Karin Hurt

Courageous Leadership: Practical Ways to Be More Daring

Practical ways to have more confidence, influence, and impact.

As a leader, you’re barraged with problems every day, and sometimes it’s easier to take the path of least resistance. You don’t speak up because it might rock the boat. You procrastinate on a decision or don’t try that new idea because you’re afraid of failure. Or, you don’t invite feedback because you might not like what you hear.

In these moments, you’re missing opportunities, you’re wasting money, and you’re eroding your team members’ trust.

Building your reputation as a courageous leader doesn’t necessarily mean making big, bold, game-changing moves. It happens every day, little by little, as you own your team members’ strengths, speak up, stand out, and dare to take appropriate risks.

The audience will leave with:

• Inspiration to own their strengths and contribute at a deeper level.
• Practical tools and techniques to present their ideas with confidence.
• Techniques to prepare for and hold difficult conversations up, down, and sideways, including our I.N.S.P.I.R.E. approach to performance management.
• Tools for gathering and responding to feedback.

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Courageous Cultures: How to Help Your Team Solve Problems Faster and Surface Remarkable Ideas

Practical ways to inspire employee engagement and accelerate team performance.

Based on ground-breaking new research in innovation and problem-solving, you’ll learn what leaders like you are doing to build more creative and solutions-oriented teams. Teams who don’t just bring you more ideas, but practical ideas you can use to make work, work better.

You’ll explore the root causes of FOSU (fear of speaking up) and ways to turn your team’s fears and frustration into practical innovation. You’ll learn easy-to-use tools and techniques to empower solutions-thinking and customer-focused problem solving; how to respond to wacky ideas without crushing your team’s hearts and spirits; and techniques to encourage courage and deeper dialogue up, down, and sideways.
Your audience will leave with:
• Inspiration to be a role model of innovation and problem-solving.
• Researched-based, practical techniques to inspire more confidence and competence sharing ideas.
• Tools to lead make it easy for team members to share practical, remarkable ideas
• Techniques to respond to ideas (even if you can’t use them) in a way that inspires future innovation and problem-solving

Based on our award-winning book Courageous Cultures: Building Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers and Customer Advocates (Harper Collins 2020)

We also have a very popular half-day to full-day program where your team applies our Courageous Cultures tools and techniques to strategic business challenges.

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Can We Talk for Real? Practical Strategies to Have the Conversations That Matter Most

You know that conversation you would rather avoid? Maybe it’s giving tough feedback to an underperforming employee, pushing back on an unrealistic request from your boss, or confronting a peer who’s letting the team down. But dodging those moments just leads to more stress, frustration, and lost trust.

It’s time to master the art of real talk.

In this engaging and practical keynote, you’ll learn why having real conversations is so challenging—and how to get better at them. Through powerful stories, humor, and practical insights, you’ll explore the four essential dimensions of effective communication—Connection, Clarity, Curiosity, and Commitment—and gain proven tools to navigate even the trickiest situations with confidence.

You’ll leave inspired to stop avoiding difficult conversations and ready to show up with more authenticity and courage, using tools like the I.N.S.P.I.R.E. method and G.O.A.T. Powerful Phrases to make a real impact—whether you’re speaking up, holding others accountable, or making your voice heard.

The Audience Will Leave With:

• A fresh perspective on why real talk is hard—and why it’s worth it.
• Practical strategies to foster deeper connection and trust in every interaction.
• Tools to speak up and stay confident, no matter how tough the topic.
• Proven language patterns like G.O.A.T. Powerful Phrases to handle awkward, high-stakes conversations.
• A roadmap for using the I.N.S.P.I.R.E. method to hold others accountable—without damaging relationships.

If you’re ready to stop side-stepping the issues and start having conversations that truly move the needle, this keynote is for you.

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Navigating Workplace Conflict: How to Have More Influence, Less Drama, and Better Collaboration

Master any workplace conflict with confidence and ease, have less drama, better results, and thrive at work.

When there are problems to solve, and people who care (and there are so many things to care about) you’ll face conflict. And if you want to have more success, influence, and joy in your work, you’ve got to navigate it well. But conflict is hard. You weren’t born knowing the perfect words to say when you’re angry, dealing with a jerk, or when someone calls your game-changing idea “stupid.”

This highly experiential program is based on findings from our expansive World Workplace Conflict and Collaboration research (5000 participants in 45 countries) and our new book, Powerful Phrases for Dealing With Workplace Conflict.

You’ll leave with the courage, confidence, and competence to navigate even the trickiest conflict scenarios and build better, lasting collaboration.

You’ll learn:

• Researched-based reasons why conflict is so hard now– and inspiration to have the conversation you would rather avoid.
• The 4 Cs of more productive conflict and how to apply them to even the most challenging scenarios.
• 12 Powerful Phrases for navigating any workplace conflict.
• Practical techniques and tools to foster deeper trust and collaboration.

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Innovative Minds in a Digital World: Fostering a Fearless Tech-Driven Culture

While technology is a vital tool, it’s humanity that truly fuels innovation and solves complex problems.This keynote empowers managers to unlock what humans do best—connect and create.

You’ll gain actionable strategies to dismantle the Fear of Speaking Up (FOSU) in tech-enriched settings, cultivating a culture where cutting-edge ideas and transparent communication are the norm.

This program is ideal for leaders who want practical ways to use technology better, by tapping into the ideas and best practices of every team member.

Equip your team with the means to forge stronger connections and tackle problems more effectively and efficiently, utilizing their innate human capacity to imagine and realize the extraordinary, with technology in hand as your steadfast partner.