Joelle Kaufman Speaking Topics

• Happiness Tripwires: Turn Connection into Measurable Performance in the Age of AI

  In the AI era, teams are more productive and more alone than ever, and that disconnection quietly erodes performance, retention, and creativity. Joelle Kaufman shows leaders their most underused lever: happiness tripwires, small, deliberately planted moments of connection that anticipate a need and fire automatically. This is not a feel-good talk. It's a business case, backed by hard numbers: the most connected teams post 18% higher sales, 23% more profit, and 50% less turnover. Audiences don't just hear the science; they feel it, in a live exercise where the whole room's stress visibly drops on cue. They leave with a simple, three-step tool they can use Monday morning to build the connection that makes people sell more, stay longer, and perform under pressure.

  Attendee Results:

  • A three-step tool to design happiness tripwires that lift engagement, sales, and retention
  • Understand why connection, not raw intelligence, is the human edge in the age of AI
  • Experience the biology of connection firsthand through a powerful live exercise
  • Learn to turn everyday moments into measurable business outcomes
  • Leave with one question to bring to every AI rollout to protect creativity and collaboration

• Curiosity Is a Team Sport: Building a Growth Mindset for the AI Era

  "Most growth-mindset advice is a poster and a pep talk, and it puts the whole burden on the individual. Joelle Kaufman offers the credible version leaders have been missing. People only get curious, take smart risks, and reskill when they feel safe. Fear, of AI, of being replaced, of failing in front of peers, flips a team into self-protection, which is a fixed mindset wearing a lanyard. In an era where expertise expires fast and careers move sideways, the durable edge isn't what your people know today, it's how fast they can learn tomorrow, and learning agility runs on connection. Using her signature happiness tripwires, small, deliberately planted moments of connection, Joelle shows leaders how to engineer the safety that makes genuine curiosity, adaptability, and reinvention possible.

  Attendee Results:

  • Understand why a growth mindset is a condition you build, not a trait you train
  • Learn to spot fixed-mindset-under-threat before it stalls performance
  • Discover the connection moves that unlock curiosity and smart risk-taking
  • Make it safe for people to say ""I don't know yet"" and reskill faster
  • Leave with a practical way to keep teams adaptable as AI reshapes the work

• Crushing Curveballs: Lead Through the Unexpected and Come Back Stronger

  Disruption is constant. You don't get to pick the pitch, but you always get to choose your swing. Drawing on 25 years leading teams through crisis and reinvention, and her own hardest year, Joelle Kaufman shares the Curveball Method, a five-step approach to navigate the unexpected with clarity and confidence. Instead of bracing for impact, leaders learn to reframe disruption into momentum and focus their teams on what matters most, using happiness tripwires, small deliberate moments of connection, to keep people steady and recover faster when the plan falls apart. Delivered with contagious energy and real stories, this keynote leaves audiences more resourceful and ready to lead change instead of merely surviving it.

  Attendee Results:

  • Learn the five-step Curveball Method to navigate disruption with confidence
  • Build the emotional and operational resilience to lead through uncertainty
  • Turn chaos into clarity by focusing on what matters most
  • Recenter your leadership during change, crisis, or reorganization
  • Apply tools that help teams recover faster and stay aligned

• The Talent Trap: Why High Achievers Get Stuck, and How to Break Free

  Your best people work harder, deliver more, and somehow stall. Joelle Kaufman calls it the Talent Trap: the hidden achievement loop that turns high performers into overworked, overlooked, burned-out versions of themselves. Excellence and effort alone don't lead to advancement or impact. In this candid, research-backed talk, Joelle shows leaders and rising stars how to break the loop by shifting from tactical execution to strategic visibility, and from proving themselves to leading through trust, influence, and presence. Along the way, she shows how happiness tripwires, small deliberate moments of connection, build the relationships and visibility that actually move careers and teams forward. Audiences leave with a clear path to grow without grinding themselves down.

  Attendee Results:

  • Recognize the achievement loop that drives burnout and career stagnation
  • Understand why hard work and excellence alone don't lead to advancement
  • Learn a research-backed formula for rising through trust, influence, and presence
  • Shift from tactical execution to strategic visibility
  • Lead and grow with greater clarity, impact, and less burnout

• The New GTM Power Move: Elevate Your Customers or Get Left Behind

  As a former CMO and CRO who generated over $4 billion, Joelle Kaufman knows what actually drives revenue and retention, and it's not more features or more pressure. It's elevating the customers and champions inside your accounts. In this practical keynote, Joelle reframes advocacy as a strategic growth engine, showing go-to-market teams how to turn customer success into customer career success, reduce buying and retention risk, and build loyalty that compounds. Ideal for sales kickoffs and revenue teams, this talk sends audiences home with concrete moves to build a customer-centered motion that grows the business.

  Attendee Results:

  • Learn how to turn customer success into customer career success
  • Reframe advocacy as strategic, not transactional
  • Elevate customer voices through storytelling, awards, speaking, and influence
  • Reduce buying and retention risk by empowering champions inside accounts
  • Leave with a customer-centered GTM motion that drives revenue and loyalty

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