Unleash Potential: Science of High Performance
Unleash Potential: Science of High Performance
USA
Unlock high-performance with Bill Benjamin's blend of math, science, and real-world leadership experience. Transform your team’s culture with proven techniques.
Request fees and availability5 out of 5 stars
You really kept everyone’s attention with your great stories and analogies. Your passion for what you do is refreshing. Thank you for making the conference a truly inspiring event.
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Bill has a rare perspective – he has advanced degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science and has 25 years of real-world business experience as a senior leader. Bill is very genuine about the fact that he struggled early in his career as a leader when he was under pressure. In his programs he shares how he has been able to apply the very same techniques he teaches to become a better leader and create a high-performing culture on the teams he leads–and how you can too.
Bill is a partner at the Institute for Health and Human Potential (IHHP), a successful international research and culture change company, named one of the “Fastest Growing Companies” in the “Fast 100” ranking in PROFIT Magazine. IHHP’s Last 8% Culture System helps organizations create high-performance cultures that are both high-care and high-accountability.
His insights into neuroscience and human behavior under pressure provide invaluable guidance on how to navigate such scenarios with confidence and resilience. Whether it’s leading a team through a crisis or fostering a culture of high performance within your organization, Bill Benjamin delivers actionable strategies that yield tangible results.
The combination of Bill’s practical nature and scientific approach to leadership make him a hit with analytical audiences. His high energy level and enthusiasm has resulted in a successful track record with discerning audiences that include surgeons, U.S Marines and NASA engineers.
By booking Bill Benjamin for your event, you’re not just securing a keynote speaker; you’re investing in the success and growth of your team. His dynamic presentations captivate audiences, leaving them inspired and equipped with the tools they need to excel in today’s fast-paced business landscape.
See keynotes with Bill BenjaminYou need to move fast, adapt to a changing environment, and deliver performance, yet your team is moving too slow when it comes to making tough decisions and are avoiding the more challenging conversations that drive results.
What is at the heart of high performance is culture. Unfortunately, most leaders misunderstand culture; they believe culture exists across the organization; it doesn’t. It exists primarily on teams. Second, they see culture as something that should be owned by the CEO and CHRO, believing it is their job to build the culture across the organization; it isn’t. Most CEO’s and CHRO’s get so overwhelmed when they think of tackling culture, that they avoid it and allow culture to be built haphazardly, which means that good people leave, and goals are not met.
In this powerful virtual or live keynote, your team will learn the results from our study of 7,500 leaders that puts your managers and people leaders at the center of building your culture. Your people will learn specific tools to own the culture on their team in the critical moments, the Last 8%, that creates culture. The Last 8% are those tougher conversations and decisions that many people struggle with and avoid. When leaders feel agency and have skills to lean into the difficult, they build a high-performance culture that becomes a powerful force in your organization.
In this powerful program, your team will learn:
Your people are facing the biggest challenge of their careers, yet most continue to rely on their IQ and technical skills to manage through it all. It’s not enough.
To survive, your organization needs to be agile in the midst of change and challenge, and see opportunities where others do not. Your team needs to learn how to work effectively with others who are, themselves, under pressure.
In this powerful program, your team members will learn:
This program is based on a 12,000-person study conducted for our New York Times best-selling book, Performing Under Pressure, which is available in 65 countries.
This session can be delivered for sales people and sales teams, focusing on helping them harness emotional intelligence to deal with pressure, build stronger relationships with their clients, collaborate internally and deal with the setbacks and uncertainty that sales people must overcome to be successful.
Our research has found that most people are relatively effective at getting to 92% of what they want to say in a feedback conversation. But when they get to the Last 8% of what they really want to say–the hardest part of the feedback they want to give–the part of the conversation that has consequences for the other person, they sense the potential emotional impact this feedback might have, and they back off, avoiding giving the feedback that’s needed.
This creates significant challenges for the other person: not only do they not know how or where they stand, which increases their anxiety, but they are also not given a chance to improve. Worse, they feel less psychologically safe and emotionally connected, which diminishes their performance.
The goal of this program is to give your people the insight and tools to manage their emotions to get to the Last 8% of what they want to say in any feedback conversation. The good news is that there is a burgeoning science of how to give and receive feedback that anyone can learn. It starts by becoming a ‘student of human behavior’, understanding the brain under pressure, and learning the concrete skills needed to give feedback in a way where the other person can hear it.
In this powerful program, your people will learn:
The cost of replacing an individual employee ranges from one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary. That means, a 100-person organization that provides an average salary of $50,000 will have turnover and replacement costs of approximately $800,000 to $2.6 million per year.
The worst part? 52% of people who leave say their manager or organization could have done something to prevent them from leaving their job. In fact, they said that in the three months before leaving, nobody asked them how they felt about their job, or about their future. What is evident is a lack of empathy in their leaders. It doesn’t have to be this way.
In this powerful virtual or live program, your managers and leaders will learn:
Bill is outstanding. He knows his stuff and is super engaging online. Bill also really knows virtual delivery and adult learning principles. This was a well-designed, well-executed virtual program that allowed for maximal interactivity. It could have gone longer, and I wanted more!
You really kept everyone’s attention with your great stories and analogies. Your passion for what you do is refreshing. Thank you for making the conference a truly inspiring event.
Excellent training! You did a terrific job of applying your topic contextually to mission safety at NASA. I wanted to hear more. Great program!
This was an insightful and practical session. I liked the way you had us practice the strategies rather than just telling us about them. That way, I’ll actually remember it!
I just attended an absolutely phenomenal online keynote by Bill Benjamin on Emotional Intelligence – with a focus on how it can diminish during times of crisis, and what we can do about that. It got me so fired up! The neuroscience element was the cherry on top.
As part of getting to know me, the folks at A-Speakers asked me some truly awesome questions. One question that really got me thinking is “What are three habits for success?”.
While I was prepared to argue there a lot of habits for success, having to narrow it down to three got me really focused on what’s most important.
What are my 3 habits for success?
1. Always be an aggressive learner. I got to present with Ronnie Lott of the San Francisco 49ers who shared with me that Joe Montana told him to “always act like a rookie” when it comes to learning. I love that advice
I’ve had the honor of working with some truly accomplished people in addition to Ronnie – CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies, senior officers in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marines, Surgeons, athletes and many more. What is so humbling about these people is that even though one might think they have reached the top of their game, most of them are open to learning more.
And it makes sense, because being an aggressive learner is how they got to the pinnacle of their fields in the first place, so why would they stop now?
And here is what Ronnie said after our Emotional Intelligence session:
“Talking to Bill about Emotional intelligence got me jacked up – now I want to hit someone! EQ is what great athletes and coaches like Jerry Rice, Joe Montana and Bill Walsh tap into.”
Ok, so normally after speaking I don’t leave people wanting to hit someone! For Ronnie though, that was the highest form of compliment. And he is a lifelong learner.
2. Balance Heart and Edge. Often when people hear the term “Emotional Intelligence”, they think it’s something soft. While there is hard brain-science to learning to manage emotions, it is true that being emotionally intelligent does include being able to learn the skills of compassion, empathy and servant leadership – what we’d call “Heart”.
But there is something else to leadership that is just as important, and that’s to combine heart with “Edge”. When we say edge, we mean the ability to step into high pressure situations – having difficult conversations, taking meaningful risks, standing up for an idea and doing the tough things you know you need to do. A quote I like is “nobody is admired for doing the easy things”.
One of the greatest things I admire in the best leaders I’ve met is to how they find the right balance of Heart and Edge – to listen, to be caring and empathetic, while at the same time expecting greatness from people, giving feedback when it’s needed and standing up for what they believe in. Finding this balance is also the key to being a great spouse/partner, friend and parents.
3. Take care of yourself – physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Too many people I work with are struggling with work/life balance. And it’s not just the number of hours one is at the office vs. home (lots of us have their offices in their home!), it’s the 24/7 nature of e-mail and technology.
People often feel their work invade their personal life outside of work hours. If this is happening to you over an extended period, it can lead to burnout, anxiety and negative health outcomes. Ultimately this impacts your performance (which can lead to a vicious cycle) and personal relationships.
Having been in that place personally early in my career (before e-mail!), I can tell you it’s no fun. We all know it’s important to take care of ourselves, but sometimes it’s hard to do by ourselves. If that’s the case, find a coach, mentor, pastor, friend, etc. who can help guide you to focus on all the important aspects of your life – physical health, family, emotional health, and let’s not forget we can all use guidance for our work and career too!
Huge thanks to our friends at A-Speakers for asking such thoughtful questions. Asking great questions is actually one of the strategies we teach in our leadership development programs!
How did you begin your speaking career?
I started out as a client of IHHP. I was working in the computer software industry (I have degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science) and quite frankly, I was struggling as a leader. I had the good fortune to attend one of IHHP’s Science of Emotional Intelligence training programs and I loved the brain-science aspects and the practical strategies.
I spent the next 6 years applying the learning and it helped me immensely – both professionally and personally. I knew the founder of IHHP – Dr. J.P. Pawliw-Fry – and told him I wanted to do this work for a living. I joined (and invested in) IHHP as a partner in 2002. I’d had some experience presenting, and I got a lot of great mentoring from JP, who is a phenomenal speaker. I also got a speaker coach who helped me learn how to leverage my strengths on stage.
What is the most unique experience you have had as a result of your job?
I’ve had the honor to deliver our Science of Emotional Intelligence and Performing Under Pressure training to some really amazing groups: the U.S. Marines, Surgeons, Intel engineers in Russia, rockets scientists at NASA, student athletes, U.S. Army commanders, a charitable foundation that works with oppressed and trafficked people, nurses, teachers – and many more amazing people across all industries and all walks of life.
Why do clients typically hire you to speak?
With my degrees in Math and Computer Science, I am often asked to speak to highly analytical audiences – engineers, auditors, physicians, lawyers, plant managers, etc. – who struggle with leadership and how they impact people. Taking a scientific approach to topics like Emotional Intelligence and being honest about my struggles with leadership, opens the analytical groups up to recognizing some of their own less than skillful behaviors and inspires them to want to improve. Clients also like the fact that the programs I deliver are highly interactive and people leave with strategies they can apply to be better leaders – at work and at home!
What are 3 habits for success?
What do you gain personally from being a public speaker?
The first thing is that I can’t stand up in front of a group of people and talk about how to be a great leader without evaluating myself and wanting to hold myself accountable to the same standard. I can’t be perfect, but I always want to try to get better and speaking helps me do that. Second, I love making a difference for people who struggle with the things I used to (and still do!). Life is hard, Leadership is hard and I know that the insights and strategies that I share can help people have a greater impact and live with more ease.
Who or what inspires you most?
My girls. They are 14 and 11 and test my Emotional Intelligence every day! I know that if I can be model for them, they will grow up with the skills to lead a life of passion, kindness and strength. They let me know when I am not behaving skillfully and hold me accountable to being my best. There is no greater motivation than that of being a great Dad.
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