Robert Wendover Speaker Biography
Award-Winning Generational Workforce Trends Expert
Bob Wendover has been researching, writing and speaking about workforce issues for more than 30 years. He currently serves as president of Common Sense Enterprises, Inc.
Books
Mr. Wendover is the award-winning author of 12 books, including Smart Hiring, Figure It Out, Two Minute Motivation, Beating Burnout, and Crossing the Generational Divide. In addition, he has authored curriculums on managing generational differences and improving workplace decision-making. He served on the management faculty of the University of Phoenix for ten years and as a special advisor to the American Productivity and Quality Center.
Media
Mr. Wendover has written or contributed to more than 200 articles for a wide variety of publications. He is a regular guest on radio & TV across the U.S. His credits include CNN, CNBC, The Wall Street Journal’s National Business Employment Weekly, Supervisory Management, Human Resources Professional, Women’s Wear Daily, Entrepreneur and Money magazine. In addition, he has written monthly columns for both retailers and Realtors®.
Education
Mr. Wendover’s education includes degrees in psychology, education and industrial arts. Along with being past president of both the Colorado Speakers Association and the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development, he is a two-time past Chair of the National Meetings Industry Council. He has presented more than 1500 keynotes, seminars and training sessions since 1988 and has earned the designation of Certified Speaking Professional® from the National Speakers Association
Clients
His clients have included Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, IBM, KPMG, Discover Card Services, Shell Oil, International Dairy Queen, Kaiser Permanente, CITGO, Chevron USA, the Food Marketing Institute, Searle Pharmaceuticals, Super 8 Motels, Ace Hardware, Major League Baseball, the Professional Golfers Association and a host of other household names, government agencies and educational institutions.
Bob is also a Baby Boomer who grew up across the street from that icon of the 1970s, John Travolta. His mother has photos. He and his wife, Wendy, live in the foothills southwest of Denver, CO.
Robert Wendover Speaking Topics
Leading the Post-Pandemic Organization: How Successful Firms are Managing Today’s Workplace Challenges
How will you navigate the seismic workplace evolution taking place within your organization? Between the great resignation, burnout, hybrid work and more, leaders are scrambling to adjust. Join Bob Wendover, a 30-year veteran of studying workforce trends, for this examination of the demographic, financial, and psychosocial factors impacting how work will be performed and managed in coming years. Then drill down on how each of these elements will affect your firm and its management team. Explore these challenges through the lenses of communication, flexibility and trust, all hallmarks of the new way to manage talent. Attend this “ahead of the curve” and constantly updated session. Walk away with the insights and fundamentals you will need to lead your workforce in the future.
Managing Age Diversity in Today’s Diverse and Demanding Workplace
We all know about the generations in the workplace. The Boomers are transitioning toward retirement. The Xers are finally taking the lead. The Millennials are pushing hard to advance. Generation Z are bringing their own ideas about how to get things done. Age Diversity is here to stay. So what can you do to lead them in today's demanding workplace? This practical and application-oriented session will show you how to foster engagement and enhance productivity between those of different ages. Identify the conflicting expectations and differing approaches to work common to each group. Discover tactics that encourage digital immigrants and digital natives to work effectively together. Walk away with simple but powerful ideas for leveraging the most diverse workforce the US has ever seen.
Leave Me Alone: Recapturing Your Time, Energy, and Focus in Today’s Wacky Workplace
Join Bob Wendover, CSP, for a fun, uplifting, and 100% practical look at how to face down the feelings of stress, fatigue and burnout so prevalent in today’s work-place. Based on interviews and observations of 3000 top performers, learn what they do to recapture time, energy and focus while keeping their sanity intact. No theory. Just tactics. With a generous dose of laughter and engagement. Guaranteed! Bob Wendover is the award-winning author of Overcoming Overwhelm: Recapture Your Time, Energy and Focus. He has spent the past 35 years showing employers how to adapt to the ever-evolving workforce. In this high-energy, interactive session, Bob reveals how top performers avoid the demands and distractions of today’s workplace. Attendees have raved about his down-to-earth approach to one of life’s biggest challenges. Bring Bob in for one of the most meaningful and results-oriented sessions your team has seen in years.
Recruitment and Retention in Today’s SUPER-tight Job Market
How well are you and your organization dealing with the “great resignation” and other changes in today’s employment environment? While the challenges have become acute in many industries, the difficulties of recruiting, selection and retaining the best talent have always been there. Bob Wendover has been teaching employers how to overcome these difficulties for more than 30 years. The principles are essential, but it’s the practical strategies that make the difference. The age-old practice of resume review, three interviews and perhaps a personality assessment have been gamed by the best applicants for years. Bob uses innovative, but down-to-earth tactics to elicit the information and insights necessary to select the best. After all, hiring just one front-line professional for the first year can be a $100,000 decision. Let Bob teach you the strategies he’s gleaned from working with more than 500 organizations. The results will astonish you.
How to Create a Think-on-Your-Feet Workplace
Are you trying to increase revenue, boost productivity, or improve customer service? You’re probably trying to do all three. EVERY ONE of these goals depends on the daily decisions made by those on your team. If you’re having trouble getting people to think on their feet, you’re not alone. Getting people to solve problems and think critically has become one of the top challenges among thousands of companies across the nation. Perhaps you’re one of them. Everyone likes to think they’re a good critical thinker. But the reality is otherwise. Have you seen these behaviors? • Failure to anticipate unintended consequences • Hesitance to act without “checking in” first • Not sure where to turn when the answer can’t be found on Google • Not being able to discern the larger context of a situation or problem • Asking the boss, rather than taking initiative when confronted with the unexpected Do these problems sound familiar? There’s no shame in admitting these challenges exist within your organization. You’ve got LOTS of company. Boost performance by building a think-on-your-feet-workplace. Bob Wendover is ALL about helping organizations, like yours, to improve performance, increase revenue and add to the bottom line.
Doing Hybrid Right: Leading the New Way Work Gets Done
Let’s face it, the workplace isn’t what it used to be. Between lockdowns, the great resignation, remote work, endless Zoom sessions and employees demanding four-day work weeks, it’s easy feel like you’ve lost control when you’re supposed to be in charge. Bob Wendover is a 30-year veteran of studying workforce trends. Join him for an examination of how forward-thinking organizations are creating workplaces that meet the needs and desires of today’s empowered remote and hybrid workers. Then drill down on how each of these elements will affect your firm and its management team. Attend this “ahead-of-the-curve” session and learn what others are doing. Walk away with the insights and fundamentals you will need to lead your team in the future.
Robert Wendover Books
Beating Burnout: How Top 10 Thinkers Overcome Overwhelm in Business and Life
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Figure It Out: Making Smart Decisions in a Dumbed-Down World
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Crossing the Generational Divide – Essential Skills for Managing the Modern Workforce
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Smart Hiring
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Robert Wendover Articles
Robert Wendover Speaker Testimonials
“Bob, you dazzled me before you even set foot at our event. If we could clone you in every topic, conference planning would have fewer headaches.”
- Leigha Schatzman, Executive Director | Association for High Technology Distribution
“What an incredible opening. You did what we asked…set the tone for a professional, yet fun conference. It was obvious that a great deal of thought and work went into making sure that your presentation was custom designed to our industry, our issues, and our opportunities.”
- Jeannie Grigg, Marketing and Membership Director | Society of Animal Welfare Advancement
“It was also wonderful to have a speaker who is able to combine such a wonderful balance of humor, facts and insight into one presentation. Congratulations on being a hit at McLane Company!”
- Sandra Bushby, Director of Organizational Development | McLane Company
“I know a keynote speaker had the attention of the membership when I hear you quoted time after time during the remainder of the convention.”
- Donna R. Stollfuss, Executive Secretary | Rocky Mountain Association of Fairs
