APB is a Global Speaker, Celebrity & Entertainment Agency
Christopher D. Connors

Christopher D. Connors

Author, Leadership Speaker & Executive Coach

Christopher D. Connors

Author, Leadership Speaker & Executive Coach

Biography

Christopher D. Connors' mission is to help you and your organization achieve your biggest goals by using emotional intelligence and an action-oriented approach to leadership to your advantage. He accomplishs this through keynotes, team-building events, executive coaching, consulting, trainings and writing.

He is the author of three bestselling leadership books, including The Champion Leader, which was ranked as one of the top leadership books of 2024. Emotional Intelligence for the Modern Leader is one of the top selling emotional intelligence books in the world, and Book Authority ranks it #1 on its list of best emotional intelligence books of all-time. The Value of You has helped thousands of people reinvent themselves by living a positive, values-based life and career. His writing has appeared on CNBC, World Economic Forum, Virgin, Thrive Global and Medium. Connors appeared on award-winning podcasts and regularly make TV appearances on FOX, ABC and more.

He believes in servant leadership and The Golden Rule—helping others, putting their needs first and treating others the way he would like to be treated. He also believes in having fun along the way and mixing in some humor to keep us on our toes! Connors leads from the heart and genuinely wants you and your organization to experience championship success and enduring happiness.

He received his Bachelor's degree from Hobart College and earned my Master's degree from the University of Georgia with a focus on Leadership and Organizational Theory. He in the people business. This begins with the people he loves most in this world: his beautiful wife; three rambunctious, sports-loving boys; and his parents and brothers. This passion for people connects to you and your people. It drives how he partner with you to create a championship culture, team, career—and life—that brings you and your team success, joy, and peace of mind.

Speaker Videos

Emotional Intelligence in Education

Essential Qualities of teamwork

Speaker reel

Speech Topics

Creating a Culture of Connection: How Winning Teams Come Together to Achieve Outstanding Results

Successful organizations have a culture of camaraderie and belonging. When leaders build trust and champion the growth and wellbeing of their employees, positive results follow. This starts with leadership that inspires, engages and develops its employees.

You can create meaningful leadership connection in every conversation and touchpoint. How you communicate, motivate and build relationships with your employees shapes the future path of your organization. Great leaders foster connection with their teams at all levels of their organization and create thriving relationships.

How you show up, is how they will show up. That is the spirit of transformational leadership. Inspirational, practical and always with some fun & humor mixed in, this keynote will leave your employees inspired and ready to lead with purpose. Based on the research from Christopher's bestselling books, The Champion Leader and Emotional Intelligence for the Modern Leader, Christopher provides practical leadership tools to help you adapt and lead in the modern workplace.

Results:

  • A clear, practical understanding of how to build powerful leadership connection
  • 3 easy-to-implement ideas you can use to communicate effectively and build relationships across your organization
  • Clarity on how to motivate and engage your employees to help improve their wellbeing
  • Tools for self-awareness that help you adapt to leadership challenges in changing times

Business Areas of Focus:

  • Emotionally Intelligent Leadership
  • Motivation
  • Employee Engagement
  • Retention
  • Sales Performance
  • Culture
  • Relationship-Building

How Modern Leaders Lead with Emotional Intelligence to Create Enduring Relationships

Empathy is The Champion Leader superpower that unites people to achieve your organizational mission and goals. Yet, so many leaders don’t know how to use empathy to communicate and effectively support their employees. Learning this coveted skill helps you retain your top performers and forges a long-term, rewarding partnership that leads to growth and results.

Christopher shows you exactly what emotionally intelligent leadership is and how modern leaders use empathy to have authentic conversations. Christopher provides you with seven practical leadership tools you can use right away to create an empathic, sustainable and supportive culture that everyone wants to be a part of.

When we lead from the heart, we have a positive impact on ourselves, the people we lead and our customers. Based on the research and examples from his books Emotional Intelligence for the Modern Leader and The Value of You, Christopher provides practical tools to help you adapt and lead in both a hybrid and virtual workplace.

Results:

  • Actionable steps you can take on team-building, change and integrating EQ into your culture
  • A clear understanding on the roadblocks and obstacles to building a great culture
  • Inspirational examples of leadership that you can emulate where you are today
  • Tools and exercises you can use to lead with empathy to inspire the peoople you lead

Business Areas of Focus:

  • Emotionally Intelligent Leadership
  • Culture
  • Vision and Values
  • Employee Engagement
  • Retention
  • Sales Performance
  • Motivation

The 5 Hallmarks of High-Performing Teams

Every day, we partner with colleagues across business units to collaborate and achieve shared goals. Building relationships isn't easy; there's an art to influencing and creating connection. Winning teams know that commitment and focus is infectious and trust is build through something bigger than just a shared task.

Personalizing relationships with candor, curiosity and empathy motivate and inspire people to come together. The key is aligning your team with the vision, values and mission of your organization.

This interactive workshop highlights five, specific elements that comprise the attributes of winning teams and shows you how to integrate these into elevating your team's performance and camaraderie to the next level. These are the essential attributes of any team- in all industries.

Christopher uses examples from championship sports organizations, start-ups, businesses and schools to provide you with actionable takeaways to strengthen your leadership and achieve strategic initiatives. Thriving organizations are built on great relationships formed by winning teams.

Results:

  • A renewed focus on building powerful relationships and infusing your culture with positivity
  • Clear direction for forming teams and creating buy-in toward achieving shared goals
  • A “Game Plan” for building a winning team crafted to your organization's vision and values
  • Communication tools to implement in each team environment that promote healthy, constructive discussion

Business Areas of Focus:

  • Team-Building
  • Culture
  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Vision and Values
  • Employee Engagement
  • Sales Performance
  • Motivation

Shifting from Transactional to Transformational Leadership: How to Lead People-First and Build a Championship Organization

Why do some leaders fail to connect with their teams, and as a result fail to achieve their goals? They forget to put people-first. In other words, they fail to value what’s most important and what makes achievement possible. Working for a transactional leader is not very rewarding. It can lead to burnout, poor communication and a feeling that you’re more of a commodity than a valued team member.

All of us in life and business seek belonging and connection—the desire to feel that both our contributions and best selves are accepted and valued by our colleagues and customers. In this inspiring keynote born from working with and studying thousands of the world’s top organizations over the past 20 years, Christopher will show you what not to do, and exactly what and how transformational leadership will allow you to engage, retain and motivate your employees to always show up as their best selves.

Championship organizations have vibrant cultures of camaraderie, excitement and belonging. When leaders build trust and champion the growth and wellbeing of their employees, positive results follow. How you communicate, motivate and build relationships with your employees shapes the future path of your organization. Champion leaders foster connection with their teams at all levels of their organization and create thriving relationships.

How you show up, is how they will show up. That is the spirit of transformational leadership. Inspirational, practical and always with some fun & humor mixed in, this keynote will inspire and equip your employees to achieve game-changing results and build enduring relationships. Based on the research from his books, The Champion Leader and Emotional Intelligence for the Modern Leader, Christopher provides practical tools to help you transform the way you lead and positively influence the lives of everyone around you.

Results:

  • A clear, practical understanding of how to build powerful leadership connection
  • 3 easy-to-implement ideas you can use to communicate effectively and build relationships across your organization
  • Clarity on how to motivate and engage your employees to help improve their wellbeing
  • Tools for self-awareness that help you adapt to leadership challenges in changing times

Business Areas of Focus:

  • Emotionally Intelligent Leadership
  • Motivation
  • Employee Engagement
  • Retention
  • Sales Performance
  • Culture
  • Relationship-Building

Testimonials