Matt Havens

Matt Havens is an international keynote speaker, reformed corporate leader, son of a comedian, and a firm believer we overcomplicate work by overthinking the solutions. While Matt doesn’t take himself too seriously, he seriously delivers a high-energy, actionable, and hilarious message every time he takes a stage. 

Matt is at the intersection of thought leadership, entertainment, and real-life. He spent 14 years leading diverse teams in finance, sales, and customer service for a Fortune 50 company which gave him the in-the-trenches experience companies can relate with and understand. Matt also grew up being snuck into the back room of comedy clubs while his Dad performed with some of the biggest names in comedy. That experience taught him the importance of engaging an audience and the infectious impact of laughter. Understanding those two experiences don’t have to be mutually exclusive – that we can drive business growth and results while having fun doing it – has positioned Matt to help hundreds of organizations and recognizable brands like RE/MAX, Lockheed Martin, and Allstate to go along with countless government and industry associations from nearly every trade.
 

Matt lives in Dallas, TX with his wife and best friend, Megan, and their twin daughters Avery and Emersyn. When he’s not working, he’s probably trying to convince his daughters to love golf or plan the next family adventure.

Speaking Topics - 

Mastering Simplicity: How to Lead in the Modern World of Work

It is no secret that we are busier, more stressed, and often paralyzed in our ability to make decisions quickly. The result is a workplace struggling with inaction, fatigue, burnout, and some of the highest levels of mental health concerns we’ve ever seen. With no course correction, these concerns are only going to get worse. While the reaction some leaders have is to over-engineer the solutions and pile on more, the truth is the best leaders understand their role is to harness the power of simplicity to reduce the noise and create space where ideas and true priorities thrive.
 

In this transformational keynote, Matt Havens shares research-backed ideas and practical, real-life solutions from his time in Fortune 50 boardrooms, leading teams, and speaking on hundreds of stages globally for companies like CISCO, State Farm, and RE/MAX.
 

Attendees will learn how to decode complexity both in and outside the workplace by adopting and implementing Matt’s Simplicity framework. Filled with realistic and actionable steps leaders can take to build more presence, more capacity, and more engagement in their teams, this framework is exactly what leaders don’t yet know they’re looking for to lead in the new world of work. Audience members will walk away with a better understanding of what’s holding their teams back from their true potential and will be positioned to build a culture full of purpose, productivity and accountability. Leadership has never been simple, but simplicity is clear and intentional and exactly what teams need to be their best in the future of work.

What audiences come away with:

• Clarity and understanding of what drives human behavior and how we harness the best qualities in our teams.
• A framework of how to approach every challenge with simplicity and reduce complexity.
• Tactics for moving from analysis paralysis to action.
• Real and applicable steps to build a thriving culture in the workplace.

Simplicity in Multi-Generational Teams: How to Attract and Retain Talent of All Ages

We’re being told for the first time in history, there are five separate and distinct generations in the workforce, all with different traits, characteristics, and needs. In a world busier and more polarized than ever, it’s not a surprise leaders and organizations are struggling to communicate, collaborate, and reinvent across the generational divide. The traditional solutions complicate the issue by leading us to believe a new group of people is born every 10 years with new motivations and new ways of working. The answer of creating more differentiation has been the wrong answer for decades and the time to stop is now.

In this engaging, entertaining, and actionable presentation, Matt Havens will bring decades of experience helping organizations navigate generational differences to audiences looking to finally understand how to truly engage each other and how to simplify (not complicate) the solutions.

Attendees will learn how to understand, recognize, and resolve their generational issues by harnessing the power of Simplicity. While most presentations focus on what people want, Matt shares the important distinction of why we approach work in new ways and how leaders can show up for their teams regardless of their ages. Attendees will learn from our experience in music, fashion, technology, industry – all the while utilizing research-backed methodologies for making sense of our unique human experiences. In the end, audiences will walk away with an immediate blueprint for action. Simplicity will create the space where relationships can blossom, communication can flourish, and ideas and people can thrive together.

What audiences come away with:

• Tools for replacing the complicated five-generation model with a workable dichotomy between older, more experienced workers and their younger, less-experienced counterparts.
• An understanding of the key cultural, technological, and social changes that have conspired to create a disconnect between team members from these two groups.
• Practical strategies for reducing complexity and maximizing action capital.
• Methods for navigating and thriving in change across age-diverse groups.
• Tactics for hiring and retaining the best talent, regardless of their age.

Unlocking the Human Potential In Work: How to Drive Personal, Professional and Organization Growth the Human Way™

Running a business, leading teams, or simply working within one can often feel like a never-ending barrage of problems. That’s in part because today’s conventional wisdom usually focuses on what separates us. Management vs. Employees. Me vs. You. It’s no wonder employers are struggling to build a culture of purpose-driven engagement and employees report the highest levels of burnout in history. What we need is a new way to unlock our collective potential in work.

Designed for all audiences, this inspiring and impactful keynote will help focus audiences not on the differences that so many of us seem fixated on, but on the profound similarities we all share as people. 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.

Blending research-backed insights with real-life practical applications, Matt helps audiences dive deep into how we can approach work together. Audiences will leave with a renewed appreciation for the value of human connection, how to foster it more intentionally in their lives, and why it’s more important than ever to change the conversation from being about Us vs. Them to WE.

What audiences come away with:

• Understand and embrace the collective human experience and how it impacts not only our behavior, but the behavior of 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.