Industries
Bringing medical advancements to market is a long-term, exhaustive and unpredictable endeavor. Expand
From running marathons to thriving decades beyond his life-expectancy Michael discovered the energy to match those challenges. With a body that requires 13,000 pills and 500 hours of therapy every year, Michael is a vibrant example of how medical advancements help people thrive. His story will re-energize your entire staff as they continue life-saving work.
Inspiring Innovative Mindsets
Life Saving Medicine
By embracing marathons, triathlons and endurance backpacking he gained health but the true discovery was a unique way of transforming adversity into advantage. He is a natural choice of speaker for the outdoors and active lifestyle industry. Michael will energize your audience so they are ready to conquer every challenge.
Therapy Becomes a Way of Life
Taking Full Advantage of Life
"Our audience engaged with Mike greatly, even asking for his contact information to find additional motivation and strength.” -Sissy Boyd - Executive Director - CFF Houston Expand
Chronic illnesses can leave patients and families feeling overwhelmed. In the trenches for 48 years living with a chronic illness, Michael understands the on-going, ever-changing nature of this life. While physical symptoms are different, audiences connect with Michael on an emotional level. His message will breathe life into the aspirations and daily effort of everyone close to this epic pursuit to live beyond limitations.
Encouraging Patients, Parents & Healthcare Providers
"I cannot walk anywhere in the hospital without someone stopping me and telling me how much they enjoyed your message." -Kathy Rascher - Barnes Jewish Hospital Expand
Michael has had countless interactions with healthcare professionals. He knows better than most, that from first contact to follow-up, positive interactions ease stress and leave a lasting impression. He understands financial, regulatory, work-load and other pressures can make an already challenging profession more difficult. Michael's message will breathe life into their daily effort to deliver excellence with heart.
Re-Energizing Health Care Teams
Learning From Each Other
Turning on-going rejection, relentless competition, changing markets, organizational change and demanding customers into advantages requires a powerful way of seeing challenges. Expand
Whether it was cutting his "sales teeth" on cold calling, intentionally taking on "challenging markets," being unique in the marketplace or simply executing "the grind," Michael's success in sales came from effort and creativity. His experience is relatable and on-point for sales professionals.
Embracing Challenges & Achieving Uncommon Goals
Processes, systems, communication, leadership models and other tools are critical in business Expand
The most powerful tool is an Energized Mindset that thinks big, invites challenges, seeks opportunity and fully engages. Michael developed unique ways of turning a constant barrage of challenges into advantages. Understanding how we think about problems creates the solution presented, Michael is a favorite among leadership conferences to re-energize their “soft-skills.”
Thinking Big
Helping Leaders Stay Bold & Creative
Keynotes
Energized Mindsets
The Ultimate Soft Skill for Sustained Success
Living with the unrelenting and unpredictable nature of a chronic illness Michael was confronted with the very real challenge of how to consistently overcome adversity and create desired outcomes.
Michael’s unique perspective and insights come from decades of finding solutions. He discovered a “thinking strategy” that propelled his career to uncommon heights, attracted others to his side and became a way of life to conquer any challenge that arises.
67% of HR managers said they’d hire a candidate with strong soft skills even if his or her technical abilities were lacking, while just 9% would hire someone with strong technical skills but weak soft skills. SHRM – Soft Skills, Hard Impact
It is exciting to know soft skills such as resilience, adaptability, flexibility, creativity, resilience, teamwork and drive can be developed. It all starts with what we THINK about adversity or the pursuit of aggressive goals.
With compelling storytelling splashed with humor Michael will energize the audience to THINK big, welcome each challenge, discover opportunity in adversity and foster a burning desire to create uncommon outcomes.
Objectives
Culture
We know that both positivity and negativity are contagious so it is critical to foster authentic positivity to build a culture that conquers. It is also known we can build desirable traits through adversity, if we know how. Michael brings alive these concepts and lays out a clear path for others to awaken optimism that acts like a magnet for customers and dynamic employees.
Engagement
Companies with engaged employees outperform those without by up to 202% - Dale Carnegie Training. The on-going, ever-changing challenges of the business and personal lives can lead to quitting, procrastinating and other forms of disengagement. Transform the human tendency to “go negative” into dynamic ways that thrive on challenge.
Chronically Motivated
Getting Little Things Done…Over the Long Haul
Michael’s body requires 13,000 pills and at least 500 hours of therapy EVERY YEAR. It is a relentless routine where therapy creates discomfort, interrupts a “normal” life and doesn’t always work. He had to find ways to stick with this routine over the LONG-HAUL.
Something that is “chronic” is difficult to eradicate; persisting for a long time or habitual. This is exactly the kind of motivation desired when confronting the many pressures of our business and personal life. Challenges never cease nor do our pursuit of goals. Michael’s story is unique in that his story is not a “one and done” tale of overcoming but a life-long effort to do little things required to achieve big goals.
Objectives
Innovation
We default to old ways because they are comfortable even when they are not productive. Michael illustrates the benefits of pushing ourselves and coming at change with a productive and positive approach.
Productivity
When our work doesn’t appear fruitful on top of it being tedious we often disengage. Long-term dedication to the small things comes from the highest order of goal….a Purpose. Without Purpose, fueled by Passion and reinforced by energized Peers little things will get lost or done little concern. To engage our employees to do tasks others won’t there has to be a reason for “the grind.” Michael helps individuals and teams get clear on WHY they are doing little things so they can celebrate BIG achievements.
One Fight
The Power Within To Change a Life
Without a lifetime of supportive cast members, Michael would likely not be alive nor have accomplished outrageous goals. He is a staunch proponent of self-reliance but understands one friend, one family, one mentor or one community can do remarkable things together. Ranging from thriving decades beyond his life expectancy to breaking free of limiting beliefs to running marathons and triathlons Michael has relied on himself and his team to make it all happen.
To overcome the challenges at work and home that never-end we can go faster, get more done, experience less pain and setbacks and contribute to our well-being by fostering teamwork.
Objectives
Team Work
Michael illustrates the impact we can have on each other when we know ourselves, share a vision, share values and are vulnerable with the people who know us, love us and get what we are striving toward.