Keynote Speaker
Live, Virtual, Hybrid.
Nora will meet you where you are.
Sometimes meeting planners need to make last-minute adjustments to the plan - if there is anything we learned during the pandemic-era, it was to think on our feet and adjust. A former meeting planner herself, Nora gets it.
​
(Ask her about navigating changes
during the Chicago Bears Training Camp).
We'll find the right solution for you and your attendees based on what works best for you with whatever is going on in the world at the time!
Interactive.
Content-Rich.
Action-Oriented.
Nora's content is unique and proprietary. She is the one and only Undercover Candidate™. She is the one and only Undercover Employee™. She has invested the time and energy to participate in over 250 job interviews as a candidate for research purposes. She is the only one who pairs over a decade of experience as an HR Professional with fifteen months of research as The Undercover Employee™ working on the front lines of Fortune 500 organizations to fully connect the dots between the boardroom and the break room.
​
Beyond being an expert in leadership and workplace culture, Nora brings a shift in perspective that had been missing from the market.
She is not only an award-winning storyteller, she has the leadership and workplace culture stories that your organization needs to hear.
What would you learn about reflective leadership if you mopped the floors, stocked the shelves or made the deliveries?
For many, we bear titles such as Leader, Manager, Director, Vice President, Owner, and Executive. They define and claim us, creating not only expectations but new ecosystems where we risk becoming disconnected from our roots.
You may have felt that disconnect with phrases like, “Home Office said we have to do it this way even though it doesn’t make sense.” You’ve seen it in an Us vs. Them culture that divides and compartmentalizes humans via the lines of an organizational chart. Organizations have paid the price in low-quality candidates, poor engagement, and high turnover.
As a Fortune 200 executive, Nora Burns witnessed this phenomenon and the resulting cost to organizations. She focused on understanding the disconnect and bridging the gap between titled and informal leaders while remaining in touch with all levels of the organization.
Nora’s insights regarding leadership aren’t strictly from her time as an executive or her leadership experience over a 30+ year career, but also from her unique research, The Undercover Project™. She has been on over 250 job interviews as The Undercover Candidate™ (that is NOT a typo, 250 job interviews across the United States). She also worked for five (5) well-known brands on the front lines…undercover. In the years she invested analyzing leaders and working as The Undercover Employee™ for big brands, Nora uncovered some truly remarkable stories. Stories your leadership team needs to hear.
These stories tie together important content. In her keynote, Nora shares the four key attributes that create ECHOs of leadership from the boardroom to the front-line employee breakroom and all points in between.
Are you brave enough to be bad at something?
I was at twenty... when did that change?
​
While attending a cocktail party at the local art museum I found myself truly shocked that the average person did not want to talk about the impact hiring and onboarding have on the overall organizational culture. Weird, right?!? Awkward. You are not surprised by this at all are you?
​
Somewhere along the line, I, like many dedicated professionals, became so engrossed in my work (I research, write, read, and speak about it) that I stopped trying and doing new fun things that did not relate to work. I realized I was becoming more boring with age and that was not the person I desired to be. Can you relate?
​
"Say Yes" is dedicated to changing perspective in life and uncovering the you YOU want to be. Becoming your best you. Say Yes.
​
Interactive, engaging, humor-forward keynote. Attendees will laugh as they learn the three-step process to becoming real-life change advocates.
​
​