Andy Bernstein

Mastering Stress, Resilience, and Change

If you are considering a resilience keynote for your audience, this session is different. Instead of rehashed stress management, we start by seeing that the way we understand stress today is based largely on the work of one man: stress research pioneer Hans Selye, who taught the whole world how stress worked, where it came from (he coined the term “stressor,”) and what to do about it. 

Selye was one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century. He was also fundamentally wrong.

In this eye-opening session:

• you’ll see why Selye was wrong — and the disastrous consequences this has had on global well-being 
• you’ll learn how stress and resilience really work — and why there is no such thing as a stressor
• you’ll discover a new way to stop managing stress and start eliminating it — without positive thinking, motivation, or “touchy-feeliness” 
• and you’ll get to try this for yourself, going through a specific sequence of mind-shifting steps that provoke a breakthrough, even for large, skeptical, senior audiences — without anyone having to say a word

This session is not about managing or accepting stress. It’s about leveraging stress and turning it into a springboard for greater happiness, deeper relationships, and stronger team performance in a way that is smart, relevant, and practical.

Note: The session can be bundled with books, and automatically comes with three months of online family memberships per participant to deliver much greater value over typical keynotes.

The Most Important Thing

What matters most for happiness in life? Money? Achievements? Love? We start by examining the world's longest study of adult well-being, and why the real answer isn't any of these things. We also look at the most important thing for high-performing teams (again based on data), and why it's not talent, willpower, and other common assumptions. And then we discover a tool that helps attendees build both greater well-being and stronger team performance in just 7 steps, with no blame, stigma, or “touchy-feeliness.”

Crucibles

How can you build humble, driven, team- and mission-focused leaders able to deal with personal, organizational, and cultural challenges more effectively?

Crucibles are high-temperature vessels used to melt metals, but we use the term figuratively to represent adverse experiences that transform us. We see why crucibles matter, how they work, and the internal dynamics that give them the power to make or break us as leaders and human beings.

Then we discover eye-opening tools that harness the power of crucibles to transform challenges more effectively, building the flexible, compassionate, clear-minded leaders and organizations we desperately need.

The Why and How of Great Teams

In this specialized workshop for teams, we discover what matters most for team performance based on data, and why it's not talent, motivation, communication, and other assumptions.

We look at the two most validated traits of effective leadership, and how “crucible” experiences produce better leaders.

And then we use a 7-step reframing tool to develop stronger teams from the inside out.

If you are serious about driving change, this session gives participants a clear framework and practical tools to take team performance to a higher level.