TARYN MARIE STEJSKAL, PH.D.

Founder Of Resilience Leadership Institute, #1 WSJ Bestselling Author, Executive Leadership Coach


  • Former Head of Executive Leadership Development and Talent Strategy at Nike and former head Cigna’s Leadership Development & Executive Programs
  • Serves as the Chief Wellness Officer for Lifewrite, a platform leveraging the latest in AI technology dedicated to enhancing mental health and wellbeing
  • Internationally acclaimed keynote speaker on Resilience, Mental Health, and Wellness
  • Her book “The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People: Why some flourish when others fold” is a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and New York Times (NYT) bestseller
  • Global Gurus recognized her as a Top 30 Thinker in Leadership, and she is a Marshall Goldsmith Top 100 Coach Globally (MG100)
  • Her TEDx talk entitled “How Resilience Breaks Us Out of Our Vulnerability Cage” has been viewed over 1 million times
  • She is the host of the top 5% acclaimed podcast Flourish or Fold: Stories of Resilience, where well-known people tell their lesser well-known story of facing challenge
  • 2nd book I’ve launched, a compilation book, Triumphs of Transformation: Inspiring Stories of Resilience and Life Change

Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal is the Chief Resilience Officer and founder of the Resilience Leadership Institute. With over two decades of experience, she excels in working with leaders and executives, women in business, and entrepreneurs who are facing challenges and aren’t sure how to identify or solve their most important problems. Her innovative framework, The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People, provides a resilience roadmap with tools and strategies that help people effectively address their challenges. Her work has been featured on platforms such as Forbes, NBC, Fox, and Bloomberg Business, garnering endorsements from thought leaders such as Arianna Huffington, Daniel Pink, Kathy Ireland, and Marshall Goldsmith. Her client roster includes top-tier companies and universities such as Amazon, Nike, Discover Financial, NYU, and Pfizer. Her book, The 5 Practices of Highly Resilient People, is a #1 Wall Street Journal best-seller.

Dr. Taryn Marie is on a mission to positively impact the lives of one billion people in 2023 by making resilience practical and accessible.

Dr. Taryn Marie earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, along with master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park, and completed pre- and postdoctoral fellowships in neuropsychology at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. She is the host of the top 5% acclaimed podcast Flourish or Fold: Stories of Resilience, where well-known people tell their lesser well-known story of facing challenge to remind us that adversity is a necessary ingredient in life.

She is honored to serve as a sought-after trusted advisor and board member to amplify resilience, engagement, and talent strategy. Her two sons, Samson and Sawyer are always teaching her about resilience! 

Dr. Taryn Marie tailors each presentation to the needs of her audience and is not limited to the topics we have listed below:

  • Resilience
  • Leadership
  • Innovation
  • Peak Performance
  • Growth Mindset
  • Motivation
  • Well-being
  • Women in Leadership
  • Change

YOUR STORY IS YOUR SUPERPOWER

How do you harness your resilience story to create more strength and hope? From stories of self-discovery and transformation to stories of second chances after incarceration, we know very well the power of story. Yet oftentimes we believe we need to check our real-life resilience stories at the proverbial office door because we fear our own stories of facing hardship will signal weakness, rather than demonstrating strength.

Our stories of facing challenge, change, and complexity, the Big 3 C’s, are often the last stories we want to tell, but in hiding these meaningful experiences we miss meaningful opportunities to create greater connection, cohesion, and communication – within our most significant relationships personally and professionally.

By being brave enough to share our resilience stories, we engage in the greatest human alchemy that exists: When we share out resilience stories we transform those dark times of challenge, into a light we shine into the world, that illuminates the path of others, individuals, teams, and organizations as a whole, in the midst of their difficulty, to both uplift, inspire, and encourage them when they need it most.

  • How to identify your resilience stories through the Reverse Bucket List
  • Why we often hide from our resilience stories rather than capitalizing on our story as our superpower
  • The three ingredients of a powerful resilience story that uplifts, inspires, and encourages
  • An experiential exercise to demonstrate that the universal elements that connect us are greater than we imagine
  • How to harness our innate vulnerability, authenticity, and empathy to stop hiding our resilience, and instead supercharge our story

Signature Your Story is Your Superpower Workshop

In addition to her signature keynote, Dr. Taryn Marie and her team at the Resilience Leadership Institute (RLI) are offering a signature workshop to teach leaders how to share their resilience stories in service of amplifying the humanity with their organizations, along with creating greater connection, enhancing communication, and increasing team cohesion, especially in times for facing The Big 3 C’s, when people need to hear stories the foster hope and inspire, at the times it is critical to have a light to guide them on their path when they face difficult and ambiguous situations.

The most magnetic and sought-after leaders lead from a place of deep purpose and authenticity. People follow leaders who are able to capitalize on their resilience stories in service of galvanizing their team. They’ve learned how to share inspiring stories about facing challenge in a manner that both humanizes them and inspires those around them. Each participant in the signature Your Story is Your Superpower workshop will identify one key resilience story and learn how to share that story in five minutes or less to convey how facing this trial contributes to their ability to lead from a place of purpose and strength. By learning and following the Resilience Story Blueprint, workshop participants will emerge with a story that transforms their challenges to triumphs in a manner that catalyzes and engages the listener, while conveying strength, becoming a leader who communicates powerful and prolifically and captures the hearts and minds of those within their organization.

RESILIENCE IS NO LONGER A SOFT SKILL: HARNESSING THE 5 PRACTICES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE IN THE AGE OF AI AND BEYOND

As AI and technological advances continue to be cornerstones in our world of work, with machines taking over many “hard skills” formerly carried out by humans, skills previously considered “soft” such as leadership, communication, and empathy are, and will continue to separate organizations that flourish from those that flounder. In a business landscape characterized by “technologification”, for the first time, humanity will be in shorter supply, meaning that investments made in leadership and deepening human connection will become an even more significant differentiator.

In particular, resilience is not only no longer a “soft skill”, it is the key ingredient for those who wish to amplify their change agility, enhance their personal leadership, and are looking for an edge when navigating disruption and uncertainty. Yet, how do we identify, let alone cultivate resilience for leaders, teams, and enterprise culture? The 5 Practices of Highly Resilient People provides the blueprint, based upon two decades of empirical research, to identify, develop, and amplify resilience as a means to both enhance the quality of relationships and engagement inside organizations, alongside providing the skills required to empower leaders and teams to sustainably and effectively navigate large-scale change and uncertainty

THE FIVE PRACTICES OF HIGHLY RESILIENT PEOPLE: WHY SOME FLOURISH WHEN OTHERS FOLD

What are the attributes that determine whether a leader, team, or organization will flourish or fold? After conducting two decades of research to understand how people effectively face challenges, in leadership and life, resilience is the key differentiator that sustains people in moments of difficulty, ambiguity, and adversity.

At a time when we’re all facing extensive challenge, change, and complexity, harnessing let alone enhancing resilience has never been more important. World renowned resilience expert and Nike’s former head of executive development and talent strategy, Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal shares with audiences the five practices of highly resilient people — behaviors and practices, available to all of us, that have been shown to dramatically increase our resilience.

Resilience is the essence of being human, a skillset we all possess. Yet what it means to be truly resilient has been largely misunderstood. Dr. Taryn Marie inspires and engages audiences with a practical, tangible, and relevant approach to enhancing resilience the difference between flourishing and folding.

As a result of this program, attendees will: 

  • Learn The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People, the habits empirically shown to determine why some flourish after facing challenge and others fold 
  • Understand The Three Myths that block out ability to access our resilience 
  • Increase resilience and reduce stress, exhaustion, and burnout 
  • Build their own Resilience Toolkit focused on a series of practical skills and habits that that increase wellbeing during times of anxiety and burnout.
  • Recognize the power of vulnerability in cultivating resilience as well as authentic and empathetic leadership

RESILIENCE IS A TEAM SPORT: RESILIENCE IS THE NEW MODEL FOR PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION, TEAM ENGAGEMENT, AND RETENTION

Resilience is not an individual pursuit, but instead a team sport as today’s workplace requires new strategies for connecting and getting results. While engagement and retention are top of mind for many organizations, previous leadership models are outdated and offer little value. The commonality amongst the most effective leaders and teams is a commitment to resilience, along with empathy and vulnerability if they are to reach their true potential. By fostering resilience and developing the whole person, team members move from trying to cross the finish line first to focusing on how the team can cross the finish line together.

One of the best ways to help your team enhance resilience while boosting productivity, engagement, and retention is through The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People. To learn more, read Resilience is a Team Sport, published in Forbes, featuring Dr. Taryn Marie on resilience and team leadership.

As a result of this program, attendees will: 

  • Learn The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People for enhancing team connection, cohesion, and communication framework
  • Build a culture of team resilience where team members have a renewed sense of trust, purpose, and their potential
  • Create enhanced engagement and productivity, leading to greater retention by focusing first on amplifying positive team dynamics
  • Experience a reignited passion for their team’s focus and goals
  • Foster greater commitment to the team and organization as people feel their development is a priority

FROM BURNOUT TO BALANCE: PRACTICES TO RESTORE AND OPTIMIZE ENGAGEMENT

The volume of challenge, change, and complexity has left so many people feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and navigating high levels of stress and uncertainty. Fortunately, to beat back burnout and find more balance, there is hope. As the #1 International Expert on Resilience, Dr. Taryn Marie provides practical, actionable, and research-based solutions for individuals, teams, and organizations to find greater balance, peace, and well-being enhance and resilience through her characteristic inspiration, story-telling, and empirical work, drawing on her unique background heading global leadership development for organizations across the globe. This keynote provides a roadmap for how we can we flourish in our places of workplace, along with promoting greater wellbeing for all people. 

As a result of this program, attendees will:

  • Increase resilience, lower stress, and feel equipped to manage the ups and downs of life
  • Build their own ‘Resilience Toolkit’ of easy to implement practices that increase wellbeing, mental health, and resilience during times of anxiety and burnout 
  • Recognize that it’s okay to not be okay
  • Understand how to enhance their own wellness and how to build up their team’s and organization’s practices that foster and enhance greater wellbeing

HOW YOU HARNESS RESILIENCE TO ADVANCE THE FUTURE OF WORK: NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY AND AMBIGUITY

The world is changing faster than we ever imagined, leaders and teams get to dig deep within themselves to break through and find opportunity in uncertain times. Instead of bouncing back, we’re bouncing forward, drawing on the wisdom and growth of our recent experiences to go forward in our careers, lives, and pursuit of dreams and goals. While we don’t get to choose our experiences, we can choose the meaning we make of our circumstances as well as how we respond, rather than simply reacting. In order to continue to develop resilience, we get to focus on cultivating courage, curiosity, and creativity as the antidote to the immense challenge, change, and complexity that exists today. Rather than bouncing back, we get to enhance our resilience to bounce forward. 

Before becoming the #1 expert on resilience, mental health, and wellbeing and living out her dreams, Dr. Taryn Marie suffered from crippling PTSD. After committing to a series of positive life changes, she had a shift in perspective that changed her outlook on life and opened herself up to endless possibility. She is committed to helping others unlock the power of their inherent resilience. Dr. Taryn Marie’s life changing message has opened up audiences around the world to cultures of greater authenticity, gratitude, and endless potential.
As a result of this program, attendees will:

  • Recognize that all aspects of their life impact your work, life, and performance
  • Harness The Five Practices that increase wellbeing and mental health during times of stress and uncertainty
  • Learn how small acts can create a large-scale impact in your team, organization, and community
  • Understand how to transform their perspective to optimize performance

WOMEN, WELLNESS, AND WORTHINESS: HOW TO DO WHAT YOU ALWAYS DREAMS, BUT NEVER THOUGHT WAS POSSIBLE 

Resilience is for men and women, yet women very often have both universal and unique experiences that require them to engage with resilience in both leadership and life. Whether you would like to believe in yourself, set bigger goals, or reach the ones you already have, Dr. Taryn Marie will help you get from “ambition” to “accomplishment” without sacrificing your personal life, wellbeing, or sanity. Dr. Taryn’s message of radical possibility combined with her Five Practices leaves audiences not only inspired but also equipped with tools to tackle the seemingly insurmountable. Her system of achieving seemingly impossible goals demystifies daunting tasks by turning ‘dreams’ into ‘projects’ and creates inspiration through action and accountability. Dr. Taryn takes a candid look at the ways that well-meaning women sabotage themselves and others, and she reminds us that it’s never too late to start your list and leave your lasting impact on the world. You’ve totally got this! 

As a result of this program, attendees will: 

  • Learn how to accomplish seemingly impossible goals through The Five Practices Steps 
  • Identify the #1 thing that holds you back from accomplishing your goals 
  • Learn Dr. Taryn Marie’s methods to amplify confidence and banish imposter syndrome for good 
  • Develop a plan of action to drive you forward towards your goals and dreams

THE NOT-SO-SURPSING LINK BETWEEN RESILIENCE, INNOVATION, AND CREATIVITY: MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE, POSSIBLE 

How do we foster cultures that support innovation and creativity? While organizations have sought to understand the secret sauce that allows their people to effectively address challenge and pursue innovation, they have often overlooked a key ingredient that fosters innovation: resilience. Transformational and resilient leaders are critical for every organization, now more than ever, in our ever-changing global landscape as we continue to foster greater innovation and creativity. Yet, what does it mean to be a truly innovative, creative, and resilient leader? Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal reveals how to harness and enhance resilience, through the empirical model, The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People, that provides a guide to make the seemingly impossible possible by enhancing resilience for individuals, teams, and organizations when facing challenge, change, and complexity. 

As a result of this program, attendees will:

  • Understand how psychological safety is a key foundation for creativity and innovation
  • Appreciate how resilience, creativity, and innovation have a reciprocal relationship
  • Learn how to enhance their own and their team’s innovation, creativity, and resilience
  • Appreciate how The Five Practices can support them in making the seemingly impossible become possible

CLOSE THE CONFIDENCE GAP: THREE PROVEN SECRETS TO BOOST YOUR CONFIDENCE AND ELIMINATE PROCRASTINATION 

Did you always believe that being confident, let alone mastering confidence was something for other people, but not you? This inspirational and interactive talk will allow each person to understand how to harness their confidence, once and for all! Drawing from The Five Practices of Highly Resilient People, Nike’s former head of executive development and talent strategy, Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal, shows you how to apply the practical skills and key strategies, used by high-level leaders and athletes to amplify your confidence for good because people aren’t born confident, confidence is developed! 

As a result of this program, attendees will:

  • Why developing confidence stops people from living with regret
  • How to boost your confidence personally and professionally by unmasking 3 common beliefs that diminish your power
  • The secret to beat procrastination, overcome perfectionism, and step into a new level of productivity
  • The most important decision you need to make is to stop self-limiting your success and start living your best life now!