GRACE under Pressure John Baldoni

Constance Dierickx is a sought-after advisor to boards and senior executives in high-stakes leadership situations including strategic pivots, CEO transitions, board conflict, and crisis. Constance’s newest book is Meta-Leadership – See what others don’t and make great decisions. Constance has consulted with dozens of boards and over 500 executives on five continents. She has worked with companies from the Fortune 50 to high-tech start-ups. Clients call her “The Decision DoctorÒ” in recognition of her ability to help them with high-stakes decisions. She has helped clients increase share price (1400% for a retail brand), revenue (27%) and margin. CEO transition clients retain over 90% of unsuccessful internal candidates who contribute for at least three years after the transition.   Recognized as an expert on governance and executive leadership, Constance has been interviewed by National Public Radio for Marketplace Morning, The Wall Street Journal, and Chief Executive and writes for Harvard Business Review and Forbes as well as Directorship, Boards and Directors, and Corporate Board Member. In 2021, The Society for the Advancement of Consulting named her Consultant of the Year in recognition of her achievements and contributions to the profession. Prior to starting her own firm, she led the Board Services practice for a global boutique firm. She is the author of High Stakes Leadership (2017), The Merger Mindset (2018) and the forthcoming The Vibrant Board (2023.) She is Vice-Chair of the board of Mary Baldwin University, former chair of the board for The Partnership Against Domestic Violence and is Past-President of OnBoard. She is a member of the Association for Psychological Science, The Association for the Advancement of Consulting, and Marshall Goldsmith’s MG100 Coaches. www.constancedierickx.com

 David Noble has more than two decades of global experience advising CEOs, their teams, major investors and star athletes on leadership and strategy, and serving as a top executive. David’s personal purpose is to help leaders get to clarity and personal growth on the issues that matter most to them.   He was named by Thinkers50 as one of the world's top coaches, was a Managing Partner at two leading global strategy consultancies, and was a senior operating executive, including CEO of the world’s first digital bank. He is co-author with Carol Kauffman of REAL-TIME LEADERSHIP: Find Your Winning Moves When the Stakes Are High. david.noble@view-advisors.com https://rtlinstitute.com

Cathal J. Nolan is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Professor of History and Director of the International History Institute at the Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University. Cathal’s newest book is Mercy: Humanity in War. He also is the author of 14 books of diplomatic and military history. The Allure of Battle: A History of How Wars are Won and Lost (Oxford 2017), received the Gilder Lehrman Prize in Military History. It was also the first winner of the Distinguished Book Award from War on the Rocks. Nolan has guest lectured at various universities across the United States and internationally. He has also spoken to the Chautauqua Institute, Marine Corps University, National World War II Museum, New York Historical Society, New York Military Affairs Symposium, Smithsonian Journeys (Normandy), U.S. Army Combined Arms Center, U.S. Army War College, National Intelligence University Alumni Association, World Affairs Forum, Center for Military and Diplomatic History, and run a training course for young diplomats at the MoFA in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2011. He has been interviewed on CBS Radio, Radio Free Europe, Newstalk (Ireland), BBC Mundo, PBS, C-Span, New Books Network, The East-West Institute, The Dead Prussian and Dangerous History. He consults on military history to the PBS science series NOVA, and is principal military history adviser to the American Heritage Museum. His teaching has won multiple awards, at different universities. His overseas community service started as a volunteer teacher for two years in rural northern Nigeria, with the Canadian University Service Overseas. He returned to development work as faculty adviser to BU Global Water Brigade and Public Health Brigade, leading five student groups to Honduras to build potable water pipelines and infrastructure in arid, isolated mountain villages. https://www.bu.edu/history/profile/cathal-j-nolan/ https://youtu.be/s2Nne8yUk_k

Julia Fabris McBride is CEO of the Kansas Leadership Center, where more than 15,000 people around the world have attended programs since 2007. A certified coach, former actor and co-author of Teaching Leadership, Julia splits her time between Wichita and Matfield Green, Kansas. Her newest book, written with co-author Ed O’Malley is When Everyone Leads:  How the Toughest Challenges Get Seen and Solved https://kansasleadershipcenter.org/when-everyone-leads/

Dana Rubin is an award-winning journalist, consultant, speechwriter, and speaker focused on expanding diverse voices and viewpoints in the public discourse. Dana works with organizations to support underrepresented voices to become experts, brand ambassadors, rainmakers, and role models for the next generation. She writes and speaks about the history of women’s speech and voice. https://speakingwhilefemale.co/book/

“No one understands the treasures to be found in life stories better than James R. Hagerty,” the New York Times bestselling author Bob Greene said in an advance review of Hagerty’s “Yours Truly.” “Yours Truly” provides inspiring examples of life stories including both personal triumphs and disasters and injecting a dose of humor whenever possible. At The Wall Street Journal, Hagerty is known for writing about people who weren’t famous but lived fascinating lives. His motto: If obituaries can’t be fun, what’s the point of dying? “Yours Truly” explains why and how people should take charge of the narrative of their life by writing or recording their memories, in long or short form. Having written more than 1,000 obituaries in the past seven years, Hagerty believes that everyone has interesting stories to tell and that preserving them can be the best gift ever given to friends and loved ones. “Being famous is not a prerequisite for valuing and preserving your best stories and the lessons you’ve learned,” he says. Contrary to popular belief, telling and preserving those stories isn’t a chore to be taken up only in old age, Hagerty writes. Instead, young and middle-aged people should start keeping notes, recordings and annotated pictures. Hagerty, who grew up in North Dakota and has lived in Pittsburgh since 2005, is The Wall Street Journal’s lead obituary writer. https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-r-bob-hagerty-38371a6/

How many people can say they’ve never worked for anyone else? Selling eggs door-to-door at 14 years old began a lifetime of self-employment. As a speaker and small business consultant, Jeffrey Shaw helps self-employed and small business owners gain control of their businesses in what seems like otherwise uncontrollable circumstances. Drawing on his experience as a renowned portrait photographer, Jeffrey shows business owners how to see business through a different lens and strategies to compose the often-chaotic pieces of life and business into sustainable success. Jeffrey’s TEDxLincolnSquare talk is featured on TED.com and he’s the host of the top-rated podcast, The Self-Employed Life, author of The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success and LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer’s Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible. www.jeffreyshaw.com

Donald Altman, M.A., LPC, is a psychotherapist, international mindfulness expert and award-winning author. Featured as an expert in The Mindfulness Movie and profiled in The Living Spiritual Teachers Project, he currently writes Psychology Today’s Practical Mindfulness Blog.  A prolific writer whose career spans over 35 years, Donald has authored over 20 acclaimed and pioneering books on spirituality and mindfulness. His best-selling The Mindfulness Toolbox won two national publishing Ben Franklin Gold awards as best book in both the Psychology and Mind-Body-Spirit categories. Two other books, Clearing Emotional Clutter and The Mindfulness Code, were chosen as “One of the Best Spiritual Books of the Year” by Spirituality & Practice.  Donald spent several years as an adjunct professor at both the Lewis and Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling, and Portland State University. He also served the community as past Vice-President of the international organization, The Center for Mindful Eating. As a speaker and trainer, he has taught mindfulness and practices for stress reduction, depression and anxiety to over 15,000 health care and business professionals.  His newest book Travelers, is a novel about a grieving psychologist who is struggling with the agonizing loss of his daughter. When a mysterious traveling pet therapist, a sentient canine, and suicidal young patient come to the psych ward, the doctor is forced to confront his ideas about consciousness, reality and even the nature of death. Travelers is a story about overcoming grief while finding hope, healing and renewal. https://mindfulpractices.com

Social psychologist David Myers is a communicator of psychological science to college students and the general public. His scientific writings, supported by National Science Foundation fellowships and grants, appeared in three dozen academic periodicals, including Science, the American Scientist, the American Psychologist, and Psychological Science. David has digested psychological research for the public through articles in four dozen magazines, from Scientific American to Christian Century, and through seventeen books, including general interest books and textbooks. His research and writings have been recognized by the Gordon Allport Prize, by an “honored scientist” award from the Federation of Associations in the Brain and Behavioral Sciences, by the Award for Distinguished Service on Behalf of Personality-Social Psychology, and by three honorary doctorates. For David’s most cited research visit Google Scholar. For information on his textbook audiences, visit hereand here (from the Columbia University-related Open Syllabus project, which has harvested information from online syllabi representing ”around 5-6%” of all U.S. college courses). In recognition of his collaborative efforts to transform the way America provides assistive listening for people with hearing loss (see hearingloop.org), he received “the 2011 American Academy of Audiology Presidential Award,” the Walter T. Ridder Award from the Hearing Loss Association of America, and Oticon’s 2013 hearing Advocacy Award. From 2013 to 2017 he represented Americans with hearing loss on the Advisory Council of NIH’s National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders. www.davidmyers.org

Emily Falvey is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter & alumna of Belmont University's Curb College, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 2018 with a B.A. in Songwriting & a B.B.A. in Music Business. Falvey signed an exclusive, worldwide publishing agreement with SMACKSongs in April 2018. The single she penned for Big Loud artist MacKenzie Porter, “Seeing Other People,” recently reached #1 on the Canadian country airplay chart. Falvey has other recent & upcoming releases with artists such as Walker Hayes, Carly Pearce, Sam Fischer, Jimmie Allen, Tiera Kennedy, Callista Clark, Madison Kozak, Josh Kerr, Jake Scott, and more. Falvey is a member of the AIMP Songwriter Series class of 2019, was voted "Favorite Songwriter" by Young Entertainment Professionals (YEP), & was named to the inaugural Nashville Briefing 30 Under 30 List. In addition to her day-to-day work as a professional songwriter, Emily currently serves as Young Alumni Regent on Belmont University's Board of Trust, works as an adjunct professor in Belmont's Songwriting department, serves as Secretary of Mental Health Initiative & gives back to K-12 students as a songwriting instructor & music industry liaison for Writers Room U. Emily also offers a service for aspiring songwriters. You can find it on Instagram @cuppawemilyfalvey along with her profile @emilykfalvey. https://www.smacksongs.com/emily-falvey