Warren Macdonald

Speaking topics

Presentations listed below include in-person and virtual keynotes, as well as workshops, fireside chats, and other presentation formats.

• Disrupt Yourself First: Embracing Change in an Age of Uncertainty

  Let’s face it; much of what we do isn’t working. Many of our systems are broken. We know it, yet we feel powerless to do anything about it.

  The year ahead will be one of disruption. We can either be at the mercy of the changes this will bring, or we can choose to be proactive and find opportunity amidst them – even the unexpected challenges, the curveballs.

  The key to building resilience in the face of adversity lies in proactively disrupting ourselves. By regularly confronting obstacles of our own making, we develop the muscle memory to respond effectively to external challenges. We go beyond merely accepting change; we actively seek it out.

  Expected Outcomes:

  This presentation is designed to give confidence to attendees that change isn’t the end of the world, that it can be a catalyst to personal and team growth.

  Expect a shift in mindset from avoidance to actively seeking out challenges.

  Key Takeaways:

  • An understanding of how resilience is banked through confronting obstacles. That it is transferable across all areas of our lives.
  • Specific tools and techniques to build resilience.
  • Just like a ship in harbor is physically safe, staying in a comfortable routine can feel secure, but it limits potential for growth and innovation.

• The Power of Perception: Building a Breakthrough Mindset

  How do we build resilience in times of extraordinary change? We start by asking ourselves, “How am I seeing this?”

  In navigating change, and overcoming the challenges that come with it, we need to address the foundation, the root cause of why we often get stuck or disengaged, which is how we perceive change in the first place. Once we realize that we can reframe our challenges, that we can literally “change the way we see”, everything changes.

  This keynote presentation is designed to hit “reset” on how your team sees their role in your organization. Expect them to come away empowered, engaged, inspired, and ready to take action. They’ll begin to see challenges and opportunities with fresh perspectives and renewed vision.

  Key Takeaways:

  • An understanding of the incredible importance of mindset, and how perception is the most important factor when it comes to limiting or improving our performance.
  • Specific tools and techniques to help break through the barriers that limit us.
  • How to develop strategies to counter inevitable setbacks that always come when pursuing big goals.

• Return on Resilience: Bouncing Back is just the Beginning

  If there’s one certainty in business and in life, it’s that we will all face challenges; that we will all, at some point be faced with a seeming insurmountable obstacle or obstacles. When that happens, our greatest ally is found in our ability to endure; to adapt. When that happens, it pays to have banked some resilience.

  This keynote presentation focuses on what we can do to prepare for challenges in advance; on how we can fortify ourselves against the curveballs and roadblocks before they happen by practicing resilience. It’s designed to move your team from “I can’t” to “bring it!” To instill the understanding that by facing our challenges — seeking them out even — we build the strength and resilience required when bigger problems come our way.

  Key Takeaways:

  • An understanding of how resilience is banked and is transferable across all areas of our lives.
  • Specific tools and techniques to build resilience.
  • Learn that “bouncing back” is just the beginning. By practicing resilience, we position ourselves to bounce forward towards our goals.

• Next Level Quality of Care: A Patients Testimony

  Warren Macdonald had never even been in hospital before until that night, after being rescued off of the side of a remote mountain, when he was wheeled on a stretcher into your world…

  Ten days in intensive care, one month in the first hospital, then seven months of rehabilitation to learn how to live as a double above knee amputee. He knows what healthcare practitioners do makes a difference, and he has some ideas and thoughts to share with you through his testimony as a patient for those times when you may forget about the difference you make.

  Macdonald has put together a presentation especially for you, as someone who deals with situations of consequence on a daily basis, to remind you of the importance of the work you do; of the difference you make.

  Expected Outcomes:

  The big picture aim of this presentation is to validate the importance of the work you do; whether you’re a frontline practitioner or clinician; a caregiver, caseworker, or hospital administrator. Second to that is to share an example of the results we can achieve in our quality of care when we adopt a client-centred (or patient-centred) approach or model. When we partner with our patients to achieve a common goal.

  Key Takeaways:

  • Validation of the importance for the role you play. You make a difference!
  • Strategies to improve the quality of care you deliver.
  • The importance of perception in your role in healthcare, both in how you see your patients and how you see yourself.

• The Challenge of Change: Finding Opportunity in Adversity

  We’ve all heard it a million times; “change is constant”, “the only certainty in life is change”, “change or perish”. We all know it; what we need is for someone to show us how to deal with it. Warren Macdonald’s “Challenge of Change” presentation will help your group realize that challenges brought on by change hold endless opportunities for innovation and personal and professional growth. That it’s the challenges we face that build the resilience we need as we’re asked to do more, with less; that it is possible to not just survive, but to thrive despite adversity.

  Expected Outcomes:

  You’ll learn to see change as an inevitable, ongoing process that we’re all engaged with; not just something that “happens to us”. That by changing the way we see change, changes everything… You’ll never look at adversity in the same way again.

  Key Takeaways:

  • Foster the ability to recognize and breakthrough mental barriers to change.
  • Tools to build resilience for both business and personal growth.
  • A powerful shift in thinking that will put challenges into perspective.
  • Develop a breakthrough mindset that seeks solutions and opportunities.

• One Step Beyond: Setting and Reaching Impossible Goals

  It’s all well and good to set seemingly impossible goals; the kind that has your team looking at you like you’re nuts. You need them to see what you see. You need to convince them, to inspire your team to follow you. To show them what is possible when you’re prepared to go “one step beyond”:

  Beyond ordinary
  Beyond conventional
  Beyond perceived limitations
  Expected Outcomes:

  You can expect your team to become engaged in raising the performance bar.

  Key Takeaways:

  • Reinforced understanding of the power of purpose, i.e.: when we have purpose, we have an edge.
  • The ability to see obstacles as stepping-stones toward our goals.
  • A clear understanding of the importance of preparation in reaching your goals.