Matt sets aside most of the traditional approaches to EI and EQ focused on emotional awareness and governance; such an approach is taught widely by others. Instead, Matt focuses more on “BI” — the behavioral intelligence impaired by flawed thinking, including what he describes as the “catastrophizing, personalizing, over-analyzing, and memorializing” that can lead to inappropriately emotional responses to organizational challenges. Matt’s approach reflects his well-researched belief that how we think affects how we feel, and how we feel affects how we act. To change how we feel and act, we must change how we think about organizational dysfunction. In this workshop, participants will gain a deeper understanding of organizational dysfunction, how they and others sometimes respond poorly to it, and how all leaders can think and act more rationally when others appear to be acting irrationally or destructively. This workshop reflects Matt’s extensive career in organizational capability and his PhD study in organizational psychology.

For decades, universities have been teaching leaders how to make sound decisions based on data. Yet, personal and professional success increasingly rely on our ability to make decisions without data, direction, or precedent. Matt argues that the most important and lasting personal decisions that we make include little or no data or quantitative thinking; instead, we rely principally on our intuition. Yet, many people are reluctant to employ the same thinking at work for a variety of reasons focused largely on our fear of failure. Matt’s dissertation research focuses on decision-making and how different decision-making styles affect our relationships and results. Drawing on that research and over 25 years of related leadership experience, Matt helps participants understand why ambiguity often feels crippling to leaders and what they can do to trust their own intuition to be more successful during periods of rapid, unexpected change.

Participants will learn that they and others are the result of a lifetime of experiences and expectations. At an early age, we learned to conform and comply. The deeply embedded expectation that we must always “fit in” impairs our ability to become an interesting and successful ‘mad scientist’ within our organization — someone from whom the organization’s most interesting and inventive ideas emerge. In this workshop, participants will understand the nature and value of creativity, how it can be cultivated, and how to apply it in a variety of organizational cultures. Participants will understand their own level of creative courage, why it isn’t higher, and what they can do about it.

In this workshop, Matt addresses directly a challenging reality: Many people seek leadership roles without possessing the desire to lead, which by nature includes the desire and ability to address performance issues rapidly and responsibly while also helping capable people grow. Drawing on his extensive leadership experience in HR, OD, and L&D, Matt addresses both of these critical leadership competencies. Participants will understand the nature, value, and application of both of these coaching styles while also learning how to adjust their approach adaptively and courageously when they encounter others’ ambivalence, resistance, and conflict.

Matt believes that trust is the currency used by the most successful leaders to buy their organization’s lasting success. He has observed that while much is understood about the nature and value of trust, one simple fact is often lost: Building trust only requires that a leader be trustworthy. In this workshop, Matt reviews what we know about being trustworthy, with a special focus on cultivating resilience and persistence when their personal character and organizational culture feel misaligned. Drawing on many years of experience as a cultural change agent and leadership coach, Matt helps participants understand what they value most from their work with others so that they and others feel honored and valued. Participants will understand the lasting value of personal character within an organization’s culture and how to cultivate both.