Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal

Speaker Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal is a leading global authority on resilience and mental well-being. Previously the head of executive leadership development and talent strategy at Nike and the head of global leadership development at Cigna, she is now the founder and chief resilience officer of the Resilience Leadership Institute, where she is a trusted advisor for executives, athletes, and leaders across industries. Stejskal believes resiliency is key to individual and organizational growth and shows audiences how to harness it to fuel performance.

Leveraging more than two decades of original research on resilience, Stejskal developed the empirically based framework “The Five Practices of Particularly Resilient People” to make resilience accessible to all. LA Progressive magazine called her “the go-to person” and “a secret weapon” for organizations and teams who want to find their edge and rise above the competition. Stejskal’s ground-breaking work has been featured by NBC News, Fox, Bloomberg Business, Thrive Global, and Forbes, and her TEDx talk “How Resilience Breaks Us Out of Our Vulnerability Cage” has been viewed over 1 million times. +

Stejskal is a Marshall Goldsmith Top 100 Executive Coach. She has also been recognized by Global Gurus as a “Top 30 Thinker in Leadership” and was a finalist for the Tony Hsieh Award, which is award to those leading human capital innovation. Stejskal is also the #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People: Why Some Flourish When Others Fold and the host of the top 1% acclaimed podcast, Flourish or Fold: Stories of Resilience.

In addition, Stejskal is an ambassador for The African Community and Conservation Foundation and serves as a sought-after trusted advisor and board member to amplify resilience, engagement, and talent strategy. She is also the chief product officer and chief happiness officer for Wicked Happy, a global aspirational apparel brand that promotes positivity and possibility through inspirational messages.

Stejskal earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Maryland. She completed pre- and postdoctoral fellowships in neuropsychology at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. --

Harnessing Resilience in the Age of A.I. +

In this keynote talk, we delve into the transformative landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) and its evolving role in leadership. Gone are the days when AI was merely considered a supplementary skill; today, it's a cornerstone of effective leadership. We explore how resilience and The 5 Practices of Highly Resilient People is the key ingredient for leaders navigating this rapidly changing terrain.

From adapting to technological disruptions to fostering innovation in AI-driven environments, resilience is no longer an “soft skill” as it empowers leaders to thrive amidst uncertainty. Join us as we uncover strategies to embrace resilience as a core competency while cultivating the AI acumen needed to lead confidently in the digital age. --

The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People: Why Some Flourish When Others Fold +

What are the attributes that determine whether a leader, team, or organization will flourish or fold? After conducting two decades of research to understand how people effectively face challenge in leadership and life, resilience has emerged as the key differentiator that sustains people in moments of difficulty, ambiguity, and adversity.

At a time when we’re all facing extensive and unprecedented challenge, change, and complexity (the 3 Cs), harnessing and enhancing resilience has never been more important. World renowned resilience expert and Nike’s former head of executive development and talent strategy, Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal shares the five practices of highly resilient people — the critical behaviours and practices available to all of us that have been shown to dramatically increase our resilience and create a profoundly more positive and productive outcome, especially when challenge is part of the fabric of our lives.

Resilience is the essence of being human, a skillset we all possess. Yet what it means to be truly resilient has been largely misunderstood. Stejskal inspires and engages audiences with a practical, tangible, sometimes hilarious, and relevant approach to understanding and amplifying resilience, the difference between flourishing and folding.

As a result of this program, attendees will:

• Learn the five practices of highly resilient people, the habits empirically shown to determine why some flourish after facing challenge and others fold.
• Understand the three myths that block out our ability to identify and access resilience.
• Increase resilience and reduce stress, exhaustion, and burnout.
• Build their own resilience toolkit focused on a series of practical skills and habits that that increase well-being during times of anxiety and burnout.
• Recognize the power of vulnerability in cultivating resilience as well as authentic and empathetic leadership. --

Women, Wellness, and Worthiness: How to Achieve the Seemingly Impossible + 

As a former executive at Cigna and Nike, Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal has a unique ability to support women with their ambition and desire to accomplish big goals without sacrificing personal life, well-being, or sanity. Her message of radical possibility, combined with “The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People” framework, leaves audiences inspired and equipped with practical tools.

Stejskal gives audiences a candid look at ways well meaning women sacrifice wellness, sabotage themselves and others, and feel unworthy. She provides insight to uplift not only themselves, but those around them, with the ability to find a flow in both work and family life, while believing more deeply in their inherent enough-ness!

Attendees will:

• Learn how the five practices framework allows them to accomplish big goals.
• Identify the #1 thing that holds them back from accomplishing their goals.
• Uncover how to live a life with less stress and more meaning.
• Appreciate proven methods to amplify confidence and banish feelings of unworthiness for good. --

Resilience is a Team Sport: Resilience is the New Model for Personal Transformation, Team Engagement, and Retention +

Resilience is not an individual pursuit, but instead a team sport as today’s workplace requires new strategies for connecting and getting results. While engagement and retention are top of mind for many organizations, previous leadership models are outdated and offer little value. The commonality amongst the most effective leaders and teams is a commitment to resilience, along with empathy and vulnerability, if they are to reach their true potential. By fostering resilience and developing the whole person, team members move from trying to cross the finish line first to focusing on how the team can cross the finish line together.

One of the best ways to help your team enhance resilience while boosting productivity, engagement, and retention is through the five practices of highly resilient people. As a result of this program, attendees will:

• Learn the five practices of highly resilient people for enhancing team connection, cohesion, and communication framework.
• Build a culture of team resilience where team members have a renewed sense of trust, purpose, and potential.
• Create enhanced engagement and productivity, leading to greater retention by focusing first on amplifying positive team dynamics.
• Experience a reignited passion for their team’s focus and goals.
• Foster greater commitment to the team and organization as people feel their development is a priority. --

From Burnout to Balance: Practices to Restore and Optimize Engagement +

The volume of challenge, change, and complexity has left so many people feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and navigating high levels of stress and uncertainty. Fortunately, to beat back burnout and find more balance, there is hope. As the #1 international expert on resilience, Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal provides practical, actionable, and research-based solutions for individuals, teams, and organizations to find greater balance, peace, and well-being, and, as a result, enhance their resilience.

This keynote provides a roadmap for how we can all flourish in our places of work and promote greater well-being for all.

As a result of this program, attendees will:

• Increase resilience, lower stress, and feel equipped to manage the ups and downs of life.
• Build their own resilience toolkit of easy to implement practices that increase well-being, mental health, and resilience during times of anxiety and burnout.
• Recognize that it’s okay to not be okay.
• Understand how to enhance their own wellness and how to build up their team’s and organization’s practices that foster and enhance greater well-being. --

How You Harness Resilience to Advance the Future of Work: Navigating Uncertainty and Ambiguity +

The world is changing faster than we ever imagined, leaders and teams get to dig deep within themselves to break through and find opportunity in uncertain times. Instead of bouncing back, we’re bouncing forward, drawing on the wisdom and growth of our recent experiences to go forward in our careers, lives, and the pursuit of our dreams and goals.

While we don’t get to choose our experiences, we can choose the meaning we make of our circumstances as well as how we respond, rather than simply reacting. To continue developing resilience, we must focus on cultivating courage, curiosity, and creativity — the antidote to immense challenge, change, and complexity. Rather than bouncing back, we get to enhance our resilience to bounce forward.

Before becoming the #1 expert on resilience, mental health, and well-being, Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal suffered from crippling PTSD. After committing to a series of positive life changes, she had a shift in perspective that changed her outlook on life and opened herself up to endless possibility. She is now committed to helping others unlock the power of their inherent resilience. Stejskal’s life-changing message has opened up audiences around the world to cultures of greater authenticity, gratitude, and endless potential.

As a result of this program, attendees will:

• Recognize that all aspects of their life impact their work, life, and performance.
• Harness the five practices that increase well-being and mental health during times of stress and uncertainty.
• Learn how small acts can create a large-scale impact in their team, organization, and community.
• Understand how to transform their perspective to optimize performance. --

The Not-So-Surprising Link Between Resilience, Innovation, and Creativity: Making the Impossible, Possible +

How do we foster cultures that support innovation and creativity? While organizations have sought to understand the secret sauce that allows their people to effectively address challenge and pursue innovation, they have often overlooked a key ingredient that fosters innovation — resilience.

Transformational and resilient leaders are critical for every organization, now more than ever. Yet, what does it mean to be a truly innovative, creative, and resilient leader? Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal shows leaders how to harness and enhance resilience through sharing the five practices of highly resilient people — a guide to make the seemingly impossible possible by enhancing resilience for individuals, teams, and organizations when facing challenge, change, and complexity.

As a result of this program, attendees will:

• Understand how psychological safety is a key foundation for creativity and innovation.
• Appreciate how resilience, creativity, and innovation have a reciprocal relationship.
• Learn how to enhance their own and their team’s innovation, creativity, and resilience.
• Appreciate how the five practices can support them in making the seemingly impossible become possible. --

How to Close the Confidence Gap: Three Proven Secrets to Boost Your Confidence and Eliminate Procrastination +

Did you always believe that being confident, let alone mastering confidence was something for other people, but not you? This inspirational and interactive talk will allow each person to understand how to harness their confidence, once and for all!

Drawing from her new book, The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People, Nike’s former head of executive development and talent strategy Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal shows audiences how to apply the practical skills and key strategies, used by high-level leaders and athletes to amplify their confidence through dedication and intentional practice!

As a result of this program, attendees will:

• Understand the power for regret and how developing confidence prevents regret in later life.
• Uncover how to boost your confidence both personally and professionally by unmasking three commonly held beliefs that diminish your power.
• Learn the secret to beating procrastination, overcoming perfectionism, and stepping into a new level of productivity.
• Appreciate the most important decision you need to make to stop self-limiting your success and start living your best life now! --

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