Al Comeaux Authority on Change and Master Storyteller; Former Executive at Travelocity, GE, American Airlines, Sabre

Turns out, the skills that make us great as leaders every day—habits and thinking ingrained in us, traits that make us leaders from the start—these very same capabilities and conventions can make us terrible at leading change. It’s a mind-boggling paradox I’ve discovered that holds us back as change-leaders, and we need to understand and embrace it to drive lasting changes. Because change efforts, unlike everyday initiatives, depend so much on our people—the very folks who will carry the change on their backs, but only if they decide to—we need to challenge our habits and depart from familiar leadership approaches—sometimes leading in counterintuitive ways—lest we cripple our change efforts. In this lively, groundbreaking keynote I share powerful stories and lessons to ignite the imagination and bring this paradox to life, so we all recognize the changes needed in ourselves, and we grasp the habit-breaking mindset necessary if we intend to win at change.

You’re about to launch a market-moving innovation, something that’s bound to give you an advantage. The catch: It requires change at your customers, distributors, franchisees, partners—the third parties in your value chain in between you and success. Their people—their workers—will carry this change on their backs, but only if they choose to. Are their leaders up to the task? This keynote is for the leaders at your partner organizations…the ones whose leadership approach can make or break your innovation’s success. Bring them in, help them understand the mindset that leads to innovation-ready change. In this keynote, I ignite your partners’ imagination, so they think the right way about leading change. It makes their businesses stronger, and this gives your innovation the runway needed for take-off.

Global forces and technology like artificial intelligence are driving the need for change in our organizations…and the need for change only becomes greater, faster with each development. So, how do we take advantage of these technologies? How do we change our organizations to keep up with the demands they drive? Well, it turns out, technologies don’t drive change; people do. If we lose our people—the ones who must decide to adopt the change and carry it on their backs—we lose the change. In this keynote, I bring to life what’s needed to ready our people for lasting change: It’s about focusing on inputs instead of outcomes, walking-the-change-talk, listening and aligning before acting. It’s common sense, just not common practice…and I explain why, using science, great stories and examples from my three decades in corporate life, plus my 25-year journey studying change. After all, AI and other capabilities are incredibly important, but to seize their possibilities, we must first focus on things at home.

Given the trillions wasted on failed change efforts each year, how must we as leaders go about change differently? What do leaders at companies that win at change do vs the unsuccessful among us? In this signature keynote, I offer an insider’s view—having led changes of all sorts at the C-level for two decades, in addition to a quarter century studying change at scores of companies—to share a brutal truth: Organizations don’t change. People do. It turns out, change is a decision made by every single person. As leaders we lose when trying to get our people to change; we win by getting our people to want to change. How? By getting our own hands dirty as leaders. Pulling our people through the change. Understanding the invaluable role that listening and modeling play. This keynote uses stories, science and humor to lay out how we as leaders can win our change efforts, and this sets us up for success as leaders overall.