Dennis Brouwer | SpeakerHub

Personal Details

Bio

As a keynote speaker, Dennis brings a completely unique perspective to the challenge of thriving in a chaotic world. He has led a team of business development professionals with P&L responsibility for over $3b in global revenue, launched or revamped over 100 products and services and personally led the turnaround of a failing $300m IT services business. As a Navy flight officer, he logged nearly 1,000 hours and 200 carrier landings in Navy jets, and as an award-winning tactician, found a Soviet submarine in the one place it wasn’t supposed to be.

Dennis has honed this knowledge in industries as diverse as internet/cloud services, aviation, financial services, manufacturing and cybersecurity, and in start-ups, mind-size businesses and as a senior executive in a Fortune 200 company.He is a graduate of Georgetown University’s Leadership coaching program and the author “The Return on Leadership, a book that defines and quantifies the impact of the leader on growth in people, teams and markets.

Current position (1)

CEO & Keynote Speaker

The Brouwer Group, LLC

Achievements (1)

Decorated, award-winning Naval Flight Officer

Degrees (2)

MBA - Marketing

Texas A&M

1984 to 1987

Certificate in Leadership Coaching

Georgetown University

2013 to 2014

Presentations

Presentations (4)

Playing with Fire: Six Core Mindsets of Teams in Danger

The world’s gone crazy and uncertainty is the new normal. But that doesn’t change the fact that you need to pick your way through the daily risk of doing business while preparing for “black swan” events like cyber attacks, threats to public safety and dramatic shifts in the political or competitive landscape. It’s time to learn from organizations that routinely work in high-intensity environments where risk is high and the consequences of failure are immediate and irreversible.

Learning Objectives

1) Learn the Six Core Mindsets of Teams in Danger and be better prepared for the risks of accidents and disasters.
2) Learn to recognize and break through entrenched “Either/Or” thinking that undermines safety, preparedness and organizational readiness.
3) Discover the Three Building Blocks of highly prepared and adaptive organizations.
4) Master the three questions that highly prepared teams routinely ask.
Improve efficiency and agility through preparedness planning and investment.

Five Core Values of the World's Great Software Teams

Everywhere you look, the rate of change is accelerating, and most of that change - the web, smartphones, and the Internet of Things - is driven by software. So how do software development teams do it? It turns out they’ve got a system that’s designed to deal with exactly the kind of complex problems that are driving the rest of us crazy…and it might be just what you and your team need to get ahead and stay ahead in your chose market.

Learning Objectives

1) Learn the Five Core Values of the world’s most productive development teams.
2) Discover fresh approaches to solving complex, ingrained problems.
3) Develop a deeper understanding of your value in the market and in the minds of your customers and prospects.
4) Identify when it’s time to challenge conventional wisdom about your business model and market.
5) Build a culture that values spontaneity, agility and value creation.

Building Agile Leaders: Serving the People Who Serve Your Customers

In a world where the playing field has been leveled and everyone has access to the same technology, skills and markets, how do you compete? Agile leadership, focused on helping our teams deliver sustainable value to our customers is the answer. That means letting go of the traditional levers of power and embracing transparency, openness and adaptation and a sense of curiosity about what’s possible.

Learning Objectives

1) Embrace the Six Key Challenges to the Servant Leader
2) Learn to Develop Trust and Act Decisively in Service to a Shared Vision
3) Develop the Courage to Delegate, Commit and Master Accountability
4) Reward and Invest in Creativity and Responsible Risk-taking
5) Build a Learning Organization Designed to Thrive in Uncertainty

Wisdom on a Wheel - Things My Unicycle Taught Me

I was out of work, out of shape and increasingly frustrated with a divided, entrenched, antagonistic world. I was burned out from coaching others to change, meeting resistance, and watching them invent excuses and fail, believing that when they failed, I failed along with them.

After months - actually years - of thoughtfully trying to get others to change - to do the difficult work of learning new skills and perspectives in spite of doubt, fear, and habit, I decided to start over - to challenge myself to learn a complex new skill that would appear pointless and impossible to others, but would force me to confront my own doubts, fears, and habits.

At the age of 63 years, 8 months, and 2 days, I would learn to ride a unicycle. Or die trying.

In the process, I would discover a metaphor for the crazy world in which we live, rediscover the key truths that unite us, and gain a deeper understanding of why change is so hard, and ultimately so valuable.

This is my story.

And yours.

Past talks (1)

Leading in a Divided World

World Economic Forum

New York City, NY

March 22, 2018