Keynotes to DRIVE EXCELLENCE, engagement, and resilience.

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MY SIGNATURE KEYNOTES

Great Culture Begins at the Table: Human Connection As Your Competitive Advantage

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, leaders are up against unprecedented challenges. AI is transforming industries, reshaping job roles, and automating once-essential tasks. The workforce is navigating uncertainty, burnout, and shifting expectations about what it means to feel engaged and valued.

Yet, amid this disruption, one truth remains: human connection is the ultimate competitive advantage.

This keynote inspires and equips high-performing leaders, teams, and organizations to see human connection not as a soft skill, but as their most powerful (and often untapped) strategic edge — driving performance, loyalty, innovation, and resilience.

In a world flooded with information, automation, and distraction, the deepest differentiator isn't technology, efficiency, or even talent — it's the ability to forge authentic human connection at scale.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 

  • Connection is Currency: Trust, loyalty, and opportunity flow to those who invest in authentic relationships — not just transactions.

  • Presence Over Productivity: Slowing down to be fully present creates moments that compound into lasting impact.

  • Curiosity is the New Superpower: Those who lead with questions — not assumptions — unlock hidden ideas, solutions, and loyalty.

  • Gratitude Transforms Performance: Small, consistent acts of appreciation dramatically accelerate collaboration, innovation, and growth.

  • Connection is Built, Not Hoped For: A competitive advantage doesn't happen by accident. It happens by design — through daily rituals, questions, and courageous conversations.

Gratitude: The cornerstone of excellence, leadership, and strong communication.

In a world where leadership often translates to quicker decisions, larger initiatives, and greater pressures, it's easy to overlook the core elements that sustain long-term success. Leaders are struggling not just to excel but to meaningfully connect in ways that promote sustainable excellence.

This keynote reframes gratitude not as a passive emotion, but as an active, strategic driver of leadership excellence, organizational resilience, and transformative communication — helping leaders build sustainable success through small, powerful, human-centered actions.

In a world obsessed with speed, scale, and output, the leaders who endure — and elevate those around them — are the ones who anchor themselves in gratitude. Gratitude isn’t the reward for success; it’s the foundation of it.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 

  • Embrace Slow Listening: Real leadership begins by slowing down enough to truly hear. Slow listeners spot hidden connections, unlock innovation, and build trust others can't.

  • Lead with Generosity: Like Paul Revere, great leaders act as bridges — connectors, messengers, catalysts for change — strengthening the fabric of their teams and communities.

  • Focus on Continuous Improvement: Excellence is built through small, consistent steps. Inspired by Toyota’s kaizen philosophy, leaders must prioritize agile, incremental growth over heroic sprints.

  • Pursue Purpose with Focus: Leaders who anchor themselves to clear purpose — and protect their focus — achieve greater, more lasting impact. Chasing everything leads to catching nothing.

  • “Chris Schembra's keynote at the Chase senior leadership conference was a transformative experience, weaving empathy, vulnerability, and gratitude seamlessly into our corporate culture. His ability to foster genuine connections left our executive team inspired and equipped with invaluable tools for fostering deeper relationships both within the workplace and beyond.”

    -Lisa Besserman, Head of Innovation, JP Morgan Chase

  • “Chris has a unique gift in connecting with others to help us be our best selves at work! His thoughtful and authentic focus on gratitude in engaging ways fostered camaraderie amongst the Citi team during our Gratitude Experience, building true connections and a meaningful shared experience.”

    —Morgan McKenney, Chief Operating Officer, Citi

  • "On the battlefield I've seen the effect that energy and enthusiasm plays as a force multiplier. Chris brings a level of passion that permeates his audience and positively affects the morale of everyone he comes in contact with."

    —Colonel David Sutherland (Bronze Star and Purple Heart Award, US Army)

  • “Chris is a fiercely committed person to what he believes in, the Power of Human Connection through his keynotes and experiences. He is a person who brings the good out in others and his positive energy is contagious from the stage!"

    —Michael Roberts, Former President and COO, McDonald’s Corporation

  • "A completely new way to connect with our customers, prospects, and teams, but more importantly - a way for them all to connect with one-another! Chris Schembra is the inventor of this type of human connection construct, and never before has this been deployed in the world of Enterprise Software / Cloud."

    —Tony Safoian, President, CEO at SADA Systems

  • "Many of our employees said this was the best 90 minutes they'd ever spent at Dell. I connected with someone that I had not before. It got deep and personal quick. We haven’t been able to connect like that, and people are really going through some things right now. The world is on fire right now and you're here to help them put out those fires."

    —Erik Day, SVP Small Business Dell Technologies

  • “Chris, you radiated authenticity. A unique trait I hope to grow and develop myself. I took away so many nuggets of wisdom pertaining to our field, but with that out-of-the-box perspective. Something I feel that everyone needs and can benefit from, but rarely receive. One of our biggest goals from the keynote address and you pulled it off!”

    — Alyson Stoffer, Co-Chair, North Carolina Philanthropy Conference

  • “Chris Schembra kicked things off and led us through a keynote focused on gratitude. The room hung on every word (not an overstatement) as he offered up tactical strategies for enhancing our emotional well-being and how to build community, and connection within our everyday work.”

    -Laura Hilton, Head of Talent, Bain Capital Ventures

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Chris Schembra is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, keynote speaker, and leading expert on the power of gratitude and human connection.

Creator of the 7:47 Gratitude Experience™, Chris has helped thousands of leaders and teams at organizations like Google, Microsoft, IBM, Dell, and the U.S. Navy foster belonging, resilience, and peak performance through scientifically-backed frameworks. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, USA Today, Good Morning America, and more.