Founder & CEO, Go Together Global & Best-Selling Author
GOTHAM ARTISTS COLLECTIVE
Shola Richards
Speaking Fee: $20,000 to $30,000
Travels From: LAX - Los Angeles (All Airports)
Primary Topic Category: Leadership and Management
Secondary Topic Category: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) / Social Justice
Shola Richards At A Glance:
Shola Richards is a dynamic keynote speaker, the best-selling author of "Making Work Work", and "Go Together", an in-demand workplace civility expert, and a prolific writer with a passionate worldwide following. His articles and wildly-popular Monday morning "Go Together Movement" email series have impacted people in over 160 countries, and his work has been featured on the Today Show, CBS This Morning, Forbes, Black Enterprise, Complete Wellbeing India, and Business Insider Australia.
Shola Richards is the CEO and Founder of Go Together Global™, the best-selling author of “Making Work Work”, and “Go Together”, and he is a civility writer with a passionate worldwide following. His articles and extremely popular “Go Together Movement” email series have been read by readers in over 160 countries, and his work has been featured on the Today Show, CBS This Morning, Forbes, Black Enterprise, Complete Wellbeing India, Business Insider Australia, and in numerous other outlets all over the world who recognize him as an authority on workplace happiness and engagement.
As a speaker, Shola has shared his transformative message with top universities, leading healthcare organizations, Silicon Valley, the motion picture industry, on the TEDx stage, and in his greatest honor to date, in September 2021, he was invited to testify in front of the House of Representatives on Capitol Hill to share his expert recommendations on how to bring more civility to Congress.
Last, but certainly not least, Shola is a father, husband, identical twin, and self-professed “kindness extremist” who will not rest until bullying and incivility is extinct from the American workplace.
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THE COURAGE TO GO TOGETHER™ THREE QUESTIONS TO CHANGE HOW YOU WORK, LIVE AND LEAD
In his inspiring flagship keynote, The Courage to Go Together™, Shola will introduce the transformative concept of Ubuntu (pronounced, "oo-BOON-too") which translates to "I am, because we are." The Ubuntu philosophy, along with three powerful questions, will provide the audience with actionable strategies to transform their work culture, amplify team civility, and inspire themselves and others to consistently bring their best to their work.
This keynote is ideal for individual contributors, leaders, and teams who are:
• Searching for proven strategies to strengthen team cohesion, civility and togetherness in order to maintain a healthy workplace culture and optimal business results.
• Struggling to keep themselves engaged, positive and solution-oriented when managing the nonstop challenges and complexities of life (both inside and outside of the workplace).
• Feeling as if they do not have the influence, professional title, or education to make meaningful positive change on their work team, or in their organization.
The audience will leave with:
• The three key questions that they need to ask themselves to increase the likelihood of civil, engaged, and productive work culture.
• The answers to the most common objections to beginning the important—and challenging—work of positively transforming their work culture.
• The self-awareness to become mindful of how their words, actions, and behaviors affect others.
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UNSTOPPABLE RESILIENCE™ THE KEYS TO STAYING STRONG DURING ANY CHALLENGE
This is a uniquely difficult time for leaders and individual contributors in workplaces all over America. We are still managing the aftereffects of battling a deadly pandemic for over three years (and counting), there are deep divisions that have been exposed within our country, parents are overwhelmed as they balance their careers with raising their kids in this exhausting new reality, employees are feeling increased anxiety and mental health challenges, and according to recent studies, Americans are the unhappiest they have been in the past 50 years. Needless to say, navigating all of the aforementioned challenges can have a significant impact on one’s overall well-being, mental health and resilience. The Unstoppable Resilience™ keynote provides the audience with the highly-practical strategies to build unshakable strength within themselves and within their teams.
This keynote is ideal for individual contributors, leaders, and teams who are:
• Feeling overwhelmed with the multiple competing priorities (both at work and at home) that are draining them mentally and emotionally.
• Experiencing heightened stress levels as they manage the seemingly-nonstop onslaught of incoming unpleasant news happening in the world around them, ongoing anxieties and mental health challenges, and the expectation of bringing their best selves to their work, despite their internal or external stressors.
• Unsure of how to support their colleagues who may be struggling.
The audience will leave with:
• The keys to creating a resilient mindset, regardless of the circumstances.
• The strategy to apply the aforementioned keys to any challenge that the attendees are currently facing (professionally, personally, or otherwise).
• Personalized commitments that the attendees will use to build their resilience, and a strategy to stay accountable to their new commitments.
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COURAGEOUS CIVILITY™ CREATING A CULTURE OF EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND BELONGING
Creating and sustaining a culture of equity, diversity and belonging can be challenging and exhausting work. Not only does it require the willingness to actively work against inequities, bias and discrimination in the workplace, but equally as important, it requires the courage to actively take part in uncomfortable (but, necessary) discussions. The highly-engaging Courageous Civility™ keynote provides the audience with the key tools, strategies, and information necessary to engage in this important work, while also ensuring that the commitment to this work remains long after the keynote ends.
This keynote is ideal for individual contributors, leaders, and teams who are:
• Ready to create a culture of equity, diversity and belonging, but don’t know where to begin.
• Concerned about the current climate of divisiveness in America, and its impact on marginalized communities’ mental health, safety and overall well-being.
• Unaware of how to effectively engage in difficult conversations with colleagues and others about bias and inequities.
The audience will leave with:
• Strategies to recognize bias, prejudice, and/or microaggressions in the workplace, and how to address it immediately and strategically.
• Powerful data that shows that diverse teams are better at making decisions, more attractive to potential clients, consistently outperform competitors (and more!)
• The education and the inspiration to stay committed to the ongoing work of equity, diversity and belonging.
Shola is one of the most engaging, inspiring, and authentic speakers that I have ever encountered. He illuminates any space with his warmth, kindness, and personal narratives. His stories are filled with wisdom, laughter, and the ability to bring out the best in people.— Marian Gabra-Kahsay, Ph.D., Director of Advisor Training & Professional Development and University Studies, UCLA
Shola Richards is one of the few people I’ve ever met in my life that can discuss difficult, uncomfortable, and taboo topics and make it fun, educational, and eye opening.— Stephanie Louie, Director, Platform Partnerships at Minecraft (Microsoft)
Shola provided the MOST EPIC opening for our annual conference at IAAP. He was incredibly engaging, authentic, and provided so many takeaways for our attendees that they are still talking about his message. I would highly recommend any organization looking for a boost of kindness and energy to let Shola come in and offer his wisdom and guidance to your group or team. 12/10 stars from me!!— Melissa Mahoney, CEO, International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP)
I had the pleasure of seeing Shola address a 1000+ person crowd at the Institute of Internal Auditors International Conference on the topic of "courageous civility" addressing DEI in the workplace. Not only was his content highly relevant and insightful, but it was delivered in a way that was authentic and relatable to a global audience representing 40+ countries. His approach to discussing DEI was original yet practical such that attendees could take away tangible actions. My favorite advice of his "tap into your hire-self" - I will take this with me for life. I recommend Shola to any audience looking for an impactful, engaging presentation.— Megan Turner, Partner, Financial Services Consulting, Enterprise Risk at EY
