Speaking

Joel Garfinkle has first-hand experience working closely with thousands of executives, senior managers, directors and employees. His more than 10 years of executive coaching have provided him insight into the secrets of what turns business professionals into influential leaders. Joel is recognized as one of the top 50 coaches in North America and has coached inside such corporations as Google, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems, Bank of America, Citibank, Microsoft and many more.

Using his background in executive coaching, performance improvement, and change management, Joel empowers associations and his corporate audiences to create more fulfilling work, achieve their full leadership potential and have an extraordinary career that reaches new levels of success. When Joel speaks to individuals and teams within your organization, they will learn specific tools, practical tips and techniques to put into practice immediately.

Joel is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and is regularly featured in national media, including ABC News, National Public Radio, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and Fast Company. Joel is an expert on career advancement, excelling as a business leader, career transition and job fulfillment.

As a speaker, Joel will energize your keynotes, meetings, conventions and seminars with his compelling and inspirational speaking style.

Joel’s Most Requested Programs

Executive Presence

How to Become the Most Influential Business Leader and Effective Executive

Executive presence means conveying confidence as a business leader, being respected as an authority, and having a professional magnetism that influences others. With executive presence, you trade passivity and self-doubt for self-assurance and the ability to pro-actively navigate the corporate landscape as a high-potential employee. No matter what your position, the more executive presence you have, the more others will seek your support and leadership.

During this innovative presentation you’ll learn how to advance up the corporate ladder quickly and effectively through increased exposure, visibility, and self-promotion. The end result is an extraordinary career in which you reach your full leadership potential.

More information about Executive Presence

Unlock Your Gifts

How to Express Your Talent at Work

A Harvard Business Review study found that the most important factor in predicting job success is how well a person fits the job. Your job will fit you best when you know what your gifts are and align them to your work. When your talent is fully expressed at work, you allow more of yourself to show up in your job and deeper fulfillment occurs. The problem is that most employees have no idea what gifts they have. So they spend their work life showing up for a job that doesn’t fit who they really are.

In this presentation, you will learn how to transform your work so it aligns with who you are, your uniqueness, and your most noteworthy talents. Your work life will be built on your greatest talents and lead to peak performance and greater success in the job.

More information about Unlock Your Gifts

Your Work or Your Life

Be Balanced, Save Time and Double Your Productivity.

Long hours, stress, increased responsibility and information overload can wreak havoc with your life. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is one of the biggest challenges facing people as they confront the demands of a 24/7 work world. Consumed by their jobs, people often ignore and forget how to prioritize what is most important and valued in their lives.

In this presentation you will learn how to: (1) Create principles that will balance your work and life, protecting you from long hours and stress, (2) Double your productivity and create more time by implementing new work strategies and, (3) Change bad work habits that have developed over time and make better choices to increase your satisfaction on – and off – the job.

More information about Your Work or Your Life

Define Your Dream Job

Unleashing Your Innate Gifts into Meaningful Work

You spend one-third of your life at work, so you deserve to feel fulfilled by it. This program focuses first and foremost on fulfillment, helping you find the perfect job that aligns with your passions and natural talents. When you do what you love, you will achieve more in less time, get bigger and better results, and feel excited about going to work every day.

In this presentation you will learn to describe your innate gifts and use them to create deeper meaning in your life, imagine what you really want and can do – and break-out of pre-conceived ideas of what you can’t do and to leverage your most fulfilling experiences and translate them into career opportunities.

More information about Define Your Dream Job

“You delivered a powerfully motivating and purposeful program benefiting a large number of our members. Your three step process is a simple yet effective tool on how to become a leader with executive presence, track accomplishments, and create influence inside a company. I was absolutely captivated by your program and am inspired to utilize these newfound techniques. The members are all enriched because of you.”
Angela Tirion
Chair of The Volunteer Training and Development Program
The Junior League of San Francisco

“Joel’s energy and passion moved the audience. His session helped make this our most successful trade show to date.”
J.D. Meadows
Board Member
San Francisco Chapter
California Association of Mortgage Brokers

Become the Leader Others Want to Follow

The Ten Characteristics of Great Leadership

For an organization to be successful it’s vital to realize the importance of both managing and leading. Managers, however, must learn to grow, develop and think more like leaders. As every organization deals with constant and inevitable change, it’s vital for an organization’s survival and success to respond with a leadership mindset. You are able to inspire and positively challenge people by helping them overcome obstacles and look to the future.

In this presentation you will learn the value of leading and how it energizes the organization and its systems so that the culture, environment and processes can shift and innovate toward what change is demanding.

More information about Become the Leader Others Want to Follow

How Do You Keep Your Stars?

Ten Ways to Help Your Employees Love Their Work

Keeping your star employees is crucial for the long-term success of your company. Recent studies identify job satisfaction as the number one factor that keeps your high performers from leaving. When these talented employees are able to do what they do best every day, they will realize their full potential and won’t desire to leave. This presentation will show you how to implement ten sure-fire strategies designed to help the “stars” in your company experience a newfound excitement for their work and learn to love their jobs.

More information about How Do You Keep Your Stars?

Finding the Job You Need Fast

Practical Tips for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers

Find the Job You Need Fast is jam-packed with inside tips on how to survive the transition of unemployment, create a winning resume, master the interview process and, most importantly, land the job at the salary you need in less than half the time. The secret is developing a targeted job search strategy. You’ll know exactly the company you want to work for and how to contact the person who has the power to hire you. You will learn how to gain a personal introduction inside companies and gather valuable information about job opportunities that are not listed.

More information about Finding the Job You Need Fast

Testimonials

Joel’s expertise on work fulfillment and excelling as a business leader have reached a multitude of audiences. Here are testimonials from some of the corporations, conferences and associations he has spoken to:

“You stole the show! One audience member said, “I learned more in the first 15 minutes of Joel’s presentation than I do at many other conferences.”
Susan E. Smith
Director of Customer Learning
Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry

“I thought Joel’s presentation was very good, but what really did it for me was the fact that he was able to communicate such heart. He truly cares about what he’s doing; you can tell he’s passionate about it.”
Pam Price Hawley
Marketing Manager
Cisco Systems, Inc.

“Over 96% of my employees said they would enjoy hearing him speak again!”
Karen Habegger
Human Resources Manager
Gensler

“Joel is a highly effective speaker who interacts with the audience in a way that is inspirational, motivational and encouraging. He possesses an in-depth knowledge of his subject matter and conveys it with energy, enthusiasm and passion.”
Melanie Summers
Director, Alumni Career Services
California Alumni Association

“Joel, your presentation and handouts focused on practical tips that we could all begin to put into practice immediately. It was not just theory or games but about truly changing the way we work to balance our lives and our work. This definitely distinguishes you from other speakers that have spoken to us in the past. The team is already implementing your suggestions and we are going to discuss progress weekly.

Your enthusiasm, style and heart enabled the team to open up and really listen to the message. We hope to be able to bring you back every year to help us keep on track.”
Kathy Weiner
Enterprise Marketing, Sr. Manager
Strategic Alliances
Cisco Systems, Inc.

“I have seen Joel’s workshops receive the highest ratings from our clients. He is considered one of our top speakers.”
Kathye J. Citron
President & CEO
Lifeprint

“I thought your ‘Unlock Gifts at Work’ presentation and facilitation were right on target for what we needed. I recommend that any organization that needs to work with getting the most out of its people resources should use Joel Garfinkle to accomplish that…”
Jim Keene
Regional Manager
Wells Fargo Private Bank

“Joel did a masterful job explaining both the theoretical ‘whys’ of bringing balance to our lives along with the pragmatic ‘hows.’ His presentation style is engaging and motivating. I made changes to the way I handle the daily barrage of email based on the ideas and inspiration Joel provided in his talk.
Brad Whitworth
Senior Communications Manager
Strategic Alliances
Cisco Systems, Inc.

“Joel Garfinkle’s presentation is a must for anyone who wants to become a leader in their industry. He was clear and concise, providing insight, knowledge and practical ideas to improve your leadership skills and quality of life, both at work and away from the job. I benefited immensely from his presentation.”
Vicki Young
Chairman/President
CINA – Chinese Information and Networking Association

“You have a keen ability to read your audience, build on the issues they raise and guide them through obstacles.”
John Morel
Alumni MBA Career Advisor
Haas School of Business

“His workshop is in constant demand and highly praised by our members. Joel continues to deliver high quality, practical messages that our members say can last a lifetime.”
Linda Wohlsen
Program Manager
Career Action Center

“Joel’s presentation was fresh, informative and, best of all packed with practical tips and techniques. I went back to the office more confident and inspired than ever before.”
Lynn DuBois
Financial Women’s Association of San Francisco

“You delivered a powerfully motivating and purposeful program benefiting a large number of our members. Your three step process is a simple yet effective tool on how to become a leader with executive presence, track accomplishments, and create influence inside a company. I was absolutely captivated by your program and am inspired to utilize these newfound techniques. The members are all enriched because of you.”
strong>Angela Tirion
Chair of The Volunteer Training and Development Program
The Junior League of San Francisco