Michele uses stories from her CIA experience to illustrate the power of grit, the power of perseverance and determination to learn and grow—no matter what. Instead of focusing on the challenges and negativity presented to her, Michele demonstrates how focusing on mastering a skill, learning new material, and pushing to grow is what transformed her life and career.

• Your mindset is the most important thing.
• Grit trumps natural talent.
• What worked before may not work when the storms of life sweep in. Stay flexible to respond to the challenge.
• That which is unexpected and unwelcome could turn out to be your biggest blessing.

Lessons from the CIA — How to Pivot in Times of Crisis

One thing you learn planning and carrying out operations in war zones is that no matter how hard you try, you can’t prepare for every contingency. You have to get good at pivoting in the moment and making decisions on the fly. Such is the new world thrust on us in 2020 and 2021. Strong leadership understands that now is not the time to maintain continuity of operations—it is time to rethink everything.

• Learn how to harness fear to cultivate optimism and resiliency.

• Understand how to promote an environment in which your team members’ unique experiences, outlook, and creativity can be harnessed to solve operational challenges.

• Develop new strategies for tapping into your diverse workforce to navigate changing realities and requirements. (You will be surprised how many amazing ideas come from staff that, up until now, hasn’t had the opportunity or encouragement to share fresh ideas that can breathe new life into operations.)

Unconscious Bias

How to Knock Down the Walls

I'm used to assumptions. I've dealt with them my entire life. It is hard for people to merge the two seemingly different versions of me: an outgoing and kind person who cares very much about others-with the counterterrorism and Middle East expert. Most human beings are conditioned to associate a leader with someone who wields power in a more forceful manner. Those with sunny dispositions are often relegated to the second tier or the back row. This cognitive dissonance is a product of an Unconscious bias that sets our expectations of people's strengths, weaknesses, personality and interests. Our assumptions are based on a lifetime's worth of input, so this happens without our cognizance. We are not aware that this process is occurring.

In the workplace, subconscious bias affects internal processes such as hiring, promotions, leadership development, training decisions, and project management. In terms of operations, subconscious bias affects our marketing and sales strategies, product design, prioritization of projects, and so much more.

Learn the first steps to knocking down the walls to unconscious bias and creating a culture of strong leaders:

• Acknowledge that we can do a better job
• Dig deeper and get to know others better
• Ask more questions
• Determine whether unconscious bias has affected the way you've done business and identify one way to start rectifying that

How Leveraging War-Zone Tactics in the Workplace Can Help Overcome Stereotypes

Michele uses her experience as a female in the male-dominated intelligence sector to show how your unique personality and perspective are key to being a stand-out in the workplace. Despite being told that she could not carry out successful counterterrorism operations because she would never be accepted as a female by the terrorist sources she would have to work with, Michele turned this assumption on its head. She explains how she triumphed by turning her perceived disadvantages to her advantage in the debriefing room, acquiring intelligence others could not.

Key Takeaways:
• Understand why diversity is critical to creativity and success
• Develop strategies for disrupting the status quo and reframing other’s perception of your capabilities
• Discover how your “disadvantages” can actually enable you to shine in the workplace

View More Featured Keynote Programs

How to "Break Cover" and Break Through the Financial Chaos

In today’s changing global economy it is not surprising that people feel a sense of instability. Every day there’s concerning news about what is happening in the stock market. Similarly, there’s a high level of on-going fear with terrorism that strikes to the core of our world. As an undercover CIA operative Michele shares her experiences, challenges and techniques of overcoming obstacles even through difficult and dangerous situations. She will walk through the parallels of the life of a spy and being a financial advisor.

What Dealing with Terrorists Taught Me About Business

In this program you will learn:

• How to build rapport using intelligence profiling secrets

• How to read body language to learn how others are experiencing you or the environment

• Learn to leverage a technique called “framing” to avoid confrontation and find ways to exploit areas of commonality

My Advantage as a Woman in the CIA

In this program you will learn:

• Use in-the-field techniques to turn challenging situations around so that you leave conversations in a positive way

• Leverage women’s intuition to gain an “unfair” advantage in high-stakes negotiations

• Ninja strategies to engage women and minorities in important conversations for collaboration and growth

Going Undercover

Finding Your Purpose in a Dangerous World

In this program you will learn:

• Secrets for escaping an attack or surviving an ambush that you can apply to pushing out of your comfort zone

• How “going to war” teaches you to manage fear and elevates your game to elite levels

• The role of faith in dealing with terrorists — and overcoming in life

Michele Rigby Assad
Featured Reviews

Michele Assad is one of our favs! Her open, authentic and engaging style made her an immediate hit among our students, and her stories brought the classroom discussions to life.

Dr. Robert Wharton, Professor of Business

La Tourneau University

Our organization has monthly speakers and we've seen and heard from our fair share of amazing people. Michele was different, however. She was unique to her story but her story was really all of our stories. We were able to relate to how we underestimate our own capabilities. Whether you are a CIA Intelligence Officer or a Homemaker, she shares how the power we all have to create our own destinies has always been within us. Wonderful presentation!

Korrie Stevenson, President

Winter Park Republican Women, Federated

Michele Assad's stories of life in the CIA are riveting, and she tells them in a way that captures the astounding nature of her experiences in the Middle East. She challenged us to pursue a fresh perspective on the interaction between Christianity and Islam and the role of America in the world.

Dr. Tom St. Antoine, Professor of Communication

Palm Beach Atlantic University

Michele was a compelling speaker who our employees loved. Her stories of life in the CIA provided great life lessons and inspired our team to reach for their full potential!

Bill Yeargin, President/CEO

Correct Craft

Michele was one of the biggest highlights of both women's conferences this year. She was engaging and personable and the women walked away with a sense of purpose and inspiration after being in her session. As an organizer, I deeply appreciated Michele's professionalism and genuine concern for the people, the program, and the purpose of our event. We would be honored to host her here again at Lake Yale.

Jeff A. Yant, Director of Program & Marketing

Lake Yale Baptist Conference Center

Michele has been an absolute delight to work with. It's been fantastic to get to work with someone with such experience and fascinating stories to share, while being so human and easy going. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire collaboration, researching for the content prep has been passionating and fascinating as well! The feedback from our attendees has been overwhelmingly positive, our attendees truly loved the interaction

Alice Grasset

Salesforce

I was fortunate to have seen Ms. Rigby-Assad address an audience last year. I was so impressed that I purchased her book, 'Breaking Cover.' It was a ripping yarn! I knew that the professional association to which I belonged was to hold their annual conference early this year. I helped arrange her to present. She spoke to our group and was fantastic! The feedback from the attendees was off the charts

Ollie Phipps, Board member

Florida Association of Private Investigators

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