Matt Havens

The Human Way: The 4 Truths to Making Your Business Human

We’re all in business together.  Whether you’re a business owner in charge of all facets of the company, a leader responsible for a team of people, or you’re contributing your skills as part of a functional division, team, or project – we’re all in business.  The business of people.

The businesses and individuals who will succeed in the future will not be the ones that spend all their time thinking about how to sell more products and services at higher margins.  Rather, they will be the ones that recognize the common human needs and motivations that govern employee and customer behavior.

Designed for all audiences, Make Your Business Human is a transformative keynote that focuses not on the differences that so many of us seem fixated on (the pace of change, conflict, communication to name a few), but on four profound similarities we all share.  We need to understand, honor, and harness the qualities that make us human if we want to outperform the competition in creating memorable customer experiences and true workforce engagement.

This shift in perspective is not theoretical.  It’s already happening.  If you want to be on the leading edge of tomorrow’s success, then you need to have a personal mindset (and lead teams) rooted in the foundations of The Human Way™.  This highly customizable keynote is perfect for C-suite retreats, leadership development programs, and all-hands meetings and is easily adapted for longer half-day and day-long workshops.

Partial List of Takeaways:

• Understand the Four Human Truths and how they impact our behavior as humans-first, but also as employees and customers.
• How to implement a people-first approach to leadership that will drive engagement and resolve the seemingly endless “work/life balance” debate
• How to create an environment where people can be their best version of themselves.
• How to create a place where fear and failure are not only acceptable, but celebrated as opportunities for true growth
• How to balance short-term needs against long-term goals in a way that reduces personal stress and improves strategic decision-making
• How we take ownership of our choices – and our reactions.

Stop Acting Your Age! (generational issues)

If you’ve listened to any other discussion about generational issues at work, then you’ve undoubtedly been told there are four distinct generations operating side-by-side in today’s working world. You’ve then been told the differences between those four generations, and then you’ve been told (although probably not in these exact words) that you need to just deal with all these different people, because they’re not going away and they’re not going to change how they operate. If that advice suits you, fantastic.

However, if you’ve ever been frustrated by how impossible it seems to employ four different strategies to manage four distinct generations, and if you’ve ever felt like you’re the only one who’s being asked to make any changes, then Stop Acting Your Age! is exactly what you need. Because it turns out that there really aren’t four generations. In this hysterical keynote, you’ll learn a simpler way of looking at your own generational picture, and you’ll also learn how to understand, recognize, and resolve every generational issue facing today’s workforce. That’s no exaggeration; by the end of Stop Acting Your Age!, you and your colleagues will walk away with all of the knowledge you’ll need to address 100% of the generational issues you’ll face for the rest of your career. Other generational presentations focus on what people want, but Stop Acting Your Age! will tell you why everyone wants the different things they do. It’s an important distinction, and it will make implementing new solutions easier than you ever thought possible.

So get ready to laugh more and learn more than you ever thought possible. Because improving your generational issues doesn’t have to be boring.

Partial List of Takeaways:

• Learn to replace the complicated four-generation model with a workable dichotomy between older, more experienced workers and their younger, less-experienced counterparts
• Understand the key cultural, technological, and social changes that have conspired to create a disconnect between team members from these two generations
• Walk away with several immediately applicable strategies to address and eliminate problems caused by the disconnect mentioned above
• Inspire a healthier, more robust work ethic in your younger employees (and your older ones, too)
• Inspire a healthier, more robust attitude toward change in your older employees (and your younger ones, too)

You’re Not an Acronym: A Practical Approach to Leadership

If you’ve been a leader for a while or are being groomed to become one, then you’ve probably taken your fair share of personality tests. Perhaps you know your Woo strength, or maybe you’ve recently discovered that you’re a purple triangle when you’re stressed. If this kind of information is all you need in order to be the kind of leader your people are excited to follow, then you probably don’t need to keep reading this.

But if you’ve ever suspected that leadership may be about more than just you, then You’re Not an Acronym is the kind of leadership presentation you’ll truly appreciate. Matt Havens has spent over a decade in various leadership positions at a Fortune 25 company. He’s taken dozens of personality assessments, and he’s recognized a fundamental flaw in the way that all of them attempt to help people become better leaders. By addressing and then correcting this oversight, You’re Not An Acronym will help you expand your understanding of leadership exponentially – and you’ll do it while laughing all the while. Because not only is this one of the most insightful leadership keynotes you’ll ever sit through, it’s also one of the funniest. After all, boring isn’t a business requirement. So get ready to enjoy the process of becoming a more effective leader more than you ever thought possible!

Partial List of Takeaways:

• Understand the value (and limitations) of personality tests and other types of self-analysis as they relate to improving your leadership
• Discover the two pillars of effective leadership – neither of which have anything to do with you!
• Develop a system for creating roadmaps for success that everyone can get behind, including people who operate differently from you
• Realize that leadership presentations don’t have to be mind-numbingly boring!

“I went into this session thinking I’ll need coffee to stay awake. None needed!”

“Our conference attendees are still talking about how great your keynote was! Stop Acting Your Age! Was exactly what we needed to hear. The constant laughter in the room was awesome!”