Weekly Review – Featured Keynote Speakers of the Week
So my weekly review this week consists of a handful of rock-solid speakers, from a wide range of topics.
- Michael Durant – If you like movies, you have heard his story. Michael was the pilot in the Black Hawk Helicopter that went down in 1993 in Somalia. The story of which “Black Hawk Down”was made after. He was the ONLY survivor of the crash, and had broken both his legs when they went down. Remarkably, he befriended his torturers, (which is captured well in the movie btw). This story is incredible, he wrote a book called “In The Company of Heroes”, and was on the cover of TIME magazine. His keynote is great, and talks about leadership, operating in a changing and dynamic environment, and the importance of training. He is a name draw, his speech includes clips from the movie and is powerful and interactive, he receives huge reviews every time he speaks.
- Jim Donald – Former CEO of Starbucks, you may remember the tremendous growth Starbucks went through? When they suddenly began sprouting on every suburban corner? Well this is the man responsible for such remarkable growth. He started as a trainer at Publix Super Markets, and moved on to become the head of operation at Albertsons (which Publix now owns). He was then called upon by Sam Walton to develop the Super Wal-Mart and afterwards became President of Safeway and Pathmark stores prior to contributing to Starbuck’s explosive growth. He grew 15,000 stores while at Starbucks and was also responsible for changing 3 key things: 1) He created an ethical distribution process for coffee and cocoa, 2) Funded numerous water programs and 3) Reduced the overall environmental footprint of Starbucks. When I met Jim, I was blown away with how cool he was – very down to earth. The type of guy I’d enjoy a round of golf and beers with. He speaks on Leadership, Sustainability – speech topic: “Act Like You Own It”
- Greg Gadson - you can find and excellent article on him in the NY Daily News here. You don’t have to be a football fan to love Lt. Colonel Greg Gadson. He is a highly decorated and respected war veteran, started his career as Defensive End at West Point. He became very close with his coach at West Point and internalized his leadership lessons. In Iraq, he was in a hum-vee returning from his friends funeral when he was hit with an IED… He was blessed to have survived, lost both his legs and nearly his life. While in recovery at Walter Reed Hospital, his old coach from West Point, (now the asst. coach to the NY Giants) came to visit him and asked him to come meet the team. In the locker room, Lt. Colonel Gadson had the team huddle around him and launched his speaking career. He told them how important it was what they were doing out there on the field; How much it meant to the troops in Iraq who tuned in for every game, who listed on radios to every play and helped lead them through their tour of duty. The Giants won not only that game, they continued to win – with Lt. Col. Gadson as their Inspirational Co-Captain they won the super bowl that year.
He doesn’t talk about Iraq, his topics include his recovery process, team work, overcoming adversity, perseverance, trusting your team and leadership. This is a guy who gets a standing ovation before he speaks.
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