employees, it behooves us to find the way to articulate our vision and the path to that vision with impact.  Story – the right one at the right time – does just that…and more. Moreover, we know this:  people will tell a story about our business or our team or our community whether we wish them to or not. We must be wise, choosing to harness that impulse to share perspectives by both crafting positive, motivating stories that address reality and the path forward, while recognizing the richness present in our organization(s) in the current moment. This presentation is designed for executives, coaches, consultants and anyone who seeks to develop mastery in the art and science of telling a compelling anecdote in order to drive forward impactful narratives.

Moving forward after loss or any sudden major upheaval requires within us a capacity to acknowledge what has been left behind and no longer true while building toward a new living.  It is an arduous journey, and yet one that can provide for each of us a growing clarity about what matters, what works to engender a deeper health and what must be set aside.  In this presentation we consider how to build and sustain a grounded optimism, what are the connections that most enable wellbeing, and how we care for ourselves as the ground shifts beneath us.  We examine meaning as well, driving toward a clear sense of mattering that can include all that we have lost and all that remains true within.