Larry Johnson | Corporate Culture Expert, Customer Service Specialist, and Author

Larry Johnson

Corporate Culture Expert, Customer Service Specialist, and Author

Larry Johnson
Featured Keynote Programs

Absolute Honesty
Building A Corporate Culture That Values Straight Talk And Rewards Integrity

Let’s face it. Straight, honest, no nonsense communication in organizations today is more rare than common. Whether it’s fear of reprisal, natural timidity, or not wanting to hurt someone’s feelings, many of us avoid telling the truth when the truth needs to be told. The same applies to many of those who work for us.

Based on Larry Johnson’s latest book Absolute Honesty: Building A Corporate Culture That Values Straight Talk and Rewards Integrity Larry shows you how to enhance your leadership skills by establishing a new standard of communication – a standard that encourages creativity through candid discussions, frank expression of ideas, and healthy debate. A standard that tells the truth, doesn’t mince words, and is guided by a clear sense of right and wrong.

"George should have been spoken to long ago about his poor performance, but no one had the guts to do it. So now we're stuck with him."

"We sit in meetings and openly discuss a decision. Then once it's been made, I hear that people are bad-mouthing it. Why didn't they say something when they had the chance?"

"No matter how stupid or unethical a decision my team or my dealer makes, we are all expected to embrace the stupidity, never argue, and start singing "Kumbaya."

Do these situations sound familiar? Let's face it. Straight, honest, no nonsense communication in organizations today is more rare than common. Whether it's fear of reprisal, natural timidity, or not wanting to hurt someone's feelings, many of us avoid telling the truth when the truth needs to be told. The same applies to many of those who work for us.

The cost of such reticence can be high. If managers can't get honest feedback from their employees, they, like the emperor in the fable of the Emperor's New Clothes, will make foolish decisions. If employees can't get honest feedback from their managers, they don't improve, and their poor performance costs the organization money and can demoralize employees.

This program, presented as a speech or as a seminar, shows managers and supervisors how to establish a standard of communication that encourages open discussions and healthy debate, that tells the truth, that doesn't mince words, and, most of all, is guided by a moral and ethical sense of right and wrong. Participants will walk away with practical tools for:

Applying the Six Laws of Absolute Honesty that will build trust and reduce the amount of dysfunctional family dynamics that consume people's energy and time
Short circuiting the "Kumbaya" syndrome so that people will speak their mind's openly and honestly without fear of retribution
Using Constructive Confrontation to resolve differences of opinion and fix sticky problems quickly and without damaging relationships
Getting chronic whiners to stop sniveling and do something positive to fix the problems they whine about
Stopping "lipotage," where people give lip-service to a decision and then sabotage the decision in discussions around the water cooler

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

How to replace the Kumbaya Syndrome - a disease that discourages people from expressing their opinions openly and honestly - with a culture of Absolute Honesty where people feel free to tell you what they think.
How to apply the Six Laws of Absolute Honesty

Law #1: Tell the Truth

The worst truth always beats the best lie. Larry will discuss how to overcome some of the fears, real and imaginary, that keep us from being truthful.
Law #2: Tackle the Problem

M. Scott Peck, author of the Road Less Traveled, said that we only solve life's problems by solving them. Larry will show you how to use Constructive Confrontation to resolve tough problems and handle difficult conversations
Law #3: Disagree and Commit

Based on a concept developed at Intel Corporation and other high tech firms, this law gives you a tool for dealing with whining, moan-festing, "lipotaging, and other forms of passive aggressive, quasi-demonic behavior.
Law #4: Welcome Honesty

It is human nature to become defensive when we feel attacked. When we react defensively to receiving feedback or hearing unwelcome news, communication becomes distorted and the truth never sees the light of day. Larry will discuss how to keep defensiveness from sidetracking conversations.
Law #5: Reward the Messenger

Killing the messengers who bring you bad news will only ensure that you never hear bad news until it's too late. Larry will explore some subtle, and not so subtle ways that we kill messengers and how to replace inadvertent messenger killings with intentional messenger celebrations.
Law #6: Build a Platform of Integrity

In 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died after ingesting Tylenol® Extra Strength capsules that had been laced with cyanide. Johnson & Johnson, the owners of Tylenol, survived the ordeal with an improved reputation and a return to market dominance. Ten years later, Sears Roebuck & Company was wracked with scandal when many of its auto centers were caught cheating customers. Sears suffered significant damage to their reputation and loss of market share. The difference? Throughout the crises, Johnson and Johnson remained true to a well-established ethical credo (a platform of integrity) while Sears did not. Larry will show you how to establish such a platform of integrity in your organization.

TGIM (Thank Goodness It’s Monday)
Motivating Yourself and Others To Excel

This fast-paced, content-packed, humor-laced session shows participants how to reduce employee turn-over, increase employee productivity and enhance employee morale. The program is based on the premise that happy, turned-on employees provide the best service to customers. TGIM gives participants easy-to-use tools to help them motivate themselves and their employees to be those happy, turned on service providers every business needs.

Winning The Word of Mouth Game - Customer Service On Steroids

More than anyone else, it is the people who interact with customers every day who determine whether customers will stay loyal or go elsewhere. This program gives those people the tools and insights to deliver a level of service that will create positive experiences for customers each and every time.

Destroy The Status Quo
Leading Change In A Changing World

In today’s competitive world, organizations face the need to do more with less, innovate constantly, try new strategies to capture markets, and continually improve process and product. Mergers, acquisitions, re-engineering, re-strategizing, re-focusing, and right-sizing have become required. The reality is that you must continually regenerate or you will degenerate. This means that everyone in your organization must embrace change. This presentation give the audience tool they can use immediately to bring about lasting, healthy organizational change.

There Is No “They” - One Family’s Journey Through Healthcare

While on a bicycling vacation in 2003, CJ, Larry’s wife and life partner of 36 years, was involved in an accident that changed their world. Despite wearing a helmet, CJ sustained a closed-head injury that put her in a coma for eight weeks, and a persistent vegetative state for seven months. Going from intensive care to skilled nursing to home healthcare, CJ and Larry have experienced firsthand what it’s like to be health care customers. In this dynamic, humorous, and heart-felt presentation, Larry and CJ share their story. It’s a story of frustration and reward, despair and hope, tragedy and joy. It’s a story that gives audiences insight into how customers view the services they get in the health care system. It’s also a story that will touch their hearts and make them glad they have chosen to work in this very noble field.

I'm Their Leader, So Where'd They Go?

Using research and examples from the real world, Larry shows the
Audience what it means to be a leader - one who inspires others to be the best they can be; one who earns the trust and loyalty of followers; one who creates value for the team, the organization and for society.

Larry points out that leadership is not reserved for those in positions of authority – that some of our greatest leaders had no authority at all.
What they did have was integrity, honesty, perseverance and the
willingness to lead by example in doing extraordinary things.

FROM BOOMERS TO LINKSTERS
MANAGING THE FRICTION BETWEEN GENERATIONS

Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers, Gen Yers - the differences between these groups go far beyond hair styles and nose rings. Differing values, work-ethics, standards of quality, and attitudes toward customers can cause havoc on your team, or they can be a source of incredible energy and creativity - it's all in how you manage them.

Based on their new book, Generations, Inc.: From Boomers to Linksters, Managing the Friction Between Generations at Work, corporate culture expert Larry Johnson and generation expert Meagan Johnson present the unique perspectives of a Baby Boomer dad and his Gen-X daughter on how to manage different generations within the same workplace.

Straight Talk

How to create a corporate culture that values integrity and encourages candor. Let’s face it. Straight, honest, no nonsense communication in organizations today is more rare than common. Based on Larry Johnson’s book, Absolute Honesty: Building A Corporate Culture That Values Straight Talk and Rewards Integrity Larry shows you how to enhance your leadership skills by establishing a new standard of communication – a standard that encourages creativity through candid discussions, frank expression of ideas, and healthy debate. A standard that tells the truth, doesn’t mince words, and is guided by a clear sense of right and wrong.

Mastering The Storm Of Change

How to thrive in turbulent times.

Right now, while some organizations are seeing improvement in their economic outlook, many are still facing falling revenues, restricted budgets, and reduced growth. Like past fluctuations in the economy, this downturn will eventually pass. In the meantime, those who survive, both organizationally and individually will be those who keep their spirits up and never stop looking for new ways to perform more efficiently, effectively and creatively. Drawing on 22 years of investigation and consulting experience with some of the world’s foremost corporations and governmental organizations, Larry Johnson will show you how to make the most of these changing times.

Turning Customers Into Outrageously Loyal Fans

Research at the University of Texas found that customer satisfaction is no guarantee of customer loyalty. The only indicator that predicted long-term loyalty was when customers used emotional words like “love” and “adore” to describe the vendor. In other words, if you want your customers to stay with you, they are more likely to do so if they LOVE YOU. So the question is, how to you get your customers to LOVE YOU? More to the point, how does staff that will be attending this presentation with you get your customers to LOVE YOU? Larry Johnson will show you how.

Creating Positive and Productive Workplace Culture

How you can increase productivity, spur innovation, enhance customer satisfaction and reduce employee turnover. Year after year, companies like Google, Johnson & Johnson, and Zappos.com are consistently listed in Fortune Magazine’s 100 Best Companies To Work For. How do they do it? It’s more than onsite health centers and gourmet cafeterias. It’s management practices that inspire employees to contribute their best and then some. In this presentation, Larry shows how you can apply the same principles to create a great work culture for your own team.

There Is No They
Changing the Culture of Care in Healthcare

In 2003, CJ Johnson, wife of well-known corporate culture expert Larry Johnson, sustained a closed-head injury that put her in a coma for eight weeks, and a persistent vegetative state for seven months. Going from hospitalization in intensive care, to skilled nursing facilities to home health care, CJ and Larry experienced first-hand what it’s like to be served by care takers, technicians, nurses, doctors, therapists, administrators. This is Larry’s personal story about that journey. It will touch the hearts of the audience and make them glad they have chosen their noble profession.

Building A Culture of Employee Accountability

Do some of your employees see what needs to be done and take responsibility to do it while others either don’t see it or do see it and choose to not to act?

Do some employees seem to be grateful for having the opportunity to work for you while others act like it’s an entitlement?

Would you like your employees to accept responsibility for improving things and stop whining about what can’t be changed?

In this dynamic presentation, Corporate Culture Expert Larry Johnson will provide solutions to help these folks see the light and start taking responsibility for their performance.

Managing & Coping With People From Different Generations

(Presented with Meagan Johnson)

This presentation provides insights on how to bring out the best from each generation. Based on their best selling book, Generations Inc.: From Boomers to Linksters, Managing the Friction Between Generations at Work, Meagan Johnson and her father Larry offer these insights and strategies. They deliver them with a tag-team approach to presenting that is hilariously funny while giving you concrete tools for dealing with each generation.

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