Kim's Engaging Approach Will Spark Curiosity, Inspire Exploration and Catalyze Your Audience into Action.
Kim Bohr - Speaker, Author, CEO
With over 20 years as a cross-functional leader, my goal is to make business better from the inside out. My diverse experiences - successes as well as failures - were gained serving on boards and working with global, start-up and family-owned businesses across industries.
My speaker style is engaging and thought-provoking. I weave in humor with relevant business stories that connect with the audience. When facilitating, I incorporate questions to generate conversation and promote self-generated insight.
Interesting Facts - Persistence, Drive and Emotional Intelligence are Words that Describe Me
- As a first-time leader, I was terrible. I knew something was wrong, but no one could tell me what. I proactively engaged my first executive coach and finally understood what Smart+Heart meant.
- In my first job out of college, I knew I wanted to go into sales. I interviewed with the DM of the company I had interned for and he told me I didn't have enough experience. I told him I'd be back and two weeks later I was working for one of his managers.
- My undergrad marketing professor told me women don't make good CEOs. I still laugh at that one.
A Note from Kim to Meeting and Event Planners
I know how hard it can be to find a dynamic speaker relatable to your audience. Having been in executive roles for many years before starting The Innovare Group, I am very familiar with the people and operational challenges organizations face when trying to grow, scale and pivot a business. I also understand how important it is to authentically command a room and communicate an effective, engaging message that inspires people across generations to want to come along on the journey.
From all of these experiences, I’ve developed a unique point of view that helps businesses and leaders across industries assess, align and accelerate what they do best. Whether it's about developing strategic leaders, retaining and growing talent, communicating and aligning top priorities or creating a healthy accountable culture, it all comes down to two inseparable truths - businesses need People+Process to be in sync. Trying to fix one and not the other leads to more problems.
Some of the most frequently requested programs and topics I speak on are outlined below. When you choose me as your speaker, you can expect me to be easy to work with, deliver on-time, and happily attend any other aspects of the event you would like me to participate in. I always personalize the content to be in service to the participants and their experience. Whether it’s for a keynote, breakout session or company event, I engage the audience in a working-session format where they are inspired and learn a new tool or skill they can immediately apply. This approach leaves a memorable impression and delivers real value to the participants.
I look forward to our first conversation and building a relationship with you and your team for your next event!
-Kim Bohr
Client and Participant Testimonials
"Kim's presentation style is engaging and thought-provoking. She delivered a clear message and left me ready to implement what I learned." -Owner-Partner at Cornerstone Advisors Inc.
"Kim led the most interactive segment of the symposium. She is a tremendous speaker and her talk was truly informative. I would highly recommend hiring her as a speaker." -Event Coordinator at Seattle Chamber
"I attended Kim's session on Intentional Networking for Strategic Advancement. She gave me a lot to think about and act on. Thank you for a really great session!" -IT Leader at Graybar Electric
"Kim facilitated an interesting, relevant and actionable webinar. I'm glad I attended!" -Consumer Insights Manager, Abbott
"Thank you, Kim, for sharing your expertise and leading the way ahead for women leaders!" -Assistant Vice President at Citi Bank
"Kim is an energetic and engaging speaker to invite to a wide range of events." -Business Candidate, University of Washington
“I felt equipped with actionable next steps.” - Senior Client Manager, Cornerstone Wealth Management
"Thanks for the presentation today! Great information and I look forward to putting this roadmap into action ASAP!" -Regional Sales Manager at Dentsply
"Great reminder of how important your network is for career advancement!" -Project Manager, Toyota North America
"Kim has an amazing way of connecting and engaging her audience." -SIM Conference Attendee
Some of Kim's Most Requested Business Keynote and Presentation Topics
Areas Covered in Kim's Talks: Strategy, Leadership, Being a Strategic Leader, Advancing Women and Business Growth
Solid Strategy Won't Survive Poor Execution™
Focus: Strategy Execution, Accountability, Performance, Team Alignment, Business Growth
Perfect For: Executives, Leaders, Mid-Level Managers, High-Potential Groups, Business Owners
Strategy development and business planning are regular events for most organizations. Hours, weeks and sometimes months are spent on developing these important beacons that will guide the organization through its next evolutionary phase. Yet for most organizations, 80% of strategic initiatives fail due to poor execution. Learn the primary causes and what to do to increase your execution success!
What You Will Learn:
- The two primary causes of failed execution.
- How to identify the specific gaps in these areas before you say "go" and move to operationalize the plan.
- A 3-step approach to use immediately that will set your team up for execution success!
Building Accountability and Execution Muscle Through Successes, Failures & Lessons Learned™
Focus: Accountability, Role Ownership, Team Alignment, Professional Development, Business Growth
Perfect For: Leaders, Mid-Level Managers, Intact Teams, High-Potential Groups, General Employee Population, Business Owners
Based on Kim's book Successes, Failures & Lessons Learned™ Career Journal available on Amazon.
Doing 'more with less' is the standard now in most professionals' lives. We move from one task to another, pushing through our ever-changing lists of priorities as quickly as we can. What we don't realize is that the busyness wreaks havoc on our ability to execute on the most important strategic initiatives. Constant multitasking keeps us from giving important projects our full attention, so nothing we do feels fully satisfying. Over time, we begin to doubt our capabilities and downplay our contributions. These actions have detrimental consequences to our organizations and careers. This talk/workshop is designed for employers to equip employees with a tool that has been described as the "missing link" between seamless execution, performance, and professional development.
What You Will Learn:
- The formula for strengthening execution muscle and team alignment.
- How tracking your successes, failures, and lessons learned strengthens employee accountability, engagement, and retention.
- An exercise and methodology for tracking and measuring your successes, failures, and lessons learned on a quarterly basis.
Beware! How to Avoid the Leadership Bermuda Triangle™
Focus: Leadership Accountability, Behaviors to Avoid, Team Alignment, Productivity, Business Growth
Perfect For: Executives, Leaders, Mid-Level Managers, High-Potential Groups, Business Owners
Have you ever known someone whose self-defeating behaviors negatively impacted their career potential, team dynamics, or the advancement of those on their teams? Unfortunately, it's all too common and will only get worse when not addressed. Beware! The leadership Bermuda Triangle is highly dangerous!
What You Will Learn:
- The three factors that threaten a high-performance culture.
- How to identify these factors before it's too late.
- What you can do to mitigate the risk within your own team.
Walking the Edge: 7 Leadership Mistakes to Avoid During High-Growth Times™
Focus: Leadership Accountability, Business Growth
Perfect For: Executives, Leadership, High-Potential Groups, Business Owners
Growing a business can be exhilarating and crushing, all in the same day. And when you're accelerating growth, it can be easy to look externally at the shiny objects that might get you there faster. Unfortunately, they may also take you off the cliff.
What You Will Learn:
- The 7 pitfalls to avoid during high-growth times.
- What to do if you fall prey to one of these seven.
- How to filter through the distractions so that the company (and employees) can stay focused.
Moving from Friction to Clarity in Your Communications™
Focus: Communication, Collaboration, Building Trust, Motivating Others
Perfect For: Leaders, Mid-Level Managers, High-Potential Groups, General Employee Population, Business Owners
It's a given how important communication is in our lives, yet what we intend to say and how others hear us can often be misconstrued. The friction that can arise from these sorts of interactions can impact trust, performance, and even how we value our own opinions in matters. Yet friction of this sort also affords us an opportunity to gain clarity, learn different styles, and enhance the quality of our relationships. Not your typical communications workshop, this talk addresses the three causes as to why friction occurs in the first place, before jumping to skillset.
What You Will Learn:
- Why conflict avoidance is a comfortable place to be and why we can't stay there.
- The three underlying causes of friction in communication and how to identify them.
- How to bring clarity into your conversations with a simple framework to organize your thoughts and prepare you for communicating clearly.
Intentional Networking for Business Growth™
Focus: Business Growth and Goal Alignment
Perfect For: Business Owners, Leaders, High-Potential Groups, Sales Professionals
We all know the connections we make and the doors those open, make or break a business. Equally true, we also know men and women approach networking very differently. From the time we invest to the venues in which we 'network', to the degree of formality we need, we couldn't be more opposite from one another. And because of those differences, we are often left with voids in our businesses and professional networks. Here's the good news! There is a way to achieve alignment between what you say you want, your actions and your strategic asset - your professional network!
What You Will Discover:
- The foundational steps of the roadmap for building and diversifying your strategic network to align to your business goals.
- How to chart your network ecosystem and identify significant gaps.
- Create an action plan to intentionally diversify your network strategically, one that will support your business objectives.
Telling Your Unique Business Story™
Focus: Business Storytelling, Gaining Buy-in, Goal Alignment
Perfect For: Business Owners, Start-Ups
Building a business is not for the faint of heart. It takes grit, determination, perseverance, and an endless amount of creativity to invent and reinvent along the way. The ups and downs experienced through the years are what make your story so unique. In this talk, we use a three-step framework to Assess. Align. Accelerate. – to help you tell your business story.
What You Will Discover:
- Asses: In this initial phase, participants discover how to assess their business journey through targeted questions, highlighting the highs and lows of their business journey timeline.
- Align: During this second phase, participants identify the common themes and pivotal points in their business timeline that prompted significant shifts. As part of this exercise, they will identify the thread that ties each together, bringing alignment to their story.
- Accelerate. The final phase applies what they discovered in assess and accelerate into a simple communication framework they use to tell their business story. If time permits, it’s great to have participants share their stories with one another.