Speaking
A clearer way to talk about change.
As a keynote speaker, I talk about the Optimal Horizon: how people and organizations reach their fullest potential one horizon at a time, why we lose alignment along the way, and what it takes to keep moving onward. My talks are leadership development you can use: practical, built for people who have to go back to work on Monday and do something with what they heard.
Talks
Three conversations I can bring to your audience.
Each can be a keynote, a working session, or the opening of a longer workshop, and each is shaped to the room.
Onward: Reaching Your Optimal Horizon, One Horizon at a Time
Every organization has an Optimal Horizon, and so does every person. Why we rarely arrive at one permanent end state, and how to keep moving toward our fullest potential anyway.
Your audience leaves with
- A shared language for where you, and your organization, are going
- Assess, Align, Build, Strengthen, for work and for life
- Your own next horizon, named before you leave the room
Why Good People and Good Organizations Lose Alignment
Growth, transition and new challenges pull organizations, and lives, out of step. How to recognize the signs early, and where they usually start.
Your audience leaves with
- The common signs that you’ve outgrown the structures that got you here
- Why problems show up in one place and start in another
- Where to look first
The Horizons in Between
The Optimal Horizon provides the direction; the intermediate horizons provide the path. How to choose the next horizon and agree on the order.
Your audience leaves with
- What makes a good intermediate horizon
- How to sequence competing priorities
- Turning a plan into commitments
Where I speak
For rooms full of people with a mission.
A talk can stand on its own as a keynote, or become a working session where the audience tries the ideas on their own organization, using exercises from the Optimal Horizon Reflection Workbook. I travel anywhere in the country.
- Conferences for leaders of purpose-led businesses, nonprofits, foundations and complex organizations
- Boards and board retreats
- Leadership team offsites and all-staff gatherings
- Associations, networks and funder convenings
- Leadership development programs and personal growth events
- Podcasts, panels and webinars
For organizers
Everything you need to introduce me.
Short bio. Kara Steffen is the creator of the Optimal Horizon, a framework that helps people and organizations reach their fullest potential one horizon at a time, and the founder of The Change Up Group.
Headshot, bios in three lengths, an introduction to read aloud, and talk descriptions. Prints as a speaker sheet.
The next horizon
Bring the Optimal Horizon to your next gathering.
Tell me about your event, your audience and the date. I’ll reply personally with ideas for a talk that fits.