Dennis Brouwer
Expert on Simple and Effective Ways to Help Teams Thrive in a Chaotic World.
Everything’s connected. Everything’s at risk. Legacy means nothing and disruption is the norm. You will be measured only by what you and your organization do next. Now what? Dennis “DB” Brouwer can help. He’s a management consultant with a completely unique background who has excelled in demanding roles in naval aviation, global product management, and leadership development. He’s been described as “a gifted storyteller”, “the best tactician I’ve ever seen”, and a strategist “who can see around corners.”
Playing with Fire: Six Core Mindsets of Teams in Danger
Preparing for the Unthinkable
The world’s gone crazy and uncertainty is the new normal. But that doesn’t change the fact that you need to pick your way through the daily risk of doing business while preparing for “black swan” events like cyber attacks, threats to public safety and dramatic shifts in the political or competitive landscape. It’s time to learn from organizations that routinely work in high-intensity environments where risk is high and the consequences of failure are immediate and irreversible.
Learning Objectives:
- Learn the Six Core Mindsets of Teams in Danger and be better prepared for the risks of accidents and disasters.
- Learn to recognize and break through entrenched “Either/Or” thinking that undermines safety, preparedness and organizational readiness.
- Discover the Three Building Blocks of highly prepared and adaptive organizations.
- Master the three questions that highly prepared teams routinely ask.
- Improve efficiency and agility through preparedness planning and investment.
Why Dennis?
- Qualified as Naval Flight Officer, Mission Commander in Navy combat aircraft, and nuclear weapons loading officer with nearly 200 carrier landings and 1,000 hours of flight time.
- Qualified as in-flight Evaluator of Mission Readiness and Safety Best Practices while serving in squadron safety department.
- Ran product development teams that successfully evaluated operational, financial, and reputation risk for over 100 complex IT services in markets around the globe.
- Product owner for complete suite of networking, cloud, and cybersecurity services used by leading financial services companies.
Becoming the Feared Competitor: Five Core Values of the World's Great Software Teams
Building a Team that Thrives in an Uncertain World
Everywhere you look, the rate of change is accelerating, and most of that change – the web, smartphones, and the Internet of Things – is driven by software. So how do software development teams do it? It turns out they’ve got a system that’s designed to deal with exactly the kind of complex problems that are driving the rest of us crazy…and it might be just what you and your team need to get ahead and stay ahead in your chose market.
Learning Objectives:
- Learn the Five Core Values of the world’s most productive development teams.
- Discover fresh approaches to solving complex, ingrained problems.
- Develop a deeper understanding of your value in the market and in the minds of your customers and prospects.
- Identify when it’s time to challenge conventional wisdom about your business model and market.
- Build a culture that values spontaneity, agility and value creation.
Why Dennis?
- Served as head of Global Product Marketing and Development organizations for over 20 years in organizations ranging from start-up to Fortune 500.
- Created and chaired cross-functional product launch teams with members from sales, marketing, operations, customer service and finance.
- Led commercial launch and life cycle management for over 100 managed IT services around the world.
- Student of Scrum Framework, Agile Methodologies and learning, adaptive organizations.
- Consultant and advisor on agile development and servant leadership.
Building Agile Leaders: Serving the People Who Serve Your Customers
Building Servant Leaders and Agile, Resilient Organizations
In a world where the playing field has been leveled and everyone has access to the same technology, skills and markets, how do you compete? Agile leadership, focused on helping our teams deliver sustainable value to our customers is the answer. That means letting go of the traditional levers of power and embracing transparency, openness and adaptation and a sense of curiosity about what’s possible.
Learning Objectives
- Embrace the Six Key Challenges to the Servant Leader
- Learn to Develop Trust and Act Decisively in Service to a Shared Vision
- Develop the Courage to Delegate, Commit and Master Accountability
- Reward and Invest in Creativity and Responsible Risk-taking
- Build a Learning Organization Designed to Thrive in Uncertainty
Why Dennis?
- Over 30 years of experience as a front-line leader in naval aviation, start-up, mid-size, and Fortune 500 environments.
- Personally led turnaround of global, $300m IT services division of a billion dollar cloud company
- Graduate of leadership and business strategy programs at Navy Aviation Officer Candidate School, IBM, the Center for Creative Leadership, The Wharton School and Georgetown University.
- Author of “The Return on Leadership”, a study of the business impact of servant leadership.
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“Dennis Brouwer was the ideal speaker…awe-inspiring and educational. I use these principles to help me every day.”
“Everyone found Dennis to be interesting and engaging. His message and delivery style hit a home run our audience!”
“In an inspiring and engaging manner, Dennis masterfully puts teeth to the “soft skills” of leadership and deftly defines their value. With a colorful, story-telling flair, he brings these concept to life and makes them relatable.”
“My adrenalin is still amped up from those stories and those images….wooh!
“The most important things I look for in an executive are leadership, judgment, ego-maturity and self-awareness. Dennis brings those factors to life and makes clear what’s possible with the combination of Creative leadership, a winning business model and a dynamic, resilient culture.”
“An important new concept in the leadership world…amazing stories and some clear thinking about what it takes to lead today…a winner. Brouwer’s been in the leadership hot seat, made the difficult decisions, and learned from his mistakes.”
“A fresh perspective on Leadership that brings home all the concepts of Vision, Execution, and Engagement. As an HR Leader in the competitive world of FinTech, this is now my “go-to” approach when it comes to company strategy and its leadership, as we continue to reinvent ourselves and attract and retain the best talent.”
“Clear, concise, and articulate… Brouwer offers an energetic, lively and rational narrative sculpted to realign your way of thinking while providing rich examples from his own life as reinforcement.”
“Brouwer identifies the three behaviors most commonly associated with leaders of successful organizations, highlights the combination of executive characteristics common to successful leaders, and provides an actionable plan to improve their leadership – and it works. I was lucky enough to be part of the submarine stalking story that is central to his book, and it’s all true.”