VIRTUAL
OR LIVE.
EITHER WAY, POWERFUL.
Chances are you’re here because you want to grow, evolve and refine as a business leader and as a person. Or maybe you are looking to bring someone to your event that will engage audiences and spur change in perspectives, actions and conversation. Sara’s live speaking events offer that opportunity, let us show you how.
Virtual or Live Keynotes:
LEADING FROM FULL
The Path from Pressure-Filled to Vitality-Fueled Success
Leadership has never been easy. But in an era where a reported 61% of managers feel underprepared and overwhelmed by escalating complexity, and close to half report regularly running on fumes, it’s clear the traditional “push harder” approach isn’t just falling short—it’s backfiring. But what if the driver of high performance under pressure isn’t doing more but accessing an entirely different fuel source? Based on the self-leadership pillar of her LeadFULL™ approach and drawing on research from her bestselling book “Dear Work, Something Has to Change,” Sara Ross reveals the game-changing concept of the Vitality Zone™—where the synergy of excellence and energy unlocks a leader’s full potential propelling their best and boldest self forward. When vitality is the fuel of high performance, leaders don’t just achieve more; they shape cultures fueled by well-being and purpose instead of being drained of them. This is how they move from running on fumes to leading from FULL. THIS KEYNOTE IS BEST FOR LEADERS WHO: • Are ready to transform their approach to pressure and want sustainable ways to boost energy, productivity, and performance—without the exhaustion (and are skeptical it’s even possible). • Seek and often struggle to prioritize well-being practices while navigating demanding environments and high expectations. • Feel trapped in the time-consuming cycle of reactive mode, knowing strategic thinking, personal learning, and team development are stuck on the back burner. • Recognize their commitment to work too often becomes all-consuming, affecting their health, happiness, relationships, and quality of life. AUDIENCES WILL LEAVE ABLE TO: • Use the Leading from FULL Framework to take on challenges from the Vitality Zone™ with greater capacity, confidence, and energy. • Embrace a Possibility Mindset to transform their brains default negativity bias into fuel for motivation, a foundation for well-being, expanded thinking, and purposeful bold action. • Break free from fixer-fatigue with three simple questions that empower teams, energize results, and help them reclaim time in their day. • Apply the Activate20 Principal™ to reignite a sense of aliveness, rest without guilt, and live with renewed joy. *This inspiring & deeply thought-provoking keynote focuses on the self-leadership element of the LeadFULL approach. It can be expanded into an interactive breakout session and up to a half day workshop.
BRINGING OUT THE BEST IN OTHERS
Elevate Your Leadership and Transform Connection into a Culture of Collective Excellence Through Emotional Intelligence
In a world where technology is transforming how we work, a counter-intuitive truth is emerging: despite the focus on AI, an organization's greatest competitive advantage isn't found in technology—it's in human potential. A 2024 Deloitte survey reinforces this reality: 8 in 10 executives agree that human-centered skills are critical for success in an increasingly complex world fiercely competing to attract and retain top talent. Yet traditional leadership approaches are falling short, leaving both leaders and teams stretched thin and their full potential untapped. The key to accessing the potential advantage lies in Sara Ross's LeadFULL™ model. Developed through research with over 10,000 people plus fifteen years of hands-on work using the science of emotional intelligence, well-being, and organizational excellence, it is a vitality-fueling approach to human-centered leadership designed to access and energize the FULL potential of a workforce. In this keynote—grounded in the Unifying pillar of the LeadFULL™ model—leaders will be equipped to bring forward the best in themselves and others. By elevating the collective power of unstoppable teams, innovative opportunities are seized, trust-based connections flourish, and energized excellence becomes the new standard. THIS KEYNOTE IS BEST FOR LEADERS WHO: • Face compounding pressures—AI transformations, organizational shifts, rising customer demands, and critical talent challenges. • Excel technically but recognize the need for deeper levels of emotional intelligence (i.e. creating belonging, psychological safety, accountability conversations) to generate results through others. • Aim to transform siloed, disconnected teams into high performing collaborative powerhouses—in-person and virtually. • Seek practical strategies to elevate their leadership impact and overcome the invisible barriers holding them and their teams back. AUDIENCES WILL LEAVE ABLE TO: • Create high accountability cultures by modeling an emotional-management strategy to strengthen self-awareness, activate curiosity, and harness energy to respond and connect skillfully. • Balance empathy and empowerment to multiply the potential of their people, fueling thriving environments of excellence and collective growth. • Address under-challenging, over-pressuring, and micromanaging with brain science-informed strategies that encourage teams to courageously stretch both themselves and their ideas. • Understand and harness their influence in shaping a healthy team culture especially crucial in today's 'always-on' environment. *This empowering & interactive keynote can be customized around connection for non-leaders, sales, or service-focused audiences.
FUTURE-READY RESILIENCE
Transforming Stress into Strength, Uncertainty into Possibility, and Change into Energizing Momentum
In today's dynamic world, there are two human operating states from which we can approach change: the Survival State, where we're reactive, stressed out, frustrated and change-fatigued, or the Vitality State, where we're strategic, energized, resilient and future-ready. With research suggesting the average organization has undergone five enterprise changes in the past three years—and 73% expecting more ahead—leading change from the Vitality State isn't just an option, it's a competitive advantage. This keynote is grounded in the Future-Ready pillar of Sara Ross’s LeadFULL™ model—a vitality-fueling approach to human-centered excellence. Drawing on fifteen years of experience researching, coaching and advising leaders and their organizations through change efforts, Sara shares how operating from the Vitality State transforms resilience from a reactive tactic called upon in moments of crisis—to a proactive practice strengthened daily. From here, stress can be converted to a strength that unlocks energy, uncertainty drives opportunity, and rest and reflection are embraced as collective responsibilities and non-negotiable catalysts for innovation and momentum-creating growth. THIS KEYNOTE IS BEST FOR LEADERS AND TEAMS WHO: • Work in industries facing significant disruption or organizational transformations and see/feel signs of burnout or rampant stress and want to navigate change in healthier, energizing ways. • Recognize the need to proactively strengthen future-readiness. • Want to better understand the change process, how to influence buy-in, and overcome resistance. • Question whether operating from the Vitality-Fueling state means ignoring real challenges or forcing artificial positivity (it’s quite the opposite). AUDIENCES WILL LEAVE ABLE TO: • Apply a Resilience framework to navigate change from the Vitality Operating State—activating a growth-oriented possibility mindset. • Leverage behavioral science insights to turn setbacks into springboards, boost uncertainty tolerance, reframe fear into innovation fuel, and create environments of experimentation. • Channel the full spectrum of emotions that accompany change—including negativity and resistance—into courage catalysts for clarity, connection, and collaboration. • Replace FAUX Resilience beliefs which breed toxic positivity, isolation, and exhaustion with FULL Resilience beliefs, rooted in realistic optimism, community, and well-being. *This inspiring and interactive keynote can be customized for leaders as well as expanded into a breakout session and up to a half day workshop.
WORK THAT WORKS
Rethinking What Drives Success to Create Vitality-Fueled Cultures
Do you find yourself striving for big goals but running on fumes? Wonder why traditional approaches to work-life balance, stress management, and self-care so often fall short? Feel stuck choosing between professional success or personal well-being, knowing something has to change? In a world where exhaustion is often accepted as the price of success, Sara Ross has the data to prove otherwise. In a three-year study exploring our relationship with work through the lens of personal energy management and sustainable high performance, Sara uncovered something that challenges conventional advice. While most believe we simply need better strategies to address exhaustion, Sara found that people who thrive with vitality in demanding environments aren't simply working differently - they hold fundamentally different beliefs about how excellence is achieved. This keynote is based on Sara Ross's book, "Dear Work", and is grounded in the Liberating pillar of her LeadFULL™ model. It confronts the outdated behaviors and beliefs that keep both individuals and organizations trapped in an exhaustion-driven narrative of success. Through science-backed strategies, it reveals how to create vitality-fueling cultures where people can bring their best, energized selves to everything they do. THIS KEYNOTE IS BEST FOR AUDIENCES: • Feeling disconnected from the spark that once motivated them and want to bring more purpose, passion and meaningful impact to the work they do. • Working in fast-paced, high-demand environments and seeing signs of burnout in themselves or those around them. • Striving for new heights in their careers and personal lives but feel caught in trade-offs, where excelling in one area means sacrificing another. • Finding the 'always on' work culture where technology has blurred all boundaries between work and life has left them struggling to truly disconnect. AUDIENCES WILL LEAVE ABLE TO: • Use behavioral science insights to recognize the signals of working from the Survival versus Vitality State, and how their beliefs influence shifting between each. • Understand why exhaustion isn’t the cost of excellence and how to break free from "success traps" that keep people locked in unsustainable, vitality-depleting patterns. • Activate a mindset of possibility to transform how they engage with stress, so it becomes a source of momentum rather than overwhelm. • Establish a ‘Rest Ethic’ to manage their energy more strategically and use it to experience a deeper sense of aliveness at work and in life.
Chances are you’re here because you want to grow, evolve and refine as a business leader and as a person. Or maybe you are looking to bring someone to your event that will engage audiences and spur change in perspectives, actions and conversation. Sara’s live speaking events offer that opportunity, let us show you how.
ALTERNATIVE
APPROACHES
Deeper Learning
BREAKOUT LEARNING SESSIONS
If you are looking to take the insights to a deeper level, Sara delivers highly interactive, application-focused learning experiences. These are designed to give people time to practice and apply insights and strategies to their real-life situations. These can run as a breakout session following a keynote or as a separate longer pre- or post-conference workshop. Breakout sessions typically run 1-3 hours and workshops between a half to a full day. Either approach will be tailored to the needs of the organization or group.
PANEL DISCUSSIONS OR “FIRESIDE LEADER-TO-LEADER CHATS”
Sara is happy to participate in panel discussions, onstage interviews, or fireside chats. You can feel confident that she will bring unique perspectives that are backed up by the latest research and well as practical examples and stories. These sessions tend to create an intimate and personalized experience and are a great addition to an off-site retreat. The value of this approach is that it also demonstrates to audience engagement from their leaders to practice and apply the principles shared by Sara.
“POWER TALKS” WITH Q&A
Following the format of TED Talks, Sara does highly focused, short but powerful presentations ranging 20-40min followed by either a Q&A session or an onstage discussion with a leader from your organization. These unique talks and discussions are usually highly customized to the organization, industry or group.
INTERVIEWS FOR FOLLOW-UP ARTICLES AND PODCASTS
The learning shouldn’t stop after Sara’s session. Sara is happy to support your organization’s dedication to sustaining the learning and creating true change. She will happily participate in post-keynote interviews.
ON-SITE GROUP TRAINING OR COACHING
If you are looking to bring Sara’s insights and tools into your organization then on-site training or coaching is a great option. These learning solutions may include individual coaching or group coaching for intact teams, training sessions for your managers and leaders, off-site retreats, or intensive executive sessions exclusively with senior teams. This on-site approach will help you integrate the key learnings into the DNA of your culture.
See what people are saying about Sara’s keynotes
I do not say this lightly - Sara is one of the 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.
