To make a Travis Sheridan:
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60mls Nikola Tesla
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20mls Mother Theresa
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20mls George Carlin
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Garnish with Don Draper
Serving up a Travis Sheridan is the perfect complement for any community, organization or group focused on using innovation as a way to inspire healing. It should be noted that the frequent use of Travis Sheridan leads to intoxicating flood of new ideas and to make novel, incremental changes within a culture. If you feel your organization could use a dose, invite him to come on by. Each talk is customized to the specific audience and he’ll work with you to outline the results you’d like to achieve. Below are some of the topics I’ve covered in the past. Each contains a perfect mix of motivation, action, humor and application. Oh, and there is always plenty of hustle.
Travis’ areas of expertise include relationship management, leadership, creativity and innovation, strategic growth, corporate culture, organizational change, reputation management, productivity, building communities, generational engagement and career development.
Topics that will inspire, educate and entertain:
IR - The Two Letters That Will Turn Your Company Into An Innovation Machine (culture & innovation)
Organizations don’t innovate, people do. And you can’t begin to change the world unless you know how to change their world. Organizations admired for being especially innovative don’t hire genetically superior people. Innovators are made, not born. And innovative leaders know how to create the environment in which innovation is a natural outcome. Learn how to become an innovative leader and bring out the best in your employees.
Takeaways:
- Understand what makes people and situations ready to innovate
- Learn the importance of maximizing and leveraging situations
- Develop an appreciation for subtle cues that leads to big results
- Identify the key roles necessary to maintain relationships during rapid change
Best for people who…
- manage a diverse team
- are responsible for developing relationships with key stakeholders
- want to become effective change agents
- are in a customer service role
- need to develop new business opportunities
Boozestorming: Drinking Outside the Box (creativity & innovation)
Solving challenges – big and small – can seem overwhelming and serious. But it need not be the case. Allow Travis Sheridan to facilitate a fun-based discussion that will uncover unknowns and find novel solutions. A Boozestorming session is not simply a facilitated brainstorming session, it’s a proven process that engages attendees, evokes innovative thinking and delivers actionable options to create a new reality. Imagine what would happen if you could have the creative thinking of Don Draper without the potential sexual harassment lawsuits. That’s what Boozestorming offers.
Takeaways:
- Learn a replicable process to generate creative and actionable solutions
- Discover new ways to engage cross-functional players
- Understand which existing issues are of utmost importance
- Have fun while being productive
Best for people who…
- need to surface creative idea/actions
- want to recharge their team
- believe that the best solutions don’t have to be shaken…they can be stirred
Failure. The Missing Ingredient in Your Strategic Plan (strategic planning & growth)
Creating something new or significant rarely looks pretty. Travis will share his personal failures as well as the failures of prominent successful individuals. By the end of the presentation, you will begin to see the objective beauty of failure – you will not regret the past or wish to shut the door on it. Rather, you will find ways it can inform your present and future. As Travis puts it, “The past can shape me, but it doesn’t have to define me.” Spent time learning how to create a safe place for failure and understand its role in delivering an amazing future.
Takeaways:
- Learn why when failure isn’t an option, neither is success
- Develop ways to include failure into strategic planning
- Create a culture of risk-appreciation
- Identify the most strategic failure in the life of a company or person
Best for people who…
- are responsible for large-scale project implementation
- want to increase the level of innovation within an organization
- lead personnel with a variety of skills
- would like to create a culture of learning
Kindtagious (culture & reputation management)
If it bleeds, it leads…right? But what happens when there has already been too much blood shed? Travis Sheridan discusses the role of kindness in managing the reputation of an individual, company, organization or community. In a day and age when everyone wants a campaign to go viral for all the right reasons, many people forget the viral nature of kindness – the power of a smile, generous act or a meaningful recognition program. Any group is able to capitalize on the strategic, optimistic value of kindtagious thinking. Travis will share the five principles of the Kindtagious Philosophy and leave the group ready to create a culture of kindness.
Takeaways:
- Learn the five core principles of the Kindtagious Philosophy
- Dispel the hype around random acts of kindness
- Discover how a positive reputation can increase overall market-readiness
- Generate a Kindtagious campaign to implement
- Understand the tactical business application of catching more flies with honey
Best for people who…
- are responsible for brand or reputation management
- think positivity should get more coverage than negative headlines
- would like to create an internal culture of kindness
- are looking for ways to improve morale
- have recently been through a downturn
Get Sh!t Done (productivity & impact)
The world is overrun with ideas and dreamers. What we need are doers. People who will stop at nothing to see their ideas come to fruition. With an obsessive focus on their goals, doers are the people who shape organizations, change communities and create the space for innovation. Learn how your group can step out from the idea stage and into the doing stage. Learn how to separate the dreamers from the doers and give the doers a platform to get sh!t done.
Takeaways:
- Identify how to create more Doers within an organization
- Develop strategies to connect Dreamers and Doers
- Learn the three ingredients necessary for meaningful results
- While HR might not approve, create a culture where Getting Sh!t Done is celebrated
Best for people who…
- manage a team responsible for organizational objectives
- are tired to buzzwords and empty promises
- want to inspire their team to move forward with purpose
- aren’t afraid of some salty language
Career Insulation (career & staff development)
The advice from career counseling and online forums tells you to find a path and stick to it. However, Travis Sheridan’s life is a shining example of what happens when you don’t feel the need to stay on a linear path. Learn how to hone your creativity and strategic thinking to live an inspired career life. Travis explains the five tools he’s used to create value and insulate himself from economic uncertainty. Hint: it has nothing to do with a pile of money. However, it does have to do with spending a lot of time listening and positioning himself as a valuable solution for a variety of problems.
Takeaways:
- Don’t believe what your career counselor told you (promise they tried)
- Learn five ways to take control of your professional future
- Make unemployment or underemployment work
- Understand how to best transfer skills and experience
- Develop a sincere narrative of which you are proud
- Gain tools that will allow for better staff development
Best for people who…
- manager staff development
- are early in their careers
- are stuck in places they don’t enjoy
- who want to make a bigger impact within their current organization
- need to maximize the staff that is in place
Being a C-Student is Actually a Good Thing (culture, communication & conflict)
In this session we explore the intersection of Culture, Communication and Conflict (conflict isn’t scary). These three terms are more than buzzwords; they can have a direct impact on productivity and morale. This interactive hour and a half workshop even has its own soundtrack.
Takeaways:
- Understand the conflict cycle and the two words that can make conflict better
- Learn about how you and your co-workers interact in the midst of conflict
- Create internal contracts with peers
- Understand the importance of effectively communicating the corporate culture
- Make conflict FUN…it is a necessary part of innovation and growth
Best for people who…
- are part of large systems where success depends on mutual support
- work within organizations in the midst of change
- comprise part of an intergenerational team
- want to position their career for success
Travis is a skilled facilitator and presenter. He has the ability to engage parties in a collaborative fashion. Travis is process focused, but realizes that people are part of the process.
Suzanne Bertz-Rosa