S. Chris Edmonds and Mark S. Babbitt are well known for their engaging, experienced work on the stage, at conferences, and in meeting and board rooms.
Their interactive presentations—including in-person keynotes, virtual appearances, and solution-focused leadership group sessions—present compelling concepts that help audience members learn how to build and sustain an uncompromising work culture. And by uncompromising, we mean...
"In this company, we equally expect respect and results."
Mark and Chris’ keynotes present their proven culture process, robust research, and client successes (and failures) with culture change—all delivered with humor and actionable inspiration. From start-up founders to non-profit directors to Fortune 100 CXOs, audience members learn a purposeful, positive, and productive company culture doesn’t happen by default; it only happens by design.
Leaders routinely see 30 to 40 percent improvements in traditional business metrics like retention, employee engagement, customer service ratings, productivity and profits.
Mark and Chris, both recognized as Inc. Magazine’s “Top 100 Leadership Speakers,” have done more than 5,000 presentations for audiences as large as 2,500. And they are ready to inspire audiences at your next event, conference, or corporate meeting.
Clients typically include copies of Good Comes First for each attendee; we're happy to facilitate a discounted purchase for your bulk order of our book. After our presentations, Chris and Mark are delighted to sign copies of the book for those interested.
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Keynotes presented by Chris or Mark:
For years, leaders have posted their organization's core values on the walls of their lobbies and in their conference rooms. And yet leaders rarely live up to those values. Even worse: As they choose to focus almost exclusively on driving results, far too many leaders ignore values and tolerate destructive behaviors.
The natural consequence: Employees don’t live those values, either. The result: The stated company culture becomes a contradiction.
This is why today’s best leaders are building accountability systems to make core values—and the human behaviors that demonstrate alignment to those values—countable.
In this insightful keynote, Chris or Mark prove that before leaders and team members can be held accountable for living a company’s core values and creating a respectful workplace, core values must become countable. Specifically, leaders must define values in observable, tangible, measurable, coachable, and changeable terms.
The net result: Leaders see across-the-board improvements of 30 to 40 percent in employee engagement, customer satisfaction, retention, productivity, and profits.
For decades, talented team members have tolerated old-school leaders who put results before respect and rationalize destructive, demeaning behaviors while chasing higher profits.
But as “The Great Resignation” and ill-fated attempts to return to the pre-pandemic “old normal” have has proven, those days are over. Today, as companies struggle to recover from the impact of COVID-19, employees are expressing a desire (and are proving they deserve) workplaces where they are respected and validated for their ideas, efforts, and contributions—every day.
To retain and attract talented, engaged staff, leaders, from small business owners to Fortune 100 CEOs, must make the creation of a work culture where respect is as important as results their top priority.
The challenge? We rarely ask leaders to change work cultures. And most leaders don’t know how.
So in this interactive conversation, Chris or Mark provide the actionable inspiration needed to help leaders build a team of good people... doing good work... in a good company. We share the impact of an inspiring servant purpose and of respect-based workplace values and behaviors and drive optimal results while, at the same time, focusing on the doing of good.
In this era, mistrust, mistruths, and disrespect—not only in interactions with toxic bosses and toxic colleagues in the workplace but also in back-channel communications and on social and digital platforms—are rampant. So it has never been more critical for leaders to demonstrate respect as they earn the respect of their employees.
Not in some insincere way; certainly not in the same way management has attempted to manipulate employee engagement over the past several decades. Instead, the goal for leaders today is to create a workplace where respect is contagious, validation is pervasive, and employees are treated with dignity while driving results.
In this presentation, designed to offer time for reflection and self-awareness, Chris or Mark show that today’s most valued leaders are exceptional relationship builders, respectful collaborators and engaged mentors. Moreover, those same leaders consistently show employees they matter by demonstrating genuine care for both the work and the people doing the work.
At the end of this discussion, leaders will know they must deliberately create a company culture where good comes first for employees, customers, and all stakeholders—and those players know they are trusted to do exceptional work.