NSB Logo Chester Elton Chester Elton

Chester Elton

Speaker

Summit, New Jersey, USA

#1 Bestselling Business Author, Organizational Culture, Employee Engagement and Teamwork Expert

One of today’s most influential voices in workplace trends, Chester Elton has spent two decades helping clients engage their employees to execute on strategy, vision, and values. He has been called the “apostle of appreciation” by Canada’s Globe and Mail, “creative and refreshing‚” by the New York Times, and a “must read for modern managers” by CNN. Elton is co-author of the multiple award-winning New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling leadership book, All In, The Carrot Principle, Leading With Gratitude and Anxiety At Work, and The Best Team Wins.

Keynote Speeches

All In: How the Best Leaders Create a Culture of Belief and Drive Big Results

In this interactive and engaging session based on the New York Times bestselling business book All In—which includes research from more than 300,000 people in high-performance organizations — Gostick & Elton teach leaders how to Engage, Enable and Energize their workforces.

The presentation outlines how high-performance organizations deliver extraordinary results by creating a vibrant, productive culture where people believe that what they do matters and that they can make a difference. In this presentation, the authors relate stories of leaders in action that vividly depict just how these powerful methods can be implemented.

Key Learnings

  • The 3 characteristics of the world’s mostprofitable, productive organizational and teamcultures.
  • The 7 steps today’s most successful managersuse to generate buy-in and belief.
  • How managers at any level can build aproductive workgroup culture of their own–whereemployees commit to the culture and give thatextra push of effort.
Build Resilience & Psychological Safety
  • 50% of workers say anxiety negatively affects their performance.
  • 75% say the most stressful part of their job is their immediate supervisor.
  • 60% of organizations plan to address anxiety & well-being in the next three years.

Even before the pandemic, anxiety was crippling the performance of workers—especially young employees. Today it is affecting productivity and leading to ghosting and burnout. In their bestselling book from Harper Business, Anxiety at Work: 8 strategies to help teams build resilience, handle uncertainty, and get stuff done, and in their keynotes/workshops, Gostick & Elton offer 8 tactics for managers to help their employees build resilience.

They teach leaders:

  • How to spot the signs of employees hiding anxiety
  • Solutions to alleviate stress
  • Ways to help team membersmanage uncertainty
  • How to help people speak upwhen feeling overwhelmed
  • Ways to beat perfectionismand get things done
  • How to instill an ethic ofinclusion and support
Leading with Gratitude: Eight Leadership Practices for Extraordinary Business Results

Leadership concepts that can increase employee engagement and will help you attract and keep great talent.

In their powerful keynote, the authors introduce research that shows how a few vital leadership skills—when done right—can boost employee engagement and reduce turnover. They also share the fascinating science behind why so many managers resist (aka: suck at) something so seemingly simple as gratitude.

Your attendees will learn:

  • How gratitude helps managers understand the value their people are contributing—and what more their team members may have to give
  • How appreciation of employee efforts can enhancemotivation & productivity, especially during times ofchange—81% of people say they’d work harder if theirboss were more grateful
  • How leaders can master this skill to enhance teamperformance & trust—introducing the 8 most powerfulgratitude practices
The Best Team Wins: 5 Disciplines of the Most Effective Team Leaders

Based on an 850,000-person study of the most profitable, innovative work teams, the authors introduce the new science of teamwork

The vast majority of employees now work collaboratively, but 96% of executives cite poor teamwork as the main source of workplace failures. How can managers better lead teams to improved performance given the volatility and challenges they face today.

This session introduces solutions to address:

  • Enhancing speed to productivity
  • Working cross-functionally
  • The rise of the Millennials/Gen Z
  • Attracting & retaining great talent

Their teaching will help your leaders:

  • Manage to the One—Identify the unique drivers of each team member
  • Speed to Productivity—Help new peopleand teams work faster & smarter
  • Challenge Everything—Inspire innovationthrough healthy discord
  • Find Focus—Build bridges acrossfunctions, cultures, and distance
The 5 Disciplines of Today's Most Effective Work Groups

THE DILEMMA:

96% of executive cite poor collaboration as the main source of workplace failures. How can we lead teams to improved performance given the volatility and challenges teams face today, including: increased speed of change, the need to work more cross-functionally, the emergence of more remote, global & gig workers, and the rise of Millennials & Gen Z.

THE RESULT:

Chester’s research shows a set of disciplines makes the biggest difference. He helps manage generational differences, speed productivity, inspire innovation and robust debate, and create true alignment around customers.

THE AUDIENCE:

Designed for audiences of all levels—from individual contributors to CEOs—Chester Elton has presented on teamwork to corporate audiences and conferences worldwide. The session is always customized to an organization’s specific culture challenges based on pre-calls, interviews and research.
Building an All-In Culture, Managing Change and Enhancing Engagement

THE DILEMMA:

While most leaders understand their most reliable competitive advantage comes from their people, few know how to get their teams “all in”—convincing employees to buy into the strategy they’ve put forward.

THE RESULT:

Chester offers managers at all levels specific how-tos for each step, and tells fascinating stories of leaders in action that vividly depict just how these powerful methods can be implemented.

THE AUDIENCE:

Designed for senior leaders and managers (can be tailored to include all employees), Chester Elton has presented on culture and engagement to corporate audiences and conferences worldwide. The session is always customized to an organization’s specific culture challenges based on pre-calls, interviews and research.
8 Leadership Practices for Extraordinary Business Results

THE DILEMMA:

Leadership is about people, but many managers get so busy they lose sight of those who deliver the results. The best leaders have high expectations for their team members while also creating environments where their people know the plan, are focused on areas that need attention, and feel appreciated for every step forward.

THE RESULT:

The payoffs in getting this right come not only in leaders boosting performance and morale, but in gaining a better understand of their team members, how they are contributing, and what more they have to give.

THE AUDIENCE:

Designed for senior leaders and managers (can be tailored to include all employees), Chester Elton has presented on leadership issues to corporate audiences and conferences worldwide. The session is always customized to an organization’s specific culture challenges based on pre-calls, interviews and research.

Audience reviews:

  • You were simply outstanding. Specifically, your suggestions on low-cost-no-cost appreciation were well worth stealing – the car wash in particular. Thank you for inspiring us and entertaining us, for making us laugh and for making us sing. We have been talking about how much we thoroughly enjoyed the show, for you are quite a performer — delivering both steak and sizzle. Thank you forever, on behalf of all who were inspired.

    - Former Governor of Michigan
  • Chester was outstanding and delivered a message that fully aligned with our vision. The audience engagement was off the charts. He incorporated specific Fannie Mae examples into his session to make the menage relevant to our employees. His energy and engagement style elicited many emotions from the audience, but mostly laughter. They are still talking about how motivating Chester was! He was a fantastic ending to our annual conference. - VP & Chief Credit Officer, Fannie Mae
  • Chester was a huge hit and personally inspired me to be a better leader! Not only did he bring relevant, factual data into his presentation about driving business results through engaging the workforce, he used humor and audience participation to keep the team motivated and invested!

    - Chief Communications Officer, General Mills
  • The sign of a great motivational speaker is someone who lives on well after they have left and yesterday was a great indication of how impactful & meaningful your message was to us. You were 'brought to life' through your quotes, non-verbal WOW gestures and lots of other great examples. Even I went home and cheered on my entire family!

    - Johnson & Johnson
  • Folks at various levels throughout our organization are still raving about Chester’s session. He received the highest marks of any speaker. Not only was he entertaining, but he put time into getting it right and the content really resonated with this group. That says a lot for such a quiet and cynical crowd.

    - Vice President Leadership Development, Fidelity
  • Chester - You were the “WOW” at our conference. Your “All In” principles aligned to every aspect of our key messaging and reinforced the effectiveness of this approach. We can¹t wait to continue this momentum and enthusiasm.


    - Head of Strategic Planning, Aetna
  • Chester's extremely high energy is contagious with audiences as he inspired and motivated our attendees. He really took the time to get to know Golden Corral and customized his remarks to be relevant for our restaurant managers and franchisees. He continues to rank among our best speakers ever and I highly recommend Chester. - Director of HR, Golden Corral Corporation

Speaker Biography

One of today’s most influential voices in workplace trends, Chester Elton has spent two decades helping clients engage their employees to execute on strategy, vision, and values. In his provocative, inspiring, and always entertaining talks, Elton provides real solutions to leaders looking to build culture, drive innovation, and enhance wellness. Elton’s work is supported by research with more than one million working adults, revealing the proven secrets behind high-performance cultures and teams.

He has been called the “Apostle of Appreciation” by Canada’s Globe and Mail, “creative and refreshing‚” by the New York Times, and a “must read for modern managers” by CNN. Elton is co-author of the multiple award-winning bestselling leadership books including All In, The Carrot Principle, Leading with Gratitude and Anxiety at Work. His books have been translated in more than30 languages and have sold more than 1.6 million copies worldwide. Elton is often quoted in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Fast Company and the New York Times. He has appeared on NBC’s Today, CNN, ABC, MSNBC, National Public Radio and CBS’s 60Minutes.

In 2022, the Global Gurus research organization ranked him No. 3 among the world’s top leadership experts and No. 3 for organizational culture. He is a member of Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and is a Thinkers 50 Coaching Award winner. Elton is the co-founder of The Culture Works and aboard member of Camp Corral, a non-profit for the children of wounded and fallen military heroes. He serves as a leadership consultant and coach to firms such as American Express, The World Bank, Zoox, Momofuku, and the New Jersey Devils of the NHL.

Elton knows that even before the pandemic, anxiety was crippling the performance of workers—especially young employees. Today it is affecting productivity and leading to ghosting and burnout. In their bestselling book from Harper Business, Anxiety at Work: 8 strategies to help teams build resilience, handle uncertainty, and get stuff done, and in their keynotes/workshops, Gostick & Elton offer 8 tactics for managers to help their employees build resilience and experience psychological safety.

He is most proud to be the father of four exceptional children, three delightful grandchildren, and married to the amazing Heidi for 40 years.