Learn more about Chad's bestselling book, Blind Ambition™
Ignite Your Potential with Blind Ambition™
Every organization is struggling with the current velocity of disruption, but what most leaders don’t realize, is that the current rate of change is the slowest it will be for the rest of our lives. Now, more than ever, organizations need to IGNITE people’s RESILIENCE, accountability, and INNOVATION—leading to resilient organizations that create more customer value by adapting and spotting the opportunities created by disruption.
Most people believe resilience is an idea, but it’s really a set of learned behaviors. Chad has spent the last TEN-plus years unpacking the anatomy of resilience — what allowed him to thrive after going blind at 21-years-old. He built software Oracle said was impossible; directed financial strategies that generated billions in revenue, industry-leading margins, and countless jobs; was the first blind executive to graduate Harvard’s leadership program; and became a black diamond downhill skier and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Practitioner — all with his eyes closed. Many thought leaders on resilience and change offer platitudes that create zero sustained impact on people’s behavior. Due to Chad’s firsthand experience with personal transformation while building massive enterprise value, Chad inspires action, ignites accountability, and unlocks potential by breaking down the anatomy of resilience at a practical level — providing tried and tested tools that empower people to emerge from setbacks stronger, sleeker, and resolute to succeed.
Connecting inspiration to implementation™, Chad enables your team to embody the mindsets and beliefs for success, while adopting the narratives and stories that will change the meaning of the challenges they experience. They’ll have the tools to remain comfortable in the face of discomfort, equipping your organization to turn disadvantages into advantages, and your obstacles into opportunities.
Inquire About Speaking
As the finance sector deals with change and disruption like never before, it’s crucial to hire the right keynote speaker. Leaders from a number of world-class companies in this sector have benefited by having Chad E. Foster as a keynote speaker.
Between the recent global pandemic, the breathtaking speed of technology disruption, and a wave of agile fintech startups, finance organizations have faced no shortage of disruption to traditional business models.
Consumers have been depending less on brick-and-mortar for several years. And with the explosion of smartphones and apps, they’re shifting towards mobile payments using their smartphones, foregoing credit card plastic in favor of simpler, touchless mobile payment services. Not only does this provide less expensive 24x7 banking, it also affords insights into consumer lifestyles and behaviors that can be used to offer new products while also reducing fraud.
This digital preference underscores the need to get the digital customer experience right. Making the technology easy to use is table stakes, but where finance organizations can differentiate themselves is by making it extremely personalized based on each consumer and their preferences – not just their customer segment.
Mobile banking also brings new competition for traditional players. Large tech companies such as Apple and Amazon, smaller fintechs, and even telecommunications providers are using their mobile connection with consumers to disintermediate traditional players. This presents challenges for maintaining the relationship, understanding patterns due to a lack of data, and running a business using less predictable customer behaviors.
Finance organizations have been migrating to the cloud in pursuit of scalability, security, and resilience. The ease and velocity at which companies can start a project in the cloud compel many organizations to ditch traditional on-premises environments in favor of public, often multi-cloud infrastructures – where more than one public cloud provider is used across the entire estate.
Traditionally an early adopter of new tools, finance organizations have embraced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to help with risk assessment and fraud prevention. With IDC forecasting financial services spending on AI/ML to account for nearly 14% of the $204 billion spent annually by 2025 – the second most spending on AI across all industries.
Analysts also predict that another growth area for AI will be in fair treatment of credit applicants, so everyone has fair access to lending and business funding.
And we cannot talk about technology in the finance sector without mentioning blockchain. Although cryptocurrencies have received much of the hype, the underlying blockchain technology is poised to redefine how these companies do business.
While the finance sector has relied on a centralized model for clearing transactions – think payment processing, regulation, and national banks – the distributed nature of blockchain technology will present significant challenges as companies and regulators rethink how to incorporate the benefits of blockchain into their businesses without losing the ability to affect monetary policy.
To be sure, the benefits cannot be ignored. Reducing fraud and waste, accelerating transaction processing times, and enhancing security, all while streamlining infrastructure are all just too compelling to ignore.
Case in Point
HSBC and Wells Fargo are using blockchain technology to settle foreign exchange trades. Mastercard, PayPal, and JPMC allow cryptocurrency payments on their networks, where JPMC even created its own cryptocurrency.
"We were fortunate to have Chad present at our sales rally this year and the feedback was outstanding. His message and alignment with our theme was spot-on. He held our teams attention from start to finish. His pre-call work really paid big dividends."
- First Citizens BankEvery industry is being pushed into change, in some cases faster than they prefer. Few industries have seen the pace of change that the financial services industry has dealt with. In his finance-oriented keynote addresses, Chad shares with audiences how to embrace the rapid pace of change in this industry with humor and excitement while discussing the unique technological challenges facing the industry, proven techniques on how to embrace change and make it work for your business, and the significant opportunities that have come about from the disruption of rapid change.
Explore our programs to see which one can help your organization create a culture that unleashes leadership potential to maximize individual and company performance.
To inquire about speaking, call 855-GET-CHAD and press Option 1 to connect with Brandy Gibson at Executive Speakers Bureau.
Identifying a keynote speaker with corporate experience is important as audiences face an onslaught of challenges. As a Keynote speaker and business leader, Chad E. Foster has extensive experience leading corporate teams and speaking at events and conventions for a number of leading companies in the corporate arena, including Google and Salesforce. Industries throughout the world are experiencing unprecedented disruption due to a number of factors. Digital transformation is affecting all sectors of the economy, and the recent global pandemic has reshaped how we transact, go to market, and work – even how we live our daily lives.
Given the velocity of change and its impact on commerce, it has never been more important to improve our ability to adapt to changes, shift our mindset, and reinvent ourselves and our businesses.
Reinventing oneself and one’s organization takes a combination of factors. But one thing we know for sure, having the right tools/technology is not enough. In order for organizations to navigate these uncertainties, it takes an alignment of technology, processes, and people.
So, how can you create a culture that prepares your people to deal with the onslaught of changes coming at them? Empowering associates to thrive in change isn’t easy but it’s not impossible either.
It starts with creating a culture that’s prepared to turn obstacles into opportunities so you can take advantage of your disadvantages. So how can we take advantage of our disadvantages?
One such example in the business world may be found in the retail sector. In 2012 Best Buy was facing intense pricing pressure from online retailers when its new CEO, Hubert Joly, decided to look at its portfolio of brick-and-mortar stores with a fresh set of eyes. Instead of viewing them as a liability, he chose to use them as assets in an innovative business redesign that created the stores-within-a-store model where supply chain partners would invest in retail point of sale storefronts to enhance product and sales expertise for their products, leading to higher customer satisfaction, reduced cost for suppliers, and reduced cost for Best Buy through supplier investments. The company also started using these storefronts as distribution centers in order to beat online retailer delivery times. Had the company thought about its network of stores as just a liability, it would’ve never been able to reimagine its future and take advantage of its disadvantages.
Unlocking your organization’s possibilities starts with influencing the mindset of every individual in your organization, so you can leverage the collective potential of each person. The power lies in having an organization of forward thinkers who can reimagine ways of doing business in a differentiated way.
We know that Our mindset affects the language we use and the actions we take. Knowing that holds true for each individual, the collective behaviors of our organization are affected by the way each individual thinks and acts.
So, if we want a resilient company culture, we need a workforce made up of resilient individuals, which is why it’s so crucial to influence how each person in your organization thinks about navigating change, turning obstacles into opportunities, and reaching their full potential – so your business can reach its full potential.
If you don’t feel like you’re reaching the levels of happiness that you see others enjoy, or your goals seem out of reach, you’re not alone. Life is too short for regrets. Learn how to use your mindset to reach your most daring dreams. Chad’s stories and lessons will inspire, empower, and prepare you to face uncertainty with hope and optimism. Want to be mentally tough, strong, resilient and prepared to adapt and thrive in changing circumstances? Self-confident to become your best you? It’s time to break free from the self-destructive thoughts that hold you back.
Ready To Turn Your Biggest Obstacle Into Your Biggest Advantage? The stories we tell ourselves either limit us or propel us towards our goals.