Give your audience more than a good time...
Dr. J does more than entertain you... he makes you better.
Who is Dr. J? Dr. J is the hip professor you always wanted. He's an expert on leadership and team development, but he "gets" you. He connects with you, encourages you, and makes you better every time you meet.
As a trained counselor and seasoned leader, Dr. J understands how people tick and what it takes to make them the best they can be. As a world-class speaker and teacher, he knows how to engage an audience so they laugh, lean in, and leave ready to make the most of the opportunities and relationships in their world.
POPULAR KEYNOTES
Playing to Win: Surprising Secrets to Success and Unlocking Your Personal Best
In life, as in sports, it matters how you play the game and there's a big difference between "playing to win" and "playing not to lose". The mindset and strategy you adopt can define your performance and determine your success before you even get started. Playing to win helps you rise to the challenges and step into the opportunities that come your way.
In this entertaining and empowering engagement, Dr. J reveals the uncommon mindset that distinguishes the best-of-the-best and prepares you to unlock your own opportunity and potential by: reframing failure in ways that keep it from leveraging your commitment and initiative, illuminating the dispositions that limit your potential and prevent you from being and giving your best, and Equipping you with the vision and courage to make the most of the opportunities, responsibilities, and relationships that matter most. No matter your role or context, playing to win will give you an edge.
How to Turn Busywork into WorthyWork: Harnessing the Power of Purpose for Performance & Engagement
People are Creatures of Conviction– they run on a sense of purpose. That means they’re most productive, creative, and resilient when they’re serving worthy goals, but the typical processes and pressures of everyday work often drive purpose out of the conversation in everyday work. People find busy but purposeless. That’s the recipe for busywork, and Busywork makes even the best of us feel fragile, fatigued, and uninspired.
This inspiring session gets to the root of motivation, engagement, and performance and equips you to get the best out of yourself and others by pumping up purpose. It refines participants’ focus on the the strategies that will transform busywork into worthywork
The Doing Dilemma: Changing Your Perspective to Charge Up Your Team
Here's a news flash: many of the habits that distinguish you as a “Can-Do-Get-’er-Done-Best-of-the-Best” Doer can actually get in the way or derail you when you step up to lead other people! The very things that set you apart in one role can shut you down in the other and frustrate, disengage, and disempower the people you need most. Solving the Doing Dilemma is “Job 1” and your key to influence and advancement in whatever context you lead.
In this powerful and provocative talk, Dr. J reveals the shift in perspective that defines great leaders and prepares you to make the most of your staff, team, or volunteers. He demystifies the art of strengthening teams and building buy-in and shares surprising strategies that will take your leadership to the next level. Whether you're in a leadership role now, hope for one in the future, or simply want to elevate performance and commitment wherever you are, this session will give you the perspective and practical tools you need.
Fired Up! Kindling and Keeping the Fire in Your Team
Great teams don’t just happen; they’re built and led in particular ways that foster collaboration, unleash potential, and expand opportunity. So, leaders who don’t understand these tactics are ill-equipped to fire up their teams. Too often, they leave their people feeling burned, burnt up or burned out as they inadvertently limit the power, potential, and engagement they want most.
In this motivational talk, Dr. J unpacks the secret to firing up a great team and introduces three strategies that will enable you to kindle and keep the spark in yours. He uses humor, research, and engaging stories to describe the psychological principles that supercharge influence and strengthen teams, and he equips you to put them to work in your own experience right away. If you’re a leader or team member, this talk will fire you up personally and equip you to fan the flames of others.
Business as UNusual: Uncommon Leadership for Uncertain Times
Uncertain times and the ambiguity that accompanies them have an insidious way of draining people’s strength and diminishing their engagement just when you need them most. This can make rising to the challenges of change difficult, whether you’re initiating it yourself or coping with the impact of forces beyond your control. The big question is: How do you protect people from the negative impacts of ambiguity and change and prepare them to advance in the midst of it?
In this engaging and powerful development experience, Dr. J equips you to lead well in uncertain times, to strengthen others and get the most out of them in the midst of ambiguity and change. He introduces the Five Foundations that support maximum commitment and describes counterintuitive perspectives on Power, Purpose, and Personal Relationships that will transform your leadership and enable you to advance people and projects in uncertain times. Participants will leave with new insights into people and performance and new strategies to maximize them both.
Making the Most of the Best of You: Discovering, Developing, and Deploying Your Strengths
Conventional wisdom about engagement, performance, and satisfaction regularly misses the mark because it is preoccupied with weakness and leaves you working hard on the wrong things. It tells you that your greatest opportunity for success and fulfillment lies in figuring out everything that’s weak or wrong about you and fixing it. So, you spend your best time and energy trying to improve the worst of you instead of leveraging the best of you. That leads you to settle for second-best without realizing it. Why strive to be sufficient when you can be exceptional? Why struggle to be satisfied when you can be fulfilled?
In this informative and inspiring talk, Dr. J reveals the limitations of conventional wisdom and explains how rejecting a remediating mindset opens new doors and unleashes potential. He prepares you to make your biggest impact on the world and find your deepest satisfaction by discovering, developing, and deploying talent, You’ll leave this inspiring experience fired up and refocused, with a new enthusiasm for who you are and what you can accomplish and new strategies for bringing out the best in the people you love and lead.
"I want to connect with the audience where they are but then take them somewhere new...
I want them to leave with new vision for the future and new tools to take them there."
FOUR REASONS TO BOOK DR. J
Dr J is a favorite of audiences and program-planners alike. Here are the four distinctions enthusiastic clients mention most.
He's RELATABLE. Dr. J connects with people in ways other communicators don't. His talk feels personal and pertinent to their individual experience.
"Andrew makes an audience feel like he is in a one-on-one conversation with each of them. It feels personal. So, participants come to their own conclusions and gain new ways of looking at their experiences rather than simply hearing another speaker's predetermined conclusions." –David Plummer, Principal, Centric Architecture
His talks are PRACTICAL. Dr. J gives people actionable strategies that make a difference. They leave with practical tips and tactics they can put to work immediately.
"When considering speakers, Dr. J is an obvious choice. His teaching and storytelling draw his audiences in and lead them to insights that . transform them. Our team holds his knowledge, teaching talent, and practical approach in highest regard." –Chelsea Swindle, Executive Development Program Administrator
His contribution is CUSTOMIZED. Why settle for an off-the-rack or canned program when Dr. J will tailor his talk to fit your event or speak to your organization's needs.
"Dr. Johnston's keynote hit the perfect mark. I could not have been more pleased with how he integrated the themes of our program into his address. His remarks were tailored perfectly to fit our situation and the goals I described, and his talk was a huge success!" –Dr. Larry M. Hall, Vice President & Provost, Lenoir-Rhyne University
Working with him is EASY-PEASY. Dr. J is an event-planner's dream. He's a pro. Drama-free, service-minded, and focused on adding value to your entire program.
"We were thrilled with Dr. Johnston's address... It raised the caliber of the entire event. He spoke right to the heart of our leaders and incorporated our theme and values beautifully." –Deann Bradford, Exec. Dir. Leadership Donnelson/Hermitage
