Betsy Myers
Leadership Expert, Author, Speaker, and Consultant
SPEAKER FEE RANGE: $14,000–$20,000 [FEE NOTE]
TRAVELS FROM: Massachusetts
RELATED TOPICS: Leadership Management, Women in Business
An expert on leadership development, Betsy Myers is dedicated to working with organizations to help shape the next generation of leaders. Myers has a proven track record of building, growing and strategically realigning organizations across business, government, politics and academia. In her book —Take the Lead: Motivate, Inspire, and Bring Out the Best in Yourself and Everyone Around You, Myers takes a fresh look at characteristics and traits that enable individuals to motivate, inspire and influence others.
Betsy Myers is currently speaking and leading workshops around the world on the changing nature of leadership. Her book, Take the Lead: Motivate, Inspire, and Bring Out the Best in Yourself and Everyone Around You, continues to be the basis of her work as her experience spans the corporate, political and higher education arena.
In May 2011, Betsy was appointed Founding Director of the Center for Women & Business at Bentley University. The Center was a repository of best practices for corporate America to recruit and retain women leaders. Betsy worked with corporations and shared information about putting these practices into place.
In 2003, Betsy served as Executive Director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. During her tenure, Betsy focused the Center’s teaching and research around authentic inner leadership. The results and impact were immediate and staggering. A strategic educational partnership between Harvard and The Hoffman Institute was developed which continues today. Betsy also increased the Center’s efforts around women and leadership while working closely with Harvard’s Women’s Leadership Board.
As senior official in the Clinton Administration, Betsy was the President’s senior adviser on women’s issues. As Deputy Assistant to the President, Betsy launched and was the first Director of the White House Office for Women’s Initiatives and Outreach. She played a critical role in Clinton’s re-election effort in 1996 and figured prominently in shaping the Administration’s legislative agenda on issues such as domestic violence, reproductive choice, breast cancer and women in business.
Betsy also served as the Associate Deputy Administrator for Entrepreneurial Development in the U.S. Small Business Administration. She implemented the SBA’s national requirements under President Clinton’s Welfare to Work Initiative and was responsible for the agency’s technical assistance, management, and distance learning programs. In a previous post, she served as the Director of the Office of Women’s Business Ownership at the SBA where she was an advocate for the 9.4 million women entrepreneurs in our country.
Currently, Betsy serves on the Council of National Advisors of Springboard Enterprises, a national not-for-profit organization that educates, coaches and supports high growth women-led businesses that are seeking venture capital for expansion.
Prior to joining the Clinton Administration, Betsy spent six years building Myers Insurance & Financial Services based in Los Angeles. She specialized in the small business and the women’s market providing insurance and retirement planning. A Public Service Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School, Betsy graduated with a Masters in Public Administration, and then served as the School’s Director of Alumni Programs & External Relations before her role at the Center for Public Leadership.
In May 2011, Betsy was appointed Founding Director of the Center for Women & Business at Bentley University. The Center was a repository of best practices for corporate America to recruit and retain women leaders. Betsy worked with corporations and shared information about putting these practices into place.
In 2003, Betsy served as Executive Director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. During her tenure, Betsy focused the Center’s teaching and research around authentic inner leadership. The results and impact were immediate and staggering. A strategic educational partnership between Harvard and The Hoffman Institute was developed which continues today. Betsy also increased the Center’s efforts around women and leadership while working closely with Harvard’s Women’s Leadership Board.
As senior official in the Clinton Administration, Betsy was the President’s senior adviser on women’s issues. As Deputy Assistant to the President, Betsy launched and was the first Director of the White House Office for Women’s Initiatives and Outreach. She played a critical role in Clinton’s re-election effort in 1996 and figured prominently in shaping the Administration’s legislative agenda on issues such as domestic violence, reproductive choice, breast cancer and women in business.
Betsy also served as the Associate Deputy Administrator for Entrepreneurial Development in the U.S. Small Business Administration. She implemented the SBA’s national requirements under President Clinton’s Welfare to Work Initiative and was responsible for the agency’s technical assistance, management, and distance learning programs. In a previous post, she served as the Director of the Office of Women’s Business Ownership at the SBA where she was an advocate for the 9.4 million women entrepreneurs in our country.
Currently, Betsy serves on the Council of National Advisors of Springboard Enterprises, a national not-for-profit organization that educates, coaches and supports high growth women-led businesses that are seeking venture capital for expansion.
Prior to joining the Clinton Administration, Betsy spent six years building Myers Insurance & Financial Services based in Los Angeles. She specialized in the small business and the women’s market providing insurance and retirement planning. A Public Service Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School, Betsy graduated with a Masters in Public Administration, and then served as the School’s Director of Alumni Programs & External Relations before her role at the Center for Public Leadership.
- Leadership Creates a Feeling – How to Create a Modern Workforce for the 21st Century
Every company today is grappling with a staggering statistic -- 50-70% of American workers are disengaged in the workplace. Clearly, the old masculine model of command-and-control leadership is no longer effective in this new environment; so a new leadership model must take hold in order to recruit and retain vital and vibrant talent at all levels of the organization. Indeed, as this speech explains, leaders today must be conscious about their behavior and its impact on others. More specifically, they must be self-reflective and try to understand their strengths and weaknesses. In addition, they must ask questions, not just provide answers, in order to build relationships and facilitate teamwork and collaboration. And, finally, they must bring out the productive feelings in the people around them. When people feel valued, supported, appreciated, and understood, they do their best work. Based on Betsy Myers’ book, Take the Lead: Motivate, Inspire, and Bring Out the Best in Yourself and Everyone Around You, this speech will explain what leaders must do differently and better if they want a workforce that is both happy and profit-driven. - The Leader in You – How to Be Your Authentic Self While Also Being Strategic to Get Results
So many people have a difficult time accepting the realities of their workplace today. The driving theme of this speech is that it’s irrelevant whether you like a boss, colleague, constituent, or donor. What is relevant, however, is navigating every situation to achieve the best possible outcome while preserving your integrity. This is the only way to prosper in your company. It all starts with you. True leadership is when you step into who you really are, when you discover, understand and embrace your own personal story. In addition to being your true self, successful leadership is also learning about the people around you and what they need. This combination enables leaders to create an environment and culture in which people offer their best selves to a team, partnership, or relationship in order to achieve desired results. This speech will share strategies and best practices that will help you become an authentic leader who establishes meaningful relationships in order to drive your career forward. - Engaging Men - The Way Forward for Women in Business
Most companies aren’t making real progress when it comes to gender equity today. Indeed, women’s issues often appear to be pushed to the side. Unfortunately, though, the old strategies and continuing lack of focus aren’t helping organizations recruit, retain and advance talented women. Women currently hold just 10%-15% of the senior leadership (C-Suite) positions in corporate America, even though they hold 50% of the middle-management positions. This speech offers a sweeping new approach for boosting gender equity in US companies -- engaging men on behalf of women. In addition to offering strategies that will help men effectively mentor women, the speech will also show how to establish trust-based professional relationships between men and women that will lead us to a gender progress that has been elusive for so many years. - The Resilient Leader
Unfortunately, no one escapes life without occasional failure, heartbreak, betrayal, disappointment or unwanted change. But the critical issue is what we do and how we manage ourselves in the midst of this pain -- whether it’s in our personal or professional sphere—that create a path to resilience. Betsy Myers, the author of “Take the Lead: Motivate, Inspire, and Bring Out the Best in Yourself and Everyone Around You,” will explore this in an empathetic and path-breaking keynote speech that shows how resilient people lead themselves and others when life’s disruptive and disorienting changes invade their lives and take them down a rabbit hole of grief, anguish or disbelief. After talking with many resilient leaders in recent years, Myers will explain their commonality and how they ask themselves, “What is the gift in this troubling situation? What can I learn from it, and how can I help others?” She will also share a host of strategies and action steps that resilient leaders employ when they’re dealing with life’s setbacks – how to hug the pain, instead of avoiding or ignoring it; how forgiveness and acceptance lead us to unconditional happiness; how learning to embrace failure as a gift guides us to our authenticity; and how the search for meaning, in the unwanted, can bring a mission and purpose to our lives. This informative and inspirational speech shows how the resilient muscle is built, and it exhorts people to become the leaders of their lives, in both good and bad times. As Myers says, “It’s not how we bounce back, but, more importantly, how we bounce forward when unexpected challenges and opportunities present themselves.”
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