Laura Gassner Otting is an author, catalyst, and executive coach who helps people overcome doubt and indecision to pursue great ideas. With a rebellious and entrepreneurial background, she has worked in various leadership roles, including in Bill Clinton's White House. She founded and ran a successful search firm before selling it in 2015. Laura has appeared on popular TV shows, and her writing has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and HR Magazine. She is a bestselling author of three books, translated into five languages. Known for her audacity and passion for big ideas, Laura is an instigator and motivator who inspires others to think bigger and achieve their goals. She is also actively involved in philanthropic initiatives and has completed charity-inspired marathons. Laura offers keynote PepTalks on topics such as embracing ambition, living a limitless life, and effective sales and leadership strategies. Her works include "Mission Driven: Moving from Profit to Purpose," "Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life," and "Wonderhell: Why Success Doesn't Feel Like It Should… and What to Do About It."
After stewarding thousands of leaders through massive moments of career shift and organizational disruption, Laura knows a thing or two about the emotional rollercoaster of going after everything you’ve ever wanted. This talk was born from the question, “Why doesn’t success feel better?” In this keynote, Laura explains that success isn’t just an endpoint but a waypoint, a portal showing you that you were made for even more… if you choose to embrace your ambition, conquer your fear, and learn to enjoy the ride. This talk throws down the gauntlet and dares your audience members to dream even bigger.
Many of us spend our lives pursuing a singular idea of success, one that was created for us by someone else. We give votes to those who shouldn’t even have voices and strive to go faster and faster even as we find ourselves falling further and further behind. We chase gold stars, we check all the boxes, we Lean In – and we still feel incomplete. In this keynote, Laura teaches you how to ignore the rules that created your limits, align your energies and your actions, and do work that really matters so that you can live your best life. Aimed at entrepreneurs and misfits, idealists and dreamers, as well as anyone seeking to align who they are with what they do, this talk lights a fire within that catalyzes energy and excitement towards becoming the change agent needed to maximize impact.
Demographic shifts in the workforce have led to conversations about purpose and meaning that have heretofore never been had. Millennials, genxers, and Boomers alike are all demanding that their work matter more. And, yet, only one-third of the US workforce reports that they are actively engaged in their work. We are using an outdated scorecard which measures the value of a job – title, money, prestige, among others – without adding in the most important part of the equation: the employee. We know that engaged workers are 22% more productive and profitable for their employers, but what recruits the employee doesn’t retain them. Backed up by a 20-year career in executive search and a three-year research project, comprising nearly 6000 responses from 74 different countries from before, during, as now as we come out of the pandemic, Laura Gassner Otting teaches leaders how to unlock their employees’ engagement to not only make them limitless, but make their companies and their profits limitless too.