Most resilience training addresses the symptoms. I address the root cause.
Drawing on more than two decades of neuroscience research, battlefield-tested practice, an international-bestselling book, and my own journey from trauma to resilience, I share a framework that is simultaneously rigorous and deeply human. My talks weave hard science with lived experience — including a near-death experience while peacekeeping in Bosnia, my temporary loss of eyesight, and more than 25 years of contemplative practice in the United States and Myanmar — in ways that leave audiences not just informed, but changed.
I speak to senior leaders, executive teams, first responders, healthcare workers, military personnel, educators, and anyone navigating high-stakes environments — from intimate leadership retreats, to halls of thousands.
I’ve spoken in settings that include the CIA, corporate boardrooms, Capitol Hill, military training ranges, hospital Grand Rounds, and TEDx. My plenary keynotes have included the International Trauma Conference, the National Defense Industries Association Annual Symposium, and the Departments of Defense & Veterans’ Affairs National Suicide Prevention Conference.
All speaking inquiries start with a short intake form.
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What Audiences Say
“Liz is an amazing person and a wonderful teacher. Her absolute passion for what she shares is truly inspiring. She is extremely knowledgeable, approachable, funny, gracious and caring. If Liz was the template for teachers, we would all be smarter and more inspired.” — Anne N., leader in the U.S. intelligence community
“Highly interactive and backed by scientific data. In a world of lots of talk and little substance, Liz is the antidote to that.” — Danielle, School Nutrition Association
“Huge gratitude to Liz for her keynote! It was a tangible step to my introducing my intellect to my body, and enabling my rational brain to understand better what my survival brain is telling me.” — J.W., New Jersey State Association of Police Chiefs
Speaking Topics
My talks are tailored to each audience and available as keynotes, breakout sessions, or extended workshops. All topics can be customized for length and context. Experiential practice components — including guided exercises drawn from MMFT® — can also be incorporated on request.
Core Keynotes
Rethinking Resilience: A Science-Based Approach for Thriving Under Pressure
Leaders and teams today face relentless uncertainty — yet most professional development ignores the root cause of poor decision-making, reactive conflict, and burnout: mind-body dysregulation. This talk introduces a battlefield-tested approach to embodied resilience, grounded in neuroscience and proven in some of the most demanding environments in the world. Audiences leave with a clear framework and practical tools for staying regulated, accessing choice, and leading wisely under pressure.
Resilient Leadership through Crisis, Chaos, and Change
Nearly three in four U.S. employees face moderate to very high stress at work, and workforce burnout has reached a seven-year high. Yet most leadership development misses the fundamental driver of organizational culture — the state of the leader’s own mind and body. This session offers senior leaders and executives a science-grounded understanding of how their mind-body state shapes the people around them — and a roadmap for building the resilience, adaptability, and psychological safety their organizations need to thrive during disruption.
What Your Emotions Are Trying to Tell You — And What Happens to Your Decisions When You Listen
Most of us were never taught how to work skillfully with our emotions — and it shows in our decisions, our relationships, and our wellbeing. This session offers a science-grounded, experiential understanding of how emotions operate as a source of vital information, and practical tools for working with them more effectively. Suitable for every human who interacts with other humans — from senior executives navigating high-stakes decisions, to individuals seeking greater clarity and resilience.
Specialized Topics
Wired for Connection: The Neuroscience of Conflict and Cooperation
Most conflict training focuses on communication tactics while ignoring the neurobiological conditions that make those tactics impossible to access under pressure. This session explores the survival brain and nervous system as the hidden drivers of conflict escalation — and teaches mind-body tools for interrupting reactivity, deepening connection, and creating the conditions for genuine cooperation, even during difficult interactions.
Beyond Bad Apples: A New Framework for Ethical Leadership and Moral Resilience
When organizational misconduct makes headlines, our instinct is to look for character failure. But neuroscience, social psychology, and decades of research tell a different story. This paradigm-shifting session reframes ethical failure as neurobiological, situational, and systems problems. It offers leaders a practical framework for building the individual and organizational conditions that support ethical behavior under pressure, and for understanding and healing moral injury when it occurs.
The Biology of Belonging: How Our Mind-Body State Drives Polarization — and Can Restore Community
Polarization has cascaded from our political institutions into our workplaces, families, and communities. This session offers a science-grounded framework for understanding why it is so intractable — and what individuals and organizations can actually do about it. Drawing on neuroscience and social psychology, it reveals how our survival brains drive dehumanization, intergroup hostility, and moral exclusion under stress. It also explores how, inside our window of tolerance, human social identities are remarkably malleable. Participants leave with a concrete sense of agency and tools for navigating difference without sacrificing their own values.
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