Executive Coaching

Serving individuals and enterprises under the assumption that thriving workplaces are led by people who genuinely inspire others to follow, one of the central tenets of the Institute to Stop Taking Yourself So Seriously! is that optimal relationships are founded on deep trust. When leaders capture the imaginations of others in their organization, influencing the changes necessary for productivity, collaboration, and innovation becomes seamless and natural. When self-interest (e.g. ego) operates in the background, trust is sorely compromised along with the engagement, loyalty, and passion of those leaders need to succeed. For more information visit Coaching.

Keynote Speaking

An entertaining and lighthearted overview of the role leadership style plays in nurturing a thriving business. With the underlying premise that functional relationships within the context of work are no different than relationships with our friends and families, we learn the value of trust and introduce some ideas on how to build it. Meant to provoke some introspection by audience members, gently encouraging them to consider that they might be operating under some false paradigms and that they have an opportunity to create a healthier organization by leading differently.

• To Lead Magnificently, Be Less Human!

• How Building Trust Leads to Well-Being, Engagement, and a Vital Business

• Stop Taking Yourself So Seriously: A Case for Leadership that Builds a Healthy Community

• You’re Not Such a Big Deal: But Lead by Knowing that You are Being Taken Seriously

• If You’re in Sales, You’re a Leader

• Are You THAT Big of a Deal?

• The Likable Leader: A Pathway to Better Business!

• Assessing Fit: The Importance of Likability in Recruiting and Interviewing

• How Not Taking Yourself So Seriously Leads to Better Patient Outcomes and a More Enjoyable Practice

• You’re Dead a Long Time: How Considering this Imminent Event Will Help Your Business RIGHT NOW!

• The Likable Leader: How at Least TRYING will Improve Your Company’s Vitality

• LIGHTEN UP! No Matter Your Gender, We Need More “WOMAN” Taking the Lead!

• Being 3-Dimensional in a Workplace That’s Gone Flat

• Don’t Be a Jerk if You Want Werk!

Lunch-and-Learn

In a one-hour program designed for the entire organization, we introduce the concepts of leadership style, self-awareness, motivation and trust, providing examples of what works and doesn’t work. We even try to dispel the Golden Rule. GASP!! The goal is to provoke attendees into wondering whether they’re not showing up at work as their most functional selves, and to consider that maybe—just maybe—change is in order. No change is possible without first recognizing that it’s even necessary in the first place.

Lunch-and-Learns can be customized to focus on fewer (or one) areas of emotional intelligence, taking a more in-depth look at the emotional contributors to a thriving organization. These can be delivered as multi-part series, providing the organization with a more comprehensive, in-depth understanding of concepts, and provide some of the necessary presence-of-mind stimuli that support the behavioral changes we want for ourselves.
Big time fun!

Workshop Facilitation

There’s nothing like getting manageable-sized groups in a room to collaborate and share in some personal and collective growth. The Institute will present material and lead participation in provocative, yet fun and effective, ways that draw in participants and encourage the open exchange of discoveries. Workshop content can be custom-tailored based on specific need, or developed in these general areas:

• Fear: how it pervades our every waking moment and interferes with possibilities

• Complacency: how it interferes with innovation and drive, and how leaders can keep it at bay

• Likability: its role in self-awareness, why it’s good for business and how to develop it

• Motivation: busting old paradigms and driving it in the organization

Vistage Peer Advisory Group Chair

Supporting more effective decisions in life, not just business, Howie and his Minneapolis-based Vistage group provide the unmitigated, honest feedback to members that help uncover and resolve the key issues behind decisions that need to be made. Growth, whether professional, business, or personal, are all part of the deliverable, supporting the claim that Vistage members experience over 2x the growth of companies not led by Vistage members.

As a member of Howie’s group, leaders can expect to alleviate that lonely-at-the-top feeling, benefitting from the unbiased and multiple perspectives of fellow members, all in a let it all hang out, confidential setting. Lifelong relationships and happier lives ensue, not to mention healthier businesses. For more information on Vistage, visit www.vistage.com.

Howie has worked with:

• Fairview Physicians Associates

• City of Brooklyn Park

• Prouty Project

• Sleep Number

• Navigate Forward

• Hennepin Healthcare

• Winsights

• Human Resources Executive Forum

• Sales & Marketing Mastermind Group MedTech

• Easter Job Transition Group

• Business Leaders Breakfast Forum

• Rotary

• Sleep Number

• Women in Leisure Services

• TEC—The Executive Committee

• Professional Sales Association

• Generation Group

• Sterling Retirement Resources

• Minnesota Manufacturing Network

• Minnesota Gift Planners Association

• Eagan Rotary

• Twin Cities SEGC (Small Emerging Growth Companies)

• Vistage, Inc.

• Change “Rotary” in the list to “Wayzata Rotary”

• TruNorth Solar

• ZEF Energy

• CertiFresh Cigars

• Northern Elevator

• Parker, Daniels, Kibort

• North Memorial Medical Center

• Corval Group

• Solar Plastics

• Erskine Interiors

• Piedmont Global Language Services

• GTS Financial

• 360 Group

• Dynamic Sheetmetal Fabrication

• Aggressive Engineering

• Precision Air Products

• Wilson’s Image