Research demonstrates the power of courage-inducing individuals. This keynote presents actionable, game-changing leadership strategies designed to transform and energize frontline and leadership teams into agile, efficient organizations.
This program is tailored specifically for companies that emphasize leadership, customer service and innovation. Courage can be developed like any other skill.
1. Take a Stand for Your Values
Courageous Leadership is an effective way to form customer-focused teams that are ready to face any business challenge head on. Cindy Solomon and her global team work with clients to introduce courageous leadership techniques into everyday workplace practices and infuse them throughout all levels of staff to become exceptional leaders who will thrive in today’s ever-evolving marketplace.
Cindy tailors each keynote presentation specifically to the needs of her audience. Utilizing her signature sharp-witted delivery, Cindy goes beyond battlefield analogies and sports metaphors to provide real-life business stories and actionable leadership advice that resonate with her listeners.
Cindy has an enthusiasm for transforming leadership and culture to build high-performing, consumer experience driven companies. With over two decades of corporate experience as both senior leader and management consultant for Fortune 500 companies like Raytheon Corporation, Lockheed Martin, Bausch & Lomb and General Electric among others.
Through her work, she has discovered that leadership is not an inborn trait and that anyone can learn the skills of courageous leadership. Furthermore, trust within an organization allows individuals to act courageously regardless of fear.
Trust takes time and individuals must develop their courage muscle. In order to foster this development, leaders should be open and honest with their employees when things don’t go as planned; consistent communication should also help foster the necessary environment to build it. Transparency and honesty are vital in building trust between members.
As part of her research, Cindy discovered that people who display courage are often inspired by others. For instance, someone may see their favorite athlete doing something courageous and decide to emulate it themselves. Role models and inspirations provide the courage necessary for taking steps outside their comfort zones to make an impactful difference in the world.
Cindy’s research has demonstrated that those most likely to achieve success are those who take action despite fear. She encourages her audiences to think about personal role models who took steps against their fears, then instructs them on taking the first steps to overcoming those same anxieties by breaking it down into small, manageable steps such as counting back from five. This simple but straightforward strategy gives them an energy boost needed for action and moving forward.
2. Create a Culture of Innovation
Cindy Solomon is on a mission to transform how we think about leadership. Through her innovative programs for future-focused organizations, Cindy equips future-focused companies with courageous leadership skills that create engaging workplace cultures. Incorporating real life business stories alongside her trademark wit, Cindy delivers career-boosting intelligence and perspective.
Her research shows that courage isn’t about “not being afraid.” Rather, it’s an emotional muscle which allows us to assess situations quickly and make difficult decisions with confidence and speed – even in the face of uncertainty. Solomon considers courage essential in today’s rapidly evolving business economy, spreading her message wherever she speaks.
“Creating an innovative culture requires courageous leaders, including at the highest levels,” states Leach. She continues, “as companies today are facing constant disruption and change, their teams must be capable of keeping pace with these developments, responding effectively, and finding solutions.”
Reality check: innovative thinking comes more naturally for some than for others, which is why leadership needs to create an environment in which all team members feel safe expressing their ideas and taking risks.
Building an innovative culture is no simple task and a journey that continues for leaders. In her keynote, Solomon shares strategies that inspire and enable courageous innovation as well as discuss the significance of accepting failure as both an essential learning experience and opportunity for growth.
Solomon draws on her experience working for companies like Google, Wells Fargo and Mayo Clinic in her keynote to demonstrate that courage is an integral component of success in modern business environments. Her ability to deliver her message with humor and insight keeps the audience engrossed throughout.
Cindy Solomon also provides her expertise through the Courageous Leadership Institute, where she offers live leadership training sessions, interactive webinars, and On-Demand MicroDevelopment(tm) e-courses that equip both leaders and employees alike to take control in any situation.
This video clip is part of a series from The Women in Retail Leadership Circle’s (WIRLC) 2011 Key4Women Leadership Summit. To access it and all other inspiring and motivational material from this event, WIRLC members can access this free resource here.
3. Build Your Courage Muscle
Cindy Solomon works with forward-thinking organizations to upgrade outdated leadership techniques with courageous skills that transform sluggish corporate cultures into powerhouses of customer and employee engagement. Her innovative programs give modern leaders career-fueling intelligence on taking bold risks, leading from the frontlines, and driving transformational change throughout their teams and entire companies. Her razor-sharp wit provides stimulating programs which teach today’s leaders to embrace transformational change from within their teams or entire companies.
One key to developing courage is learning how to manage fear. This means challenging limiting beliefs such as “I’m not good enough”, “I’m not smart enough”, or “I don’t deserve happiness”. Research shows that all humans possess the capability of learning courage; taking more courageous steps may strengthen resistance to fear affecting decisions (Staub 2016).
As explained by Solomon, this can involve challenging themselves to count down from 5-1 each time they experience anxiety to activate the prefrontal cortex – where decision-making and action-taking take place – in order to activate it and help overcome what she calls the “courage stranglers” that prevent people from moving beyond their comfort zones.
Solomon suggests that individuals can build their courage by adopting an “attitude of seeking discomfort”. By deliberately selecting uncomfortable situations, they can learn how to face their fears and eventually become more courageous over time.
As a speaker, Solomon delivers inspiring and empowering messages to thousands of audience members every year. She is also an award-winning author whose work has been featured by Inc. Magazine, Fast Company and Forbes Magazines.
Solomon has provided organizations worldwide with invaluable assistance in recognizing, nurturing, and capitalizing upon leadership potential within front line employees, middle managers, and senior leaders. Her dynamic presentation style engages audiences of all levels – making her an indispensable keynote speaker.
4. Be Prepared to Fail
As people are expected to lead and innovate more frequently, it has become ever more crucial that leaders possess courageous leadership abilities – yet many leaders don’t possess them.
Your team may be ready to face any business challenge, but do they possess the courage? Luckily, understanding what courageous leadership looks like and how it can be fostered can provide an answer.
Cindy Solomon has long been helping organizations of all sizes develop courageous leaders and customer-focused cultures for over two decades. Renowned for her sharp wit, Cindy goes beyond battlefield analogies or sports metaphors to provide real life business stories and actionable advice about next-generation leadership, customer experience excellence and service excellence in today’s consumer driven economy.
Cindy discovered in her research on courageous leadership that for leadership to occur and be sustained, people need to trust one another. Trust is the basis of courage; it fuels our willingness to take risks and move outside our comfort zones.
Cindy’s research revealed that courageous leadership is also defined by an aptitude for seeking discomfort – that is, being willing to step outside one’s own comfort zone and into those of others – something which sets people apart as individuals.
Unfortunately, too few have learned this lesson. Too many CEOs resign only to return as CEO a few years later; high-profile examples include Bob Iger, Michael Dell and Howard Schultz among others. This raises crucial questions regarding succession planning and leadership pipeline in our businesses.
How can we change this situation and create a culture of leadership that ensures continuity and growth? Conversation is the answer – in this engaging keynote, Cindy explores her own journey to becoming a Courageous Leader while outlining four key components necessary to establish fearless organizations.
