Modern Lessons of the Donner Party
Themes: leadership, overcoming adversity, managing risk

• Simply put, the Donner Party of 1846 was a failed business project, and many of the wagon team's problems apply to modern life.  The goal was to reach California and secure the payoffs. As is true today, this "project team" was made of ordinary people trapped in extraordinary circumstances.  Easily adapted to specific audiences, this presentation weaves the gripping tale of the ill-fated wagon train with clear lessons for modern organizations distilled from the embers of the tragedy. A direct descendant of party leader George Donner, Karl has conducted significant research, including retracing the path of the wagon train and documenting the trail with his award-winning photography.

Great Ideas Aren't Enough - Selling Ideas to an Indifferent World
Themes:  understanding internal customers, applying sales & marketing to other disciplines

• Today's professional needs all the skills of a company COO - operations, employee relations, compensation and benefits, finance, . . . and marketing.  To sell new practices up and down the corporate pyramid, you need to learn practical strategies to motivate other to change, and to market your ideas to a complex and often indifferent clientele.  This fast-paced talk offers a proven framework that separates internal client departments into four types based on the their values, then gives a concise explanation of how to best interact with each type.  This session will then review proven marketing techniques that apply to your needs, and teach some core sales practices that effectively sell concepts.

• "Politics" usually means something dirty or underhanded.  Just say the words "Office Politics", and you sense the disdain.  Nobody exists in an atmosphere where everyone agrees.  In this presentation, politics is defined as the art of trying to accomplish things within organizations.  We all compete for schedules, projects, money and training.  This presentation teaches you to be better communicators and better corporate politicians.

• Leadership is at the core of the issues on our collective front burners.  At the same time, the new workforce has shorter attention spans and higher standards, and the leadership model must change to reflect this faster world.  Karl shares how good leadership is the "silver bullet" for today's workplace issues, and gives "real-life" examples of how to grow a leadership culture in any organization.  Very thought-provoking.