Learning How to Lead from Corporate Executive Keynote Speakers

Fortune Magazine describes its list of top 500 companies as representing “two-thirds of the U.S. GDP with $12 trillion in revenues, $890 billion in profits, $19 trillion in market value, and employ 28.2 million people worldwide.” Now, imagine learning from the best – corporate executives from these companies – men and women who have traveled the world leading and inspiring others to succeed in a competitive business market.

CEO keynote speakers draw upon their personal and professional experience that both inspire and motivate an audience. Many tell their stories of lessons learned from their entry-level positions all the way up to their C-suite executive titles. They have a passion for cultivating their employees as well as their company culture, and have an exceptional understanding of what it takes to lead and build a team.

Executive Speakers Bureau represents many c-suite executives that also serve as fantastic keynote speakers. Our corporate executives and CEO keynote speakers can provide tips and secrets on how to disrupt in a digital world, how to be socially responsible, how to navigate your way to the top, and how to build and lead your team. Here are a few examples of our CEO keynote speakers:

John Rossman

Former Amazon executive John Rossman is most known for launching and scaling the Amazon Marketplace business, which now accounts for over 50% of all Amazon units sold and shipped. While at Amazon he also served as Director of Enterprise Services at Amazon.com, where he managed worldwide services to enterprise clients. Rossman is the author of The Amazon Way:  14 Leadership Principles Behind the World’s Most Disruptive Company, and an expert in digital strategy and innovation, helping his clients build and execute innovative business models.

Rossman shares through both his writing and speaking personal stories from his days at Amazon, clearly conveying lessons learned during his tenure spent with the company that grew from start-up to global industry force in just twenty years. Through his understanding of development, disruption and branding, Rossman is able to address the best ways in which a company can utilize digital marketing while also establishing a strong, personal connection with his audience, making him a popular speaker on a long list of topics.

Sarah Robb O’Hagan

Named among Forbes “Most Powerful Women in Sports” and recognized as one of Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business”,Sarah Robb O’Hagan is an internationally recognized re-inventor of brands, but if you ask Sarah, she’ll say she’s in business to help individuals and teams achieve their potential.

Sarah’s career includes leadership roles at some of the world’s most iconic brands – including Virgin, Nike, Gatorade, and Equinox the world’s premier fitness lifestyle company, where as President she led the transformation of the business from bricks and mortar health club to an “always on” fitness lifestyle partner heavily enabled by technology and proprietary content. Prior to Equinox, Sarah served as Global President of Gatorade where she was widely known for transforming the business from a declining sports drink into a sports performance innovation company serving nutrition solutions to athletes of all levels.

Carla Harris

Carla Harris is a Vice Chairman, Wealth Management, Managing Director and Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley.  She is responsible for increasing client connectivity and penetration to enhance revenue generation across the firm. She formerly headed the Emerging Manager Platform, the equity capital markets effort for the consumer and retail industries and was responsible for Equity Private Placements.  Ms. Harris has extensive industry experiences in the technology, media, retail, telecommunications, transportation, industrial, and healthcare sectors. In August 2013, Carla Harris was appointed by President Barack Obama to chair the National Women’s Business Council.

Ms. Harris was recently named to Fortune Magazine’s list of “The 50 Most Powerful Black Executives in Corporate America”, and to Essence Magazine’s list of “The 50 Women Who are Shaping the World”.

Patrick Lencioni

Prior to founding his firm, The Table Group, Patrick Lencioniworked as a corporate executive for companies such as Sybase, Oracle and Bain & Company. Today, Lencioni is widely regarded as one of the nation’s top business leadership speakers. He is dedicated to providing organizations with ideas, products, and services that improve teamwork, clarity and employee engagement. Lencioni’s passion for organizations and teams is reflected in his writing, speaking and executive consulting. He is the author of eleven best-selling books with over five million copies sold. His capstone book, The Advantage, is the pre-eminent source on organizational health.

The wide-spread appeal of Lencioni’s leadership models has yielded a diverse base of speaking and consulting clients, including a mix of Fortune 500 companies, professional sports organizations, the military, non-profits, schools, and churches.

Gary Garfield

Gary Garfield entertains, engages, and educates audiences with the truly unique insight he gained first practicing law, and then turning around the financial performance of Bridgestone Americas, and the organization’s corporate culture. Through his innovative approach to changing the culture of the organization, Garfield changed the focus of the organization, drove innovation and collaboration, and broke down silos. The result: the company pulled out of its marketplace rut. Under Gary’s leadership, the company had record profits each year, growing profits by more than five-fold during his tenure, and outperforming the S&P 500 over that period. Garfield not only shares his decades of insight, but does it in a way that both captivates and motivates the audience, while ensuring that his messages and insight hammer home the key points senior management wants from a keynote speaker.

Gary led the transformation Bridgestone Americas from a manufacturing entity into a market leader. At the same time, the company operated as a true partner in the community with his strong stance on both corporate and environmental responsibility. Gary achieved these extraordinary results through a unique but straightforward approach to driving change, an approach that is applicable to just about every organization.

As a business keynote speaker, Gary shares his valuable insights and lessons learned to both educate and motivate the audience to achieve bigger and better things. He is authentic, honest, and straight forward, leaving audiences inspired and motivated. By the end of Gary’s talk, the audience will know what will work for them as they seek to take both their individual and group’s performance to the next level.

Bill George

Bill George is professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, where he has taught leadership since 2004. He is the author of four best-selling books: 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis, True North, Finding Your True North, and Authentic Leadership.

Mr. George is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Medtronic. He joined Medtronic in 1989 as president and chief operating officer, was chief executive officer from 1991-2001, and board chair from 1996-2002. George currently serves as director of ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs, and the Mayo Clinic and also served on the board of Novartis and Target Corporation.

Bill George has made frequent appearances on television and radio and his articles have appeared in Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, and numerous publications. He often speaks to his audience on what it means to be an authentic leader, and leading in a crisis.

Ken Schmidt

One of the most in-demand speakers and communications consultants in America, Ken Schmidt has lived a life that most can only dream about. He has toured the world on two wheels, met with presidents and royalty, partied with movie and music legends, and appeared numerous times on network news. As the former director of communications for Harley-Davidson Motor Company, he played an active role in one of the most celebrated turnarounds in corporate history – and got paid to ride motorcycles. He is widely known as one of the business world’s most outspoken and provocative thought leaders and has partnered with many of the world’s most successful brands. Ken shares stories and insights on the road to building a fanatically vocal customer base, creating a passionately loyal corporate culture, and developing leaders who inspire and motivate.

Now, Schmidt is a frequent speaker to business groups and academic communities throughout the world. Whether he’s talking about how to leverage basic needs to improve competitiveness, build an entirely new corporate culture, or reach out to new customers in completely untraditional ways, Schmidt never follows a predictable course. Schmidt shares his expertise with many of America’s leading brands , yet his philosophy of life and business hasn’t changed: “Never do what’s expected, make yourself as noticeably different as possible, and have a lot more fun than you’re supposed to.”

To learn more about these corporate executives and CEO keynote speakers and how they can inspire you and your team to greatness, please contact Executive Speakers Bureau at (901) 754-9404.