Public Speaking

Human capital is the backbone of organizations. Indeed, it has been suggested that the Human Resource (HR) function – through its influence on human capital – directly and indirectly impacts organizational outcomes such as profitability, productivity, and competitive advantage. As a result, much attention has been paid on the development of HR competencies such as adaptability, strategic thinking, and business savvy. Relatively little, however, is known about the personality “fabric” of the HR professional. Personality, however, impacts competency development. Further, personality may have an impact on the HR professional’s career path. The presenter will share the results of a personality research study involving 501 HR Directors/VPs, 469 HR Managers, and 214 HR Generalists. Participants will review the “Five Factor Model” of personality, connect personality and HR competency development, and explore the differences in personality within three career levels of HR professionals.

To say that ethical leadership is a relevant topic nowadays is an understatement.  A bear market and a myriad of corporate scandals have brought squeamishness to investors and intensified public demands for corporate accountability.  In order to solve this problem, some organizations have incorporated integrity assessments to their selection processes. Others have instituted “zero tolerance” policies to curb ethical violations.  Integrity assessments, however, have limitations: They may “weed out” flexible, risk-taking, and creative people – precisely the types of personalities that may be typical among high level leaders.  “Zero tolerance” policies may also be problematic – they assume that ethical dilemmas are easy to solve and have clear cut “right/wrong” answers.  Instead, the types of ethical dilemmas faced by typical leaders may go beyond “rule following” and require the ability to solve complex moral dilemmas.  The presenter will “decode” ethical decision-making for leaders and explain the roots of common ethical violations.  Specifically, the presenter will connect leadership personalities and ethics and describe an intuitive and intriguing ethical decision making model entitled “Circles of Ethics.”  She will also share a possible training outline to help leaders improve ethical decision-making.  You will learn key ethical concepts to revolutionize your own ethics training design.

In today's economy, employers must find new and innovative ways to encourage employees to do "more" with "less."  External and tangible motivators such as bonuses, salary increases, or promotions may simply not be feasible under current circumstances.  This presentation will focus on the importance of employee engagement...a powerful connection between person, job, and employer that has been linked through recent research to increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, and lower turnover. 

Leaders operate in the “people business.” It is vital that they understand the basics of human psychology and become aware of their own challenges and opportunities for success. Personality colors the lenses through which we see, judge, and relate to others.  It gives us a special language – a language that only those who share key pieces of our personality puzzle can understand.  Even though personality is often not excluded from diversity training initiatives, it is a highly significant, albeit invisible, source of bias and conflict in the workplace.  This presentation introduces human resources practitioners to personality diversity and helps them plan to incorporate this important topic in their diversity initiatives.

An important medical tenet is “First do no harm.”  Diversity initiatives can do harm by exacerbating the perception of differences and including legally dangerous practices.  Further, diversity development often does not work – instead, participants may leave the training more frightened and prejudiced than they were prior to the training.  In this thought provoking presentation, the speaker addresses this problem and proposes solutions.  Specifically, the presenter will separate myth from fact in the diversity “business case” and discuss key social psychology and brain research findings that impact diversity relations.   Finally, the presenter will make the case for “Conversity®" - an approach to diversity training that focuses on forging connections and finding similarities rather than differences.