Sekou Andrews

Themes: Innovation, Disruption, Leadership, Creativity,Transformation
Length: 20 – 45 min

“Innovation is the difference between ‘Why didn’t Ithink of that?’ and ‘Why didn’t I think LIKE that?’” As
businesses scurry in pursuit of “big I” Innovation – exponential technologies, cultures of innovation, and the like – Sekou teaches leaders to see through the “little i’s” of an innovator, by innovating from within. Offering incredibly fresh perspectives on embracing failure, bold thinking and anticipating disruption, Sekou also shares his own story about the risks and rewards of disrupting the speaking industry with a cutting-edge style of communication. This insightful and inspiring talk often surprises leaders with how much it discomforts, delights, and transforms them on a business and personal level. No doubt why it is Sekou’s most requested keynote across industries from tech and healthcare, to finance and human resources.

This presentation is for audiences who want to be inspired and delighted, while also learning.

Themes: Challenging Convention, Bold Thinking, Making Waves, Innovation, Leading Change
Length: 20 – 60 min

“Your creativity holds the power to cure your own gravity.” Big ideas and bold thinking are not traits exclusive to pioneering leaders. They have been lying dormant within each of us since childhood, waiting to be reignited. This speech is the spark that rekindles your access to the imagination and creativity required to stir the waters and make waves in your industry. Inspired by hilarious grade school theories on how waves are made, Sekou delivers a highly inspiring and informative keynote on why leaders must challenge convention to make transformational change. Sharing pivotal moments and insights from barrier breaking companies and individuals, Sekou shows leaders how to spark the big ideas that make a big splash.

This presentation is for audiences who want to be inspired and delighted, while also learning.

Themes: Disruption, Technology, Customer/Consumer Experience, Social Media, Innovation
Length: 5 – 15 min

Have you heard of the new dance? It’s not the Macarena or the Wobble. Not the Whip or the Nae Nae. It’s the 3D – The Digital Disruption Dance. The Technology Tango. The Cyber Salsa. And all the cool kids are doing it. So all of the competitive companies must learn it. Your choreographer, Sekou Andrews, delivers a roller-coaster presentation unlike anything you’ve experienced. It not only speaks to the impact of disruption on businesses… it embodies it! Just when your audience thinks they know where the talk is going, it turns on a dime, while offering valuable insight from the voices of consumers, millenials, and digital natives who explain how you should approach them when asking for a dance. Sekou’s clever, quick paced choreography takes you on a journey from cacophony to clarity, as he inspires you to learn disruption’s rhythms and catch its groove so that you can not only keep up… you can take lead!

Themes: Dynamic Communication, Leadership, Public Speaking, Influence, Storytelling
Length: 30 – 60 min

“Your vision is only as powerful as your voice.” Sekou has built a successful speaking career having never been trained as a speaker. It is his training as a performer that makes him stand out as rockstar in the
speaking world. So this fun and interactive keynote reminds leaders that sometimes you must learn
from outside of your industry to stand out within your industry. Stage Might is Sekou’s highly effective
training system that teaches rockstar secrets to public speakers, influencers and leaders by applying the proven techniques of performers (songwriters, comedians, actors, dancers, improv artists) to business communications.

Based on the Stage Might X training, this keynote will be the most fun your audience has ever had while learning.

Themes: Strategic Storytelling, Engagement, Leadership, Compelling Communication, Influence
Length: 30 – 60 min

“As an influencer, it is your success with stories that will tell your story of success.” Storytelling is transforming how innovative companies market themselves, engage customers and reinvent their businesses. Sekou has helped diverse divisions – from sales and marketing, to fund-raising and tech – understand how to use strategic storytelling to reach consumers, employees and leadership on a human level. Pulling key material from his “Insist On Story” corporate training, this speech is rich with actionable insight delivered through Sekou’s creative, experiential style of storytelling.

This presentation is perfect for audiences who want to be inspired and delighted, while also learning.

Theme: Purpose, Passion, Finding Voice, Bold Thinking, Influence
Length: 10 – 35 min

For pioneers and innovators, the journey to success often begins in uncertainty, mystery, and darkness. So, too, begins the opening of this highly dramatic speech, with Sekou’s voice resonating through a completely dark room as he speaks about facing your darkness, blazing your own trail, and making
your own light. Suddenly, a beam of light strikes him sitting in the audience, and he continues an inspirational story of finding his voice and igniting purpose in others to help them shine. As the story’s journey progresses through captivating moments of darkness and light, so does his journey through
the room, stepping into pockets of light in the aisles, and ultimately onto a stage that only lights up once he leaps onto it with a throat coated in kerosene that turns attendees into a bonfire of passion, hope and personal growth.

This is a great opening/closing for any event you wish to set aflame, while also learning.

Themes: Success, Excellence, Culture of Winning, Storytelling, Passion
Length: 20 – 60 min

“We don’t know how to spell ‘end’ or ‘say when’ or do anything else but win… Win… WIN!!!” If you want to celebrate, or want to create, a culture of winners, hustlers, and go-getters in your community, then ‘Success Junkie’ will rock your audience. Set in the world of a support group for success addicts, this rousing, edgy and hilarious speech will celebrate your ambition, improve your self-care, and inspire your excellence. Rich with strategic insight on storytelling, shifting perspective, and the winner’s mind set, Sekou teaches you how to own your story so that you rewrite your ending and create the kind of success that is unending.

Themes: Success, Collaboration, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Community
Length: 30 – 60 min

“Being self-made means being help-made, from helpmates who help make your self-made success each day.” If you know what it’s like to be an Executive Director / IP Protector / past-due-invoice collector; or a parent of 3 getting your degree while working full time; or any type of proverbial “Jack/Jill-of-all-trades… then this speech celebrates you. Every entrepreneur, business owner or successful businessperson knows too well, the dichotomy of feeling alone while building your dream while being surrounded by the people who have helped you build it. So this speech helps you become a leader that grows from, and celebrates, everyone whose fingerprints are found on your success.

Themes: Success, Understanding Failure, Community, Storytelling, Leadership
Length: 20 – 60 min

“Failure is pre-success.” Sekou takes an unconventional and unflinching approach to the topic of success, by spending most of this presentation on failure. Not just the popular business concepts like “failing forward”, but the uncomfortable, vulnerable, human side of failure. In true poetic voice form, this speech is simultaneously inspiring, educational, and incredibly moving as Sekou reminds audiences that within community, shared stories, and the power of perspective, lie the lessons of how to fail effectively in order to succeed perpetually. They say “When one door closes, another opens. But until then… it’s hell in the hallway!” This inspirational talk helps propel those in the hallway to their next success.

This presentation is perfect for audiences who want to be inspired and delighted, while also learning.

Themes: Healthcare, Quality Care, Innovation, Transformation, Patient-centric
Length: 30 – 60 min

“Every trembling bone in my body is comforted each time she adds a bit of “treat” to my treatment… with care that covers the enrichment of my life, not merely the postponement of my death.” What if you could remind your audience of the moment they fell in love with healthcare? What if you could reignite the passion in providers – caregivers, executives and housekeeping alike – to connect with patients on a human, heartfelt level? What if you could take your entire healthcare community on a laughter and tear-filled journey that renews their vows to provide the best quality care. If you could do that – write a love poem to healthcare that makes your audience fall back in love with it – this keynote is how it would sound.

“You made me an UNspoken but UNmistakably UNderstood pinky promise when I was admitted into your care…” The provision of quality healthcare is a beautiful topic. Patient safety and medical error?… not so much. So Sekou transforms this important and challenging issue into a roller coaster ride of laughter, tears and insight that holds every team member accountable for keeping patients safe. The fact that this speech consistently leaves audiences carrying Sekou’s “Pinky Promise Pledge” back to their facilities, pinning it on their walls, and sharing it with their teams is proof of how poetic voice can turn the un-sexiest of topics into powerful anthems.

This speech is perfect for audiences who want to be motivated and celebrated, while also learning.

Themes: Healthcare, Prevention, Wellness, Behavior Change, Self-Care
Length: 20 – 40 min

“Your net wealth is not the best test for selfworth / The true measure of wealth is the score of your Net Health” It’s not that we don’t know what to do to be healthy, we just don’t always behave. So how do you change behavior in your community, your company or your personal life to cash in on the wealth that life offers? This speech uses a beautiful, brilliantly simple metaphor to compare the ways we calculate our wealth to the ways we can calculate our health, in order to increase productivity, extend mortality, and heighten vitality. No wonder it has been presented at Fortune 50 companies and leading health conferences, as well as used in graduate school curriculums to explore behavior change in an engaging and edutaining way.

Themes: Healthcare, Productivity, Prevention, Self-Care, Work-Life Balance
Length: 20 – 30 min

“We are losing the fight against the most vicious enemy healthcare has ever known … zombies.” Sekou boldly takes on prevention, workplace productivity, and preventive care with another unexpected yet surprisingly effective metaphor for a speech. Playing the character of a top general in the war against “workplace zombies”, he takes you through the fictional (or is it?) story of how the Sick Day Virus was spread, chronic disease was cured and human productivity was restored through prevention, technology, and purpose driven self-care. You will never think of zombies, paid-time-off, or healthcare the same way again!

Themes: Heart Disease, Obesity, Community, Education, Self-Care
Length: 15 – 25 min

“My grandmother was murdered… by a broken heart.” Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. Having lost many of his family members to it, Sekou knows this as well as anyone. So in this incredibly moving presentation, Sekou makes a plea to the cardiac community to join forces and find the missing beat that left his grandmother, uncles, aunts… and his father victim to the serial killer called heart disease. It celebrates the work of the healthcare providers, charges them to collaborate and innovate, and inspires them to new possibilities. Rich with emotional stories, industry data, and fun audience participation, this heartfelt and hilarious speech is a powerful addition to any conference or fundraiser that wants to bring a “wow factor” to the stage.

Themes: Healthcare, Cancer, Quality Care, Collaboration, Empowerment, Prevention
Length: 20 – 30 min

“By the time we’re done rebranding cancer, the threat of the “Big C” will be as benign as a cavity.” Pharma breakthroughs, personalized medicine, crowd sourced data, environmental health, preventive mobile tech … oh my! As healthcare soldiers battle against cancer on every front, this speech re-grounds them in the possibility and purpose behind their important work. With poignant moments of beauty, science and humor, Sekou steps into the future to take your audience on the semi-fictional, 5-stage journey that ultimately leads to cure. He explores bold concepts like “re-branding cancer”, “meaningful matter”, and the power within the cancer community, all while celebrating and inspiring them with a hope-filled vision of the future. Just as there is likely no one who has gone personally untouched by this disease, there is no audience that has gone unmoved by this speech. It is the perfect closing experience for the day, or the event.

Themes: Social Entrepreneurship, Collaboration, Community, CSR, Human Resources
Length: 20 – 45 min

“What if we repurpose our work differently today? Put some purpose in our profit, some MLK in our Labor Day?” Do you know the “purpose currency” of your employees or your community? Sekou challenges your audience to explore and engage the meaning beyond money that helps people profit in purpose. By the end of this playful presentation, Sekou will have played patty cake with the audience, initiated duck duck goose, and invited them to join in naked twister, as engaging reminders that connection is necessary, money is personal, and to humanize your business, “you have to undress … take your acronyms, degrees, and titles / strip them from your chest.”

This presentation is perfect for audiences who want to be inspired and delighted, while also learning.

Themes: Social Entrepreneurship, Collaboration, CSR, Financial Literacy, Redefining Wealth
Length: 20 – 45 min

“True wealth is not defined by whether I can pay for it, but whether I can pay it forward.” This speech, in various forms, has been shared with diverse audiences – from TEDx Wallstreet, to Conscious Capitalism, to the GAP. Its edgy message dances at the crossroads between the discomfort needed to compel change, and the inspiration needed to ignite possibility. Beginning with the discomforting declaration “This year, it’s about the money!”, Sekou embarks upon a 5-step journey of redefining wealth – moving from the most self-serving definitions to the most holistic. Remind your attendees to invest in themselves and their communities, and “make dollars that make change.”

*Longer versions of this speech combine content from “Currency of Purpose,”“New Money,” and “The Audacity of What If.”

Themes: Humanizing Business, Storytelling, Customer-Centric, Community, Imagination
Length: 20 – 45 min

“What if Business came to us for Human lessons? What would we teach it?” As TED Talks, consumer centrism and storytelling trend in business, industries are getting in touch with their humanity now more than ever. With over 15 years of speaking and consulting for global organizations on how to humanize messaging and galvanize communities, Sekou shares his diverse practices and concepts that help leaders with this charge. Spoiler alert: It begins with you having the audacity to ask… “What if there is a better way?” This speech teems with the kind of strategy and emotion that leaves even the stodgiest of audiences simultaneously swelling with valuable insight… and tears.

*Longer versions of this speech combine content from “Currency of Purpose”, “New Money”, and “The
Audacity of What If”.

Themes: Payments, Financial, Future, Collaboration, Commerce
Length: 20 – 45 min

“The future of payments is no longer just pay to play, it is PLAY to pay.” Leaders in the Payments industry who may be buried in the strategies and technological disruptions driving their future, must also remember to pause and bask in how that future will look. Lucky for them, the world’s leading poetic voice has time-traveled back to the past to give them a first-hand look at how they will revolutionize payments. Sekou’s futuristic character reminds the audience that their conquering of block chains, biometrics, and security breakthroughs came only when business leaders, tech innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs learned to collaborate and play together. Based on his years of research with leading banks, credit card companies, payment processors, FinTech brands, credit unions, and other financial organizations, combined with his unique ability to transform tech information into delightful inspiration, this fun, quirky presentation is a perfect opener for commerce-related events.

Themes: Meeting Planning, Events Production, Travel/Tourism, Experiential Events, Storytelling
Length: 20 – 45 min

“Today, the poet who rewrites the rules of speaking, joins the stage / to celebrate those reinventing the future of meetings in impressive ways.” The event speaker and the event producer are two sides of the same awesome coin – both partnering to harness the information and inspiration that makes meeting moments more moving and memorable. So who better to celebrate your work in creating amazing event experiences, than the poetic voice who makes amazing experiences out of every event topic he touches? With over 15 years of helping producers amplify messaging, electrify engagement… and look great to clients, few presenters can give voice to your industry like Sekou can. This speech will make your audience feel celebrated, inspired and charged to never underestimate the impact they have on this world by bringing communities together.

Themes: Futurism, Leadership, Humanizing Technology, Community, Innovation
Length: 30 – 45 min

“We don’t sit back and take the future. We show up, sleeves rolled up, to make the future.” Trying to get ahead of the future can cause leaders great anxiety as they face disruptive technologies in their industries. How will 3-D printing transform my farming business? How will AI impact my cyber security? How will digital biology affect my hospital… or my health plan… or my soul? The more technology blows our minds, the more it can terrify our hearts. Which is why this inspirational, interactive keynote has proven to be an essential moment of emotional refuge at events about the future. Spanning topics from exponential tech to neuroplasticity to empathy, Sekou reminds audiences that the future will only be as heartbreaking or heartwarming as we are; that our best future lies in our innovation, our ability to humanize business and, most importantly, in each other. Harnessing our connections in the present is what will blow the future’s mind, stir the future’s soul, and get right to the heart of the future.

Themes: Customer Service, Technology, Humanizing Business, Relationships, Customercentric
Length: 20 – 40 min

“I told her, ‘Baby I don’t do small talk, I do big listen.’” If you’ve ever wondered how Sekou manages to leave audiences weeping from deep emotional connections to highly technical content, this speech is a perfect example. He takes the customer lifecycle and masterfully compares it to the life cycle of a relationship, from end to end. It’s simple, beautiful, and highly relatable to any audience on a human level. It reminds CX audiences of the power they have to transform someone’s experience. To truly embody the feeling of disruption, the speech begins in a delightfully disruptive way that let the audience know from the start: “This will be an engaging and unusual keynote experience like no other.”

Themes: Personal Excellence, Entrepreneurship, Confidence, Passion, Work-Life Balance
Length: 20 – 60 min

“You are more than enough to get through this, and you’ve got a scrapbook full of ‘I-can’t-do-its’ to prove it.” This talk is like giving your audience their own “halftime-at-the-Superbowl-Al-Pacino-lockerroom speech!” Sekou shares inspirational insight and personal development jewels to help transcend challenging seasons. By the time you’re done laughing your stress off while reigniting your passion and confidence, you’ll want to share these infectiously creative take-aways with others to remind them to “LIVE WHAT YOU LOVE,” be the “LITTLE EXTRA CUP,” and “ALWAYS VACUUM WITH A SMILE.” Based on “The Awesome Anthem” – Sekou’s popular video featuring Quincy Jones, Tim Ferris, Norman Lear, and many others – this speech is perfect for business conferences, year-end celebrations, and entertainment events.