A highly-rated national speaker and facilitator, Matt’s unique and engaging style combines humor and wit with keen insight into leadership, culture, the future of work, and what it means to be human. As a former high school educator and national-award-winning corporate trainer, Matt has the ability to unpack concepts and ideas in such a way that audiences are not only informed and entertained, but also motivated and inspired to take action.
Matt can deliver an existing talk (see below) or can develop a talk specifically for your event. A word of warning: If you prefer that your group not smile, laugh, or be challenged, then you probably shouldn’t choose any of them. However, if you’re ready, you can go ahead and book Matt to speak here.
Partial List of Keynotes
The Surprising Power of Humanness and Vulnerability
Brief Description: Vulnerability. Humanness. They sound scary, and some even opine that they sound weak; but they’re anything but weak. They’re at the very core of who you are. We all have baggage, and we all wear masks. But true strength — and true freedom — lie underneath. When we can embrace our humanness and vulnerability, we’re able to be better leaders, teammates, and human beings. Further still, when teams and organizations can embrace their mutual humanness, it unleashes them to do amazing work together.
The Future of Culture: How Making Work Human Makes Organizations Better
Brief Description: It’s time to take a stand and make work human. It’s time to throw out the cliches, roll up our sleeves, and think through what it really takes to make our organizations places where humans can come and thrive. That, or we can simply throw our collective hands in the air and watch our people be treated like pegs that are placed into department holes and cubicle farms, doomed to perform at a mediocre level. No? Well all right then. Let’s get to work making workplaces human and unleash the potential that’s been choked into dormancy by so many work environments.
Unlocking The Power of Radical Servant Leadership
Brief Description: It’s time to move past the tired, worn-out notions of servant leadership and explore the robust, life-changing nature of this philosophy of leadership. In this keynote, audiences will delve into the deeply human core of this unique way of viewing leadership and life. This talk will introduce the audience to servant leadership from a fresh perspective, investigate the very humanizing presuppositions that undergird servant leadership, demonstrate how committing to servant leadership humanizes a leader, and unlock the keys to how it can ultimately have a humanizing effect on entire organizations.
The Choices You Make Every Day That Shape Your Organization’s Culture
Brief Description: Everything we do every day has an impact on the organizations within which we live and work. Everyone says they want to make a difference. What many don’t realize is that when it comes to culture, they already are (for better or worse). In this talk, audiences will be challenged to own not only their own actions, but also the future of their organizations’ cultures.
Why Your Team Building Isn’t Working
Brief Description: Teamwork. Contrary to popular belief, it does not miraculously manifest after people fall backwards into each other’s outstretched arms. It also isn’t figured out by filling out some neat and simple worksheet, because humans aren’t neat and simple. Teamwork — real teamwork — requires something far more meaningful, and far more challenging, from teams: humanness and vulnerability. Teams that can learn to be human and vulnerable together lay the groundwork for high performance and sustainable competitive advantage. It’ll get messy, but that’s a good thing.
The Role of Storytelling in Corporate Culture
Brief Description: Stories are powerful. They make us think. Feel. Take a side. For thousands of years, people groups have used them for a variety of reasons. However, the business world has largely ignored them. In this compelling, TED-style, talk, audiences will be shown the role storytelling can play in their organizations, as well as the powerful impact it can have on corporate culture.
Creating a Culture of Innovation
Brief Description: Innovation is a word that’s thrown around an awful lot, but in order for organizations to truly be innovative, they have to create cultures that serve as compelling contexts within which that innovation can happen.
How to Avoid an Organizational Identity Crisis
Brief Description: In this talk, audiences are introduced to a framework for understanding their organizations’ unique identity and purpose. It’s by using this framework that organizations can align their strategy with their identity and purpose, preventing organizational paralysis and ensuring that the innovations and initiatives they adopt are fully aligned.
How to Eliminate Lousy Leadership
Brief Description: It’s simple. We’ve got to think differently about leadership. Too often we act (though we wouldn’t say it aloud) like leadership is based on a title, a spot on an org chart, or the ability to get people to do what you want. We won’t talk about carrots or sticks, and no one will hide your cheese. What we will talk about is a philosophy of servant and transformational leadership.
How Young Professionals Can Make Stuff Happen
Brief Description: People talk all the time about effective communication being a necessary skill for individuals and organizations to be successful. But what makes good communication happen? Simple. Connection and influence. These two things combine to give employees the tools to effect positive change on their teams and in their organization.
