Bob Kriegel

Dr. Bob Kriegel has been telling organizations to break things that are not broken since before disruption was a conference theme. His international bestseller If It Ain’t Broke… BREAK IT! made the case in 1991 that waiting for things to go wrong before challenging them is itself the most dangerous organizational habit. His follow-up, Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers, became a BusinessWeek bestseller on the strength of a simple provocation: every organization is quietly grazing on outdated practices that nobody would defend if anyone thought to ask.

Pioneer in Sports Psychology Turned Business Thinker
Before becoming one of America’s most sought-after business speakers, Kriegel co-founded one of the first sports psychology institutes in the United States and spent years coaching Olympic and professional athletes. The New York Times credited his work with spurring “a revolution in performance practices.” He taught at Stanford University’s Executive Management Program, served as a commentator on NPR’s Marketplace, and was named by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s leading authorities on change and human performance.

Change-Ready Strategies That Organizations Actually Use
Kriegel’s keynotes are practical and high-energy: audiences leave with specific techniques for identifying the sacred cows in their own organizations, tools for building change-ready teams, and a framework for competing by reinventing the game rather than simply running it faster.

Dr. Bob Kriegel keynotes on innovation, change leadership, peak performance, and the competitive mindset that separates organizations that drive change from those that spend their energy reacting to it.

Developing a Change-Ready Mindset

Dr. Robert Kriegel brings his decades of experience as one of America’s pioneering sports psychologists to the ever-changing world of business. With energy, enthusiasm, humor, and great personal magnetism, he instructs and informs on the most crucial challenges facing business leaders today. He divulges how to create change rather than merely respond to it; how to be proactive instead of reactive; how to be a leader instead of a follower; how to play to win instead of playing not to lose; how to become excited about change and motivated to create it; and why we must constantly challenge what we think we know, while seeking bold, out-of-the-box strategies.

If It Ain’t Broke…Break It!: Riding the Wave of Change Without Wiping Out

Dr. Kriegel details three ways to “break” the status quo of business by re-creating and modernizing those practices that had gone too long without serious consideration. By keeping ahead of change, solving old problems in new ways, and creating new opportunities, Dr. Kriegel shows the value of flipping the rules on their head, combining things that have never been combined and looking at business like a “beginner” with fresh insight and an eye for innovation.

Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers: Eliminating Outdated Thinking and Practices

Challenge Everything! Advises Dr. Bob especially those assumptions and practices that held most dearly. Kriegel explains how to round up those “Sacred Cows” that cost money, take time, and prevent change and innovation. He gives his three rules for hunting down these “Sacred Cows,” and offers practical, tried-and-true methods to get rid of e-mail epidemics, paper piles, and meeting mania and why you should always spend a part of the day ‘out of touch.’

Managers and Leaders Who Develop Change-Ready People and Organizations

Calling on his vast experience as a coach and sports psychologist, Dr. Kriegel begins by imparting his three strategies for motivating people to change. He explains how to create an environment where innovation flourishes, and where people are performing at peak levels and having fun. With a fresh and sometimes shocking prescription for change, he shows leaders and managers how to overcome resistance and firehosing, and gives his four steps for turning ideas into action.

Doing the Impossible for the Customer

According to Dr. Kriegel, you should never give customers what they ask for. You read that right. “Don?t satisfy your customer,” he says, “Surprise them!” This, he explains, is the best (and only) way to separate your company from the herd, a strategy which will leave the competition in the dust. By developing innovative strategies and keeping motivated, he shows how any business can be a “winner” with customers and on the bottom line.

Using Success as a Springboard to Greater Heights.

Have you ever wondered why some people keep winning while others never seem to? Dr. Kriegel answers this question by giving the main characteristics of perennial winners and the innovative strategies they use to stay ahead of the changing work environment. He outlines how winners can conquer the trap of sabotage-thinking, and explains with his unique brand of enthusiasm and revolutionary thinking why “You should always mess with success.”