KEYNOTE 01
Building High-Trust Organizations Through Gratitude
A leadership framework that turns gratitude from a poster on the wall into a practice your managers run every week.
A FEW OF THE 800+ ROOMS CHRIS HAS BEEN INVITED INTO
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WHY THIS MATTERS NOW
Trust isn't a feeling. It's something you build on purpose.
64% of employees don't feel they belong at work, and disengagement costs the global economy $8.9 trillion a year. Neither number moves because of a poster. Gratitude moves them when it is specific, public, and repeated — and when leaders are the ones doing it.
WHAT YOUR PEOPLE LEAVE WITH
Audience outcomes.
- 01
Gratitude as the fastest route to psychological safety
Why generic praise fails, and what specific, public recognition does to a team's willingness to speak up.
- 02
The precision question
One question that surfaces who is quietly carrying the team — and makes thanks impossible to fake.
- 03
Three pillars that hold a culture together
Gather, Ask, Give: a recurring structure any leader can run without a budget or a consultant.
- 04
The conditions for hard conversations
How a real gratitude practice lowers the cost of telling your leader something they don't want to hear.
THE FRAMEWORK THEY TAKE BACK TO WORK
Gather, Ask, Give — the three pillars linking gratitude to trust
Every keynote lands on one operating practice, not a mood. Gather, Ask, Give is the structure your managers can start running the Monday after your event.
- 1Gather: small, recurring rooms where leaders act as Chief Host Officer
- 2Ask: the precision question, “Who don't you give enough credit or thanks to?”
- 3Give: specific, public gratitude in the language others like to receive it
THE ROOM REMEMBERS IT
The room remembers it long after the event.
“Chris Schembra's keynote at the Chase senior leadership conference was a transformative experience, weaving empathy, vulnerability, and gratitude seamlessly into our corporate culture. His ability to foster genuine connections left our executive team inspired and equipped with invaluable tools for fostering deeper relationships both within the workplace and beyond.”
“Chris has a unique gift in connecting with others to help us be our best selves at work! His thoughtful and authentic focus on gratitude in engaging ways fostered camaraderie amongst the Citi team during our Gratitude Experience, building true connections and a meaningful shared experience.”
"On the battlefield I've seen the effect that energy and enthusiasm plays as a force multiplier. Chris brings a level of passion that permeates his audience and positively affects the morale of everyone he comes in contact with."
“Chris is a fiercely committed person to what he believes in, the Power of Human Connection through his keynotes and experiences. He is a person who brings the good out in others and his positive energy is contagious from the stage!"
"A completely new way to connect with our customers, prospects, and teams, but more importantly - a way for them all to connect with one-another! Chris Schembra is the inventor of this type of human connection construct, and never before has this been deployed in the world of Enterprise Software / Cloud."
"Many of our employees said this was the best 90 minutes they'd ever spent at Dell. I connected with someone that I had not before. It got deep and personal quick. We haven’t been able to connect like that, and people are really going through some things right now. The world is on fire right now and you're here to help them put out those fires."
“Chris, you radiated authenticity. A unique trait I hope to grow and develop myself. I took away so many nuggets of wisdom pertaining to our field, but with that out-of-the-box perspective. Something I feel that everyone needs and can benefit from, but rarely receive. One of our biggest goals from the keynote address and you pulled it off!”
“Chris Schembra kicked things off and led us through a keynote focused on gratitude. The room hung on every word (not an overstatement) as he offered up tactical strategies for enhancing our emotional well-being and how to build community, and connection within our everyday work.”
EVERY KEYNOTE IS CUSTOMIZED
Chris meets with your team before the event to shape the stories, research, and audience experience around your goals. Keynotes run 45–90 minutes, in person or virtual.
Bring this keynote to your next event.
Tell us your audience, your date, and what you want to be different afterward.