Corey Blake

BLAKE: I invite people into a “Holy Shit” moment of full-bodied epiphany—my wish for audiences is that they accept my invitation. For those who do, I hope they walk away feeling seen, connected, powerful, and sexy for having taken the risk.

BLAKE: The most imperative part of my preparation is connecting with the head of the event, or the CEO if I’m speaking within an organization. Vulnerability is a top-down offer, meaning that if the person in charge hasn’t bought in, no one else will feel safe to experiment.

Sometimes I fly out to meet the leader in person; other times a couple of phone calls work well. I also prefer to interview the head of the event (or company) to probe more deeply into the motivations for my participation and what the hopes are for our time together. While there are standard sections of my talks, I typically customize a portion of them relative to the goals of the event and the types of people who are likely to be in the audience.

BLAKE: I was asked to speak about love to an audience of 200 CEOs in 2016. Sharing the story of my journey with my father (who started working for me 6 years ago) was a particularly beautiful and vulnerable experience.

Early in 2017, at an event for 60 millennial CEOs, I expected the audience to resist my presentation, but instead found myself incredibly moved by the depth of their participation. Later this year, I had a similar experience with an international sales team of 70 people whom I expected to give some awesome resistance. Much to my surprise I had the privilege of watching them listen deeply to one another, cry together, and belly laugh with one another.

My most vulnerable experience was when speaking to a room of 150 CEOs in Dallas where I shared the story of loneliness in my marriage and almost having cheated on my wife. After that talk I witnessed certain people turning away from me as I would walk around the event. When I shared privately with one attendee that I noticed she wasn’t making eye contact with me and I was curious if my talk brought something up for her, she opened up about a struggle she was facing in her own marriage, and she wept with me. I was grateful to be a safe place for her to share in that moment.

In addition to the speaking I do, I also create experiences at conferences and one that is always memorable is my Being Seen Experiment where people sit across from me for as long as they like, no words are needed. It’s an eye gazing experiment to invite people into what it feels like to be seen. At a recent Conscious Capitalism event I had half a dozen people sit with me for 7 or 8 minutes and one woman who gazed with me for 30 minutes. I am still moved when I think of the journey we went on together and all the emotional twists, turns, and epiphanies that came from such depth of connection.

BLAKE: My presentations and facilitations are best received by people who have done some form of personal development in their lives, or work for a CEO who emphasizes culture. People who consider therapy, coaching, and vulnerability to be hooey booey bullshit typically prefer that I drop dead when I take the stage.

BLAKE: “Vulnerability is Sexy” is the only talk that I’m giving because it feels to me like the manifestation of my life’s purpose right now. I love offering it as a keynote; however, my greatest joy is leading longer half day and full day facilitations where I use the Vulnerability is Sexy presentation to shift the room into “real talk” and then I guide attendees into values and purpose work (either individually or on behalf of an organization). My greatest gift is in uncovering what people stand for by pulling it from their guts. I feel closest to God in those moments when I’m helping align an audience member’s language with their truth so the room can see their humanity.

BLAKE: Honestly, I get insanely bored from informational talks that broadcast from the stage like lectures. As an attendee, I want to participate, I want to risk, I want to get dirty, I want to walk away from each talk having my world rocked, yet that SO rarely happens in my experience. So I decided to take responsibility for what I want more of in the world by creating it.

BLAKE: I show them what I look like naked. No, seriously.

BLAKE: a. Unprecedented growth of a public services company from $100M to $165M in three years.
b. a 37% increase in the stock price (so far!) of a publically traded company who asked for our support with their culture transformation.
c. The articulation of purpose by the head of a national magazine during the Vulnerability is Sexy presentation.
d. The restructuring of an entire marketing campaign for a $75M financial company based on work together on their values.
e. A $10M online platform finally sharing their story after experiencing Vulnerability is Sexy at an event.
f. An education platform client selling thousands of copies of their book as a lead generator for online business.
g. A Multi-billion dollar private company who asked us to capture the stories of the founding family for future generations.
h. A childhood cancer survivor who has used her books and her story to raise more than $1M for cancer research.
i. A former entrepreneur turned civic leader whose story has impacted the lives of more than 100,000 kids in Chicago.
j. The recipient of the most extensive face transplant surgery to date in 2013 whose story has impacted millions of readers.