Chris Dyer

Chris Dyer is a recognized company culture and remote work expert. As a former CEO managing thousands of people, his companies consistently were named the best places to work. They have also been named a fastest growing company by Inc Magazine 5 times. Chris routinely consults and speaks, and Inc Magazine ranked him as the #1 Leadership Speaker on Culture. He has two bestselling books, The Power of Company Culture and Remote Work. He has also been named #5 on the LeadersHum Power List, a Top 50 Voice in Leadership, a Top 40 Change Management Guru, a Top 50 Global Thought Leader, a Top 50 leadership podcast, a Top 50 HR Leaders Shaping the Future of Work, and a Top 101 Global Employee Engagement & Experience Influencers by Inspiring Workplaces and Work Buzz, just this year.

As a keynote speaker, Chris's goal is to inspire audiences with his straightforward delivery, insightful candor, and engaging humor. His talks leave audiences permanently transformed, as he offers innovative perspectives on leadership to improve company culture and empower organizations to discover new successes. Countless companies have unlocked productivity, performance, and profits by implementing his 7 Pillar Strategy. Chris is rated as a top speaker, providing actionable advice and compelling stories to cultivate the right culture for a company to succeed. 

Speaking Topics:

AI and the Future of Work: Navigating the Next Decade 

The future of work is undergoing a profound transformation with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). In this keynote presentation, we will explore the evolving landscape of AI and its impact on the way we work, with a particular focus on the emergence of ChatGPT and its implications for businesses and employees.

Join us as we delve into the AI trends that are shaping our world, and gain insights into how ChatGPT and similar AI technologies will evolve in the next 10 years. Will they remain mere novelties, or will they disrupt industries and pose real challenges to traditional job roles?

As leaders, it is essential to prepare our companies and employees for the changes that lie ahead. We will discuss the strategies and considerations necessary to navigate the evolving AI landscape responsibly and ethically. Together, we will explore the ethical dilemmas posed by AI technologies like ChatGPT and delve into the ways we can ensure transparency, accountability, and human-centricity in their deployment.

Furthermore, we will examine the broader implications of AI in the workplace and discuss how leaders can effectively integrate AI technologies into their organizations. Discover the shifting roles and skill requirements in an AI-driven world, and explore the opportunities for upskilling and reskilling employees to thrive in this new era. Learn how to foster a culture of collaboration between humans and machines, leveraging the strengths of both to drive innovation and productivity.

The future of work, as Chris sees it, is not just about technology, but also about culture. His companies have been recognized as fastest-growing by Inc Magazine five times and have consistently been named a best place to work for 12 consecutive years. This success is underpinned by a strong culture and a fresh perspective on how we work in an AI-driven world.

This keynote aims to ignite a dialogue about the evolution of work in the age of AI. It's not all about conjecture and challenge. This talk will also provide proven insights on how to effectively lead an organization in today's rapidly changing landscape.

Key Takeaways:

• Insights into the latest AI trends and their impact on the future of work.
• Understanding the ethical dilemmas posed by AI technologies like ChatGPT and strategies for navigating them.
• How to train and upskill leaders and employees to leverage AI effectively, avoid costly mistakes, and stay relevant in an ever-changing marketplace.
• Shifting the paradigm on how we build culture in an AI-driven world using Chris' successful 7 Pillar Strategy.

WTF?!: 7 Pillars of Amazing Culture

Are you stuck figuring out where to focus (WTF) to improve engagement and performance? After years of research and countless interviews with top leaders across industries, Chris Dyer has uncovered seven key ingredients that matter in every workplace. These unconventional factors have the power to transform any culture, kick-starting productivity, performance, and profits.

In this dynamic and interactive keynote, Chris shares the seven things every leader can do better to improve culture and make a real difference, from the C-suite all the way down to new managers. Audience members will assess their effectiveness with all seven pillars of workplace culture and learn where they stand. This keynote has been shared with tens of thousands of people, averaging 4.9 out of 5 stars and comes from his best-selling book: The Power of Company Culture.

Seriously, WTF?! Do you make your employees’ strengths stronger or improve their weaknesses? Come find out!

Learning Objectives:

• Uncovering the top seven things that make a difference at work
• Learning how to better budget time and effort to make improvements
• Developing a personal plan to connect with your employees and determine WTF
• Identifying tactical tips to change your culture for the better

Delegation Hacks: The Lost Art of Leadership & Happy Employees

The art of delegation and trust is not something that any leader shows up knowing how to do well. The best leaders learn and adapt a strategy from their mentors and find ways to communicate and empower their staff. But along the way a stressed-out boss, a failed project, or a bad employee can cause even the best leaders to get stuck and stop delegating. Key employees also find it hard to delegate as they move up in the organization and take on new roles and responsibilities, they fail to shed work that others could do, causing massive backlogs and frustrations. Learning how to delegate is a key skill for everyone! For some reason, as we emerge from the pandemic, organizations are seeing this as a massive obstacle for productivity, performance, and employee happiness.

Learning Objectives:

• Setting clear goals and expectations
• Differentiation based on the task, importance, and team members involved. Being a good delegator is not one size fits all.
• Empowering and rewarding employees or teammates for trying their best, even if they didn’t get it right the first time. Positive collaboration creates a long-term cycle of trust and success.
• Determining your hang-ups and issues with delegation

Mastering Tough Conversations

What conversations have you been avoiding?

Just the thought of broaching certain topics can be enough to bring on a spontaneous stomachache and palms so sweaty you’ll be glad shaking hands went out of style.

Sometimes saying what’s on your mind is easier said than done. Where do you start, and what direction should you take the conversation? How do you prepare, and how do you know when you’ve gone too far?

In this poignant keynote, organizational communication expert Chris Dyer will help audience members understand how to take on tough conversations with skill, tact, and grace. He breaks down key strategies for leading different types of discussions, while also providing powerful tactics for quelling confrontation avoidance.

Having purposeful conversations, no matter the topic is the ultimate weapon for building an extraordinary culture. This keynote is sure to impact your team for years to come!

Learning Objectives:

• Identifying when tough conversations need to happen
• Identifying cognitive biases that impact how information is perceived
• Knowing how and when to end a conversation
• Identifying personality types and leveraging the best strategy

The Future of Work: Looks Cute, Might Delete Later! 

In a post-pandemic world finally exposed to remote work at scale, what can leaders expect in the coming years? Experts from all sides want us to believe their narrative will prevail. What will actually happen is far from decided. Chris Dyer has successfully navigated a fully remote company of thousands of people during two recessions and a pandemic. Finding the right mix of new thinking and competencies, while not forgetting truths that seem to stand the test of time, has been his secret sauce to business success. During this time, his firms have been named a fastest growing company 5 times by Inc Magazine and seen 12 straight years of being named a best place to work. The future of work is a lot different than we might imagine and mandates that we focus on building a great culture with a fresh perspective on meetings, work-life balance, and even compliance.

This keynote seeks to provoke a conversation about what work should be, how to approach something better, and how our leaders will be fundamental to making this a reality. But it’s not all speculation and provocation, this talk will also be filled with proven knowledge on how to best lead an organization in today’s world.

Learning Objectives:

• Radically changing how we meet and collaborate in flexible work
• Upskilling managers to be our greatest strength
• Changing the paradigm on we approach culture through Chris’ proven 7 Pillar Strategy
   

Why Failing Doesn’t Suck: How to Rejoice in Your Face-Palm Moments

Mistakes, failures, errors, blunders, and mishaps. Are you feeling uncomfortable yet?

No one is perfect, but we all hope for a perfect performance at work. Guess what? It’s not going to happen! In this refreshing keynote, Chris Dyer shows how constantly trying to avoid mistakes can be even more detrimental than the occasional slip-up.

With today’s changing business landscape, innovation is everything. But to drive innovation, employees can’t be paralyzed by self-doubt or the fear of failure. Chris will show how accepting (and expecting) to fail from wrong decisions or poor outcomes is a hallmark of good culture. Audience members will learn how to make more room for creativity and healthy risk-taking when it matters most. Making mistakes doesn’t have to be painful. From minor errors to epic failures, come learn how your face-palm moments can lead to colossal business success.

Learning Objectives:

• Understanding the difference between mistakes and errors, and communicating what’s acceptable
• Managing mistakes with empathy, transparency, and fairness
• Following mistakes toward improvements
• Understanding Mistakes from Errors

Listening is Leading

What is the one quality that people value in virtually any type of relationship? Being a good listener. Unfortunately, listening doesn’t evoke the importance it deserves. This provocative keynote aims to change that since having a company full of purposeful listeners is the ultimate weapon for building an extraordinary culture.

Listening sounds simple, but if that were true, people would be better at it. The ability to listen meaningfully requires skills that must be learned, then sharpened and honed regularly. Organizational communication expert Chris Dyer will help audience members do an honest assessment of their listening habits and provide actionable ways to improve. Chris demonstrates how easy it is to go from “listen to reply”, to “listen and understanding.” This transformation is linked to stronger networks, better working relationships, higher employee engagement, trust, organizational effectiveness, and profits.

Becoming a better listener is well worth the effort! After all, there’s a reason we have two ears and only one mouth.

Learning Objectives:

• Overcoming barriers to listening, such as internal and external distractions, and cognitive biases.
• Developing formal and informal communication practices for improving listening
• Leveraging purposeful listening to build trust, teamwork, and commitment
• Increasing the emotional intelligence of your company

What Your Employees Really Want, But Won’t Tell You

Today’s business environment is becoming more and more competitive when it comes to attracting top talent. Increasingly, companies are using their culture as a key selling point to recruit the best employees. In a world where culture has become a top consideration for many recruits, how do you develop a culture that attracts top talent and makes them stick around?

Often, your best source of information about how to create a culture that attracts the best people comes from your current employees. But how do you truly understand what your employees want? You could ask them, but chances are you won’t get a straight answer. Why? It’s scary to tell leaders what they’re doing wrong, but it can also be hard to articulate exactly what needs to change.

Based on years of research and countless interviews with top leaders, Chris Dyer knows the secrets of what drives satisfaction and engagement. It isn’t Ping-Pong tables or a Friday afternoon beer cart. And luckily, it isn’t more money either.

In this insightful keynote, you will put your finger on the pulse of your company’s culture and find out what you can do to make it healthier. You will leave with a variety of actions you can take immediately to give employees what they want and make your company a better place to work, thus allowing you to attract top talent.

Learning Objectives:

• Understanding the top seven things that make employees stay
• Capitalizing on your culture’s strengths
• Improving recruitment strategies that focus on selling your culture
• Learning what employees truly want from their leaders
   

Leadership in a Recession: Lessons of Success

What do your managers need to know right this moment to lead through a recession? How can you foster innovation when it feels like a pressure cooker? What's on the mind of your employees? What small changes can you make today to better face what's coming tomorrow? In other words...how do you lead through a recession?

Chris Dyer successfully led and grew his companies through 2 major recessions and a pandemic. During that time they were named a fastest growing company by Inc Magazine 5 times, and were named a best place to work 13 years in a row. In this focused keynote, the emphasis will be on the lessons learned, specific changes needed during these crisis events, and practical advice on where to really focus.

Learning Objectives:

• Redeploying the focus of an organization
• Should we all be in sales?
• Learning how to leverage transparency and listening to retool the company

Burnout Culture in the Modern Workplace: A Leader's Roadmap to Reversal and Resilience

As the weight of rapid organizational changes, personal challenges, and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic bear down, an alarming 58% of employees confess to facing burnout. The symptoms are ubiquitous yet silent, creating a pervasive culture of exhaustion, reduced performance, and disengagement. Chris Dyer, renowned as a vanguard of company culture and remote work, delves deep into the mechanisms of burnout and offers a comprehensive guide to its alleviation and prevention.

What you'll take away:

1. Defining Burnout: Understand the World Health Organization’s recognition of burnout as an occupational syndrome, placing the onus on organizations and their leaders.
2. Nurturing Resilience: Explore the pivotal role of adaptive leadership in turbulent times, leveraging strategies that not only mitigate workplace stress but also foster resilience and innovation among teams.
3. A New Leadership Paradigm: Discover how servant leadership, compassionate interactions, and the cultivation of trust and autonomy can usher in a resilient, burnout-resistant organizational culture.

From strategies such as enabling two-way dialogue, offering a manageable workload, ensuring fair and equitable treatment, to simply showing genuine care, Chris presents a transformative approach to leadership. Drawing from his vast experience and expertise, Chris's keynote shines a light on the "dirty little secret" of burnout culture, empowering leaders to champion a healthy, engaged, and thriving workplace.
 

Retaining and Developing Future Leaders: The Key to Thriving in Tomorrow's Marketplace

In today's competitive landscape, CEOs are faced with a daunting challenge: how to retain and develop future leaders. The ever-evolving workforce and the shifting paradigms of what employees seek in their professional lives have made it imperative for organizations to rethink and reframe their approaches. In this groundbreaking keynote, Chris Dyer, an acclaimed expert on company culture and remote work, unveils the secrets to creating a magnetic workplace that attracts, nurtures, and retains the best talent.

What you'll take away:

• Understanding the New Priorities: Over half of companies reported increased turnover last year. Discover what truly matters to the next generation of leaders - from the value of effective leadership to the necessity of flexible work arrangements.
• Leadership's Role in Retention: Dive into the profound impact of leadership effectiveness on employee retention. Learn why leaders lacking in interpersonal skills can dramatically heighten the risk of top talent departing and why a human-centered approach is no longer just a nice-to-have but a must-have.
• Reimagining Flexibility: Flexible work isn't just a perk; it's a strategic tool. Uncover how a flexible work culture can be a game-changer, especially for younger professionals who prioritize this aspect more than ever before.

Drawing from his wealth of experience managing thousands and his two bestselling books, Chris provides a blend of captivating insights, actionable strategies, and a touch of humor. Whether you're a CEO, HR professional, or a budding leader, this keynote is your guide to sculpting a resilient and thriving organization ready to face tomorrow's challenges.Join Chris and take the first step towards crafting a future-ready organization, and don't miss the chance to harness the power of a vibrant company culture!