Sara Ross

The Future of Leadership: How Workplaces Use EQ to Thrive in a Pressure Economy

In a world defined by unrelenting pressure, it’s not surprising that a 2018 StressPulse survey found almost 60% of people reported being “highly stressed.” In response to the increasing intensity, the World Economic Forum ranked emotional intelligence as one of the top five business priorities people need to invest in to succeed in the future. And yet, as certain as the research is in demonstrating that it is a powerful predictor of performance and organizational success, studies and stories from across the globe indicate that it is harder than ever to build.

This gap inspired Sara Ross to conduct a global survey, across dozens of industries, and throughout all levels of business to focus on answering one critical question: What do you need in a leader?

Whether a seasoned executive, middle manager or a driven individual performer, in this keynote you will learn that the answers to this question are grounded in the practices of emotional intelligence. Building on cutting-edge insights from the fields of business, mindfulness, positive psychology and neuroscience, as well as her latest research, Sara will share:

• The top three drivers of leadership excellence and the mindsets that separate the best from the rest
• How the brain influences performance, relationships and emotional energy in today’s pressure-filled workplaces
• An in-the-moment strategy to respond more skillfully in difficult situations to increase perspective, focus and calm
• A practical, yet counterintuitive approach to strengthening the skill of empathy and influence without exhausting yourself!

Igniting the Leadership Vitality Factor: Next-Level Leadership for an On-Demand World

Organizations know that to be successful and innovative in a service and knowledge driven economy requires a workforce with expertise, intellectual curiosity and the ability to use emotional intelligence to collaborate and execute through people. And yet, with all the acknowledgement and investment in capitalizing on these skills, something is missing, and stress is exponentially rising.

In this keynote, Sara Ross will share the missing piece of the success equation that all too often is over-looked and under-valued. After a decade of studying high performers, Sara has found that the key differentiator between exhausted leaders and exceptional leaders is what she has coined their Vitality Factor.

This isn’t just about stress management, time management or simply sleeping more and working less. This is about strategy. How to move performance and leadership to the next level in an on-demand world where an abundance of information, distractions, and expectations are unrelentingly pulling on time, energy and attention. This is how top performers pressure-proof their leadership impact.

The research is clear, how an organization manages that Vitality factor will either burn their people out or allow them to burn bright and bring their best work forward and Sara will show you how by sharing:

• The three common habits that are mistakenly leading to over-stressed, under-fueled brains and how they deceivingly influence decisions, effectiveness and leadership impact
• A Key Vitality Indicator (KVI) system to identify the tipping point where more work becomes counterproductive and healthy challenge becomes unhealthy stress
• Practices to expand productive vitality ranges to increase creativity, collaboration and agility
• Insights to help leaders shift from inadvertently being a Vitality-Depleter to a positive Vitality Ambassador by multiplying each of these practices across teams and workplaces

Building Your “Bounce”: Using Resilience to Thrive through Change

Slowing down the pace or rate of change isn’t an option. Therefore, skilling your people to more readily adapt to change as well as bounce back more quickly from challenging setbacks is your organizations competitive advantage.

The good news is there is clear evidence of people, whether individual contributors, managers or organizational leaders, working within the same environments, under the same pressures who instead meet the change and uncertainty by breathing a sense of curiosity, aliveness and enthusiasm into their people and projects.

The difference is that they intelligently use their emotions to help them adapt more quickly. They catch themselves before they get stuck in “obstacle-thinking” and instead, positively shift their thinking to focus on the opportunities those obstacles present. Their choices and practices help them respond in a more resilient way.

Building your “Bounce” skills is a critical element in creating and sustaining your Leadership Vitality.

In this interactive, application-focused breakout session, Sara will walk people through a systematic “bounce approach” framework to strengthen the skills of resilience by:

• Helping people find calm through the chaos to increase their uncertainty tolerance
• Decreasing wasted emotional energy on “false-threats” causing people to feel stuck and overwhelmed, and instead focusing on the most important information
• Increasing awareness of the choices and opportunities people have when facing change and ambiguity and channeling that into appropriate action

“I do not say this lightly – Sara is one of the most engaging speakers I have ever listened to. I have heard her speak three times and every time I learn something new but even more notable, I am taken in by her openness, energy and insight. I promise you can count on Sara to over-deliver.”
– Vice President of L&D Scotiabank

“Sara exceeded our expectations! What really made her stand out was how amazing she was to work with in the lead up, she was so dedicated to understanding our challenges and needs and that really came through in her talk. She is one of the best!”
– Environics Communication CEO

“Wonderful! Sara has the passion and the energy but her “in the leadership trenches” experience made this stuff applicable. Our senior leadership team couldn’t stop talking about her impact which is the highest of compliments!”
– Fidelity Investments

“Would I recommend Sara Ross? Are you kidding – I want to be her! Seriously, Sara was awesome!!! She was so real and authentic that I felt like I was in a 1-1 conversation with her not sitting in the audience. Some of the stories she told and examples she shared were so relatable I felt like they were about me! She gave me a game plan to use with my team!”
– Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation

“Within the hour Sara made us laugh, reflect and stirred a deep emotion that won’t be forgotten anytime soon. Sara’s insights were the thread that connected the rest of the conference, it was amazing.”
– Women in Engineering Conference