Travels from British Columbia, Canada
Dr. Mark DeVolder's speaking fee falls within range: $20,000 to $25,000
Known as “The Change Specialist,” Dr. Mark DeVolder has guided some of the most high-stake transitions of recent history, preparing Colombian business leaders for the NAFTA Free Trade Agreement, aiding in the wrap up of the NASA space shuttle program, and coaching multiple companies through mergers and acquisitions.
While studies show that approximately only 30% of change initiatives reach their stated goals, DeVolder has a 95% success rate as a licensed mediator, advising companies through multi-million dollar change management projects and resolving multi-party disputes. As a speaker DeVolder shares his two decades of research in unity, diversity, and synergy, along with the same easily applicable strategies he takes to the consulting table with the goal of making his audience “change-ready.”
In addition to his enviable track record in consultation and mediation, DeVolder raises the bar as a presenter with his powerful delivery. He has won the prestigious Top 5 Speaker Award U.S.A. in Business Management for four consecutive years due to the outstanding mix of substance, style, and impact he brings to every program.
Dr. Mark DeVolder is a global change management expert and thought leader on transitions and transformation. As a pioneer in the field, Mark launched a new way to navigate change … empowering leaders to move confidently through change.
Mark’s transformational message has inspired leaders and teams at top organizations like McDonald’s, US Air Force, Royal Bank of Canada, PwC, and Bristol-Meyers Squibb. In over 25 countries and on 5 continents, Mark has guided high profile clients through some the most daunting challenges: from coaching NASA rocket scientists in reinventing themselves to steering healthcare professionals through multi-billion dollar mergers, to fostering a safety-first culture in leading oil industry firms.
In his ground-breaking book, Perpetual Pivot: How the Best Leaders Thrive during Exponential Change, Dr. DeVolder shares insights and strategies gleaned from years of experience at the forefront of change management. Mark teaches the unique strategy of Empowered Change™, equipping leaders and teams to adapt to change and embrace challenges in order to accelerate growth and transformation.
Mark’s keynotes deliver more than just engagement and insight; they are also fun, packed with practical tips and actionable takeaways that attendees can start using right away. People frequently praise Mark’s high energy, audience engagement, and inspiring message, which not only ignites excitement about the future but also equips them with the practical tools and knowledge to capitalize on opportunities for growth in the midst of change.
Relating a time that he had to speak with an audience of state workers who had recently had their annual paychecks cut by thousands of dollars, Dr. Mark DeVolder states that the idea of “accepting change” sets off negative emotions due to a common linguistic misconception. “Accept does not mean ‘agree,’” he clarifies. “It doesn’t mean ‘condone.’ It doesn’t mean you like it. It means ‘it happened.’”
If change leaves you paralyzed or trapped, Dr. Mark DeVolder has the expertise and proven techniques to get you out of the doorway and moving forward. His high-energy interactive presentations are timeless, relevant, and applicable to anyone in the workplace and at home.
DeVolder implements stories, humor, and entertaining activities to break down the elements of transition and give audiences the tools they need to shift quickly from old practices to new, make decisions faster, and stay on top of unpredictability.
In a world where change is here to stay, DeVolder can help you gain a competitive edge through helping you and your organization foster a more flexible, trusting, and engaging work environment.
Future Proof: Navigating Change with Confidence and Excitement
Imagine a new way to change: unhurried, composed, and confident instead of the usual frenzy, chaos, and uncertainty. The Empowered Change strategy presented in this high-impact keynote equips participants to transform the pace of change and drive sustainable success by providing a clear roadmap for navigating the stages of change.
This program is perfect for leaders and teams in the midst of constant change who are: • Going through organizational growth, such as mergers and acquisitions, leadership changes, restructuring, and digital transformation • Navigating their team members’ reactions to the volatility, complexity, and ambiguity in their work and life (like frustration, anxiety, confusion, and fear) • Feeling unprepared for their evolving roles and responsibilities or unable to change at the rate and pace needed to keep up with ever-increasing changes
After this intensely practical session, the audience will leave with: • A Journey-map framework for understanding any change they experience • A personal plan for confidently navigating the transitions between each stage of change • The skills and mindset for boldly mobilizing through disruptive change to accomplish their objectives
Harnessing the Hurricane: Leadership Secrets for Successfully Navigating Change
Drawing from more than two decades of working with global industry leaders, Mark distills the secrets of effective change leadership into the five essential mindsets demonstrated by top leaders.
This program is perfect for leaders and managers who are: • Leading significant organizational changes that require alignment, buy-in, and engagement • Struggling to keep up with the constant evolution of work, including remote/hybrid work, digital transformations, and new business models • Needing to adapt to, anticipate, and initiate disruption in their industry
During Mark’s high-octane presentation, your audience will learn how to: • Avoid change-paralysis and develop change-ready thinking and behaviors • Overcome decision-quicksand and make smart decisions faster • Develop a leadership mindset for navigating themselves and their team through any change
On Fire! Energized Together Everyone, Every Day
This keynote empowers the audience to eliminate the mindsets and actions that extinguish motivation and enthusiasm and instead create life-giving opportunities to energize everyone every day.
This program is ideal for anyone in the organization who is: • Navigating multiple changes in the organization, some happening simultaneously • Experiencing change saturation because of the pace and rate of constant change • Frustrated and stressed about having to do more with less while contending with unclear direction and communication
The audience will leave with: • Tools for identifying which of their current behaviors build up and tear down engagement • Strategies to increase engagement in four key areas: clarity, competence, influence, and appreciation • A proven plan for igniting every employee’s passion for teamwork, communication, and innovation
Unstoppable Resilience: Developing the Mindset of Champions
Resilience is the quintessential element (aka. secret sauce) behind champions and successful teams. This highly actionable keynote teaches the audience how to instill this mindset into the DNA of their culture and team.
This program is perfect for leaders and teams who are: • Responsible for creating unity, well-being, and engagement in their team • Tasked with delivering profitability and high performance during organizational change and disruption • Seeking to create a resilient culture throughout their team and organization
The audience will leave with: • Strategies for increasing elastic thinking, continuous learning, and unstoppable perseverance • The motivation and tools to increase innovation, creativity, and risk-taking in their personal and professional lives • The ability to cultivate a growth mindset of unlimited potential in the face of adversity, stress, and disruption
Getting to Target Zero: Developing High-Performance Safety
Hazards and challenges abound in the fast and frenzied pace of business today: potentially dangerous situations, increased regulations, growing mental health issues in the workplace. However, the most common barrier is change itself. This safety keynote addresses the obstacles that cause people to disengage and empowers them to maintain both high performance and safety.
This program is perfect for leaders and teams: • Working in a highly regulated environment that is under the pressure of constant change and government regulations. • Dealing with stressful, potentially dangerous, time-sensitive situations and crises. • Fostering a safer workplace environment such as physical safety, psychological well-being and healthy workplace protocols.
The audience will leave with: • A framework to understand and navigate the changes they experience through the lens of safety. • Tools to identify current behaviors and practices that build high-performance safety and which practices tear it down. • The education and motivation to take the first step toward high-performance safety.
SPEAKING.COM: What do you want people to learn / take away from your presentations? DEVOLDER: I want people to be inspired, motivated and equipped to navigate change and become fully engaged at work and at home.
I often receive comments from clients after my presentation thanking me for my high energy and humor, engaging audience interaction, and great content with practical takeaways.
It’s important for me to touch people’s hearts and minds and spark their desire to change. In that regard, I like to include practical takeaways that are easy to understand and apply immediately. For instance, becoming change-ready, shift-ability (to be able to shift gears quickly and make decisions fast) and providing personal happiness / engagement tips.
SPEAKING.COM: What kind of special prep work do you do prior to an event? How do you prepare for your speaking engagements?
DEVOLDER: Like most speakers, I customize my presentations through client interviews, research, and on-site interviews. For instance, prior to one of my presentations, I met with the CEO of a national airline. During the meeting, he provided valuable information which would make my presentation even more relevant to the audience. Needless to say, after the meeting I then spent hours adding new material to my presentation. The next day, after my session, the CEO thanked me and told me how amazed he was that I was able to incorporate so many of his key comments into my presentation.
SPEAKING.COM: Have you had any particularly memorable speaking engagements / unusual situations arise while on the road?
DEVOLDER: Usually what makes the presentation memorable is not only working with the client and company, but getting to know the attendees and sometimes being part of their conference activities. I’ve had the privilege of working with many Fortune 500 companies and Industry leaders around the world in over 15 different countries. And in my travels, I’ve had some memorable experiences. For instance, after speaking for a multinational company in Monte Carlo, I was invited to be the guest of honor at a surprise private concert by Enrique Iglesias.
SPEAKING.COM: What types of audiences would most benefit from your message?
DEVOLDER: Even though I speak to a variety of industries, the common theme is usually organizations going through change, such as reorganizations and restructuring, mergers and acquisitions. In addition, I’ve done master classes, as well as leadership sessions for C-level executives and other professionals.
SPEAKING.COM: Which of your keynote topics are the most popular? How are your keynote presentations unique? Which of your keynote speeches do you enjoy the most and why?
DEVOLDER:My most popular presentation is “Harness the Hurricane: Adapt to Extreme Change and Achieve New Heights.” This presentation brings together the topics of change, transition, and engagement.
SPEAKING.COM: How much do case studies, personal stories and/or humor factor into your keynote speech content?
DEVOLDER: Case studies, personal stories and humor are essential in getting the message across. But more importantly, these elements help participants relate it to their lives. The response I love to hear from people is, “I can do that!”
SPEAKING.COM: What are some of the successes you have helped clients make?
DEVOLDER: Change is extremely difficult on all levels. As the research shows, 70% of all change initiatives fail to achieve their stated goals. For many of the companies that hire me to speak, there is a lot at stake. If the change goes well and people stay engaged, it means the difference between success and failure. For me, it’s extremely gratifying to help people accomplish their goals and make a positive impact on their world.
“We all left with tools to soar higher.” -Linsley Pietsch, NASA, Spaceport Operations
“Dr. DeVolder was thought-provoking and dynamic. Moving and powerful.” -Al-Noor Moosa, Manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers
“If you get to work with Mark DeVolder, you’re really lucky!” -CEO Jim Carrick-Birtwell, ChangeBoard, Arabian Human Resource Management Association, Dubai
“Mark DeVolder was fantastic, highly engaged with the audience. The best part, we walked out of the room with tools to help us with change management. -Marlene Stanger, Operations Lead, Monsanto
“MARK DEVOLDER, you did a fantastic job sharing your wisdom and perspectives on navigating change! You offer a powerful message that has a “hook” right at the end that really seals the message memorably! -Chip McElroy, President & CEO, McElroy Mfg
“Mark was terrific! The day exceeded my expectations! We are already actively using his information around engagement to develop a new communication infrastructure and process for the Department.” -Dr. Herbert Zeh, Chair of Surgery, UT Southwestern Medical Center
“Dr. Mark’s contribution was really remarkable and it was very effective and exceeded our expectations!” -Radwa Alalem, Conference Organizer, Orascom Construction, Egypt
“Dr. DeVolder, a huge part of the success of the event belongs to you.” -Abdulrahman Al-Saadi, Project Manager, Qatar Petroleum
“Mark’s story is incredible and his presentation was creative, engaging and impactful. We count him as one of our honorary members!” -Kristen Williams, Human Resources, Southeastern Grocers
“Mark, you were nothing short of awesome!!!” -Maria Sharpe, Chief Personnel Officer, PepsiCo Europe, Madrid, Spain
“Dr. DeVolder has been remarkable. Now, six months later, we are enjoying the benefits of a productive & respectful work environment.” -Dr. Michael Henderson, Regional Director General, Transport Canada
“Mark was energetic, entertaining, professional, and relevant. No surprise the feedback from our employees after the event, was superior…..they loved him. Months later, we are still using the tools and skills he taught us that day.” -Linda Edwards, VP Organizational Culture and Learning & Development, UNIFY Financial Credit Union
“Dr. Mark DeVolder provided my staff and leadership with amazing examples of how we can get engaged, improve our lives and accept change.” -Terry Laudick, CEO, Nusenda Credit Union
“Dr. Mark exceeded our expectations. He really reached new heights in change management.” -Saif Sultan Saif Al Abr, Senior Manager, Omantel, Oman
“Our team was so pumped about our time with Mark. He helped everyone realize that change management is at the key to our success and that everyone of us has to step up to the challenge immediately.” -Kevin M Bollom, Vice President – Building Services, Trane/Ingersoll Rand
“A great presentation to help our Senior Leadership team with great feedback on his key messages. Mark provided several “take-aways” that the team can leverage as we navigate the changes to our business.” -Ned St. Denis, Senior Director, Business Enablement, Royal Bank
“Mark DeVolder was fun, brilliant, charismatic, refreshing and truly inspiring.” -Human Resource Management Association, Estonia
“Mark kept us glued to our seats, very entertaining and interactive, a true artist!” -Simone Zatti, Marketing Director, Hilti
“Mark’s presentation was such a breath of fresh air! An incredible delivery! The mark of a professional! -Jeff Reynolds, Advisor/Principal, Plan It Financial Corp
“Dr. DeVolder’s presentation was exactly what we were looking for during this changing period that we are going through.” -Amr Helmi, Boehringer Ingelheim, National Sales Manager, Bahrain
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Perpetual Pivot: How the Best Leaders Adapt to Exponential Change
HOW TO MANAGE CHANGE IN A COMPLEX BUSINESS WORLD
Bursting with break-through discoveries, Perpetual Pivot shows leaders the future of work: how to adapt to rapid change, create inclusive teams empowered with synergistic potential, and attract, empower and keep the best employees.
In this eye-opening new book, Mark DeVolder takes us on a journey through the confusing, uncertain and sometimes perilous world of exponential change. Never before in history have leaders faced our current level of fast and extreme change, where chaos, disruption and crisis have become the norm. He asks the question, how do we successfully navigate through such a world?
His answer is that we must learn the skills of Perpetual Pivot, a continuous process of adapting, reinvention and anticipation. You will be guided through the storm by world-renowned authority on Change Management, Dr. Mark DeVolder.
Along the way, Mark introduces us to extraordinary leaders involved high profile changes. You will meet the CEO responsible for reinventing Egypt’s largest company, executives who adapted to a $42 Billion merger, the CEO who predicted the future for his industry, and the prison doctor who risked everything to deliver a secret message for Nelson Mandela from Robbin Island.
Throughout the book, DeVolder offers practical and illuminating insights into the dynamics of change and transition management for our business and our personal lives―and their surprising interconnectedness to leadership, employee engagement, team building, innovation and resilience. Entertaining, thought-provoking and intensely practical, Perpetual Pivot provides a perfect balance between theory and practice. Most importantly, Mark explains HOW to pivot. The book is filled with concrete tools and strategies that increase personal agility, rewires thinking and shines a light on future trends.
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