Chad E. Foster is a motivational keynote speaker, sales/finance leader, and inspirational change agent who works at Red Hat/IBM. He was the first blind executive to graduate from Harvard Business School’s Program for Leadership Development and has been featured with NBC, CBS, Forbes, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA Today, and Chief Executive Mag. “People are often...
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Chad E. Foster is a motivational keynote speaker, sales/finance leader, and inspirational change agent who works at Red Hat/IBM. He was the first blind executive to graduate from Harvard Business School’s Program for Leadership Development and has been featured with NBC, CBS, Forbes, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA Today, and Chief Executive Mag. “People are often surprised at what I was able to achieve in spite of being blind but to the contrary, I feel I am successful because I am blind, not in spite of it,” says Chad.
After losing his eyesight while attending college in his early twenties, Chad started at a top consulting firm, and has built a career in the technology industry where he has directed financial strategies and decisions resulting in more than $45 billion in contracts. Determination, ambition, and resilience are the key drivers to his incredible journey. The Atlanta Opera has commissioned an opera inspired by his life story and his first book, Blind Ambition: How to Go from Victim to Visionary, is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, Bookshop, Books-A- Million, Google Play, and other fine retailers. Today, Chad speaks to corporate audiences and professional athletes to help them develop resilience in the face of uncertainty and show people how to overcome their own blind spots. He lives with his wife and his 2 children in Atlanta, GA and is a daredevil of his own, enjoying snow skiing every winter.
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Speaker Programs
BLIND AMBITION TM: How to Go from Victim to VisionaryTM
In this signature keynote, Chad will entertain, inspire, and move your audience, while teaching them how to shift their mindset from victim to visionaryTM. Going blind at 21-years-old and facing a life with seemingly limited ...more
In this signature keynote, Chad will entertain, inspire, and move your audience, while teaching them how to shift
their mindset from victim to visionaryTM. Going blind at 21-years-old and facing a life with seemingly limited
opportunities, Chad had to reinvent himself before even having a shot at success. Turning obstacles into
opportunities, he became a Harvard-educated rainmaker, created countless jobs, and now he teaches teams how
to cultivate resilient mindsets, adapt and thrive in change, and set ambitious goals with the right mindset to
achieve them.
This program gives your people the tools and inspiration to overcome difficult circumstances and create a
promising positive future. More than just a motivational talk, this session connects inspiration to
implementation. ...less
NO MORE COMFORT ZONES: Growth Through Adversity
Life without obstacles removes opportunity for growth. For any of us to grow, we need to step outside our comfort zones. In this powerful keynote, Chad teaches how the obstacles that lie in front of ...more
Life without obstacles removes opportunity for growth. For any of us to grow, we need to step outside our
comfort zones. In this powerful keynote, Chad teaches how the obstacles that lie in front of us can propel us
towards our goals.
Every organization finds itself face-to-face with problems that can seem insurmountable. Beyond Chad’s
personal path of overcoming overwhelming odds, his business track record for moving through challenges and
improving results gives a unique perspective on how comfort zones hold us back.
Chad will talk about how he’s not successful in spite of being blind. He is successful because he’s blind. He
embraced his problem and turned it into a solution. In this session Chad will teach your teams how to realize
exponential growth through adversity. ...less
DIVERSITY: The Engine for Innovation
Chad was born part of the mainstream majority, but after going blind in college, he was treated differently as a disabled minority. After living over 20 years in both social groups, his unique vantage points ...more
Chad was born part of the mainstream majority, but after going blind in college, he was treated differently as a
disabled minority. After living over 20 years in both social groups, his unique vantage points of both worlds allow
him to equip your teams to think differently about Diversity and Inclusion (DnI) in the workplace.
Chad goes beyond just valuing each person. He will show how DnI drives business innovation. We know that
diversity of thought creates change, and when harnessed correctly, change drives innovation. How can we create
a culture that invites diversity of thought to have a welcomed seat at the table so each individual feels valued to
contribute? This session shows how you can unlock the value of DnI in your workplace to power the innovation
your business needs to thrive. ...less
VICTIM TO VISIONARY TM: Resilience Workshop
In this workshop Chad will lead you through the steps you can take to improve resilience. He teaches the practical tools you can apply to any situation in order to move your mindset from victim ...more
In this workshop Chad will lead you through the steps you can take to improve resilience. He teaches the
practical tools you can apply to any situation in order to move your mindset from victim to visionary.
During this session you will map out your resilience journey. After setting out your own personal vision of
greatness, you will see your life more clearly than you ever have before. It can set you free to discover the
amazing advantages that your disadvantages offer. You can then seek your own gifts that are disguised in terrible
wrapping paper and see how the unique perspectives you’ve gained from those disadvantages contribute to your
vision of greatness.
Nothing in life is permanent. Everybody and everything changes. The only certainty is change. The key is figuring
out how you will adapt. ...less
* Fee ranges listed on this website are intended to serve as a guideline. The speaker's speaking fee should fall within this “fee range” listed. A speaker's fee may be at the high end or low end (or possibly outside of) the listed “fee range”. Additionally, a speaker may change his/her fee without notice. For a speaker's most current speaking fee or to check availability, please contact us.
