Last week I had the pleasure of seeing Kaihan Krippendorff deliver a home-run speech on innovation and growth to a group of CEOs. Kaihan is one of Leading Authorities’ newest speakers and is the author of Outthink the Competition: How a New Generation of Strategists Sees Options Others Ignore.

In his talks, he walks leaders though practical and actionable ways to look at their businesses and their challenges with a new, fresh perspective. What particularly struck me about his speech was the copious amount of note taking done by the audience, the number of comments and questions, and the overall level of engagement. It just goes to show how helpful and practical his talk was.

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In recent days Admiral Eric Olson has given some of his first speeches since leaving his post as commander of the United States Special Operations Command. A four-star admiral and Navy SEAL, Olson’s career is one of legend. I wanted to share some insights on his speech and encourage you to consider inviting him to be part of your event, as he will be accepting a limited number of engagements this year.

It goes with out saying that the most respected military units in the world are the special operations forces – Navy SEALS, Army Rangers, Green Berets, specialized aircrews, and other elite commandos. These forces have deployed worldwide to conduct some of the most notable military operations of the last decade, the raid on Osama bin Laden prominent among them. The man responsible for preparing these forces for their broad array of missions was Admiral Eric Olson.

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Leading Authorities is fortunate and honored to work with accomplished men and women from all walks of life. These are people whose life experiences and stories make them compelling speakers. Nowadays, many of the best speakers are the people who lived through an extraordinary experience or became experts in their areas of study out of sheer passion – not the so-called “professional speakers.” The speaking industry as a whole reflects this trend, as more and more organizations flock to those who have “walked the walk.” What our clients are often not aware of is the work that LAI does when we begin working with speakers as they transition to the lecture circuit.

Our commitment to our clients is that the speakers they book through us are the very best at what they do, well-prepared, and easy to work with. That commitment oftentimes means working to get our speakers ready, and that fact has become important to both speakers and clients alike, as they each have high expectations when working with LAI. This hands-on approach also ensures that clients get speakers equipped with insight and advice from a staff that knows their talent well. In fact, at LAI we have booked and attended tens of thousands of events, and we count our staff among some of the industry’s most-seasoned experts.

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As you may know, Leading Authorities recently signed Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Dakota Meyer for exclusive representation. If you are not familiar with his amazing story – here’s a link to a USA Today segment on Dakota.

In the past few weeks I’ve spent a lot of time working with him on his speech and wanted to share some highlights with you.

Dakota tells the story of growing up in a small town in Kentucky and joining the Marines (with some good humor and anecdotes). He then talks about how he came to be in Afghanistan working with a small team of Marines embedded with the Afghan National Army. Through his stories, he introduces us to the four Marines he was with on September 8, 2009, the day of a battle in the Village of Ganjgal. This is the day he lost his four friends, but saved the lives of 13 other Marines and 23 Afghan soldiers. His stories are full of detail and well-told.

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