Matt Tenney Speaker Biography
Bestselling Author on High-Performance Culture and Mindful Leadership
Matt Tenney is a leadership keynote speaker, social entrepreneur, and bestselling author who helps organizations build high-performance workplace cultures by improving employee engagement, retention, and leadership effectiveness. Since 2014, he has delivered transformational keynote programs for hundreds of organizations—including Salesforce, Marriott, Keller Williams, Roche, T. Rowe Price, and United Airlines—equipping leaders with practical tools to inspire greatness in their teams while improving business performance. His evidence-based approach integrates leadership psychology, mindfulness research, and organizational behavior science to drive sustainable results in today’s fast-paced corporate environments.
Bestselling Author on Motivation, Mindfulness, and Leadership Performance
Matt Tenney is the author of three leadership books, including the national bestselling Inspire Greatness: How to Motivate Employees with a Simple, Repeatable, Scalable Process, which was published in 2024 and became a USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestseller. His earlier works, Serve to Be Great: Leadership Lessons from a Prison, a Monastery, and a Boardroom and The Mindfulness Edge: How to Rewire Your Brain for Leadership and Personal Excellence Without Adding to Your Schedule, combine neuroscience research and real-world leadership strategies to help managers motivate employees, scale engagement, and create meaningful workplace cultures. His writing focuses on practical systems leaders can use to sustainably improve performance without adding complexity to their schedules.
From Military Prison to Mindfulness-Based Leadership Expert
Matt’s leadership philosophy is rooted in an extraordinary personal journey—from serving over five years in military prison for fraud against the U.S. government to living and training as a monk for more than three years. These experiences shaped his focus on self-mastery, ethical leadership, and servant leadership principles that help leaders prioritize the growth and wellbeing of team members. After rebuilding his career, Matt went on to co-found and lead nonprofit organizations and become a consultant to Fortune 500 companies, applying lessons from psychology and mindfulness to modern leadership challenges.
Science-Backed Keynotes on High-Performance Leadership
Today, Matt Tenney works with corporations, associations, and leadership teams to develop world-class leaders who can consistently improve engagement, innovation, and performance. His keynote programs blend storytelling with research-based frameworks designed to increase motivation, strengthen leadership habits, and build scalable cultures of accountability and trust. His widely viewed TEDx talk on prioritizing compassion and connection in leadership has surpassed one million views, reinforcing his reputation as a thought leader in employee motivation and mindful leadership development.
Current Focus: Scaling Engagement Through Leadership Systems
Matt’s current work centers on helping organizations transform keynote presentations into long-term leadership development systems by pairing live training with structured reinforcement tools such as microlearning, feedback loops, and post-event leadership frameworks. This approach allows organizations to extend the impact of a single keynote into measurable cultural and performance improvements over time. Through his speaking, consulting, and leadership programs, Matt continues to help organizations create environments where employees thrive—and where leaders consistently inspire greatness in others.
Matt Tenney Speaking Topics
Serve to Be Great: Leadership Lessons from a Prison, a Monastery, and a Boardroom
In this inspiring yet content-rich program, Matt Tenney introduces the power of servant leadership through his story of spending 5.5 years confined to military prison for arranging an unauthorized delivery of government funds, learning to be happy with nothing, living like a monk for over 3 years, discovering the power of a life devoted to serving others, and co-founding and leading two non-profits. Matt will show you how to improve your capacity for servant leadership, and how that shift results in greater success as a leader as well as greater happiness. Drawing on insights from his experiences as a prisoner, monk, and social entrepreneur, as well as from some of the best workplace cultures in the world, you’ll walk away with powerful ideas and tools for developing the leadership skills that result in highly engaged, highly innovative, highly successful teams.
Serve to Be Great: How Being Selfless Will Help You Sell the Roof Off
In this inspiring yet content-rich program, Matt Tenney introduces the power of being selfless through his story of spending 5.5 years confined to military prison for arranging an unauthorized delivery of government funds, learning to be happy with nothing, living like a monk for over 3 years, discovering the power of a life devoted to serving others, and co-founding and leading two non-profits. Drawing on insights from his experiences as a prisoner, monk, sales team leader, and social entrepreneur you’ll walk away with powerful ideas and tools for developing the sales skills that result in closing more sales, generating more referrals, and enjoying coming to work every day.
Ethical Enlightenment: Insights on Ethics from a Prison, a Monastery, and a Boardroom
In the age of social media, one instance of unethical behavior can tarnish a brand overnight and have devastating effects on an organization. Is there a practical, realistic approach to prevent that from happening? In this inspiring yet content-rich program, Matt Tenney introduces powerful, evidence-based tools for achieving higher levels of ethics through his story of spending 5.5 years confined to military prison for arranging an unauthorized delivery of government funds, learning to be happy with nothing, living like a monk for over 3 years, discovering the power of a life devoted to serving others, and co-founding and leading two non-profits. Participants will walk away inspired to do the right thing even when it’s very difficult to do so. They’ll also be empowered with evidenced-based tools for consistently making the most ethical decisions and building a highly ethical culture.
Beginner’s Mind: The Ultimate Habit for Success
In this inspiring yet content-rich program, Matt Tenney introduces the power of mindfulness through his story of spending 5.5 years confined to military prison for arranging an unauthorized delivery of government funds, learning to be happy with nothing, living like a monk for over 3 years, discovering the power of a life devoted to serving others, and co-founding and leading two non-profits. Matt combines case studies and research in neuroscience to show you how a simple shift, called Beginner’s Mind, can literally rewire your brain in ways that will help you achieve greater success professionally, as a leader, and in life.
Matt Tenney Books
The Mindfulness Edge: How to Rewire Your Brain for Leadership and Personal Excellence Without Adding to Your Schedule
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Serve to Be Great: Leadership Lessons from a Prison, a Monastery, and a Boardroom
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Matt Tenney Speaker Testimonials
“I attend many, many conferences. Your keynote was the BEST I have ever heard.”
- CEO | Cherokee County Federal Credit Union
“Matt Tenney is the BEST speaker I’ve ever heard at any event I have ever been to!”
- Sales Manager | Marriott Hotels
“Matt is one of the best speakers I have heard. He shared ideas and tools that will certainly help our partners to more effectively lead their teams and achieve better business outcomes. He also presented in a way that was very inspiring, and helped make our retreat a truly transformational experience.”
- CEO | EKS&H
“Probably the best speaker I’ve heard at any convention.”
- Director of Sales | Conrad Hotels
