Caroline Adams Miller, MAPP Goals & Grit ™ Expert

Goal setting is a basic business fundamental. Everyone knows how. Or do they? What could your organization achieve by using a proven, research-based approach to setting and achieving goals?

Effectively setting goals can leapfrog you ahead of your competitors and arm you with a critical superpower that will spell the difference between success and failure. In fact, one recent survey found that the most resilient organizations during crises are those that have clear expectations, ways to measure progress, and the resources to accomplish them.

The pandemic created upheavals in our businesses. Old ways of measurement and motivation, like SMART goals and OKRs, need to be replaced by cutting-edge and scientific approaches.

Caroline Miller’s revolutionary BRIDGE method does that by including research on gender differences, resilience and grit, the impact of character strengths, goal setting theory, happiness, psychological safety, cultural and language differences, and much more.

In this fast-paced and thought-provoking program, you’ll learn to:

• Use the new BRIDGE methodology – brainstorming, relationships, investments, decisions, grit and excellence – to improve your pursuit of goal accomplishment and establish more effective pathways to success
• Understand the difference between learning goals and performance goals from Locke & Latham’s goal setting theory – when to use each to achieve goals and avoid business catastrophes
• Identify each individual’s top character strengths so that they know when they are at their best and most likely to succeed
• Understand the components of “good grit,” including how to cultivate it, hire for it, and create a contagious environment
• Establish accountability and build a culture of positive energizers 
• Apply the research on prompts and primes to instill habits that save time, money and energy

FORMAT: 45-90 minutes keynote. Half and full day workshops are available, as well.

IDEAL AUDIENCE: Business leaders, sales managers, anyone who is required to create and accomplish goals in their job. Specific audiences have included: sales teams; multi-level marketing distributors; professionals such as lawyers, financial advisors, and accountants; athletic groups; and entrepreneurs.

In these times of greater complexity, ever-increasing regulation and stiff global competition, organizations need leaders who can weather change and be resilient. Resilient leaders know how to combine passion, persistence and purpose to embody authentic grit. Authentic grit awes and inspires others to become better people and imagine greater possibilities for themselves. Authentic grit is “the secret to success” because it is a necessary ingredient to accomplish long-term goals. If you want to learn how to cultivate authentic grit within yourself and your teams or need to motivate your team to accomplish long-term goals, this session is for your organization. 

Caroline has focused on how to apply Dr. Angela Duckworth’s grit research in pioneering ways to help individuals, teams and organizations hire for passion, perseverance, purpose, resiliency, and authentic grit. In this presentation, Caroline shares timely examples, stories and research-based insights that your audience can use immediately to:

• Cultivate authentic grit to stay resilient in the face of change and challenges
• Recognize the difference between good and bad grit and how good grit evokes “the awethentic effect” in others
• Develop practical strategies that support grit, such as defining purpose, developing “harmonious” passion, creating intrinsic motivation, and fostering a “growth” mindset
• Create a culture of grit that encourages people to put forth their best efforts in a way that inspires others to do the same

Can you relate to the “shecession” we hear so much about in the news lately? Women leaders are busier than ever meeting everyone else’s expectations and juggling multiple roles in their lives. And, disappointedly, their professional and personal goals have gotten left behind according to global experts on gender equality. Also, new research finds many of the leadership strategies that have been practiced for decades don’t actually work as well for women as they do for most men. Women must learn the right tools and knowledge so they can be effective and inspirational, and maximize the chances that they will be rewarded for their success. 

In one of her most popular presentations, Caroline Adams Miller, MAPP inspires women leaders to become their most authentic, ideal selves - not just who they feel they “ought” to be - and provides proven techniques to help them flourish and cultivate the passion, persistence, humility, and courage to achieve their toughest goals at home and work as the leaders they are meant to be.

In this session, female leaders learn to flourish in and out of the office, including how to:

• Identify and use their character strengths in positive ways to accomplish goals, thrive, and support others in doing the same
• Create resilience and authentic grit - or “good grit” - while avoiding the three types of “bad grit” that can destroy the office culture
• Add a “believe and achieve” mindset to women’s “tend and befriend” behavior so that women can learn to exult in each other’s successes and amplify each other’s ideas and efforts
• Use the new science-based approach and BRIDGE methodology to set the right goals for themselves, their organizations and their teams for optimal outcomes
• Cultivate a team of positive energizers, including men, who support women’s leadership and unique contributions to the workplace
• Understand why “ampliship” is the most important addition to common practices of mentorship and sponsorship because of its ability to reduce stereotype threat and add positive behavioral accountability 
• Form a mastermind group of givers who foster conditions of psychological safety, exploratory risk-taking and positive social identity

Although the word "awesome" is thrown around a lot in today's society, experts say that we have become "awe-deprived" in recent years due to cheating scandals in sports and business, and overall lowered standards for excellence. The millennial generation, however, was raised with abundant praise, leading to concerns that when their performance reviews aren’t "awesome" they feel discouragement and demotivation. Easy goals and low standards for excellence can actually prevent people from becoming awesome. According to the most current research, when people are truly awe-inspired by extraordinary behavior and events, they are profoundly impacted, and are more likely to work hard, be hopeful, and be kind to others. Grit is also an essential element in being awesome, and specific character strengths that undergird gritty behavior can be cultivated to support becoming one’s best self. Using research and stories of gritty people, Caroline weaves together a variety of information that leaves “Gen Z” students, parents, and teachers understanding the importance of hard goals, gritty behavior, and why inspiration is a necessary ingredient in a flourishing life.