Adam Kreek

As a society, we’ve been oversold the quick fixes. Be the boss now. Lose weight in one week. Get rich tomorrow. We want to believe there’s a secret cheat code, a hack, or a hidden shortcut. When the quick and easy routes fail, we often blame others: it’s the CEO’s fault, our partner’s fault, the client’s fault, the sales team’s fault, the operation team’s fault or even our parent’s fault. The list goes on.

In the face of uncertainty, crisis and today’s fast-paced business environments we are all forced to deal with making quick decisions in high-pressure situations. Some of the best leaders can recognize these situations in the moment and adapt the approach to ensure a positive outcome in these situations. A shared process by many of these leaders is that they are able to tap into their past experiences to slow down their thinking and act on the fly.

In his engaging, thought-provoking and behaviour-changing keynote, Adam Kreek shares his principle of The Responsibility Ethic and teaches the practice of Self-Leadership. That is, we each can achieve any desired outcome (personal, professional and team) when we recognize our role in the current state of affairs. We must align our vision, plan and behaviour with our goals.

This keynote challenges and heals those who have been told to follow their dreams…but are not given the fine print: will require hard work and consistent action.  Attendees are challenged to find the courage to tell themselves the truth, point the finger inward, and hold personal accountability for their vision, values, goals and actions.  Dreams transform into results with vision, planning and action.  We alone create our direction and circumstance through our daily focus, choices and actions.

An incredible power is released when we work effectively together. When teams function optimally, they can be excellent tools to ensure resiliency, manage risk, and maximize achievement in times of change. When the whirlwind takes over, busyness gains priority and stress levels run high. In a fast-paced environment, we often let communication and team dynamics suffer, and the costs are significant. Empower your team to navigate current and future uncertainty with confidence. Participants will gain my best practices for managing change, and the tools that are necessary for consistent self-improvement.

What are values?  What makes the practice of value identification so powerful?  Can values create the foundation of an engaged workforce – and team culture that eats strategy for breakfast?  How is the alignment of values and action essential to individual and organizational success? We operate in an increasingly competitive, globally diverse economy.  When our organization’s values are unclear and unlived, performance and productivity are sacrificed.

It takes more than a fear of being fired or financial incentives to motivate employees. Without common, identified and actively embraced values, an organization will struggle to thrive. In his interactive presentation, Adam Kreek brings the power of values to life, evoking professional passion and more fulfilling success.  Adam Kreek  teaches audiences to unearth their personal and professional values, and how to align them directly with action to be more engaged, productive, focused and ultimately effective.

At the Beijing Olympic Games, my team’s goal was to gain one inch over our competition with every stroke. We won Olympic Gold by just over one second—or 220 inches. That’s one inch for every stroke. The inches add up. The same is true in business, entrepreneurship, career and life: quick fixes do not drive excellence. Too often, we race for quick-fix solutions, clinging to claims of easy success: “If only we could fail faster, schedule smarter or work harder”.

We maintain unsuccessful strategies at all costs to evade slowing down, re-strategizing and regaining our focus. The truth is, it takes focus and consistency to establish effective habits. We achieve peak performance when we prioritize the inches: powerful habits, strategies and tools that drive results. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result. It’s time to take time. Step back and implement the inches that will create and sustain peak performance.

At the Beijing Olympic Games, my team’s goal was to gain one inch over our competition with every stroke. We won Olympic Gold by just over one second—or 220 inches. That’s one inch for every stroke. The inches add up. The same is true in business, entrepreneurship, career and life: quick fixes do not drive excellence. Too often, we race for quick-fix solutions, clinging to claims of easy success: “If only we could fail faster, schedule smarter or work harder”.

We maintain unsuccessful strategies at all costs to evade slowing down, re-strategizing and regaining our focus. The truth is, it takes focus and consistency to establish effective habits. We achieve peak performance when we prioritize the inches: powerful habits, strategies and tools that drive results. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result. It’s time to take time. Step back and implement the inches that will create and sustain peak performance.

We’ve got the balance wrong. A healthy fear of failure is essential. It reminds us of our accountability and emboldens the threat of consequence. But an excessive emphasis on failure can paralyze productivity and stop us from achieving our best work. 

Risk aversion, inner resistance, self-sabotage, procrastination, anxiety and perfectionism are all signs that we hold an unhealthy fear of failure. Successful teams and organizations require a healthy relationship with failure. Too much fear – or too little – signals future disaster. Managing your fear of failure effectively allows for individual authenticity and reclaimed confidence. And we need both for sustained success and performance. It’s time to reframe our fear of failure.

Work-life balance is about identifying what’s most important in our lives, explicitly communicating our priorities to our colleagues and our loved ones, and setting definitive boundaries necessary to achieve and sustain our desired way of life.

There is no one size fits all ‘work-life balance’; it is as unique to each of us as our shoe size.  Leading and executing our personal work-life balance requires visioning, planning and the courage to stand up for our values and needs.  Once achieved, work-life balance provides the freedom to live more calm and fulfilled lives.