I am available for speaking engagements.  If you’re interested, please book through the Harry Walker Agency.

In my speeches I explore three main aspects of choice, combining them based on the interests and needs of the audience.  In particular, I can help you Lead by Choice by revealing what effective leaders need to know about choice and showing you how to choose your way to success. I believe that all of us can develop and benefit from leadership skills, no matter what title or position we hold, but in order to do that, we have to learn to choose with wisdom, compassion and humility.

THE THREE C’s OF CHOICE:

Choice Overload
We have more choices than ever before. So many, in fact, that in some areas of our lives we suffer from too much choice rather than from lack of it. How much choice do we need to satisfy our individual preferences and desire for variety, and at what point does our judgment begin to cloud over, leading to choices that hurt our finances, our relationships, our health and our spirit? Building on my research, I show individuals and businesses how to recognize the symptoms of choice overload and offer innovative solutions for treating the malady. My ultimate goal is to help everyone separate the important choices from the trivial ones and to teach people how to create a better choosing experience.

For a brief preview of the topics covered by this aspect, you can read my strategy+business article here, or watch my TED@Allianz talk below.

Culture
In America, choice is sacred. We believe in its limitless power and we worship it for the possibilities it offers. For Americans, choice is liberty, which is subordinate only to life itself in the Declaration of Independence. So it can be almost impossible to accept that not only are there countries and cultures that do not subscribe to the American ideal of choice, but that they wouldn’t necessarily be better off if more choice suddenly became available to them. I explore the great variation across the globe in beliefs about who should choose and when, how much choice should be available, and when choice is a burden rather than a pleasure. Drawing on research, with some funny anecdotes thrown in for good measure, I demonstrate how ignorance about cultural differences in choice leads to poor relationships and performance at best and major conflict at worst. I go on to explain how we can learn to understand other “languages” of choice in order to communicate better in an increasingly interconnected world.

For a brief preview of the topics covered by this aspect, you can check out my TEDGlobal talk below.

Creativity
Who doesn’t want to be more creative? People want to create art, music, and perhaps most of all, themselves. To some extent, we are creators already, constructing our lives with blocks of choice. We choose our careers and our spouses. We choose where we live, how we travel and when we schedule our entertainment. And, of course, we choose from hundreds of thousands of products in the marketplace. Creating the ideal life may seem as simple as determining our preferences and matching them to the right choices. However, we don’t always understand ourselves or our options well enough to do this. Instead of taking the time to reflect on our hopes, desires and abilities, we end up grasping for ever more choice, hoping to satisfy ourselves with excess. I explain why, contrary to expectations, unlimited choice can be constraining, while voluntarily limiting our choices can be liberating. Just as artists impose constraints on form and material to boost creativity, so limiting our choices or choosing not to choose can help us better envision and create our most beautiful selves.

For a brief preview of the topics covered by this aspect, you can check out my TEDxEast presentation below.