Dr. David Weiss Speaking Topics

• Becoming Leaders of Innovation

  A decade’s worth of executive surveys on innovation highlight a significant gap between what leaders say they want and what their organization delivers. Over 80% of executives surveyed believe innovation is important for their future success, but less than 30% are satisfied with their current level of innovation. This is what we call the “innovation gap.” So why, despite all the talking and all the resources at their disposal, have the leaders of many of the largest public and private sector organizations in the world not been able to close the innovation gap? The short answer is that they have not had sustainable solutions—practical and reliable programs that deliver long-term, predictable results. Instead, they have had an endless array of partial answers. They are left with an alarming innovation gap.

  Becoming Leaders of Innovation answers the question: How can we close the innovation gap by making leaders and organizations systematically and sustainably innovative? This presentation, based upon Dr. David Weiss’ co-authored book Innovative Intelligence (Wiley, 2011), explores the following: • What is the innovation gap and how can it be overcome? • Why do we need leaders of innovation even more than innovative leaders? • How do leaders of innovation work with teams to discover innovative solutions?

• CHANGE-ABILITY

  Organizational change and transformation is a reality. However, there is a gap between being aware of the need to change, and the ability to implement those changes. This presentation will allow participants to increase their capacity to understand and respond to the scope of today’s changes, and to balance the business aspects of change with the people transition requirements. The presentation will include practical techniques and tools to strategically manage and implement change initiatives.

  This highly engaging and thought provoking presentation, described in Dr. David Weiss’ latest book “Leadership-Driven HR” (Jossey-Bass, 2013), will help participants learn the following: • What are the best practices in planning and implementing change? • Why does change generate resistance and how can resistance be overcome? • How can leaders to be more effective at managing change?

Critical Thinking For Future Change

In the current environment, adaptable professionals work effectively with clients and teams to respond to complex issues. However, some efforts fail largely because people attempt to simplify complex problems rather than struggle with the ambiguity and complexity in innovative ways. This interactive session examines how to think critically about complex issues and to avoid thinking traps that can limit effective critical thinking about complex issues. Leaders need a broad, organizational perspective to be able to respond to complex issues and to use critical thinking to generate innovative solutions.

This insightful, entertaining and interactive session, based upon Dr. David Weiss co-authored book Innovative Intelligence (Wiley, 2011), focuses on the following questions: • What are the differences between resolving complicated vs complex issues? • What is the process of critical thinking for future change? • What are the thinking traps that can limit effective critical thinking?

Driving Employee Engagement

Driving employee engagement has become one of the dominant methods of building high performing teams. However, research has suggested that engagement alone will not generate high performance. Highly passionate employees will devote discretionary effort to their work, however they also need to be aligned to the direction of the business. As a result, to achieve high performance, employees need to be highly aligned to the business direction, in addition to being highly engaged with their work.

This insightful and compelling presentation challenges the traditional views of engagement and describes a focused approach to achieving alignment and engagement of all employees to a common direction. This presentation addresses the following key issues: • The imperative to achieve high alignment and high engagement in order to have a high performing workplace • The key elements that generate a high level of alignment and what each employee and leader can do to ensure that that alignment occurs • The key elements that result in high levels of engagement and what each employee and leader can do to achieve that outcome

Leading through Complexity

In our fast paced environment, adaptable organizations have a strong capability to respond to complex issues. However, some organizational efforts fail largely because leaders attempt to simplify complex problems rather than struggle with the ambiguity of the complexity in innovative ways.

This session examines how to lead through complexity. Leaders today need a broad, organizational perspective to be able to respond to complex issues in an innovative manner. The presenter, Dr. David Weiss, will explore ideas included in his co-authored book: Innovative Intelligence: The Art and Practice of Leading Sustainable Innovation in Your Organization (Wiley, 2011).

This insightful, entertaining and interactive session focuses on the following: • Understand the difference between resolving complicated vs complex issues • Explore how to respond to the ambiguity of complexity through innovation thinking • Consider the implications of leading through complexity for effective leaders at all levels of the organization