Bill Benjamin

Profile

Engaging and dynamic... you’d never know he is a math and computer guy!

Bill has a rare perspective - he has advanced degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science and has 25 years of real-world business experience as a senior leader.

Current Work:

Bill is very authentic about the fact that he struggled early in his career as a leader when he was under pressure. He shares how he has been able to apply the very same techniques he teaches to become a better leader (and husband and father) himself.

In addition to using his background in sales to motivate and inspire audiences, Bill leverages his Mathematics and technical background to take a practical and scientific approach to helping people understand how the brain responds under pressure, and how that can help increase leadership and performance. Bill is a partner at the Institute for Health and Human Potential (IHHP), a successful international research and training company, named one of the “Fastest Growing Companies” in the “Fast 100” ranking in PROFIT Magazine. Bill also contributed to the New York Times and Amazon bestselling book Performing Under Pressure, co-authored by IHHP’s JP Pawliw-Fry and noted psychologist Hendrie Weisinger.

The combination of Bill's practical nature and scientific approach to leadership make him a hit with analytical audiences. His high energy level and enthusiasm has resulted in a successful track record with discerning audiences that include surgeons, U.S Marines and NASA engineers.

Expertise

Talking Points

You Won't Win if you Can't Keep your Best People

LEVERAGING THE SCIENCE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

With 40-70% of people contemplating leaving their jobs, the challenge of retaining your best and brightest has never been more important.

But you won’t keep and engage them if you rely on pay, benefits or cool job titles.

It’s been a challenging two years and people are getting burned out and overwhelmed, yet they are now facing increased uncertainty, change, and the pressure to deliver with limited resources. What they need to be successful in this environment is a manager who is equipped with the skills of Emotional Intelligence (EI). A manager who, in times of stress, can tune in to the needs of their directs and help them grow, be resilient and productive.

Unfortunately, at the very time your people have this critical need, pressure is pushing your well-intentioned managers to become more command and control, and less connected to their people, causing your best to consider greener pastures. It doesn’t have to be this way.

In this powerful virtual or live experience, your managers and leaders will learn how to:
- Grow their skills of Emotional Intelligence so they can tune into the challenges their people are facing.
- Lead with empathy and edge, to drive increased retention, engagement and performance
- Use brain-based strategies to manage their own stress and emotions so they can be resilient, a source of calm in your organization and coach people to be their best in the most trying situations.
- Influence & engage others who are at a distance and create the conditions to keep the best and brightest, which is the key to winning in 2022.

How to Perform Under Pressure

Your people are facing the most intense challenge of their careers, yet most continue to rely on their IQ and technical skills to manage through. It’s not enough.

To survive, your organization needs to be agile and see opportunities where others do not. Your team needs to learn how to work effectively with others who are, themselves, under pressure themselves.

In this powerful program, your team will learn:
- Specific tools learned from working with high performers in the NFL, NBA, Olympic teams, Navy seals, Goldman Sachs, Intel, among others to be more adaptable, resilient, collaborative and opportunistic.
- How to manage their brain so they think, perform and lead under pressure.
The single most important daily habit that increases focus and decreases burnout
- This virtual program is based on a 12,000-person study we did for our New York Times bestselling book, Performing Under Pressure

“Best online presentation I have ever attended. Different than the usual: interactive and engaging, yet highly substantive. Huge success.”

- Morgan Stanley

The Art of Empathy: The Antidote to the Great Resignation

Your people are burning out. After a long, difficult time during the pandemic, they are feeling overworked and underappreciated. This is causing many to question staying in their current position. The most important thing your organization can offer them is an environment that is strong in empathy. When an individual doesn’t feel like they have a voice, doesn’t feel valued or doesn’t know where they stand with their manager, they start to disengage, lose energy and contemplate leaving. This is especially true when they face uncertainty and the challenges of remote/hybrid work.

Equipping your managers (and your whole organization) with empathy not only helps people who are struggling to get though a tough time, it also puts them on the road to achieving great things together. Something they truly desire.

In this powerful virtual program, your people will learn:
- What the single greatest cause of a lack of empathy is.
- Why building both Heart and Edge (the ability to care and tune-in also, and the ability to hold people accountable) is so important to getting discretionary effort and building a great culture.
- What empathy is (and what it isn’t), and how to leverage empathy to inspire their people to do great work.
- What the key components are to building an environment of high psychological safety, and why it matters to innovation.
- How to work better, together, in a virtual or hybrid environment.

All Change is Personal

“People change what they do less because they are given analysis that shifts their thinking than because they are shown a truth that influences their feelings.” - John Kotter

The usual approach to change does not take into consideration the human brain and its neurological realities. The brain’s primary hardwired mission is ‘first, keep alive.’ When change is coming the brain senses personal danger and all too often its built-in responses are to trigger emotions that cause people to resist and prevent change. This is the major reason why over 80% of change efforts fail.

In this program, you will:

- Learn what Last 8% situations are and how they impact the personal aspect of change
- Understand what happens to your brain in face of change, uncertainty, and pressure
- Specific tools and strategies to manage emotions so you can deal effectively with change
- Understand how to apply the strategies to increase resilience, as well as promote creativity and innovation.
- This powerful program is delivered by Bill Benjamin, of the Institute for Health and Human Potential, who contributed to the New York Times best seller, Performing Under Pressure. Bill has degrees in Mathematics and - Computer Science and has worked with people in high pressure environments including Goldman Sachs, Intel, NASA, The U.S Marines, The Federal Reserve Bank and Surgeons, to name a few.

Why Avoiding Difficult (Last 8%) Situations you Face is Sabotaging your Best Performance

Most people struggle to have the impact they want to have because they lack the tools to confront the more difficult conversations they face. Avoiding difficult conversations, decisions, and tasks, what we call Last 8% Situations, not only handicaps an organization’s ability to adapt and win but disengages their most important resource, their people.

Now is not the time to play safe. As you face a new post-pandemic normal, tough decisions and conversations will have to be made about how you work (and where) in order to realize your organization’s success.

In this powerful virtual program, your people will learn specific tools to:
- Engage in the difficult conversations and decisions that lead to a high performing culture that drives innovation, engagement, and success.
- Create an environment of high psychological safety so people are not afraid to offer new and different ideas, the key to innovation.
- Work better, together, in a virtual environment where people struggle to stay focused through long days on Zoom.

“This virtual keynote exceeded my expectations. I learned something new hearing about the research on the Last 8% and our brain responses.”
- Deloitte