Cheryl Cran
Named #1 Future of Work influencer by Onalytica, and in the top ten future of work experts by GoCatalant.
Cheryl is the author of 10 books including her newest, Super.Crucial.Human and her bestsellers, “NextMapping – Anticipate, Navigate and Create The Future of Work” and “The Art of Change Leadership – Driving Transformation In a Fast Paced-World”.
Cheryl’s thought leadership on the future of all things including work, society and life has been featured in publications such as Fast Company, Huff Post, Forbes, Metro New York, Entrepreneur Magazine, Reader’s Digest, CBS Online, NBC Online, and more. For over two decades Cheryl has built a reputation for delivering extraordinary value for clients that include Amazon, Upwork, AT&T,, Gartner, Scottish Water, ExecOnline and more.
Clients rate her keynotes on hybrid workplace, the human future, the future of leadership and leading hybrid teams as being inspirational, research based and highly relevant to the fast changing now and future workplace.
Speaking topics
- The Future is Human - How AI and ChatGPT Requires Us To Be Better Leaders
Based on the best selling book, ‘Super.Crucial.Human.’
Research has confirmed that not only are we in a workers market, we are going to need MORE people now and into the future even with the rise of automation, AI, ChatGPT and robotics.
What we need is people who have crucial human skills – skills that go beyond the basics when it comes to compassion, creativity, communication and collaboration.
This keynote will INSPIRE, elevate the mindsets of audience members to embrace that being human means we have infinite possibilities to evolve and to adapt at the speed of change. Audiences will leave with practical tools that they can apply personally and take back to their leaders and teams.
In this keynote you will learn:
- Research on the digital and social trends that are driving the urgent need for everyone to develop ‘crucial human skills’
- How to reframe challenges, setbacks and disruptions into elevated opportunities to evolve and grow
- The 4 C’s of being a super crucial human – next level skills of compassion, creativity, conscious communication and collaboration
- How everyone can elevate to being ‘change leaders’ driving positive change forward
- How to leverage the ‘me to we’ mindset model to increase collaboration in a hybrid workplace reality
- Actionable models and strategic ideas on how to elevate crucial human skills and apply in real time in life and work for accelerated success in all relationships
- Think Like a Futurist - How To Leverage Trends & Patterns To Create What’s Next
We collectively have been through more change in the past few years than we have in the previous decade. The future needs leaders with energy, stamina and increased ability to inspire and engage teams in the hybrid workplace. The future needs more leaders to think like a futurist – anticipate change and to be aware of the trends and patterns at play that are impacting the fast changing workplace dynamics.
Many leaders can get caught in the cycle putting out fires or focusing on tasks and have less time to vision, focus and plan for what’s next.
This keynote will inspire leaders to think like a futurist and to look for patterns and leverage trends in order to increase energy, innovate and collaborate at the speed of change.
In this keynote with future of work expert Cheryl Cran you will learn:
- Research on the ‘workers market’ and what that means for leaders today and in the future
- How to reframe change as something we can ‘lead’ rather than something we ‘manage’
- The social trends and patterns that are impacting the way leaders need to lead now and in the future
- A model on how to think like a futurist that minimizes stress and increases ‘flow’ in life and work
- Actionable ideas on how to apply ‘futurist thinking’ to your daily interactions as a leader
- The Future is Human - How Being a Better Human Is The Key To Future of Work
Based on Cheryl’s new book, Super.Crucial.Human this keynote focuses on the concept that now and in the future ‘everyone is a leader’ and with that everyone needs to be a better human. Research has confirmed that not only are we in a workers market, we are going to need MORE people now and into the future even with the rise of automation, AI and robotics. What we need is people who have crucial human skills – skills that go beyond the basics when it comes to compassion, creativity, communication and collaboration.
This keynote will INSPIRE, elevate the mindsets of audience members to embrace that being human means we have infinite possibilities to evolve and to adapt at the speed of change.
In this keynote you will learn:
- Research on the social trends that are driving the urgent need for everyone to develop ‘crucial human skills’
- How to reframe challenges, setbacks and disruptions into elevated opportunities to evolve and grow
- The 4 C’s of being a super crucial human – next level skills of compassion, creativity, conscious communication and collaboration
- Why LQ (love quotient) is even MORE important than EQ (emotional intelligence) and how to apply it in both life and work
- How to leverage the ‘me to we’ mindset model to increase collaboration in a hybrid workplace reality
- Actionable models and strategic ideas on how to elevate crucial human skills and apply in real time in life and work for accelerated success in all relationships
- The Future Is Now How Remote Work Is Here To Stay and What To Do To Succeed In The Future
By the year 2020 50% of the workforce will be working remotely
No one would have ever predicted that a global pandemic would make that particular prediction a reality.
Workers have been looking for companies to offer remote work and it has been a key element for talent to decide which companies to work for.
Leaders have been adapting to the remote work reality albeit some industries have been faster at remote work adoption than others.
The reality is that the ’next normal’ is here to stay and that includes remote work.
In this virtual keynote you will learn:
- Research and data on remote work and the numbers of companies who have a remote work strategy
- Case studies of companies who have mastered the remote work dynamic
- Strategies on who to align remote work strategy with worker engagement and retention
- Ideas on how to compete in business with a remote work strategy
- Tips and tricks on how to help leaders inspire remote workers and lead them to high performance
- Insights on how remote workers can set up their environments for greater success
- How to integrate remote work strategy into future planning of the business
- The Future of Work is now – are you ready? What will leaders and their teams have to do to thrive today and beyond to the year 2030?
Trends, Research and Insights into the Future of Work
Employee engagement, creating future ready leaders, attracting and retaining top talent are all elements that are rapidly changing and impacting the way we work and how we need to change to meet the challenges of the future workplace today.
This keynote will provide researched global business insights, thought provoking, creative, leading edge ideas and strategies on how leaders can take immediate action to increase team buy in, adaptability and execution NOW as we head towards 2030.
Attendees will leave with:
- A look at the trends and technologies shaping the future workplace today
- Ideas for leaders and their teams to adapt their personality style and leadership style to the fast changing workplace
- “How” to successfully work with and engage the multiple generations in the workplace
- Insights into how leaders need to adapt to the ever-changing reality of worker attitudes and shifting attitudes on loyalty, job satisfaction and how work is done
- Mindset model on how to navigate fast pace of change as we head to future of work
- Research on the multiple intelligences needed to navigate the future of work
- Case studies and examples of progressive companies and leaders on the leading edge of creating innovative future ready workplaces
- Strategies on how to get everyone on board with the overall future vision, build excitement for the company’s direction and create commitment and buy-in to taking action today and for the future
Cheryl’s style is dynamic high energy and interactive, she presents relevant research and her presentations always have fun movie clips and music. With Cheryl Cran as your keynote speaker you are guaranteed to have one of your best events ever with increased audience engagement, and an audience that leaves with easy to implement ideas as well as inspired to lead with 2030 vision to build the future workplace today.
- The Future of Attracting & Keeping Top Talent
95% of companies surveyed cite a big focus for the future is finding and keeping top talent in the age of robotics, remote workers and increasing competition. This keynote provides trends, case studies, and creative ideas on recruiting and retaining talent. Fortune 500 CEO’s surveyed state that even with the age of robotics they are planning to continue to seek and hire talented people well into 2020 and beyond. The competition for attracting top talent is increasing, and as quickly as people are being hired and trained other industries are approaching and poaching talent. In addition, the increase in freelance and entrepreneur opportunities for millennials is making the talent search even more challenging. What can companies do? What do leaders need to do to win the war for talent? In this keynote, you will learn how to map out a strategy and plan on how to attract top talent and how to retain them for longer than average time frames.
Attendees will leave this session with:
- The latest research for your industry on future trends regarding attracting and retaining top talent
- Insights into current reality of finding and keeping good people the stats and the best practices
- Innovative ideas on finding the right people that are suited for your industry
- Creative ideas and examples from global companies winning the war for talent
- The top ten ‘attractors’ of what top talent want when looking to work for a company
- How to be a company that ‘attracts’ talent, including having transformational leaders and creating a culture that focuses on shared leadership
- The number one reason people leave an employer and how to fix it
- A greater understanding of why investing in recruiting alone is a no-win approach
- Creative solutions that you can put into place right away to increase your wins in attracting and keeping top talent
- The Art of Change Leadership – Driving Transformation In a Fast Paced World
This change leadership keynote is for everyone because “everyone is a leader!” Increasing fast pace of change requires a culture where everyone is a change leader. Everyone in the workplace is working in times of intense technological innovation and dealing with ongoing rapid change and disruptions. The key is how to inspire and engage everyone to be ‘leaders of change’ and to dynamically increase innovation, collaboration and success for everyone in the company and for the business overall. This keynote focuses on how each individual can harness their own inner abilities to lead change and personal leadership in a positive and proactive way. This keynote is based on Cheryl’s book “The Art of Change Leadership” (Wiley 2015)
Attendees will leave this session with:
- Further insight into how is fast change is impacting the speed of work and how we as leaders need to build adaptability to the new reality
- A shifted perspective on how we as individuals can harness positive stress and leverage time in an increasingly fast-paced work environment
- A clear understanding of how each generation views change, deals with change and strategies to improve change responses and actions
- The change cycle and how to use this model to lead change for self and for others
- Insight into their own personal change behaviors and tools to leverage their individual ability to adapt more quickly to ongoing change with a positive approach
- Tools to lead change with multiple perspectives including emotional intelligence, generation intelligence and energetic intelligence
- A change leadership ‘next map’ that will outline your next steps to creating the future that you want to create
- The Future of Leadership
Never before have workplaces had so much ambiguity, uncertainty and constant change. Workers are challenged with doing more with less, learning at the speed of disruption and working with diverse situations. There is a massive opportunity for leaders to create the future for themselves and their teams. With the increase of digital transformation there is a calling for leaders to be connected, empathetic and inspiring for their teams.
In this keynote leaders will learn:
The most recent and up to date research on the future workplace and what it means for leaders today Statistics and sentiment analysis on worker attitudes and what workers want today and in the future from their leaders Leadership models on the ‘me to we’ mindset and mapping the future of the leadership journey Tips and strategies on how to leverage leadership mastery to increase the attraction and retention of top talent Inspiring ideas that can be put into immediate action to increase employee motivation and engagement Practical daily actions to help leaders feel energized and to help their teams to be inspired and excited to create the future of work Cheryl Cran future of work expert and founder of NextMapping shares inspiring, uplifting and practical ideas for leaders to be future ready now!
Video clips
Speaker testimonials
Thank you Cheryl! Your closing keynote for our Raising The Bar conference in Orlando was spot on. Our leaders gained immense value from your strategic insights on how to leverage collaboration for greater success. The ‘me to we’ model provided all of us with a framework to self assess and improve our leadership abilities. We loved your interactive style of texting and polling with the group – we were engaged! You definitely helped us ‘raise the bar’!”
I want to congratulate you on giving our 600+ attendees lots of food for thought in your session: The Future of Leadership. Your energy, enthusiasm and compassion for all that our attendees are dealing with came through loud and clear. Many of our attendees came up to me after your session and said: “Home Run”. Sometimes being the first presenter in the morning of the second day of a conference can often be a tough spot to draw: you immediately established a strong connection with all of us and kept us engaged and energized.
Great presentation ! You are sharing many thought provoking insights!
We want to thank you again for such a fantastic afternoon. Keynote speaking is an art form, and you have mastered it with your ability to inspire, inform, and captivate the audience. Sitting at the back of the room, I saw a sea of heads taking notes, completely enthralled, which was so great to see—The afternoon was an experience that will stay with many for a while afterward. 🙂
Feedback from those we have heard from has been nothing but positive. Thank you for being so personable, and I hope to connect again in the future. We will be watching your journey and cheering you on from the sidelines!
The event was incredible on Tuesday, as Cheryl was very engaging and promoted great discussion! The team really enjoyed her keynote and some of the tools she showcased. We couldn’t have asked for a great way to bring the team together on a day 1 of our meeting!
Thank you to you, your team and Cheryl!”
We had Cheryl as our Keynote speaker at our annual strategic retreat for our senior leaders. Her presentation on “Leading With Power, Energy & Passion” was exactly what our team needed. Cheryl has the unique ability to ‘hear’ what we needed and to completely create a customized message that was EXACTLY what we needed . Her knowledge of technology, leadership tools and emotional intelligence and her ability to give us tools to leverage our skills was right on track with where we need to go as a leadership team. We have a team of highly intelligent and accomplished leaders who are quite jaded and we had one of our long term leaders say, “I have been coming to these for years and Cheryl was by far the most relevant and excellent leadership expert we have had to date”. As a leadership expert Cheryl combines research, applied knowledge and tremendous insight that ultimately will help our leaders to perform to their next level of success.
We had Cheryl Cran as one of our main speakers at our annual HR Summit 2013 in Singapore, this event is the largest HR event of its’ kind in Asia. Cheryl’s session on ‘Lead With 2020 Vision’ was eye opening and very relevant to the HR professionals attending this event. Her combination of trend research, humour, and audience interaction was a hit with our group. We would love to work with Cheryl again.
Cheryl Cran is not Sheryl Crow but she is a rock star none the less! We had Cheryl as our closing keynote speaker for a series of programs for our leadership groups. Cheryl worked with us on over a dozen events where she delivered to about 6000 general managers in total from the AT&T system. Her keynote, “Lead with 2020 Vision” was THE icing on the proverbial cake of our two day events. Her ability to weave in the messages of the other presenters, her ability to engage the groups with humor, fun, authenticity and provocative thought was quite simply amazing and EXACTLY what we needed as a close to our events. Her stage presence, her use of audience interaction and her depth of knowledge on how today’s leaders can lead change, transform people and grow business in the digital age was the reason we hired her and she is so easy to work with, it was a pleasure to have her on our team. We would definitely work with Cheryl again.
Cheryl Cran was our keynote speaker at our leadership conference and her keynote titled: “The Art of Change Leadership – Make it Happen Make it Matter” was a great success with our store leadership team. At Rubicon we are growing and experiencing lots of internally driven change and externally imposed change. Cheryl’s research and customization for our group made an impact with us. We appreciated the texting, polling and interaction along with the usable content, actionable ideas and follow up responses to the groups text questions. Cheryl delivered on our objectives and helped our store leadership team to think in new and elevated ways about change, integration of business and future success.
Cheryl Cran was our keynote speaker at our recent MISA BC conference for municipal IT professionals – Cheryl’s keynote was a hit with our group! I appreciated a number of items with Cheryl’s keynote – there was the perfect balance of content, research and ideas along with inspiration. Feedback from our attendees was phenomenal and they were grateful for the ability to text questions to Cheryl and her candid responses along with the polling to engage the group. Attendees left Cheryl’s keynote feeling energized, inspired and ready to take ideas and action back to the workplace and put into place right away for increased success. Cheryl exceeded our expectations!
Cheryl was our keynote speaker at the UVA Wise Economic Forum and she presented “The Future of Work is Now – Are You Ready?” The response from our audience included comments such as: “Fantastic and inspirational view of the future” “Loved the blend of practicality along with a push to help us be more innovative” “Phenomenal ideas on how we can innovate and increase real time creativity for future success” “Excellent research and statistics on the future of work and its relevance to both education and business” “Inspired by Cheryl Cran” We would definitely have Cheryl back to provide more insights on the future of work, innovation and change leadership.
Cheryl Cran was a hit at our ISBN conference. Cheryl’s content was perfectly timed for our group of C-Level executives as it helped them organize a conference full of ideas into a concrete strategy to move their organization forward. Our group is very discerning and can be critical of speakers outside of the salon and spa industry, but Cheryl’s keynote dynamic and was right on the money. Cheryl customized her keynote for our group, The Future of Work Is Now – Is Your Salon Ready? and her message was the perfect balance of research, relevant ideas, enlightening looks into the future as well as preparing for future disruptions. Unlike most keynotes, Cheryl proactively offered teaser materials, including a video a blog and also offered to survey the attendees as well as conducting live polling engagement and including their feedback in her keynote. We also had Cheryl facilitate a mastermind discussion on attracting top talent and her group was standing room only. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to others.
Cheryl Cran was our keynote speaker and workshop facilitator for our Calgary Stampede Leadership Summit. Her keynote: Future Ready Teams – How to Create Agile, Adaptive and Future Ready Teams was phenomenal and very engaging for our people leaders. During the workshop, many of our people leaders text Cheryl during the keynote and were very complimentary about her thorough explanation and genuine responses. Our people leaders were excited about the content and eager to apply what they were learning to their roles. Cheryl’s time and care in preparing and ensuring she was in tune with our group was greatly appreciated including her pre survey to attendees, interactive polling during the keynote as well as the text message of questions. Cheryl modeled what it looks like to leverage technology while engaging and inspiring people to go from ‘me to we’. Cheryl provided excellent insights into future trends affecting business and she gave some creative ideas on how we can leverage our success. Cheryl’s approach is intuitive, research based and highly interactive which was the perfect fit for our discerning group of leaders.
Cheryl was our opening keynote speaker for our Innovation Unplugged Skills Summit in Toronto. From our first conversation it was obvious that Cheryl was very knowledgeable in the Future of Work and took the time to understand the objectives of our organization and our event. Her presentation was engaging and informative and set up the rest of our day perfectly. We had a diverse audience which included secondary school students, educators, industry experts and government officials. Everyone took something away from Cheryl’s speech and commented on the power of the presentation in their feedback comments. I would welcome working with Cheryl again in the future.