Adrian Gostick Speaker Biography
Bestselling Leadership Author and Organizational Culture Expert
Adrian Gostick stands out as a premier leadership speaker, renowned for his insightful perspectives on accelerating business results. Indeed, he emphasizes the critical role of employee engagement in executing strategy, vision, and core values. In his dynamic and informative presentations, the #1 bestselling leadership author delivers practical solutions. Furthermore, he addresses key challenges such as managing change, fostering innovation, and cultivating high-performance teams. As a celebrated speaker on leadership, Gostick provides actionable strategies for driving organizational success. Consequently, businesses seeking to enhance their leadership capabilities and improve team performance find his expertise invaluable. His insights as a management speaker offer real-world applications for today’s complex business environment.
Author and Workplace Authority
Gostick is a globally recognized workplace expert and a prominent thought leader. Moreover, his expertise spans corporate culture, leadership development, and employee engagement. As the founder of the training and consulting firm The Culture Works, he has significantly impacted numerous organizations. Furthermore, he is the author of multiple #1 bestsellers. These include the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal hits: All In, The Carrot Principle, and The Best Team Wins. Consequently, his influential books have been translated into 30 languages. Impressively, they have sold 1.5 million copies worldwide. His most recent work, Anxiety at Work: 8 Strategies to Help Teams Build Resilience, Handle Uncertainty, and Get Stuff Done, further underscores his authority as a leadership speaker addressing contemporary workplace challenges.
Esteemed Leadership Guru
As a distinguished leadership guru, Gostick has garnered high praise. For instance, Fortune magazine has described him as “fascinating.” Similarly, The New York Times has lauded his approach as “creative and refreshing.” Moreover, Gostick has appeared on national broadcasts such as NBC’s Today Show and CNN. Additionally, he is frequently quoted in esteemed publications like The Economist, Newsweek, and The Wall Street Journal. Notably, he is recognized among the Top 30 Leadership Gurus, listed alongside iconic figures like Jack Welch and Jim Collins. His impressive roster of consulting clients includes industry leaders such as Danaher, Bank of America, Rolls Royce, JELD-WEN, and California Pizza Kitchen. This further solidifies his reputation as a leading leadership speaker and advisor.
Adrian Gostick Speaking Topics
The Best TEAM Wins: The 5 Disciplines of Today’s Most Effective Team Leaders
The Dilemma: The vast majority of employees’ days are now spent working collaboratively, but still 96 percent of executives cite poor teamwork as the main source of workplace failures in their organizations. It might be the most-pressing question organizations must address: How can managers lead their teams to improved performance given the volatility and challenges we face today. The Research: Based on an 850,000-person study of the most profitable, innovative work teams, New York Times bestselling authors Adrian Gostick & Chester Elton introduce audiences to the new science of teamwork—helping leaders deal with the increased speed of change in business, global and remote employees, the rise of the Millennials, the need to work more cross-functionally across departments, and more. The Result: Gostick & Elton’s research has discovered a set of leadership disciplines that make the biggest difference in building today’s best teams. They help leaders: • Manage to the One—Identify the drivers of each team member for maximum engagement • Speed Productivity—Help new people and teams work faster & smarter • Challenge Everything—Inspire greater innovation through healthy debate • Focus on Customers—Build bridges across functions, cultures, and distance The Audience: Designed for senior leaders and managers (although often tailored to include all employees), Adrian Gostick & Chester Elton have presented The Best Team Wins to corporate audiences and association conferences worldwide.
All In - How the best leaders develop a culture of belief & drive big results
The Dilemma: While most leaders understand their most reliable competitive advantage comes from their people, few know how to get their teams “all in”—convincing employees to buy into the strategy they’ve put forward. If a culture is clear, positive, and strong, then people will believe what they do matters and that they can make a difference. If a culture is dysfunctional—chaotic, combative or indifferent—employees will spend more time thinking about why the people sitting next to them should be fired than getting fired up themselves. The Research: Teaming up with research giant Towers Watson, #1 bestselling author’s Adrian Gostick & Chester Elton present the findings of an unprecedented 300,000-person study conducted in the worst of the recession for their book All In. Based on this breakthrough research and their extensive consulting experience with a who’s-who of successful organizations, they present a simple roadmap that all managers can follow to create a high-achieving culture in their own teams where employees are engaged, enabled and energized. The Result: Gostick & Elton offer specific how-tos for each step, and tell fascinating stories of leaders in action that vividly depict just how these powerful methods can be implemented. Audiences will learn: the 3 research-based characteristics of the world’s most profitable, productive organizational and team cultures; the 7 steps today’s most successful leaders use to generate buy-in; and how managers at any level can build a productive workgroup culture of their own where employees commit to the culture and give an extra push of effort. The Audience: Designed for senior leaders and managers (although sometimes tailored to include all employees), Gostick & Elton have presented “All In” to corporate audiences and association conferences worldwide. The session is typically customized to an organization’s specific culture challenges.
Leading with Gratitude: Eight Leadership Practices for Extraordinary Business Results
In his powerful keynote, the author introduces research that shows how a few vital leadership skills—when done right—can boost employee engagement and reduce turnover. He will also share the fascinating science behind why so many managers resist (aka: suck at) something so seemingly simple as gratitude.
The Best Team Wins: 5 Disciplines of the Most Effective Team Leaders
Based on an 850,000-person study of the most profitable, innovative work teams, the authors introduce the new science of teamwork. Most employees today work collaboratively, but 96% of executives cite poor teamwork as the primary source of workplace failures. Given the volatility and challenges they face today, how can managers better lead teams to improved performance? Gostick & Elton’s research has shown a set of leadership disciplines that makes the biggest difference in building today’s best teams.
Build Resilience & Psychological Safety
Even before the pandemic, anxiety was crippling the performance of workers—especially young employees. Today it is affecting productivity and leading to ghosting and burnout. In their bestselling book from Harper Business, Anxiety at Work: 8 Strategies to Help Teams Build Resilience, Handle Uncertainty, and Get Stuff Done, and in their keynotes/workshops, Gostick & Elton offer 8 tactics for managers to help their employees build resilience.
Be a Better Manager by Friday - Real skills for inspiring employees, leading a team, and winning in today’s transformative marketplace
The Dilemma: For leaders looking to drive innovation, diversity, and inclusion in their teams, many established management practices are doing more harm than good. Too many leaders are dampening their employees’ exuberance and refreshing diversity with old-school management approaches that are killing their cultures. The Research: Adrian Gostick & Chester Elton have been some of the most influential voices in leadership research and organizational consulting for more than two decades, but it’s their research over the last few years that’s garnering extra attention. After surveying more than 14,000 working adults in 2015-16 alone, they have found 5 principles of effective leadership that managers in the 21st Century can employ to great effect, and 5 principles that must be avoided. The Result: In a fresh, funny and challenging keynote presentation, Gostick & Elton debunk myths such as The Smartest Person in the Room, Treating Everyone the Same is Fair, Appreciation Comes in a Paycheck, and We’ll Let You Know if You Mess Up. They teach audiences how to lead in such a way that today’s employees will follow—including establishing a clear future vision, enhancing diversity, increasing trust levels, and providing opportunity and growth development paths. The Audience: Designed for senior leaders and managers, the authors have presented “Be a Better Manager by Friday” to corporate audiences and associations worldwide. The session is typically customized to an organization’s specific leadership challenges.
Adrian Gostick Books
All In: How the Best Managers Create a Culture of Belief and Drive Big Results
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The 24-Carrot Manager
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Carrot Principle : How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their People, Retain Talent, and Accelerate Performance
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The Invisible Employee : Realizing the Hidden Potential in Everyone
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Adrian Gostick Articles
Adrian Gostick Speaker Testimonials
Thanks for a terrific presentation on employee engagement at our leadership meeting. You stimulated a lot of energized discussion, and everyone enjoyed your talk very much. I especially appreciate that you went the extra mile to understand our particular issues and focal points and work them so seamlessly into your presentation.
- GE and GE Capital | Senior Vice President and Treasurer
Not only was the message PERFECT with what we wanted as a team, but your high energy, straightforward and FUN style really kept the team engaged. During our Banquet I was told time and again that the highlight of the day was your message.
- Coffee Bean | Executive Vice President
What can I say Adrian, you were awesome! Thank you for delivery a fantastic message that left our people inspired at our annual GM conference. We will see each other again soon.
- California Pizza Kitchen | President & CEO
You were simply outstanding. Specifically, your suggestions on low-cost-no-cost appreciation were well-worth stealing – the car wash in particular. Thank you for inspiring us and entertaining us, for making us laugh and for making us sing. We have been talking about how much we thoroughly enjoyed the show, for you are quite a performer - delivering both steak and sizzle. Thank you forever, on behalf of all who were inspired.
- Michigan | Governor
