Speaking Engagements and Training

Bringing 25 years of experience as a trial lawyer to professional speaking engagements, Jill is a dynamic, motivating, and engaging speaker who educates and inspires audiences on a variety of topics related to business, personal, and organizational success. Jill tailors speaking engagements and workshops to address each client's needs. Beyond inspiration, audiences learn specific “grab and go” strategies that can improve their personal and professional lives. 

Examples of keynote speeches, workshops, and presentations include:

The “B” word for Women Leaders: Balancing Strength and Style to Communicate Effectively

Everything you do sends a message about you, how you relate to others, and about your work.  Beyond your degrees and subject matter expertise, your success is often determined by your communication effectiveness with clients, colleagues, and your team. Whether we like it or not, behaviors and communication styles for women leaders require a delicate balance to avoid labels such as too passive, kind, or accommodating on the one hand or too aggressive and bold on the other. This seminar will help provide insights, techniques, and practical solutions to develop a communication style for work that influences others, motivates teams, and gets results while minimizing the labels others give women leaders.

Bridging the Gap: Fact, Fiction, and Functioning in Today’s 5 Generation Workplace.

People are living and remaining in the workforce longer than ever before. As a result, 20 year old new hires are working side-by-side with colleagues who as old or older than their grandparents. For the first time in history, five generations are in the workforce and each generation impacts and shapes the work culture with their perspectives, expectations, priorities, and workstyles.  

When people effectively bring their different strengths and perspectives together, the diversity often results in improved retention, engagement, innovation, and productivity. Having said that an intergenerational workforce can also bring about misunderstandings, conflict, and frustration.

 In this informative, fun, and interactive workshop, participants will develop greater knowledge about each generation, challenge myths, and gain a greater understanding about the workstyles, expectations, and strengths of each generation. In doing so, we will address multigenerational issues, close the gap between generations, and develop tools and strategies to develop a positive and supportive environment where every generation can work and thrive. 

Bridging the gap with the people we serve.

Data breaches, corporate scandals, and broken relationships demonstrate how quickly trust can shift to distrust. When this happens, the time and cost to rebuild it is significant, if it is ever rebuilt at all. Trust impacts the quality of every communication, every work project, and every interaction in which we are engaged at work, at home, and in our communities. In short, trust is foundational to the success of every organization and business.

Trust is not an amorphous or illusive quality that one either has or does not have.  It is specific and actionable, and it can be developed. In this session, you will gain a more nuanced understanding of how trust and distrust impact an organization’s effectiveness and learn pragmatic, specific, and “grab and go” strategies that your staff and you can implement to improve the public’s trust in your organization and minimize the likelihood that mistrust grows and gets in the way of success.

Digital Recovery: Successful strategies to recover work/life balance in today’s 24/7 constantly connected corporate world.

Electronic devices have created a constantly-connected world and greater expectations for around the clock availability for work, making work/life balance even more difficult to achieve today.  Failing to find this balance can adversely affect leadership effectiveness, contribute to health issues, burn out, and family conflict, and contribute to retention and productivity issues for companies.  Jill will help your organization and you understand and assess electronic behavior; strengthen the boundaries between work and non-work; and commit to successful strategies to develop a healthier relationship with and use of technology.

Emotional Intelligence: How it can impact your career and life. 

 Emotional intelligence impacts a leader’s success more than intelligence.  Failing to be aware of the impact of your own emotions or failing to understand the emotions of those around you can be devastating to your career and your leadership effectiveness, and adversely impact the productivity and retention of employees. Emotional intelligence is much more than being “nice”; it impacts how we perceive and express ourselves, decision making, interpersonal relationships, cope with stress, and use emotional information in an effective and strategic way.  Learn about emotional intelligence, how it influences leadership effectiveness, and how you can build emotional intelligence skills.  Understanding, improving, and using your emotion intelligence can improve your leadership skills, decision making, and career, and improve productivity and job satisfaction of the people you lead.

Leading without carrying a big stick: Strategies and skills to competently and skillfully lead peers and others over whom you have little or no authority.

Transitioning from peer to leader is challenging.  Formal authority over peers and colleagues is generally quite limited, particularly when serving for a limited term or specific project.  Beyond one’s own organization, leaders often must persuade and influence other organizations that directly or indirectly impact the ability of one's own organization to accomplish its goals.

In this session, Jill will share effective strategies and approaches that leaders can use to more effectively influence, motivate, and persuade others when there is little or no authority.  She will provide practical, “grab and go” strategies to: 1) re-engineer existing relationships and build effective networks and alliances to get things done; 2) effectively communicate ideas and strategies to solicit buy-in; 3) strengthen emotional intelligence (EI) to guide thinking and behavior; and 4) specific strategies and tips to achieve success. 

Getting Beyond The Juggling Act: Successful Strategies To Improve Productivity and Thrive at Work

 Organizational pressures, expectations to deliver more with fewer resources and support, and electronic devices have created a constantly connected world making work/life effectiveness even more difficult to achieve, contributing to productivity and health issues, and burnout.  This presentation will help:

Develop awareness of how, with whom, and when you spend time; strengthen boundaries between work and non-work; develop effective strategies for time management, prioritization, and organization; strengthen resilience and self care strategies.

You will leave with practical strategies that change the way you approach both work and non-work. Feel like you don’t have time for this?  Perhaps you should be in the front row.

Netiquette:  How to Avoid Online Wars and Maintain Relationships in the Workplace

The benefits of electronic communication in the business world are undeniable-- it is a fast and easy way to communicate with many. However, electronic communication also carries with it many risks:  impulsive behavior can lead many to send “flame mail” or highly charged messages that adversely impact the sender’s relationships in the workplace and reputation, adversely affect company culture, and create potential legal claims.  Whether sending or receiving a highly charged electronic communication, Netiquette (electronic etiquette) will help you learn whether, when, and what to do with highly charged electronic communications, how to communicate effectively, and how to maintain relationships at work.

Mindful leadership: moving from autopilot and distraction to focus and effectiveness

Productivity and effectiveness are undermined by distractions from technology, other people’s emergencies, and one’s own inner chatter. Businesses are increasingly turning to mindfulness to address these issues because it has been shown to improve productivity, effectiveness, creativity, decision-making, and well-being at all levels of an organization. At its core, mindfulness has two aspects: 1) an intentional focus on the present moment; and 2) an awareness of and ability to set aside underlying biases and judgment filters that limit thinking.  Mindfulness practice need not be an extra activity that is heaped onto an already full plate; it is a mindset and an intentionality that can be integrated into all aspects of one’s work and personal life.  In this seminar, you will become more aware of your internal and external distractions and how integrating mindfulness practice into your daily life can help you move past a life of autopilot and distractions toward focus, improved effectiveness and productivity, and stronger interpersonal relationships.