Jim Craig

- Always be on the look out and the hunt for better ways to do things

- What tools and resources are available to help your team win?

- How Coach Brooks, a supreme innovater and strategist, taught and mentored us to play a revolutionary type of hockey that would enable us to beat the mighty Soviet machine: a hybrid of the bruising and physical Canadian form of play and the speed, fluidity, and finess of the Eastern European and Soviet game

- When needed, abandoning the old, unsuccessful, yet comfortable, for the new and uncomfortable, yet what will eventually enable success

- Make it matter that you lived!

- Are you optimizing your God-given talents?

- Set the right example for your children, for all young people

- Improve the lives of others

- Hard Work

- Sacrifice

- Humility: A Willingness to Ask for Advice and Seek Out the Counsel of Others

- Persistence

Great things are rarely done alone. Epic achievement is almost always the result of successful and enduring collaboration.

Jim explains and details the elements of winning teamwork. He provides specific examples from the experience of the U.S. “Miracle on Ice” hockey team, and how they confounded the experts, made history, and made it to the top of the podium.

Jim talks about the “stuff” and marrow of winners.

Jim covers what winners’ share in the way of character, how they prepare, their priorities, and how they handle victory and defeat.

Jim discusses what truly drives the greatest winners.

Jim has studied … and continues to study and research … what inspires the pursuit of excellence in those who achieve greatness. He describes what is it that separates those content with good enough, and with all right, and with the okay … and those who have an unquenchable thirst and drive to make history and establish the highest standards.

As Jim often tells audiences, “If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.” Jim shares the elements and fundamental components of goal setting, defining missions – and then going confidently … and smartly … in the direction of your dreams.

One of the nine “Gold Medal Strategies” that Jim teaches … that he writes and speaks about … is that Great Teams Manage Through Ego and Conflict. Jim tells the story of early on in their journey to Lake Placid and history, the players on the 1980 U.S. Olympic team were not working cooperatively; the team was beset by regional and personal rivalries. But the players got beyond the conflict – and they forged a team, and executed teamwork, for the ages.

Had the members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team under the guidance and direction of Herb Brooks not thrown off the old ways of U.S. international hockey … had they not embraced a revolutionary form of the game … they would not have beat the team that couldn't be beat, and won the game that couldn't be won. There would not have been any gold medal, any stop atop the podium.

Jim talks about how he and his teammates executed that transformation and change – and how the example of that transformation and change can aid your organization to perform more effectively.

Great Teams Hold Themselves and Others Accountable – this is one of the nine “Gold Medal Strategies” that Jim teaches. Accountability, as Jim explains and breaks down, is an exercise in looking inward and demanding accountability of yourself – and then working together as a team to make sure that every person on the team is accountable … and, as a team, helping people to be accountable and to better perform their job.

How do you inspire and impart confidence? How do leaders and teams accomplish this critical task? How do you pull greatness out of people? How do you challenge and inspire people to get outside their comfort zone – and reach for what they at one time thought not attainable?
Jim shares with you the tactics and strategies of confidence building.

Risk takers make history. If there is no risk, there is no great achievement. Jim talks about the risk taking enterprise that was the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team. He shares more examples of risk taking … in sports, business, and other areas of human endeavor that enabled greatness.

How do you find and identify the people who have the “stuff” and potential that will work for your system, culture, and mission? What is meant by the importance of not necessarily finding the “best” players but the “right” ones. Jim discusses and breaks down the elements of successful and winning recruiting.

Jim's keynote addresses have gone virtual! With no travel or additional logistics involved, your entire organization can tune in to hear his inspirational message. Jim will speak with your leadership team ahead of time to fully understand your organization's needs and objectives and will customize his message to provide you with the tools to achieve your goals. In these evolving times, we must evolve with them, and we are thrilled to offer this option to you. We're all in this together.

• 45-minute keynote speech
• 15 minute Q&A segment
• Ahead of call: 1-2 hour preparation call with Jim & GMS team to identify objective
• Behind the scenes: minimum of 4 hours of preparation work ahead of the keynote
• Post call: 30 minutes debrief with Jim & GMS team