Libby Gill Speaker Biography
Leadership Expert and Best Selling Author
Libby Gill knows change. She grew up on two continents and went to eight different schools before putting herself through college waiting tables. She started her first job in entertainment only to go through three mergers in five years, where she went from assistant in a small production company to vice president of publicity, advertising and promotion for Sony’s worldwide television group.
Entrepreneur
After heading communications at media giants Universal, Sony and Turner Broadcasting, Libby left the corporate world after nearly twenty years to become an entrepreneur. In her mid-forties when many people are slowing down, Libby founded Libby Gill & Company, an executive coaching and leadership consulting firm based in Los Angeles.
Clients
Libby now guides clients – including Avery Dennison, CA Technologies, Cisco, Comcast, Deloitte, Disney, Eli Lilly, First American Insurance, Honda, Intel, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, Oracle, PayPal, Royal Caribbean, Speedo, Sutter Health, Viacom, Warner Bros., and Wells Fargo – to lead their teams through change, challenge, and chaos.
High Performance
Contrary to conventional wisdom, Libby shows high-performing individuals and organizations why hope IS a strategy – if you have the right mindset, methodology and expertise. She shares the science-based concepts of hope theory to provide the structured business discipline and competitive advantage you need in today’s swiftly changing world.
Keynote Speaker
In her executive coaching, leadership consulting, and keynote presentations, Libby guides you to reframe change as your biggest growth opportunity, re-energize your best performers to reach their potential, and re-invent your company culture to embrace ambiguity.
Overcoming Obstacles
As Libby was reinventing her professional life, her personal life also underwent a major transition. She chronicled her journey of overcoming the self-perceived limitations left behind by a family legacy of alcoholism, divorce, mental illness and suicide in her bestselling book TRAVELING HOPEFULLY: How to Lose Your Family Baggage and Jumpstart Your Life.
Books
Business leaders including Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh and Dr. Ken Blanchard have endorsed Libby’s award-winning book, YOU UNSTUCK: Mastering the New Rules of Risk-taking in Work and Life. She is also the author of Hope IS a Strategy: Leading through Change, Challenge, and Chaos. Her latest book, Leadership Reckoning: Can Higher Education Develop the Leaders We Need?, will be published in Spring 2021.
Media
A frequent media guest, Libby has shared her success strategies on CNN, NPR, the Today Show, and in BusinessWeek, Time, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and more. A former columnist for the Dallas Morning News, Libby lives in Los Angeles and is the proud mother of two fabulous millennials, one in graduate school and one in college.
Libby Gill Speaking Topics
LEADING THROUGH CHANGE, CHALLENGE & CHAOS: Turning Fear into Fuel
Embrace it or ignore it, but the evidence of change is all around us. Even the nature of change itself has changed. It’s constant, complex, and continually accelerating. Your employees often feel that as soon as they’ve adapted to one change, another one hits them. And they're right. So how do you keep your workforce engaged and excited during times of transformation? Resistance to change is rampant in the workplace. Our biological hardwiring prompts us to fight, flee, or freeze when we sense danger – or even perceived danger – causing us to back down from risks, even those that we know intellectually will benefit us. Participants in Libby’s interactive presentations will: · Reframe change – no matter how anxiety-provoking – as an opportunity for growth · Blast through fear and resistance to regain your competitive edge · Experience a rousing call-to-action that will get participants taking risks right in the room that very same day
IGNITING BOLD LEADERSHIP: Inspiring Purpose and Driving Performance
Most experts focus only on what companies want from their leaders, but Libby shares the data on what followers want – and deserve – from their leadership. Research shows us that the best leaders provide not only guidance and direction, but also the personal connections that help people succeed. As the former head of corporate communications and media relations for Sony, Universal, and Turner Broadcasting, Libby was instrumental in creating and communicating culture change. Thriving in a challenging industry where competition and chaos were the norm, Libby shares provocative leadership strategies and powerful personal stories to help your group understand why not taking risks is the biggest business risk of all. In her high-energy interactive presentation, Libby shares timely concepts and relevant takeaways to help your group: Discover the 4 traits that help followers flourish Master Libby's proven CSE Process to "Clarify the vision, Simplify the path, and Execute the plan” with bold risk-taking and flawless follow-through. Learn the Language of Leadership - regardless of professional level - to influence and inspire others even in times of chaos.
YOU UNSTUCK: Mastering the New Rules of Risk-taking in Work and Life
Sooner or later, every individual and organization gets stuck. It’s just part of the human condition. But you don’t have to make stuck your normal state! With an emphasis on linking beliefs to behaviors, Libby connects the dots between personal accountability and organizational success. She helps you understand why you might be getting in the way of your own success and what you can do to change that pattern forever. Your group will receive timely takeaways to: Set the tone for learning before the event by having participants take the YourCareerQuiz.com assessment to see what's working and what's not in their careers. Discover 5 reasons” everybody hates change” and how to overcome them. Identify and overturn your personal and organizational excuse-making behavior - the Immediate Negative Response - and replace it with bold action.
LIFT AS YOU CLIMB: The Latest on Women’s Leadership
Libby guides emerging and established women leaders through workplace challenges including career advancement, gender bias, visibility and exposure, leveraging connections, and work/life balance. With intelligence and humor, she shares an inspirational blend of leadership strategies and hard-won secrets to success. Having addressed women’s forums including EY, Intel, Honda, and many more, Libby provides specific and applicable ideas to help women “lift as they climb,” supporting other women as they climb the corporate or entrepreneurial ladder. Participants will discover how to: Craft a Credibility Booster that establishes immediate rapport and connection. Tap into uniquely female strengths by identifying your Leadership Superpower. Create a Powerful Executive Presence and stop unconscious bias right in its tracks.
HOPE AND TOOLS: Harnessing the Power of Accountability, Behavior and Belief
Thought leader Libby Gill shares the scientific research as well as her own insights on hopefulness and its impact on the workplace. She demonstrates why hope is one of the most important elements of successful leadership and corporate culture - as well as one of its most overlooked. Libby’s interactive presentation ensures your group will: • Discover the surprising difference between True Hope, with its focus on unvarnished reality, and False Hope, which relies on rose-colored optimism and blind faith. • Learn to link the emotional aspects of hope with the practical tools of action in order to effect lasting change. • Identify the Five Stages of Hope and determine how you and your organization either feed or starve hope. • Take home tools for change by mastering Foolproof Factors for Accountability. • Experience a rousing Call-to-Action that will leave participants equipped - and responsible - for their own success.
The Journey of Change Through the Lens of Hope
Executive coach, leadership expert, and award-winning author Libby Gill delivers an inspiring message—and answers your questions—about the power of hope in these challenging times. Libby, the former head of communications for Sony, Universal, and Turner Broadcasting, will discuss the science of hopefulness, called Hope Theory, and describe its application to the workplace. She’ll share science-based strategies to help you move past obstacles, define a positive picture of the future, and get your team into action despite uncertainty with her trademarked True Hope Process.™ Executive coach, leadership expert, and award-winning author Libby Gill delivers an inspiring message—and answers your questions—about the power of hope in these challenging times. Libby, the former head of communications for Sony, Universal, and Turner Broadcasting, will discuss the science of hopefulness, called Hope Theory, and describe its application to the workplace. She’ll share science-based strategies to help you move past obstacles, define a positive picture of the future, and get your team into action despite uncertainty with her trademarked True Hope Process.™
Libby Gill Books
Leadership Reckoning: Can Higher Education Develop the Leaders We Need?
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The Hope-Driven Leader: Harness the Power of Positivity at Work
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Capture the Mindshare and the Market Share Will Follow: The Art and Science of Building Brands
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You Unstuck: Mastering the New Rules of Risk-Taking at Work and in Life
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Traveling Hopefully: How to Lose Your Family Baggage and Jumpstart Your Life
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Libby Gill Articles
Libby Gill Speaker Testimonials
“I saw Libby speak at the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association Annual Meeting. She was absolutely fabulous – the story she tells is a perfect blend of credible business experience, fascinating life circumstance (without being cloying – this is tough to pull off) and helpful insight into how to reframe stagnant perspectives and effect real change. The best part is her authentic enthusiasm and humor - and her skillful avoidance of the type of labored, rah rah cheerleading cliché trap that many speakers fall into. I am not alone in feeling this way as her talk sparked a long and interesting dinner conversation among conference participants.”
- Courtney Rice, Director | Global Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Practice
“We’ve seen a lot of great speakers here at Disney, but Libby Gill’s presentation on Creating a Culture of Accountability was one of the most inspiring I’ve seen yet. She managed to blend practical business information with deep personal insights about personal responsibility and leadership. After a very challenging year, our group was ready to get back to work, totally re-energerized by her empowering message.”
- Sharon Williams, Senior Vice President | ABC-Disney
“The leadership and management principles I learned from Libby have increased my productivity, improved communication and even balanced my often-challenging work and family schedule. She helped me become a better leader!”
- Todd Blevins, Vice President | Cadbury Schweppes
“We are overwhelmed by your professionalism and dynamic delivery of your presentation, Creating High-Passion Teams: Maintaining a Culture of Excellence & Engagement. We consistently heard, ‘She was a dynamic speaker and I enjoyed her presentation very much.’ Please allow this to serve as a resounding affirmation for your program!”
- Melissa Curzon, President | Financial Women International