Let’s face it, there’s always a “what’s next?” Your ability to individually and collectively reach that next big milestone — without burning out– has to do with the answer to the following question: How do we create motivation that lasts when we’re never done? It turns out — While traditional leadership approaches focus on external rewards, the latest science shows us that the most flourishing contributors have a personal, internal connection to their work. That’s right; people with high intrinsic motivation experience lower rates of disengagement, higher levels of innovation and more fulfillment than those focused primarily on external factors. Forbes Top Rated keynote speaker, Jess Ekstrom, uses modern research and her experiences starting two multi-million-dollar businesses to guide audiences to deeper engagement, fulfillment and lasting motivation in their role. If you’re looking to infuse individuals at any level of your organization with unshakeable motivation through gripping storytelling and entertainment, it’s here. ...less

Nowadays, it’s so easy to get warped into negative thoughts and constantly feeling like you’re moving from problem to problem. A recent study at the American Academy of Neurology found that prolonged negative thinking diminishes your brain’s ability to think or reason clearly and it quickly drains your energy. You’d think the solution to negativity would be to tell yourself to “just be positive!” but we all know that doesn’t trick your brain, it only frustrates it. In Jess’ bestselling book, Chasing the Bright Side, she talks about how optimism isn’t about eliminating the negativity, it’s about using it to create something better. Even the spark of her business, Headbands of Hope, was started because of a problem she saw: kids with cancer wanted to wear headbands after hair-loss. Now, her company has donated over one million headbands to kids with illnesses and has reached every children’s hospital in the United States and 22 countries. But it all began because there was a problem. Problems are where a lot of great ideas begin if we let them. If you’re looking to find a keynote speaker who can deliver inspiration infused with humor and entertainment, then Jess is your choice. In this keynote, she aims to inspire audiences to not just envision a better future for their life, work, and community, but go create it. ...less

Let’s get one thing straight: meaningful work is not assigned to you, it’s created by you. Most of the time we believe that in order to do something meaningful, we have to do something else: live somewhere else, work somewhere else, do something else, be someone else. But what if we didn’t have to change our circumstance to do something meaningful, but changed our mindset around it? So according to the Chapman University Survey, why do most people fear public speaking more than they fear sharks? Nowadays, people don’t want to just clock in and clock out. People want to feel like what they’re doing matters- it’s human nature. We want to know that all of the tasks are building blocks to something greater than themselves. We want to zoom out and say, “Yes! I’m a part of something that matters.” When employees, leaders, entrepreneurs can create meaning in their work: They show up with more passion Their hustle muscle is activated They’re more engaged in the big picture And the ordinary tasks now have an extraordinary purpose When we build meaning in our work: A single sale becomes a fist pump of forward progress. A customer service call becomes a deeper connection to a future customer. An end of quarter review becomes an impact report…. In other words, our jobs are no longer jobs…they’re a service to humanity. Jess’ keynote is certainly not a namaste, save the world, love-what-you-do-and-you-never-have-to-work-a-day-in-your-life manifesto. She uses her experiences, market research, and improv comedy classes to make an inspiring yet entertaining experience. ...less