The Keynote I Said No To

The work that survives a hard quarter is the work that was tied to a business outcome from the start.

Years ago a global consumer brand called and asked me to keynote their annual staff dinner.

The pitch was flattering. They listed the famous movie actor/director and the speakers who had taken the stage in previous years.

I said no.

The night would have gone well. People would have laughed. People would have left feeling good.

To me, the reason was simpler. There was no business outcome attached. No metric anyone was going to track the next quarter. The brief was inspiration. The brief was entertainment.

That is not what I do. There are better people in the world for that, and I am happy to send clients their way.

It can always be justified. A learning event. A morale lift. A leadership message. The language is easy to find.

Here is the part I keep coming back to.

When people development is treated as nice-to-have, the business treats it that way. First in line for the budget when times are good. First out when times are not.

The work that survives a hard quarter is the work that was tied to a business outcome from the start.

Everything else is entertainment.

The mind behind this:

Dorothy Tsui is the Director and Founder of Leap Catalyst. 20+ years as a consultant and coach in people and organization development, after coming up on the business side where result measurement was not optional. She has a sharp eye for the absurd and a low tolerance for fluff. Her clients get straight talk and results they can defend.

Find out whether your organization's leadership development investment is set up to produce results: leapcatalyst.co/invest