Commander Mary Kelly Featured Renowned Economist and Leadership Expert

Based on new my 2026 book, Leadership is Tough: Skills. Decisions. Disciplines. What Great Leaders Do Differently, this program focuses on the real skills, decisions, and disciplines strong leaders must make, especially when the stakes are high. It resonates strongly with executives, board members, emerging leaders, and leadership teams who want to elevate performance and accountability.

Leaders develop stronger strategies, better decisions, and achieve faster results when they understand economic forces. Changes in interest rates, imports, investments, housing trends, trade, and tariffs…do today’s news headlines have your stomach in knots?

What do the changes in the current economy mean for your business?

What do they mean for your own career?

What do they mean for your family?

Join Dr. Mary Kelly, one of the world’s most influential economists, as she exposes the true meaning of the current economic situation and what this means for your organization’s future.

• Learn to operate and make decisions from facts and data, not emotions
• Understand what the changes in international trade mean for your industry
• Gain a valuable understanding of today’s economy to improve profits and safeguard your businesses’ bottom line
• Prepare your team for what is to come in 2025 and beyond

For meeting planners:

• No economic overwhelm here – this session is funny and informative – and is very different from any your members have seen before!
• Popular with organizations that highly value economic information, such as manufacturing, medical, and financial associations
• Economic information plus bonus productivity and profitability tips
• Perfect for an opening or closing keynote, providing profitable information your attendees need to take back to the office.

This program equips leaders with the skills, strategies, and resilience needed to steer their teams through times of crisis, overcome challenges, and embrace change.

1. Strategic Leadership During Crisis
   • Refine the art of strategic decision-making under pressure.
   • Develop crisis communication skills that inspire confidence and maintain team morale.
   • Understand successful crisis management across various industries.
2. Build Resilient and Happy Teams During Challenges
   • Recognize the psychological dynamics of resilience and its impact on team performance.
   • Foster a culture of adaptability and innovation within your team.
   • Implement strategies to bolster individual and collective resilience.
   • See what happy workplaces are doing right and adapt those techniques.
3. Embrace Change Management
   • Master the principles of effective change leadership.
   • Use Mary’s toolkit for leading teams through organizational transitions.
   • Gain insights into how to manage resistance.

Using the acronym, P.I.V.O.T. leaders reinvigorate their teams with a sense of purpose; they are prepared to inspire and influence others every day, they assess volatile situations in the right way, they see opportunities when others see only problems, and make sure their teams have the tools, techniques, training, and tactics they need to succeed.

This program is for executives, managers, and leaders across industries committed to enhancing their leadership skills and guiding their teams through the complexities of crisis, challenge, and change.

In the dynamic landscape of leadership, mastering time, resources, and energy is the key to success
How can leaders enhance their productivity and efficiency in today’s fast-paced environment?
How do we cultivate management and leadership skills across all organizational levels?
How can leaders address the challenges of diminishing productivity and waning employee engagement?

The Master Your World program offers practical strategies, effective tactics, and innovative solutions tailored to dilemmas faced by leaders today.

Based on Commander Mary Kelly’s best-selling book, Master Your World, this program provides insights and techniques that work in today’s evolving workplace.

Recognizing that leadership is the linchpin of success, this program emphasizes the pivotal role leaders play in influencing every employee, team member, and stakeholder.

Key Takeaways:

• Realize how your leadership style is perceived by those around you by using the Leader’s Blind Spot Assessment
• Gain insights into how leadership vision shapes a productive and constructive team
• Increase the positive impact loyalty and relationships make on your bottom line
• Identify the crucial elements employees say they are not getting from their supervisors and leaders to prevent attrition
• Foster a culture of dynamic communication that saves time and yields results by using Mary’s D.I.C.E. email system
• Implement the 12 Months of Business Success and Accountability to form stronger strategies for better decisions and faster results
• Access Mary’s 5-minute Leadership Success Series, which provides practical plans for effective feedback, enhanced employee engagement, and streamlined communication to optimize time and produce impactful results.

We have all seen the news where the head of a very visible corporation suddenly becomes sick, or worse, dies, throwing the organization into chaos. We need to have contingency plans in place for a sudden senior-level departure, but we also need a long-term, strategic plan that includes the routine and scheduled departure of team members. Whether due to promotion, retirement, or other factors, the reality is, people leave organizations. One day you will, too.

Every organization needs to plan for leadership succession, but few leaders know how to start the process. This program, based on the award-winning book, Who Comes Next? Leadership Succession Planning Made Easy simplifies the succession planning process and gives you the framework and the tools you need to build and implement your leadership succession planning.

Whether you are part of a small family business or a Fortune 500 company, you need to start planning out for who comes next.

Specifically, this program identifies:

• How to start a customized succession plan ready for immediate incorporation and implementation
• Proven methodologies for building your leadership bench so top talent can step into increased roles and responsibilities
• Powerful techniques to build long, loyal, and highly-engaged leaders
• Secrets to aligning your succession plan to your strategic objectives
• Innovative strategies to get you out of the “urgent” phase, and into a culture of continuous leadership development

Do your people understand the six stages of a crisis?

Do your leaders recognize the stage their people are in and do they react appropriately?

Are your leaders leading, or just hoping for the right outcomes?

• Understand the six stages of any change, challenge, or crisis.
• Implement the five ways to P.I.V.O.T. through the crisis.
• Use the seven leadership reminders to lead out of a crisis.

In order to successfully lead people through and out of a crisis, first, we have to understand the 6 stages of the crisis. Based on her Navy experiences during the first and second Gulf Wars and 9-11, Commander Mary Kelly articulates the reactions of people in various stages of change, challenge, or crisis.

As effective leaders, we have to be able to help our people P.I.V.O.T. through the crisis, by renewing their sense of purpose, influencing and inspiring others to take the right action, assessing the volatility levels, seeing the opportunities, providing the right tools, techniques, and technology that allow people to succeed. Then we can apply Mary’s seven leadership reminders, using the acronym C.L.A.M.P.E.R. so that we are providing the right response to the right people at the right time to achieve the right outcomes.

In this compelling keynote program, Mary dives into the essential principles of leadership that are often misunderstood, revealing why even the most talented leaders sometimes falter. Drawing from her highly acclaimed book, “Why Leaders Fail and the 7 Prescriptions for Success,” Mary shares her unique, research-driven approach to leadership that combines her vast experience in economics, military service, and corporate leadership development.

Mary takes participants on a journey through the common pitfalls that can undermine even the most well-intentioned leaders. Mary explores the real reasons why leaders fail—not due to a lack of skills or knowledge, but because of subtle, often-overlooked behaviors and habits that can derail success. From poor communication to failure to inspire, these insights are actionable, eye-opening, and immediately applicable to any leadership role.

Key Takeaways:

Mary outlines seven practical, proven strategies that every leader can implement to elevate their effectiveness, foster a positive workplace culture, and drive organizational success.
These include:

Vision: Leaders need to provide a clear and compelling vision that aligns the team and drives collective effort.

Trust: Building trust is essential for fostering a collaborative environment and creating a foundation for success.

Teamwork: Effective leaders cultivate teamwork by encouraging open communication and leveraging diverse strengths within the group.

Empathy: Understanding and connecting with team members on a personal level enhances morale and strengthens relationships.

Fairness: Consistently fair treatment instills respect and accountability, which are crucial for long-term team stability.

Humility: Humble leaders are open to feedback and admit their mistakes, which fosters a culture of continuous improvement.

Decision-Making: Leaders must be decisive and consider both short-term and long-term impacts, ensuring their choices benefit the entire organization.

Identifying and Avoiding Leadership Pitfalls: Mary delves into the top reasons why leaders fail and how to proactively recognize and mitigate these issues before they escalate.

Actionable Strategies for Immediate Improvement: Participants will leave with specific, actionable strategies they can implement right away to improve their leadership impact and inspire their teams.

This keynote is ideal for leaders at all levels—from emerging leaders to seasoned executives—who want to refine their skills, avoid common mistakes, and achieve lasting success. Mary Kelly’s practical insights will leave audiences with a new perspective on leadership, providing them with the tools and confidence to lead with purpose, resilience, and integrity.

Engaging, insightful, and packed with real-world examples, “Why Leaders Fail and the 7 Prescriptions for Success” offers a transformative experience that empowers leaders to rise above challenges and drive meaningful change in their organizations.

More than 45% of today’s workforce are millennials. Ten thousand boomers are retiring each day. There are three million vacant job opportunities in the US.

Companies are in a race to secure the right talent that will ensure their business survives the shifting workforce. Team leaders are navigating the new ways of the workplace…. remote work, less direct communication, employee loneliness, and dissatisfaction. It’s a brave new world and you’ve got to be A.R.M.E.D.

• In one of Mary’s most popular keynotes, you’ll learn to:

• Attract the right customers and people to your organization
• Recruit/Retain the right talent to serve customers and create experiences
• Mentor/Manage current and emerging leaders to full potential
• Evolve forward-thinking leadership as the corporate culture
• Develop teams and talent for future success

For meeting planners:

• The session for human resource professionals and leadership audiences
• A challenging and enlightening opening or closing keynote option
• Highly interactive, this program addresses generational, gender, and geographical differences and similarities as well as tactics to win the war for talent

The economy is constantly changing, and external shocks affect our business. Tax increases, inflation, regulatory changes, supply chain disruptions, cyber hacking and increased competition, changes how we run our businesses. Great leaders need to respond to the current economic environment, market shifts, and customers’ needs.

Audiences use the 12 Months of Business Growth Resource Manual (included) to build and grow different aspects of business in every economy.

In this fast-paced, executive level session, audiences will:

• Formulate a concise and effective business plan
• Manage and optimize the strengths and weaknesses of your team
• Embrace people’s differences, perspectives, and diversity of thought
• Take action to better engage and motivate others
• Optimize your business relationships to ensure your career is viable and thriving

Audience members get access to some of Mary’s most popular 5-Minute Business and Leadership Success Plans to fix problems instead of blame, take advantage of diverse opinions and ideas, coalesce teams, align your vision and mission, and get people focused on the strategic vision. Based on the books, Better in 52 Weeks and 15 Ways to Grow Your Business in Every Economy.

5 out of 5 people surveyed discovered that none of us are going to live forever.

If something catastrophic happened to you today, would your family know what to do?

Would your office staff know what actions to take?

If you had to evacuate, could you grab all of your important paperwork in less than 30 seconds?

The reality is no one wants to think about the time when they are not around. No one ever thinks anything tragic is going to happen to them.

Great leaders need to make sure they are personally prepared, that their families are protected, and that their employees have their important life documents in order.

Can we do all of this in less than an hour? Yes!
Can Mary guide us through what we need to know? Yes!
Can it be funny and entertaining? Yes!

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand and assemble an organized system of life paperwork, including letters of instruction, wills, trusts, health care directives, insurance, and end-of-life planning with Mary’s In Case of Emergency, Break Glass! workbook.
• Assess the needs of a personal business plan that does not involve you.
• Design a legacy plan that encompasses your business’s specific needs and protects your family.
• Get the important paperwork and critical information in ONE place so your personal representative can start right away working on your behalf and protesting everything you work for.
• Less than 40.% of Americans have a current will, and a will is only the beginning. Don’t be left unprepared!