Dan is the primary contributing
author to the "Chicken Soup for the Soul” series and author of twenty of
his own best selling books, including “Puppies for Sale" which was made into a film at Paramount Studios starring the late
Jack Lemmon. Dan has been published in more than 30 million books in 30
languages worldwide!
Dan suffered a paralyzing injury
that cut short his football career. Sixteen doctors told him he would not
recover, but recover he did! Since then, Dan has flown in fighter jets twice
the speed of sound, raced automobiles in Germany and was honored to carry the Olympic Torch in the 2002
Winter Games. Dan has been the general session speaker at the United Nations
World Congress, conducted UN leadership training in Europe, Asia and Russia, and was the keynote speaker at the U.S. Air Force Four
Star Generals conference. Dan has spoken to our combat troops all over the
world, is a Leadership and Character Development Consultant for the US Armed
Forces, has worked with Fortune 500 companies, NASA and Super Bowl champions.
Dan’s inspirational story has been featured on over 500 TV and radio shows, in
Entrepreneur Magazine and as the feature article in Mayo Clinic Magazine. Dan
is one of the most in demand speakers in America and recognized expert on Managing Change, Building Winning
Teams and Taking Life To The Next Level!
A model of optimism and strength,
Dan Clark’s powerful story of triumph over adversity will change the way you
look at the world.
Uplifting and Unforgettable: A
football star with a bright future, Dan Clark suffered a debilitating injury
that cut short his athletic career. He shares his inspiring, humorous and
deeply thought provoking story of his journey.
Powerful Inspiration: Clark reveals
his proven formula for success — unveiling the power you hold within to see
beyond adversity to recognize the opportunities that lie ahead.
Author and Leadership Expert: Clark is the
primary contributing author of the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul
series and author of many books, including Puppies For Sale, made into a movie
starring Jack Lemmon. But don’t let the light-hearted titles of his books fool
you: Clark was enlisted to conduct U.N. leadership training in Europe, Asia and Russia.
Engaging Custom Content: The perfect blend of comedy, psychology, intensity and inspiration, Clark works
with you to create a highly customized, multi-media presentation that’s perfect
for your audience.
Speech Topics
The Answers Are Still in the Box (Taking It to the Next
Level)
We’re told to think outside the
lines, to think outside the box. What if the answers are still in the box? Most
complicate their lives and never fulfill their destiny because they think it’s
the responsibility of their community and their job to make life exciting and
meaningful. They hate their jobs, are “half empty” to themselves and only look
forward to Friday instead of Monday. They think they are paid by the hour, when
in reality they are paid for the value they bring to that hour. They think
success and happiness are found outside themselves, instead of within.
Consequently, most come to meetings in search of new answers when what we need
are the right answers. It’s tough to get right answers from wrong questions.
Therefore, to take it to the next level personally and professionally, we
should ask, “What is possible? Can we exceed potential or do we just misjudge
it? Answers to the right questions are already inside your organization. They
are inside of you. When we believe if best is possible, good is not good enough
and that personal success is never final, we seek wisdom, inspiration and
direction from the best coaches and books. Herein lies the purpose of a meeting
and the need for a great speaker who will take your heart to places the mind
can never go!Under this topic Dan teaches:
· Self is not discovered, self is
created.
· The only place from which a person
can grow is where he or she is. We must go where they are physically and
emotionally. Only there can we gently invite them to improve. This not only
applies to leading, managing and coaching your organization, it also applies to
ourselves.
· Pressure is not something that
is naturally there. It’s created when you question your own ability. When you
know what you can do, there is never any question.
· When you identify yourself in
terms of what you do instead of who you are, you become a human doing instead
of a human being – unacceptable if real success is what you seek. The goal
isn’t having fame, it’s being whole.
· There is no such thing as a
financial crisis, only an idea crisis. Ideas create income.
Outcome Based Return On
Investment: Dan’s hilarious quick wit and powerful inspirational stories will
stir your people to look inward for solutions, exercise more passion,
creativity and imagination, lead, overcome obstacles, focus clearly under
pressure and excel where they thought they couldn’t even compete! Your people
won’t leave the meeting with another assignment. They already have enough to
do! However, they will leave empowered with internal intensity, reenergized to
dig deeper inside themselves with revitalized strength to do whatever it takes
to succeed. Not because it is expected by others, but because it is demanded of
themselves!
Best or Right? (Building a Winning Team)
There are professional sports
teams with rosters crammed full of the highest paid “best” players in the
league and they still lose. The headline after the U.S. basketball “Dream Team” lost at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, simply read, “680 Million Dollars Couldn’t Win Us A Gold
Medal!” Why? To win, we need more than the “best” players – we need the “right”
people. Obviously, it’s not all about team – teams lose! Whoever said “It’s not
whether you win or lose that counts,” probably lost. Companies with the best
people in their industry are going bankrupt as you read this and they are a
team. Why? They coach results instead of behavior. They compete against their
“plan” instead of against themselves and their competition. They focus on
profits instead of people.
They say there is no “I” in team,
but teams lose – it’s about winning and WINNING has two “I’s” in it:
Independent Individual Preparation – a commitment to six C’s: Character,
Confidence, Consistency, Change, Clarity of Cause and Creating Chemistry; and
Interdependent Collaboration, a commitment to the final two C’s: to Cooperate
and Contribute.™ Of course it’s about team – Together Everyone Achieves More,
but the teams that win have the most “I-players” on them. “Best” players
possess and practice three to five of the “C’s.” “Right” players live and
breathe all eight of them!
Under this topic Dan teaches:
· When you put a hard to catch
horse in the same field with an easy to catch horse, you usually end up with
two hard to catch horses. When you put a sick child in the same room with a
healthy child, you usually end up with two sick children. To be great, you need
to hang out with the disciplined, healthy, great ones! It’s not what you do,
but who you do it with!
· If you are not training and
pushing yourself to your ultimate capacity and potential as a human being,
someone else, somewhere else, is. When you meet him, he will win.·
· When a world champion boxer
loses to a weaker opponent, it’s because he started thinking of himself as THE
competition. He started playing not-to-lose instead of playing to win. What the
champ failed to realize is that once the fight starts, he no longer holds the
title. He has put it up for grabs and must fight to win it back. Market share
is a daily battle for everyone on a business team – customer service is not a
department, it’s a philosophical way of life – sales is everybody’s business!
We must never forget what it took to get on top and what is required to stay
there.Outcome Based Return On Investment: Your people will leave Dan’s speech
with a greater sense of unity, fueled by a deeper conviction to trust and be
trusted. They will realize that it’s not enough to have the “will” to win.
Everybody wants to win. They must have the will to “prepare” to win and never
get complacent. Preparation is about transforming from “best” to “right” and
becoming an MVP “I” player on your team.
You Can't Quit, It's a League Rule! (Changing From
Continuous Improvement to Rapid Growth)
Were you born flawed and
ill-equipped, and expected to spend your life “putting in” what was “left out”
at birth? No. Nothing is missing. The goal is to improve and become more of who
you already are! J. Paul Getty said, “In times of rapid change, experience
could be your worst enemy.” Eric Hoffer said, “In times of change, learners
inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to
deal with a world that no longer exists.” If we refuse to change we become
obsolete.Change is painful, but pain is a signal to grow, not to suffer. Once
we learn the lesson the pain is teaching us, the pain goes away. Change from
the outside-in is reactive which creates pressure. However, change from the
inside-out is proactive which creates power - power to adapt, knowing that it’s
not what happens, but what we do with what happens that makes or breaks us;
power to focus, knowing we will not have regrets for things we did, we will
only have regrets for things we did not do.
Under this topic Dan teaches:
· No matter what your past has
been you have a spotless future.
· If you’re “burned out” it means
that once-upon-a-time you were lit! A broken clock is right twice a day – never
give up on anybody, especially yourself!
· We must focus on purposes
instead of just setting goals, for long term vision is what keeps us from being
frustrated by short term failure.
· When your horse dies, dismount!
· Crisis does not make or break
the man or woman. It just reveals the true character within.
· If we’re not failing a few
times, it means we’re not pushing ourselves hard enough.
· What we have been in the past
does not make us who we are today. What we hope to become in the future makes
us who we are today.
Outcome Based Return on
Investment: Your people will leave Dan’s speech knowing that “continuous
improvement” is obsolete. “Rapid Growth” is the most important 21st century key
to stability and success in any business and comes more from recognition of
people than from a money raise. Recognition of your people begins to make a
difference only when they begin to recognize themselves and realize what
motivates them. Dan will challenge your people to answer for themselves: Why
should I improve? What’s in it for me? Will it make me feel important and
fulfilled? What must I do to make people around me better so I help the team
win? With Dan’s inspiration and their newly found ownership of these personal
answers, the resulting positive behavior of your people is likely to be a
permanent lifestyle improvement rather than another self-development fad you
tried out that failed within weeks.