Rick Brandon,
Ph.D. - Business, Motivational,
Leadership Speaker, has a 30-year track record of providing
leadership and business communication learning
solutions to scores of Fortune 500 and other
corporate, educational, and other organizations. He
is past President of Ridge Training, as well as
Founder and CEO of Brandon Partners, a global
leadership training firm offering behavior change workshops on
political savvy and managerial
motivation skills for scores of organizations.
Dr. Brandon is a recognized thought leader in the
arena of ethical corporate politics and
organizational savvy.
A dynamic and humorous
“edu-tainer," Dr. Brandon frequently speaks at
conferences, annual meetings, and other large-scale
events. Audiences appreciate his comedic,
trumpet-laced, down-to-earth style of discussing a
normally taboo issue. He transforms “politics" from
a dirty word to an intriguing, inspiring and
practical topic that “hits people where they live."
He’s personally taught tens of thousands in scores
of companies across a wide range of industries, and
his concepts touch far more through his firm’s
courses. Rick is a distinguished faculty member for
the prestigious Institute for Management Studies
(IMS), which has booked him 50 times. Recently he
was IMS’ most widely requested speaker, appearing in
19 cities in one year alone.
Dr. Brandon co-authored
SURVIVAL OF THE SAVVY: High-Integrity Political
Tactics for Career and Company Success (Free
Press, 2004). This must-read on navigating
organizational politics achieved Wall Street
Journal bestseller status, was called “the
definitive book on political savvy" by Robert
Eichinger of Lominger Limited, and is endorsed by
Ken Blanchard, Marshall Goldsmith, Harvey MacKay,
and many CEO’s. It was awarded the Forbes.com
CEO Book Club Pick, Institute of Management
Studies Book of the Month, Fast Company
Reader’s Choice Award, and many sterling reviews.
Dr. Brandon is the featured expert answering
advice-seeking letters on the 250,000-hit per month
www.officepolitics.com website.
Dr. Brandon earned his Ph.D. in
Counseling and Management at the University of
Arizona, his M.A. in Educational Psychology from St.
Lawrence University, and his B.A. in Psychology from
Case Western Reserve. He has taught undergraduate
and graduate courses for the University of
Bridgeport, College of Saint Rose, the University of
Arizona, and University of California at Berkeley.
He was named a distinguished fellow by the
well-respected firm, Ridge Training.
A member of the American Society
of Training and Development (ASTD) and National
Speakers Association, Dr. Brandon was also an
Executive Board of Directors member of the American
Institute of Ethics. He has also been an active
member on the Board of Directors of a non-profit
organization providing emotional support to families
experiencing life-threatening illness. Through
Bugles Across America, he volunteers to play Taps at
the funerals of war veterans. Rick lives with his
wife of twenty years and two children in Marin
County, California. He is a singer, plays blues
trumpet, and regularly pretends to play tennis.
MOST REQUESTED TOPICS:
Organizational Savvy
Navigating Politics with Integrity
Despite excellent intentions, many employees,
managers, and executives are so narrowly focused on
the task part of their jobs that they lack broader
influence and impact. Assuming that the “results
will speak for themselves," they may become the
victims of other “behind-the-scenes" forces
operating in their organizations. This high-energy,
upbeat presentation adjusts attitudes about power
and politics, confronts naiveté’ about
behind-the-scenes dynamics often swept under the
carpet, and prevents you from being passed over,
under-estimated, rendered expendable, or blocked
from implementing your ideas. Through humor and
“straight talk," you will receive an Ethical
Politics Wake-Up Call, understand how to
Leverage Your Political Style, and gain insight
into vital non-manipulative Organizational Savvy
Skills for gaining strategic influence without
sacrificing your ethics. The online 65-item
Organizational Savvy Self-Assessment is
included at no cost for pre-session or post-program
reinforcement. You can also receive Dr.
Brandon’s Wall Street Journal bestseller,
Survival of the Savvys.
Organizational Savvy for
Women
Shattering the Glass Ceiling
This presentation empowers women in business to
break through barriers to advancement, influence,
and impact due to gender norms. Many women
under-estimate the ways that their attitudes and
actions about power and politics impact their job
success, career management, and team’s influence
within their companies. They may dislike traditional
power versus collaborative power, or avoid positions
involving positional or autocratic power. Men are
promoted more based upon their future potential
while women receive promotions more based upon their
past track record. Yet, little girls are often more
likely to be taught not to brag or talk about their
accomplishments–– a real double bind. Often,
corporate "buzz" or gossip that is harmful to
women’s mobility and impact can stem from the
tendency to speak in more nurturing ways, wisely ask
for directions to avoid inefficiencies, and use
language that softens their stance to be less
absolutist. Sadly, these habits may result in labels
like “needy," “doesn’t take a stand," or “pushover,"
or even make them targets of sabotage. Rick
Brandon’s popular Organizational Savvy
presentation now tackles the influence challenges
faced by women executives through:
- Business rationale for women
entering the ethical corporate politics arena
- Signals to women that politics
are impacting influence, impact, and advancement
- Reframing politics in a
high-integrity manner
- Two Political Styles with
strengths and risks
- Overview to Organizational
Savvy Skill Sets.
Self-Talk: The Inner Game
of Success
Definition of Self-Talk – We can
control our automatic internal dialogue, as shown
from the fields of sports psychology, sales
training, and brain research.
Dynamics of Self-Talk -
The powerful, automatic self-programming nature of
Self Talk is illustrated. The Self Talk Cycle is
described, showing how thoughts and beliefs
influence emotions, leading to changes in actions,
and ultimately impacting results.
How to Change Your Self-Talk -
Rick gives a simple ABCD formula for altering
counterproductive attitudes: Awareness, Belief in
Change, Choosing Specific Strategies, and Doing It
Through Practice.
Eight Self-Talk Strategies
– Dr. Brandon shows how the stressful world of
business and selling demands practical techniques
“real time in the field." Rick uses sales, humor,
sports, and history to teach in-depth strategies and
a Self Talk First Aid Kit" for
in-the-moment adjustments to mental "trash talking."
This talk is an excellent partner to The Mind Set of
Accountability presentation.
Self-Talk and the Mind Set
of Accountability
With an experiential exercise, Rick
presents two ways to face obstacles: The Victim or
Accountability Mind Set. He shares research and
inspiration that links success to taking ownership
and helps people move "from whining to winning" by
letting go of cop-outs and embracing accountability.
The qualities of a performer who has a Victim
posture versus a producer with a healthier posture
of Accountability are outlined. Dr. Brandon points
the direction for how to overcome the speed bumps
that plague today’s work force using examples from
the world of humor, literature, sales, sports, and
business. This speech is an ideal partner
presentation to Self Talk: The Inner Game of
Success. It is often followed by brainstorming and
action planning to address various company-focused
obstacles and challenges. Because the audience’s
attitudes about challenges and frustrations have
been adjusted, many organizations find that people
are able to more constructively create ways to
attack, adapt, or accept problems that previously
seemed totally out of their sphere of influence.
PRODUCTS:
The Bestseller Book, Survival of the Savvy
(Free Press, 2004)
Every day in today’s workplaces, power plays, egos,
turf battles, personal and hidden agendas,
bad-mouthing, and deception hurt careers and
bottom-line results. But politics doesn’t have to be
a dirty word. Rick Brandon, Ph.D. and Marty Seldman,
Ph.D., in their Wall Street Journal best-seller
book, Survival of the Savvy: High-Integrity
Political Tactics for Career and Company Success,
show that office politics are not something to shun.
They are a strategic path to increased influence—not
a necessary evil—and to surviving and thriving in
corporate life. The key is to know how to navigate
organizational politics and to hone your own
political savvy without losing your ethical compass.
Top managers also can use ethical politics as a road
map to protect the resources and reputations of
their organizations through building savvy teams and
cultivating a high-integrity workplace. This
entertaining must-read has received honors like the
Forbes.com CEO Book Club Pick, Institute of
Management Studies Book of the Month, Fast Company
magazine Reader’s Choice Award, and sterling reviews
by many publications.
Organizational Savvy
Self-Assessment or 360 Multi-Rater
Assessment
The Organizational Savvy Assessment
is an online 65-item rating instrument that yields
an Overall Organizational Savvy Score and
13 separate Skill Set Scores. The robust
Feedback Report provides a profile of your
strong points and gaps. For each of the 13 Savvy
Skill Sets, you'll receive analysis that includes:
√ Your Skill Set score and rating
as Proficient, Capable, or Vulnerable
√ A review of the five assessment items that
comprise the Skill Set
√ An explanation of the Skill Set's purpose and
impact
√ Specific pointers and recommendations for
improvement
√ A list of related chapters in the book,
Survival of the Savvy.
