Al Comeaux
Al Comeaux Speaking Reel
Al Comeaux
Keynote Speaker
Former VP of Travelocity; Change Champion at GE and American Airlines
Al Comeaux ignites new thinking when he speaks about leadership and change. Because he’s sat in the seat leading organizations during change—plus he’s authored what’s now considered one of the best change management books of all time —he’s that unique speaker who understands audiences and finally explains change from a different perspective.
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Al Comeaux'S SPEAKING FEE Under $25,000
Al Comeaux realized 25 years ago that something was wrong with how we think about and lead change. For example, we think we can change our organizations. (But organizations don’t change. People do.)
From that first failed change initiative in the late 1990s, he began studying scores of organizations going through change while also leading countless changes at the C-level inside companies large and small: an IPO, hostile takeover, leveraged buyout, globalization, technology launches, digital transformations, startups, CEO transitions, and too many other changes to count.
The enormous task of leading change inside companies such as American Airlines, GE, Travelocity, and Sabre brought him new and very different thinking on the topic of leadership and change. After decades in leadership roles, he’s made his passion for change personal by dedicating the last third of his career to sharing what he’s learned, hoping that his own children will have change-adept, adaptable companies to join when they enter the workforce in the next decade.
Nowadays, he’s making the difference he set out to make: organizations of all sorts seek him out to speak, and his book, Change (the) Management: Why We as Leaders Must Change for the Change to Last—already considered one of the best change management books of all time only four years after publication—is required reading for MBA candidates, among others.
Al’s keynotes bring fresh approaches and excitement about new ways to lead change. He weaves together science and research with fun and engaging stories that support his very different understanding about leading change—an understanding you need to have.
With two-thirds of change efforts failing, you owe it to your organization, your people, your career and legacy to get change right. Al would be honored to help you, your leadership team, partners, future leaders—anyone aspiring to lead—learn what it really (truly) takes to create lasting change. Let him make a difference for you—and for his kids’ generation.
Featured Videos
Al Comeaux
Al Comeaux on Winning at Change
Al Comeaux
Al Comeaux Speaking Reel
Al Comeaux’s Speech Topics
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The Change Paradox
Turns out, the skills that make us great as leaders every day—habits and thinking ingrained in us, traits that make us leaders from the start—these very same capabilities and conventions can make us terrible at leading change. It’s a mind-boggling paradox he’s discovered that hold us back as change-leaders, and we need to understand and embrace it to drive lasting changes. Because change efforts, unlike everyday initiatives, depend so much on our people—the very folks who will carry the change on their backs, but only if they decide to—we need to challenge our habits and depart from familiar leadership approaches—sometimes leading in counterintuitive ways—lest we cripple our change efforts. In this lively, groundbreaking keynote Al Comeaux shares powerful stories and lessons to ignite the imagination and bring this paradox to life, so we all recognize the changes needed in ourselves, and we grasp the habit-breaking mindset necessary if we intend to win at change.
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Give Your Innovation a Runway
You’re about to launch a market-moving innovation, something that’s bound to give you an advantage. The catch: it requires change at your customers, distributors, franchisees, partners—the third parties in your value chain in between you and success. Their people—their workers—will carry this change on their backs, but only if they choose to. Are their leaders up to the task? This keynote is for the leaders at your partner organizations…the ones whose leadership approach can make or break your innovation’s success. Bring them in, help them understand the mindset that leads to innovation-ready change. In this keynote, Comeaux ignites your partners’ imagination, so they think the right way about leading change. It makes their businesses stronger, and this gives your innovation the runway needed for take-off.
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Leading Change in the Age of AI
Global forces and technology like artificial intelligence are driving the need for change in our organizations…and the need for change only becomes greater, faster with each development. So, how do we take advantage of these technologies? How do we change our organizations to keep up with the demands they drive? Well, it turns out, technologies don’t drive change; people do. If we lose our people—the ones who must decide to adopt the change and carry it on their backs—we lose the change. In this keynote, I bring to life what’s needed to ready our people for lasting change: It’s about focusing on inputs instead of outcomes, walking-the-change-talk, listening and aligning before acting. It’s common sense, just not common practice…and Comeaux explains why, using science, great stories, and examples from his three decades in corporate life, plus his 25-year journey studying change. After all, AI and other capabilities are incredibly important, but to seize their possibilities, we must first focus on things at home.
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The 5 Ways to Win at Change
Given the trillions wasted on failed change efforts each year, how must we as leaders go about change differently? What do leaders at companies that win at change do vs the unsuccessful among us? In this signature keynote, Al Comeaux offers an insider’s view—having led changes of all sorts at the C-level for two decades, in addition to a quarter century studying change at scores of companies—to share a brutal truth: Organizations don’t change. People do. It turns out, change is a decision made by every single person. As leaders we lose when trying to get our people to change; we win by getting our people to want to change. How? By getting our own hands dirty as leaders. Pulling our people through the change. Understanding the invaluable role that listening and modeling play. This keynote uses stories, science, and humor to lay out how we as leaders can win our change efforts, and this sets us up for success as leaders overall.
Works by Al Comeaux
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Al Comeaux
Change (the) Management
Al Comeaux Topics & Types
- Authors
- Branding Speakers
- Business Speakers
- Business Executive Speakers
- Change Management Speakers
- Communication Speakers
- Corporate Culture Speakers
- Crisis Management Speakers
- Current Events Speakers
- Human Resources (HR) Speakers
- Journalist Speakers
- Leadership Speakers
- Marketing Speakers
- Motivational Speakers
- Overcoming Adversity Speakers
- Risk Management Speakers
- Teamwork Speakers
- Virtual Speakers
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