Leonard Armato

Maximizing the potential of some of most remarkable people in the world requires a carefully crafted methodology that Armato has developed over the years. It all begins by creating a personal culture and a set of core values that can be communicated in a way designed to inspire others.

It takes a certain art to motivate people like Shaquille O'Neal, Oscar De La Hoya, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. In this session, Armato will give examples and tell stories to illustrate those. The same techniques used to inspire those all-time greats can be used to enable greatness in everyone -- it all starts with you.

Armato will explore the techniques required to establish a personal culture of greatness, which can then be used to maximize the potential of those around you; whether that be an icon like Shaq or a fellow member of your team.

We are living in a world where fear and anxiety are on the rise and people often feel hopeless, or find it difficult to maximize their potential and provide the leadership necessary to maximize the potential of others. All of this begins with developing a personal culture and manifesto for living. Building such a personal culture begins with a north star to guide personal and business conduct. From that manifesto flows a methodology to maximize your personal potential and make each day a masterpiece with a systematic approach to life.

The audience will also learn to fly without a safety, incorporate resilience and perseverance, use failure in the most powerful way, and understand the importance and power of relationships. Your personal culture will become infectious, and serve as the basis for any business culture.

The world is changing at the most rapid pace in history, and we often feel overwhelmed trying to keep up with the pace of change. This often leads to anxiety and underperformance.

However, there are tools we can employ that can help us survive and thrive in a world where information is doubling every year, where technology is changing operations at a blistering pace, and ushering in new forms of social media, the internet of things, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and marketing.

Armato will talk about how his career has comprised of many different separate and distinct, but loosely interconnected chapters racing to keep pace with rapid change. He will trace his beginning as a sports lawyer and agent for NFL stars like Ronnie Lott, and show the evolution of his career as a sports marketer and the creator of the Shaquille O'Neal ""Shaq"" brand, as well as other iconic athletes.

This session will show how brand building led Armato to become a sports entrepreneur and build the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour. He also addresses the decision to take his marketing knowledge into the corporate world as the CMO of Skechers and President of Skechers Performance. Finally, he will discuss the current evolution of his career in the context of our changing world.

This talk highlights the importance of learning to live with the fear of not knowing and to establish an always learning mentality. Armato explains the power of learning to embrace change and provides the tools necessary to build an effective culture that will future proof yourself and any business.

In representing Shaquille O'Neal and building the Shaq brand and other sports icons, we developed a formula for transforming the way athletes were marketed by aggregating the marketing resources of others to our benefit.

As CMO of Skechers we created a methodology for combining social media and mass media using Kim Kardashian in a Super Bowl campaign as the lynchpin. Today, the world of marketing is more fragmented than ever, and technology must be utilized in ways that were unthinkable in recent past. The combination of science and art has reached an apex.

In this session, Armato will discuss how to use science and art most effectively using the type of innovative approach that has led to past success. He will also discuss the power of the athlete and influencer brands, and how the evolution of the personal brand as a media company has turned the world of marketing on its head.

Working with some of the most famous and powerful people in the world requires special skills and understanding. People I have worked with include Shaquille O'Neal, Oscar De La Hoya, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Adam Silver, and some of the most powerful people in sports and entertainment.

These unicorns are truly remarkable, and it is essential to understand the keys to maximizing their potential. It begins with the power of building a strong and trusting relationship, which requires establishing trust and credibility.

I will give examples of how to use various techniques to develop powerful relationships with remarkable people and anyone in general. These examples include: how to quickly build relationships of trust and respect; how to create your value proposition; how to become more resilient; how to motivate; and how deal with failure.