Exclusive

Thomas A. Kolditz

Brigadier General (Ret.), Leadership Thought Leader, Author, and Founding Executive Director of the Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University, Global Gurus Top 30 StartUp Coach 2024

A retired Brigadier General with three Master’s degrees and a Phd in psychology, Thomas Kolditz has spent more than 30 years at the helm of organizations, directed the Leader Development Program at Yale School of Management, and challenged the Pentagon to take on leadership development, founding the West Point Leadership Center. He went on to become the founding Executive Director of the Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University, the most comprehensive, evidence-based, university-wide leadership program in the world. A recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal, the Army’s highest award for service, General Kolditz is a renowned expert on leading through crisis, turbulence and extreme conditions. He is the author of In Extremis Leadership: Leading As If Your Life Depended On It, an authoritative book based on more than 175 interviews taken on the ground in Iraq during combat operations. Considered a visionary in the field of leadership training and development, General Kolditz shares invaluable perspectives and a thrill ride of stories from a career on four continents, always leaving audiences with pragmatic, actionable takeaways that they can immediately apply.

  • Thomas A. Kolditz Keynote Speaker Fee Fee range is for U.S. events, depending on location and organization type

    $20,001 - $30,000

  • Languages Spoken

    English

  • Travels From

    Illinois, USA

  • Thomas A. Kolditz Keynote Speaker Fee Fee range is for U.S. events, depending on location and organization type

    $20,001 - $30,000

  • Languages Spoken

    English

  • Travels From

    Illinois, USA

Suggested Keynote Speaker Programs

In Extremis Leadership: Leading As If Your Life Depended On It

Operating environments for both government and business are characterized by volatility, complexity, and uncertainty—perfect conditions for crises to emerge. Brigadier Gen. Tom Kolditz, author of ...

Operating environments for both government and business are characterized by volatility, complexity, and uncertainty—perfect conditions for crises to emerge. Brigadier Gen. Tom Kolditz, author of In Extremis Leadership: Leading as if Your Life Depended on It, shows how extreme life-and-death situations can offer profound lessons for leaders in any setting. Tom’s research reveals that the leadership skills and principles evident in dangerous settings also apply to leading in business and everyday life, making this program applicable to both personal and professional success.

Learn More

Failure: Why You Can Survive Big Mistakes

Fear of failure holds companies back. General Kolditz shows anxious employees, particularly young people, that failures, even big ones, do not necessarily end one’s career IF handled properly. He reviews a number of colorful mini-case studies of significant failures, ...

Fear of failure holds companies back. General Kolditz shows anxious employees, particularly young people, that failures, even big ones, do not necessarily end one’s career IF handled properly. He reviews a number of colorful mini-case studies of significant failures, then stuns the audience with the reveal that the failures were all his. He unpacks how fear affects leadership, and discusses how firing vs. retaining personnel really works. His direct professional experience at managing failure, yet becoming highly successful, is both informative and inspirational to all for whom fear that a single failure is a career ender.

Learn More

Measure What Matters: Innovate With OKRs (Objectives and Key Results)

If you can’t measure it, how do you know it’s working? With four successful start-ups, and as the founding executive director of the Ann & John Doerr Institute for New Leaders, Tom shares specific techniques for sparking ...

If you can’t measure it, how do you know it’s working? With four successful start-ups, and as the founding executive director of the Ann & John Doerr Institute for New Leaders, Tom shares specific techniques for sparking innovation, tracking outcomes, and achieving real results. Management by OKRs has been extraordinarily successful in stand-alone start-ups, but it also energizes innovation and initiative in established organizations. Tom can lay out the “how.”

Learn More

Hope Is not a Method: 40 years of Leadership Takeaways

Too often, leaders hope for success without using specific techniques for leading effectively.  After leading dozens of organizations on 4 continents, and teaching leaders and leadership for 25 years, Tom distills ...

Too often, leaders hope for success without using specific techniques for leading effectively.  After leading dozens of organizations on 4 continents, and teaching leaders and leadership for 25 years, Tom distills eight proven techniques he uses regularly to get the job done as a leader.  This presentation is extremely pragmatic and will allow for immediate application in peoples’ professional and personal lives.

Learn More

Leaders Developing Leaders

One of a leader’s most powerful legacies is developing the leaders who follow them. Leadership development programs in business are often focused on talent managers and HR directors. Brigadier Gen. Tom Kolditz ...

One of a leader’s most powerful legacies is developing the leaders who follow them. Leadership development programs in business are often focused on talent managers and HR directors. Brigadier Gen. Tom Kolditz illustrates how, in an evidence-based way, each leader can personally and directly develop their people, increasing the performance and retention of employees and building a solid foundation for the future. Tapping leadership development principles used at West Point, the Yale School of Management, and other high-performing organizations, Tom’s presentation creates a clear path and practical framework for leaders to have greater impact and influence over their people while simultaneously helping them achieve their potential.

Learn More

Dodging Bullets: How to Prepare Your Organization for the Next Crisis

Few people want to be put into a position of being crisis managers. So how can leaders prepare organizations to avoid crises before they occur? In this engaging talk, Brigadier Gen. Tom Kolditz will take the audience through specific processes ...

Few people want to be put into a position of being crisis managers. So how can leaders prepare organizations to avoid crises before they occur? In this engaging talk, Brigadier Gen. Tom Kolditz will take the audience through specific processes and techniques to help leadership anticipate and prevent crises and have a more effective, more empowered workforce every day.

Learn More

Leading by Serving: The Principles of Servant Leadership

While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the top of the pyramid, “servant leadership” is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first, and helps develop ...

While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the top of the pyramid, “servant leadership” is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first, and helps develop the team to perform as high as possible. In this keynote, Brigadier Gen. Tom Kolditz outlines the most prominent servant leader approaches, and how all leaders can adopt servant-leader behaviors to impact the growth and well-being of other leaders, team members, and the organizations to which they belong.

Learn More

About Keynote Speaker Thomas A. Kolditz

A soldier, scholar, skydiver, author, executive coach and much-honored leadership thought leader, General Tom Kolditz’s celebrated career in the military, higher education and business consulting has been driven by a singular mission:  Helping people from all walks of life become better leaders, ready for crisis, adversity and extreme conditions. A recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal, the Army’s highest award for service, General Kolditz was also named a Top Leadership Thought Leader by the Leader to Leader Institute and received the prestigious Warren Bennis Award for Excellence in Leadership, an honor shared with George Schultz, Benazir Bhutto and Doris Kearns Goodwin. He is also ranked #13/30 in coaching by Global Gurus and was ranked in the top eight globally by Thinkers50, the premier global ranking among management thinkers.

More About Brigadier General Thomas A. Kolditz (Ret.)

Tom Kolditz is one of the most experienced and educated leadership experts of our time. An intellectually gifted scholar, he holds a BA from Vanderbilt University, three master’s degrees, a PhD in psychology from the University of Missouri, and an honorary Doctorate from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. He taught at West Point, Yale University, and Rice University for 22 years. He is a widely published author of two books and more than 75 journal articles, and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.

Yet unlike most academics, he is also a profoundly experienced leader. He has been the principal responsible for 12 organizations, both military and civilian, over 35 years leading people across four continents. A retired Brigadier General, he commanded thousands of troops, served in combat, and was awarded the Army’s highest medal for service. He is the successful founder of five leader development start-ups, including the Ann John Doerr Institute for New Leaders. In 2017, he was honored with the prestigious Warren Bennis Award for Excellence in Leadership—an honor also bestowed on other brilliant scholars like Doris Kearns Goodwin and Tom Peters, and other outstanding leaders like Howard Schultz and Benazir Bhutto.

Tom now focuses on developing others. He has spoken to more than 350 audiences worldwide and is a highly sought-after professional leadership coach, ranked multiple times among the top 15 coaches internationally by both Global Gurus London and Thinkers50, most recently, #12 in Start-up Coaching in 2023.

Testimonials

“Thomas was a huge hit – everyone enjoyed his speech and I heard from a few folks that his session was their favorite part of Day 1. His talk was impactful, resonated well with our overall leadership theme, and had the perfect blend of humor. Thanks again for your help! “

Google

 

“General Thomas Kolditz was a 10 out of 10! The responses from our key executives and leaders were extremely positive. Having a third party expert on leadership with a unique perspective not often seen in the business community was refreshing, informative and inspiring! We were extremely satisfied with Thomas and BigSpeak.”

DDR Corp

 

“General Kolditz is a visionary in the field of leadership training and development.”

David S. Corderman

Office of Leadership Development, FBI Academy

“In Extremis Leadership is a myth-busting, heart-stopping, mind-blowing account of what it’s really like to lead in life-and-death situations.”

Jim Kouzes

Coauthor of The Leadership Challenge and A Leader's Legacy

“You were outstanding, really made us think and your presentation sparked much conversation in the remaining time we had together. Thank you again for inspiring us to think more systemically about leadership development and how we might improve.”

The Conference Board

 

“General Kolditz is an engaging speaker who is able to make real-world connections between extreme military operations and leading in a corporate environment.  His presentation was truly inspirational and insightful. The universal principals of leadership that Gen. Kolditz has researched and presented can certainly be transferred to a global company such as Siemens.”

James E. Whaley

SVP, Communications and Marketing Siemens Corporation

“At TIME’s recent global sales meeting, General Kolditz delivered an inspiring and invigorating call to action for our sales team.  His presentation, ‘Leading As If Your Life Depended On It,’ offers the ideal rallying cry for our times – when crisis is ubiquitous and when the worse things get, he says, the calmer true leaders become.  The General’s charge to focus outward and to set yourself apart in order to set your influence apart is the perfect message for an international sales organization facing challenge and change at every turn.  Thanks, General, for helping our team to embrace leadership ‘In Extremis.'”

TIME Worldwide

 

I attended a seminar taught by Tom at Yale that had a stunning effect on my ability to lead my teams while avoiding micromanagement. The concept of Leader’s Intent, while already familiar to me, was something I could never fully operationalize. That is until attending Tom’s seminar. I was amazed at how easily he was able to describe this concept in a way that I understood and now use every day. As a result I am a better leader – both to those I lead and those that lead me.

Dan Rosanova

Senior Program Manager at Microsoft

Thomas was a huge hit — everyone enjoyed his speech and I heard from a few folks that his session was their favorite part of Day 1. His talk was impactful, resonated well with our overall leadership theme, and had the perfect blend of humor.

Google

 

Media

Article

Apr 17, 2023

Do You Have a Fear of Failure?

  Is the fear of failure holding you back? Failure can be unwanted and uncomfortable. But ultimately, it’s necessary for...

Read More

Article

Jul 28, 2022

Leaders Developing Leaders with Thomas Kolditz

Are you looking to develop your employees for leadership? Do you want your managers to become better mentors for their...

Read More

Article

Sep 16, 2019

Thomas Kolditz Makes Thinkers50's 2019 Shortlist

BigSpeak Exclusive Speaker and retired US Brigadier General Thomas Kolditz was recognized by Thinkers50 for his coaching and mentoring in...

Read More

Article

Jan 23, 2015

Why You Lead Determines How Well You Lead with Thomas Kolditz

One of the most telling questions you can ask someone in any kind of leadership role is what motivates them...

Read More

Article

Dec 2, 2014

Big Risk/Big Leadership: Thomas Kolditz Busy on Many Fronts

Questions? Contact Us Any Time: 805.965.1400 info@bigspeak.com Facebook Instagram LinkedIn YouTube

Read More

Article

Aug 6, 2014

How to Lead Without Being There

Questions? Contact Us Any Time: 805.965.1400 info@bigspeak.com Facebook Instagram LinkedIn YouTube

Read More

Article

Jul 31, 2014

Why You Lead Determines How Well You Lead

Questions? Contact Us Any Time: 805.965.1400 info@bigspeak.com Facebook Instagram LinkedIn YouTube

Read More

Article

May 23, 2013

Hard Lessons in Soft Skills: Why an MBA at Yale Requires Emotional Intelligence

Why an MBA at Yale Requires Emotional Intelligence. Brigadier General (Ret.) Tom Kolditz is a BigSpeak Leadership Expert and Professor in the Practice...

Read More

Article

Feb 6, 2011

Big Issues, Big Leaders at Global Leadership Conference

Questions? Contact Us Any Time: 805.965.1400 info@bigspeak.com Facebook Instagram LinkedIn YouTube

Read More

Close

My Catalog

PDF

    This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

    Submit Clear All

    You have not added any speakers yet.