Leadership under pressure, for the institutions carrying the weight. Keynotes and working sessions for community banks, lenders, credit union leagues, boards, universities, and executive teams deciding inside a crisis era. Every talk is built around one real decision the audience is already facing.
As featured in
A crisis leadership keynote is not a motivational talk about resilience. It is an argument about how people actually decide when institutions stop absorbing risk, built on five historical figures who led through real collapses: Cato, Washington, Seneca, Lincoln, and Marshall. Audiences leave able to name the mode they default to under pressure and the shadow that default produces.
Chris Myers is CEO of B:Side Capital, faculty at Arizona State University's W. P. Carey School of Business, and author of Honor Under Pressure. He speaks to banking associations, credit union leagues, lenders, boards, universities, and executive teams deciding inside a crisis era. Every talk is shaped around one decision the audience is already carrying, which is why the material lands differently than a standard keynote. Formats run from a single keynote to a full-day or multi-session program.
Each one is adapted to the audience and the decisions in front of them. Program directors can mix a keynote with a working session inside the same day.
The five modes of leadership the historical record validates, and why a code built before the pressure arrives is the only one that holds. Built around the decisions in front of the room, not a survey of the literature.
Best fitAssociation annual meetings and executive conferences
A working session on how each leader in the room defaults under pressure, and the shadow that default produces when the load runs long. Participants leave able to name their own mode and the one their team is missing.
Best fitExecutive teams, boards, and leadership retreats
Some decisions arrive with no policy that resolves them, no precedent that fits, and no consensus available. This talk is about what a leader falls back on in that gap, and how to build that fallback in advance.
Best fitCommunity banks, lenders, credit unions, and boards
Institutions outlive the people who run them only when judgment is deliberately built into successors. The practice for transmitting a standard rather than a set of rules, drawn from the leaders who managed it.
Best fitUniversity executive education and long-horizon institutions
Fees vary with travel, audience size, and how much of the program the engagement covers. These are the starting points.
A signature talk, tailored to the audience and the calls in front of them.
The keynote plus a facilitated working session applying the framework to one live decision.
Multiple sessions across a program or conference track, with breakout facilitation.
A recurring program across a chapter network, a university program calendar, or a leadership pipeline.
Bulk copies of Honor Under Pressure included with all engagements.
Reduced rates for nonprofit and association member programs.
Every talk is built around one real decision the audience is already facing, not a general survey of leadership. The core material is the five modes leaders default to under pressure, the shadow each one produces, and why the standard executive toolkit inverts when institutions stop absorbing risk. The historical spine is Cato, Washington, Seneca, Lincoln, and Marshall, used as evidence rather than decoration.
Three. A keynote, sized to the slot a program has. A half day, which is the keynote plus a facilitated working session applying the framework to one live decision. And a full-day or multi-session engagement across a program or conference track, with breakout facilitation. Program directors can combine a keynote with a working session inside the same day.
Keynotes begin at $8,500. Half-day programs begin at $12,500. Full-day and multi-session engagements begin at $20,000. The final figure depends on travel, audience size, and how much of the program the engagement covers. Associations and university programs should ask; the range is wider than the floor suggests.
Keynotes and working sessions are delivered in person, and travel is quoted into the fee. The format depends on the room: the working sessions turn on what a group is willing to say out loud with each other present, and that does not survive a video grid.
Plan on about four weeks. That leaves room to shape the talk around the decision your audience is actually carrying, which is the part that makes it land. Availability moves quickly around conference season, so earlier is better if the date is fixed.
Banking associations, credit union leagues, lenders, boards, universities, and executive teams inside institutions deciding under pressure. The common thread is an audience with real authority and a decision in front of them, rather than a general-interest leadership audience.
Send the date, the audience, and what the room is deciding this year. We reply within two business days with availability and a fit recommendation.
Chris Myers · CEO, B:Side Capital & B:Side Fund · Founder & Chairman, Main & Machine · Faculty, ASU W. P. Carey
The New York Times · The Wall Street Journal · Forbes · Entrepreneur · MSNBC · Fox Business
Bringing the practice to a leadership team instead of a stage? See team workshops and advisory.
Inquiry
Date, audience, and what the room is working on.
Most association and university programs book six to twelve months out. Send the date early and the rest can be scoped later.