Andy Kaufman

Andy Kaufman Speaking Topics

• The Dirty Little Secret of Business

  Regardless of your role, there are challenges and roadblocks that stand in your way.

  How can you deal with difficult people who are obstacles to your ability to deliver? How can you influence someone to align with your priorities even when you don't have the organizational authority? How can you find time to network when you're overwhelmed with day-to-day work? In this keynote, Andy Kaufman shares "The Dirty Little Secret of Business." You won't learn this secret in school, yet it is critical to your success. The secret is simple—it's all about relationships. Andy describes the key relationships you must develop to advance your projects and career.

  Discover how understanding different personality types will improve your ability to build rapport, influence people, and control situations. Learn what networking is—and isn't—and how to increase the effectiveness of your networks with less effort.

  Particularly in today's challenging economy when you are being asked to deliver more with less, it's critical that you invest in the power of relationships.

• How to Win Friends, Influence People, and Deliver Projects

  Since first published in the 1930’s, Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends & Influence People has motivated generations of aspiring leaders to polish up their people skills.

  Yet imagine a typical project manager opening the book, and reading the first principle: Don't criticize, condemn, or complain. "Don't criticize? Am I just supposed to put up with sub-par performance?" They turn to the next chapter to find: Give honest and sincere appreciation. "Honest feedback, perhaps, but appreciation? With the problems those stakeholders cause?"

  Concerned, they check out the third chapter: Arouse in the other person an eager want. "Now wait a minute! That sounds like something that would get me called into HR!"

  It's easy to discount and even parody the lessons from Dale Carnegie’s work. Yet Andy Kaufman shows how your success in delivering projects might just depend on your application of Carnegie's principles. Participants of this keynote learn practical insights on topics such as how to handle challenging stakeholders, deliver difficult news, and even get those people in other departments to listen to you! Bring this insightful and entertaining look at Dale Carnegie’s timeless classic to your organization.

• Beyond the Rock and the Hard Place

  One stakeholder says Zig. The other says Zag. No compromise in sight, but the project deadline looms closer on the horizon. The rock and the hard place—welcome to the world of managing people and projects! If it wasn’t for people, our jobs would be much easier, or so it seems at times!

  It’s critical for aspiring leaders to learn how to negotiate conflict. Whether we like it or not, we can count on it: any time people are involved, and given enough time, there will be conflict.

  After working with hundreds of thousands of people across cultures, we have found you don’t have to like conflict but your ability to successfully & consistently deliver results can depend on how confidently you navigate conflict.

  This keynote helps your participants learn to deal more effectively with conflict.

• Leading Teams That Deliver the Goods

  Our success in delivering results often depends on how effectively we collaborate. Yet getting a team of people to truly work in partnership—let alone be self-organizing—can be a daunting challenge. We’re left with the tension: we need our teams to be high performing yet teams are made up of people with varying degrees of knowledge, skills, and commitment. We need our teams focused on delivering a goal, but sometimes egos, personalities, and agendas get in the way.

  In this highly interactive keynote, Andy Kaufman asks you to think back to one of the best teams you’ve been a part of in your career thus far. What made it so exceptional? Andy also shares a model that helps you diagnose what’s going well with your team and factors holding back team effectiveness.

  How does your team deal with conflict? Do you see gaps in levels of commitment and trust? Are you looking to better motivate and engage your team? In this keynote, Andy shares practical ideas to help your team move forward in its ability to deliver successful results.

  NOTE: In the 90-minute version, you can include our interactive element called The Spy Game, which drives home important lessons about team interactions in a fun way.