Master storyteller, passionate educator, and trend translator, Kim Seeling Smith helps business leaders move from disruptable to indestructible in the post-pandemic world.
Kim is a sought-after NOW of Work expert (because the Future of Work arrived on Friday the 13th of March 2020 with Covid-19).
Prior to founding her consulting firm, Ignite Global, she managed globally ranked recruitment teams in the US, New Zealand and Australia and was a KPMG trained CPA.
COVID-19 was the first (and hopefully most significant) disruption of this decade, but it will certainly not be the last.
To seize opportunities and overcome challenges presented by the inevitable disruptions over the next few years, we must make significant changes to our organizational structures, our leadership and the way we build and retain teams.
Good enough is no longer good enough. We must be agile, flexible, innovative, and resilient.
We must be exceptional.
Current Work:
Kim is a regular commentator for Sunrise, The Today Show, Forbes, CNBC Online, Smart Company, Fast Company, the Australian Financial Review, the Sydney Morning Herald, and many other print and radio media outlets.
Kim has judged 4 international HR awards and is the author of Mind Reading for Managers: 5 FOCUSed Conversations for Greater Employee Engagement and Productivity and the co-author of 101 Great Ways to Enhance Your Career (with personal development guru and mega author Brian Tracy).
Kim has been recognised by Richard Branson’s 100% Human at Work Initiative for the innovative, yet practical work Ignite Global does to help businesses solve the very complex challenges around the Now of Work.
She is a founding member of Virgin Unite’s 100% Human at Work Initiative in Australia and the Chief Inspiration Officer for Inspire Sydney.
In 2020 Kim was named as one of the Top 101 Global Influencers on Employee Engagement.
Kim is a Certified Virtual Presenter and has been presenting virtually since 2012.
Talking Points
9 Keys to Avoid the Great Resignation
Format: 45 - 90 minute keynote to day-long training, onstage or online delivery.9 Keys to Avoid the Great Resignation
This program is perfect for:
Anyone who manages staff who yearns for a simple, practical way to increase employee engagement, wellbeing and profitability with their team.
The audience will leave with:
- An understanding of how you directly impact your team’s performance and what you can do about it.
- A proven framework to help hold your staff accountable for great performance (especially with a remote workforce)
- A practical model, based on over 5,000 exit interviews and updated to include the latest international research on the Great Resignation. This model will help you understand (and deliver on) everything your staff needs to be happy, productive and perform at their best. We take the guesswork out of employee motivation.
Description:
The Great Resignation is sweeping the globe and barrelling towards Australia. Various Australian studies show that between 25 - 75% of the Australian workforce is planning to look for another role within the next 6 months.
But why are Aussies quitting? Just like the percentages above, the reasons vary wildly depending on the study.
Luckily, reverse engineering over 5,000 exit interviews gives us significant clues as to what workers really want and what employers need to deliver to hold onto their team through the Great Resignation and beyond.
This model, dubbed the 9 Currencies of Choice® was originally developed in 2010 and has recently been updated for the Post-Pandemic workforce. It has proven to be wildly successful in increasing employee retention, motivation, productivity and profitability.
If your success depends on your ability inspire and retain a great team this session is not to be missed.
Real results from clients include:
-The IT Department within a large heavy equipment distributor beat the company’s average employee engagement scores by 23 points.
- A financial services company decreased its employee turnover from 30% to 22% in 1 year.
- One division within an engineering consulting firm went from having the highest employee turnover and the lowest profitability per head to the highest profitability per head in just 6 months - while not losing another staff member for over 2 years.
- A manufacturing company negotiated a union contract with far less stress than had ever happened previously, according to one site manager.
The 3 Disruptions and 5 Key Trends to Win the Future (Now) of Work
Format: 45-90 minute keynote or breakout, half-day facilitation. On stage or online delivery.The 3 Disruptions and 5 Key Trends to Win the Future (Now) of Work
This program is perfect for:
- Senior leaders
- Executive teams
- Boards of Directors
- HR Professionals
…whose success depends on successfully understanding and navigating the new world of work.
The audience will leave with:
- Research, case studies and stories to help them understand the 3 disruptions facing business through the next decade and the 5 emerging trends every business leader must embrace to win the Future (Now) of Work.
- A simple, online survey to do an initial self-assessment against the 5 trends
- Practical steps to help them take the first steps to ensure they are match fit for the future
Description:
Covid 19 will hopefully be the most significant disruption of this decade, but the futurists, demographers and economists amongst us will tell you it certainly won’t be the last.
Some estimates show that businesses are up to 5 years ahead of their predicted technology implementation as a result of the pandemic.
The World Economic Forum’s “Future of Jobs” report, released in October 2020, stated that“…by 2025, the time spent on current tasks at work by humans and machines will be equal.”
But technology isn’t the only thing affecting the future workplace.
There is a rising tension between globalisation and localisation.
Our skills disparity is increasing with a dire critical skills shortage occurring in some functions and industries at the same time as a talent glut occurring in others.
And the workforce is now fully empowered - and demanding change - and getting it.
How do businesses win at the Future of Work? By understanding and embracing these 5 Key Trends.
Join us for a highly engaging, thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining trip into the future.
Comments from previous audience members:
- “This was packed with so much information - but delivered in a really engaging way.”
- “Never a dull moment with Kim Seeling Smith”
- “I loved the stats that you used and how you tied them to the stories you told.”
How Drinking Your Own Kool-Aid Could Be Poisoning Your Business
Format: 45-90 minute keynote or breakout, on stage or online delivery.How Drinking Your Own Kool-Aid Could Be Poisoning Your Business
This program is perfect for:
- Senior leaders
- Executive teams
- Boards of Directors
…whose success depends on fending off disruption from their competitors. This disruption could include anything from product innovation, market share or your ability to attract and retain top talent.
The audience will leave with:
- A greater appreciation of the hidden - but equally deadly - types of disruption
- A steadfast understanding of how the stories we tell ourselves as a business can actually cause us to be disrupted
- A 3 step framework to help you honestly and thoroughly examine the stories you tell yourself as a business to look - and fix - areas of vulnerability
Description:
Being disruptive is sexy. But let’s face it, not every leader or organization can be disruptive.
Unfortunately every leader - and every organisation - can be disrupted.
Most never see it coming - although they should. Disruption doesn’t happen because a better product or service comes along.
Disruption happens because companies - or industries - drink their own Kool-Aid. They lull themselves into complacency believing the stories they tell themselves about their products, customers and staff. Stories that are just plain wrong - but are so entrenched they don't challenge their validity.
Sony never saw the rise of the iPhone - despite the fact that they had the technology long before Apple.
Kodak wasn’t disrupted because of the rise of digital photography. They invented the first digital camera and spent millions on R & D. Kodak was disrupted because they didn’t understand changing consumer preferences in how their people wanted to view the photos they took - regardless of how they were taken.
This thought-provoking and extremely entertaining presentation will help you identify and examine the stories you tell yourself.
Through this 3 step process, you will be able to identify where you or your organisation is vulnerable and begin to develop an action plan to fend off your competitors where you may be the most vulnerable.
How to Ride the Waves from Disruption to Recovery
Format: 45-90 minute keynote or breakout, on stage or online delivery.How to Ride the Waves from Disruption to Recovery
This program is perfect for:
- Senior leaders
- Executive teams
- Boards of Directors
…whose success depends on successfully navigating their teams and organizations through the “Decade of Disruption” - what many are calling the post-pandemic world.
The audience will leave with:
- An understanding of the specific and predictable phases organizations and teams go through on the road from disruption to recovery
- A list of practical steps to address commercial and workforce considerations necessary to not only survive but thrive post Covid-19
- An Insights Paper that thoroughly outlines the necessary steps to successfully navigate any disruption
Description:
The Future of Work arrived on Friday the 13th of March 2020 when COVID-19 thrust us into a reality for which few of us were prepared.
The economic fallout associated with COVID-19 came swiftly for some organizations but will come more slowly, in successive waves for others.
Unfortunately, some organizations and some leaders within those organizations won't survive and through recovery.
However, other organizations and people leaders will not only survive - they will thrive. They will come out stronger than ever because they have successfully ridden the waves from disruption to recovery.
It may feel like we are all figuring this new world out together, but it turns out that there are specific and predictable phases that lead from disruption to recovery.
These phases are dynamic. One doesn't begin as another ends; instead, they come like waves, building, flowing and eventually ebbing - all the while overlapping and intersecting.
What organizations and people leaders do in each phase - especially the Pre-recovery phase - determines how quickly - and how well - the organization recovers from an economic shock.
Comments from previous conference organisers:
- “We could not be more delighted with the impact Kim has made with our business and with our clients.”
- “By far the strongest results of our entire series of business summits.”
- “Without a doubt the best hour I’ve spent since the pandemic started.”
The Unified Theory of Everything People
Format: 45-60 minute breakout or half-day workshop, on stage or online delivery.The Unified Theory of Everything People
This program is perfect for:
- Business leaders and HR Practitioners who want to hire better people - and keep them once they have them.
- Anyone interested in the latest strategies to hire and retain staff in the post-pandemic world and through the “Decade of Disruption.”
At the end of this presentation you will:
- Think differently about how you recruit, engage and retain top talent
- Feel more confident about how to win at the Future of Work
- Know specifically what to Do to compete for and keep top talent in the coming decade
Description:
COVID-19 was the first (and hopefully most significant) disruption of this decade, but it will certainly not be the last.
To seize opportunities and overcome challenges presented by the inevitable disruptions that technology and the tension between globalisation and localisation will bring over the next few years, we must rethink how we hire and manage people because our current practices were designed for different ages and a different workforce.
Good enough will not be good enough in the future. We must be agile, flexible, innovative and resilient.
The Unified Theory of Everything People is a holistic, practical model.
It is based on two decades of extensive research and will help organizations and people leaders with practical solutions they can use immediately to build and retain the workforce they will need to survive this “Decade of Disruption.”
Real results from clients include:
- A financial services company decreased its employee turnover from 45% - 22% in 18 months by applying this entire model.
- A logistics company stopped the revolving door within their sales department by applying the hiring piece of this model.
- The IT Department within a large heavy equipment distributor beat the company’s average employee engagement scores by 23 points by applying the retention piece of this model.
Kim Seeling Smith as your Event Host or MC
Format: On stage or online delivery.Kim Seeling Smith as your Event Host or MC
This program is perfect for:
Any business audience who needs a credible, thoughtful and highly engaging MC to weave the speakers’ presentations into the theme of the conference, helping the audience connect the dots and experience the organiser’s desired outcomes.
At the end of this event your audience will:
- Think more deeply and clearly about the conference theme and speakers’ presentation topics
- Feel as though time out of the office was not only well spent - but highly enjoyable
- Know how the speakers relate to each other and to the conference theme
Description:
Kim was born to MC. Highly engaging and energetic, naturally curious, with exceptional pattern recognition skills, she is extremely adept at creating a flow and managing the energy of the audience throughout your event - whether it lasts 4 hours or 2 days.
Kim’s work as an MC runs the gamut. She can simply show up on the day to introduce speakers, provide the glue between sessions and manage the energy of the audience. Or she can take a much more active approach in helping you develop a theme, shape the event and strategise on speakers.
Comments from previous conference organisers:
- “Kim was one of the best Chairs I have worked with and she was instrumental in ensuring the smooth running of the event.”
- “Your energy just never ran out - at the end of day 2 you were going like it was the beginning of day 1.”
Mind Reading for Managers®: Know yourself, know your team and achieve anything
The results are in! Research shows that the manager is the reason staff are disengaged, uninspired, underproductive - and ultimately leave.Mind Reading for Managers®: Know yourself, know your team and achieve anything
Luckily, you can fix that quickly and easily. When you do, your team will perform better and be happier - and so will you!
Let me explain.
The Gallup Organization shows that managers affect employee engagement scores by up to 70% and the HBR's 10-year study of great leaders shows the #1 thing that all great leaders do is to develop strong connections with their staff.
Connection begins with conversation. But most managers don't talk to their staff enough, about the right things or in the right way.
So we’ve taken the guesswork out of what to talk about and when. We call this Mind Reading for Managers - no crystal balls required!
Mind Reading for Managers has 2 components. The Target Rich Objectives help you set the bar and hold your staff accountable for great performance. The 9 Currencies of Choice was developed from over 5,000 exit interviews, which means you no longer have to guess what your team needs to be fully engaged and highly profitable.
Mind Reading for Managers has an 8-year track record of adding to companies' bottom lines, which could make you a hero - on the fast track for your next promotion.
If your success depends on your ability to hire, inspire and retain a great team this session is not to be missed.
Real results from clients include:
- The IT Department within a large heavy equipment distributor beat the company’s average employee engagement scores by 23 points.
- A financial services company decreased its employee turnover from 30% to 22% in 1 year.
- One division within an engineering consulting firm went from having the highest employee turnover and the lowest profitability per head to the highest profitability per head in just 6 months - while not losing another staff member for over 2 years.
- A manufacturing company negotiated a union contract with far less stress than had ever happened previously, according to one site manager.
The Future of AI is Human
In an era where AI and automation are reshaping the Future of Work, your competitive edge doesn’t lie within the technology itself, but in our uniquely human traits - and our ability to navigate the critical intersection of human creativity, empathy, and strategic thinking with cutting-edge AI advancements.The Future of AI is Human
This keynote delves into how leveraging our human strengths in harmony with AI can lead to unparalleled innovation, deeper customer and client connections, and a thriving workplace culture.
Key Takeaways:
- Navigating the AI Partnership: Learn to seamlessly integrate AI into your business strategies while enhancing human creativity and innovation.
- Cultivating a Future-Fit Workforce: Strategies to develop a workforce adept at working alongside AI, focusing on upskilling and reskilling in human-centric skills.
- Leading with Humanity in an AI World Leadership approaches that prioritize human values and ethics in the age of automation, fostering an inclusive and innovative organizational culture.
Video
Kim Seeling Smith | Speaker Reel | Saxton Speakers Bureau
Master storyteller, passionate educator and trend translator, Kim Seeling Smith will help your organisation move from disruptable to indestructible in the post-pandemic world. Kim is THE Now of Work expert (because the Future of Work arrived on Friday the 13th of March 2020 with Covid-19).Kim Seeling Smith | MC & Event Host | Saxton Speakers Bureau
Kim was born to MC. Highly engaging and energetic, naturally curious, with exceptional pattern recognition skills, she is extremely adept at creating a flow and managing the energy of the audience throughout your event - whether it lasts 4 hours or 2 days. Kim’s work as an MC runs the gamut. She can simply show up on the day to introduce speakers, provide the glue between sessions and manage the energy of the audience. Or she can take a much more active approach in helping you develop a theme, shape the event and strategise on speakers.Kim Seeling Smith | 5 Trends to Win the Future of Work | Saxton Speakers Bureau
Kim Seeling Smith | Is Drinking Your Own Kool-Aid Poisoning Your Business? | Saxton Speakers Bureau
Being disruptive is sexy. But let’s face it, not every leader or organization can be disruptive. Unfortunately every leader - and every organisation - can be disrupted. Most never see it coming - although they should. Disruption doesn’t happen because a better product or service comes along.Kim Seeling Smith | The Future of AI is Human
The Best digital speaker session I’ve been a part of. Kim managed to get the same level of engagement as she would standing in front of us. ... keep reading RSM Australia
