Todd Dewett

SPEAKING.COM: What do you want people to learn/take away from your presentations?

DEWETT: I want people to believe that more is possible – at work and in their lives in general. Sometimes I apply that message to great leadership, high performing teams, or success in life. In any event, it’s all about questioning your assumptions, realizing that most constraints are false, and thus realizing that more is always possible. This is the mindset that defines successful people in any area of life and it’s awesome fun sharing this simple reality with people around the world.

SPEAKING.COM: What kind of special prep work do you do prior to an event? How do you prepare for your speaking engagements?

DEWETT: Many professional speakers engage extensive prep. Not me. At any given time I have twenty or more stories in my current inventory of material. I work quickly with the client – usually in only one or two brief phone calls – to ensure I understand their goals, the nature of the audience, and the big issues on their mind. This allows me to choose the right stories from my inventory and pepper them with just enough language to demonstrate that I understand the issues they face. Since my messages are universally applicable and people-related, I can easily tweak my presentations so that they directly address the audience’s situation.

Before a gig, in the hotel I will spend 10-15 minutes running through the sequence of stories and that’s it. I get on stage with no slides, look at the audience, and deliver.

SPEAKING.COM: Have you had any particularly memorable speaking engagements / unusual situations arise while on the road?

DEWETT: Memorable? Many! I once spoke live during the lunch hour of a Leadercast simulcast, the largest one-day leadership event in the world, so I had to compete with John Maxwell and many others – it was huge fun (and a huge success). Then there is the TEDx speech, speaking to the senior team of the world’s largest corporation (ExxonMobil), and many others.

The coolest thing, however, is less glamorous and more intrinsically fulfilling. It’s the cancer stories attendees share with me after hearing my presentation. One of my oldest stories, one I can’t seem to take out of rotation, concerns my father and something he taught me during his journey with cancer. When audience members come up to you after the show to share their personal cancer-related stories and to thank you for encouraging them to see glass half full with regard to their loss, the experience surpasses getting strong applause or even a standing ovation. It’s life changing.

SPEAKING.COM: What types of audiences would most benefit from your message?

DEWETT: My favorite audiences are managerial (from front line to C suite) because they deeply understand how interesting, important, and yet difficult people can be! Having said that, my messages resonate exceptionally well with high school students through senior executives. In numerous ways, many of the people-related challenges we face are quite similar across different age groups; the key is whether or not you can understand your audience enough to fantastically deliver in a manner that speaks uniquely to them.

SPEAKING.COM: Which of your keynote speaking topics are your favorites and why?

DEWETT: My favorites are leadership, creativity, innovation, and change. These were the areas of interest that drove me to leave my role at Ernst & Young to become a social scientist. I wrote about them as a scholar and fell in love with creating engaging stories that would bring these topics to life for a larger audience.

Just consider aspects of leadership: communication, feedback, coaching, motivation, conflict, etc. These areas that I loved to study turned out to be areas that in practice are of huge importance to nearly any type of professional. Thus, as a speaker I get to help a wide array of professionals think more productively about core issues they face. It’s a serious privilege to make a living enjoying your work as much as I do.

SPEAKING.COM: What inspired you to start doing speaking engagements?

DEWETT: I spent ten years in the classroom teaching leadership-related courses to graduate business students. After a few years, my phone started ringing. Former students began asking me to speak at various meetings and conferences. They helped me understand that while we don’t lack experts in nearly any area, we do lack great communicators.

As I started to study and grow, I watched the audience closely. The reactions were moving – laughter, intrigue, even tears all in the service of personal learning and improvement. Within just a few years of speaking professionally I had learned that a great communicator could have a genuine impact and that powerful lesson still drives me every day. I can’t wait for the next gig!

SPEAKING.COM: How do you keep your audience engaged and actively listening during your keynotes? Do you use case studies, personal stories and/or in your speeches?

DEWETT: I am a storyteller. I don’t use slides. I use mostly very personal stories, delivered in a highly authentic manner. Planners and audience members have told me that I combine deep strength, confidence, and competence with an approachable authenticity and casualness that helps people open up and care about the message. I’m a likeable expert, who is not afraid to make fun of myself to make a point, and people love that kind of honesty.

SPEAKING.COM: What are some of the successes you’ve helped clients achieve?

DEWETT: I’m thrilled to say there are many. There was the time I convinced a large manufacturing firm to put a moratorium on their bloated and universally hated employee evaluation system. They put a cross-functional team to work streamlining the system to make it fairer and less cumbersome. Employees were thrilled to see management listen so deeply.

Many times, I’ve been able to coach leaders to reconsider the personnel on their teams. Very often they are blinded by talent and forget that great chemistry always trumps talent. I am never out to help people lose their jobs, and yes, I am quick to talk about how we can help a person improve, course correct, and earn their spot on the team. However, ultimately, standards matter both for performance and interpersonal relationships: no jerks allowed, period.

Through modeling candor and encouraging tough conversations, I’ve pushed many teams to address the dead body in the room. It’s amazing how often we don’t address truly important issues. We fear change. We fear offending others. We fear failure. So, when I can act as a catalyst to push needed but difficult conversations, I’m happy.

I’ve met or heard from (thank you Internet!) hundreds of people who have changed roles, changed careers, gone back to school, or engaged some other life altering change because of hearing one single speech I delivered. It’s humbling and inspiring. Likely, the most moving note I have ever received is this one (this is the actual email):

Dr. Dewett,

Wednesday night as part of my leadership course I sat and listened to you speak. I had never heard about you before or knew anything about you (sorry). I drove to class not happy following a day of work.

I was excited about the thought of having a guest speaker. No required readings – just sit and listen. I needed something to re-energize my spirit. I sat and listened, 100% engaged.
After class I talked to you and told you, “I am a nurse and I need some emergency leadership skills!” You chuckled and I am not sure you believed me.

Let me tell you what happened after I left that classroom. First of all, and most importantly, this 40-something woman (yes, me), had a re-energized spirit! I was happy! For this moment I was a “happy nurse” – a happy nurse who was coming to terms with the fact that I AM a nurse leader, like it or not. It is in me and I must be not only a happy nurse, but a “happy nurse leader” to guide the staff through these challenging times as they try to care for the patients.

Thursday morning I went to work “a HAPPY nurse LEADER” with a re-energized spirit! As I briskly walked in the hall I smiled at everyone and greeted each individual with a nod or a verbal good morning. This one hospital employee all dressed with his hat, coat, etc. was on a mission and did not respond to my friendly “good morning” as we passed in the hall. I stopped in my tracks, turned around, and went after this employee. I got his attention and stopped him.
I asked, “Are you ok?” He looked at me as if the worst thing imaginable had just happened. He looked like he was going to burst into tears any second.

I said, “Follow me. Let’s find a place to talk.”

He followed me and I quickly realized he COULD NOT talk. The worst thing imaginable was happening at that very moment! Right there, he was having a stroke!

Throughout the rest of the day, hospital administrators and staff all told me I saved his life. They said I stopped “and made the most of the moment” and that “many would have kept walking.”

I didn’t save his life, Todd Dewett, YOU DID!!! Thank you.