A practical keynote on choosing whose advice you need, inviting honest disagreement, and building trusted relationships before a consequential decision arrives.
Bring a Decision. Examine Your Circle.
For more than 25 years, Bob Johnston has worked alongside CEOs, founders, entrepreneurs, and executive teams, helping them navigate the challenges that come with leadership.
Stories give the ideas context. A guided exercise helps each participant apply them to a decision they’re facing, examine whose perspective they currently seek, and identify a gap.
The discussion and exercise can be tailored to senior executive teams, emerging leaders, or broader conference audiences. The aim is to give people a useful next step they can take after the event.
Build the Circle Before You Need It. These themes can shape the talk and discussion to fit the audience:
The Moment You Realized You Shouldn’t Have Gone It Alone
You’re Not Alone. Everyone in the Room Is Dealing With the Same Thing
Identify Your Gaps. Be Real With Yourself
The People Side of Leadership: Bosses, Teams, and the Conversations Nobody Teaches You
The People Side of Leadership: Bosses, Teams, and the Conversations Nobody Teaches You
What Audiences Take Away
The keynote turns the idea of a trusted circle into something participants can examine and act on. Through a guided exercise, they’ll develop:
- A map of the people they currently consult and the perspectives each contributes
- A specific gap in the advice available for a decision they're facing
- Questions that invite disagreement and help them test their assumptions
- A plan for one conversation, including whom to ask and what help they need
What Leaders
Are Saying
“Bob has a real knack for getting the right people into a room and creating the kind of trust where people will actually say what they think. He knows the best decisions usually come when you hear more than one point of view.”
Beth Rose
Former Chief Compliance, Ethics
& Integrity Officer, Ford Motor Company
Bring Bob to Your Next Event
Give your audience a practical way to examine their trusted circle and identify their next conversation. Share your audience, event format, and goals so we can shape the talk around what they need.