By Mary Tucker | Sr. Communications & Content Manager | IAEE
Dr. Jennifer Keitt will present the session, Elevate, Transform & Thrive: The Executive Life Quest, at this year’s Women’s Leadership Forum on 10-11 April in Washington, D.C. Her presentation takes participants beyond operating within their perception of certain roles to seamlessly interweaving their personal and professional lives.
Dr. Jennifer is CEO and Co-Founder of the Keitt Institute: A Center for Emotional Development and Well-being. She and co-founder, Morgan Holmes (Dr. Jennifer’s eldest daughter), use best practices from instructional design and educational psychology to create high-powered, engaging, research-driven experiences that help professionals flourish in life.
Dr. Jennifer has reached millions of listeners and through her various syndicated radio shows aimed at empowering audiences nationwide. She is a member of the National Speakers Association and holds a bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism, a Master of Arts degree in Practical Theology, an Education Specialist degree, and a doctorate in Educational Psychology.
A 30+ year media veteran, Dr. Jennifer is widely known as one of the most passionate, engaging, and powerful communicators today. Here, she offers a taste of the strategies she will explain in full detail at the Forum so that you can apply these tactics to your own quest for success.
You have developed three distinct frameworks for crafting brilliance, orchestrating change and redefining success. What was your inspiration for these concepts and how do they work together for maximum impact?
Dr. Jennifer: This inspiration is easy – LIFE! As female leaders we are “on” 24/7. Our companies need us, our teams need us, our families need us, and the list goes on and on. For female leaders it’s imperative that we have relevant, practical tools to aid in our success. One must understand how to sit down and craft brilliance.
Brilliance isn’t automatic – it takes strategic implementation. Likewise, change is a process. I have studied the “formula for change” (yes, there really is such a thing!) and with the components involved in personal change and transformation, I have found that leaders need a framework to understand what to expect when they engage in change.
And finally, the redefinition of success is a given. I am not the type of person who “plays by everyone else’s rules.” Subsequently, I moved away from allowing others to decide what my success looks like – and I have brought that mindset to all the clients and leaders I work with. You must know what you’re working for and towards every day – which means you must define success for yourself.
You also dive into accelerate one’s growth by building self-confidence. What does this entail and what makes your approach unique?
Dr. Jennifer: My unique approach in accelerating growth centers on a non-intuitive concept: turn around and stare down the fear, challenge, adversity, or whatever is holding you back! Look at it face-to-face and use the tools we’ll learn in this session to confidently defeat the “enemies” that are working against your success! The truth is that we can’t grow running away from challenge. We can’t grow burying our head in the sand. We can’t and won’t grow unless we plant our lives in real success tools that will enable us to elevate, transform and thrive.
You explain how to design a success “playbook” with concrete action steps to succeed on one’s own terms. Why is this so important and what feedback have you received from those who have put their playbooks into action?
Dr. Jennifer: I loved what a female leader said in one of our Learning Journeys recently– “Dr. Keitt, this will work if you work it!” And that’s the truth; the way I design experiences, the concrete action steps, the thought behind the concepts, the evidence-based principles that undergird what we discuss, all work together to give you a playbook of success that is ready for YOU to play! That’s the key – one must be willing to invest in themselves, their lives, their hopes, dreams and success by applying what they learn to continue to transform and thrive in their life.
