Adrian Gostick

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 Videos

Adrian Gostick Articles

• Top Ten Leadership Speakers in 2024 at Speakers.com
• BUILDING DIVERSE TEAMS: Top Team Building Speakers at Speakers.com

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