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
Are you looking for a keynote speaker with experience in the technology and IT services industry who can help your organization navigate the unprecedented pace of disruption and change? Having worked in the technology industry for over 20 years, Chad E. Foster understands and has been a keynote speaker at events and conventions for a number of leading players in the tech sector, including Google and Salesforce.
Technology organizations are facing typical changes brought about by expected disruption, and the global pandemic accelerated the digital transformation journey of nearly every organization on the planet. Technology organizations are witnessing a rise in the use of technology in their businesses, where data and analytics play an increasingly larger role in their business models.
The days of having the best widget and guaranteeing market share for the foreseeable future are over. Now, the true value of any innovation is determined by the speed to value for that new product or feature. When changes are happening with such velocity, it’s imperative that businesses capitalize on innovations by getting them to market before their competitors.
While software development methodologies such as open source have unlocked innovation for millions of organizations, a company’s ability to reap the full benefit of that innovation depends on its ability to manage the complexity of code changes, orchestrate the vast and growing number of containers, and automate workload management across many different environments – on-premises, as well as in multiple public clouds. Because of this complexity, preserving customer choice is key – many technologists believe that the public clouds lock in customers in a way that’s similar to how mainframes held customers hostage starting in the 20th century and continuing up until today.
As businesses embark on rearchitecting APIs to provide greater transparency into their supply chain, they create the ability to harness data insights for monetization opportunities.
Think about a hotel chain with the technology instrumentation that allows supply chain partners to know who enjoys an early morning tee time, a day at the spa, or an evening of fine dining at a local restaurant. These insights enable partners to move from a reactive posture to a proactive posture – all while increasing customer satisfaction, revenue, and customer retention.
With technologies like edge computing and 5G taking shape over the coming years, technology organizations will be able to distribute data and workloads closer to where they are being consumed. This reduction of latency will lay the foundation for use cases such as autonomous vehicles, remote medical care, and emergency services over 5G networks.
Companies will be able to shift their technology stacks from the vertically-integrated hardware redundant models of the past, to the horizontal-based software resilient models of the future, allowing them to control their cost, build scalability into their infrastructure, and enable business agility – all while driving innovation, retaining choice, and creating efficiencies in a build once, deploy anywhere software development model that increases their speed to market/value while improving the use of developer time.
"I walked out with a whole new outlook on life just listening to Foster sharing his life experience. A true visionary!!"
- IBM/Red Hat"Highly recommend Chad if you are looking to build a team that thrives in change!"
- SalesforceEvery industry is being pushed into change, in some cases faster than they prefer. Few industries have seen the pace of change that the tech/IT industry has dealt with. In his technology-oriented keynote addresses, Chad shares with your audience how to embrace the rapid pace of change in the IT 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.