Dr. Jeff Belkora might be the most fascinating speaker to hit the college market in a decade. He’s taking the science of decision making—studied carefully in the medical field—and teaching student leaders how good choices are made in high stakes situations.
College students are constantly challenged to make good decisions—healthy decisions, ethical decisions and decisions based on values.
In each campus visit, Jeff takes the time to identify those critical decisions facing each type of audience, and he engages them. Jeff helps them take critical choices they are facing and shows them how to break them down, analyze them and arrive at the best outcome possible.
Jeff is the rare college speaker who is just as valuable for staff and faculty as he is for students. Absolutely everyone in your campus community will be fascinated by Jeff’s approach, because good choices are critical for everyone, at every level. He’s a great choice for schools where students and staff demand a high level of thoughtful, challenging programming. He can work with students in a large keynote setting, or in a more intimate “advanced leadership” workshop. His programs can be adapted for orientation, parent weekends, convocations, faculty development seminars, leadership trainings of every kind and even graduation.
Jeff is a strong, engaging speaker who grabs students' attention and helps them to consider their own decision-making in an intellectual and academic manner while providing great narratives and examples taken from his life and work in the field of medical decision making. He is a pleasure to work with, very interested in collaborating to make his presentations "fit" with the student population of the particular college, and has an enthusiasm and active zest for life and learning that translates loud and clear to students. He is also eager to embrace new technology and media as part of his presentation in ways that are appealing and speak to students in college today.
Holly Gurney, Bates College
Dr. Belkora allows students a rare opportunity to learn about their own decisions. I learned new ways of thinking, evaluating and making decisions. I find myself applying his methods in my daily life. College is a series of decisions, and it was refreshing to have a speaker articulate ways to navigate this new and potentially challenging environment.
Kate Maxwell, Bates College
Since Jeff Belkora spoke at our Center for Principled Problem Solving, students have referred repeatedly to various parts of the stories and tools he shared. Not only was the presentation inspiring and accessible, it was also illuminating for students to consider how to dream their own dreams and work to establish them in real work geared toward addressing issues around them in the world.
Kim Yarbray, Project and Communication Manager for The Center for Principled Problem Solving , Guilford College
Keynotes
- The Science of Smart Decisions
- The Code of Leadership
- Avoiding Conflict, Saving Face, Defending Your Turf and Other Fantastic Ways To Fail at Teamwork
The Science of Smart Decisions
Whether it’s a sophomore deciding whether to study abroad, a student-athlete coping with academic performance struggles or a fraternity member wrestling with a risk management issue—many students are facing critical decision making for the very first time.
Do you go with your gut? Do you make the safe choice? Or, do you swing for the fences?
For all the talk of healthy decisions, the truth is, most students have never been taught how to make a smart, reasoned, thoughtful decision when the stakes are high. From your idealistic first-year student, to your student government president, everyone would love to have someone (or “some thing”) helping them to make the best choices.
Your decisions shape your life. Friends, dating, alcohol, sex, education, summer jobs, majors, interviews, job offers, grad school, long-term relationships, children, buying a house, investments, career changes—the list is endless.
No skill is more important than the ability to think, talk and write about your decisions. In this interactive program, you will learn a simple but powerful checklist for decision making from Dr. Jeff Belkora. Jeff developed his checklist for use in the most challenging circumstances possible: life-and-death decisions made by patients at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center. His groundbreaking “science of decision making” helps patients deal with the most alarming medical emergencies, but people all over the world are now using Jeff’s work to think, talk and write about personal and professional decisions of all types. In this fast-paced, engaging program, Jeff will help you SCOPE your own past, present and future decisions.
If you’re looking for a program that goes deeper than motivation, deeper than group dynamics, deeper than simple talks about values, then consider Jeff. He is lively and energetic, but you will be impressed by his innovative, scientific, humanistic approach to the decision making process. By the end, you will have learned a professional-grade tool for decision making that will serve as a competitive advantage as a student leader and as a professional throughout your career.
The Code of Leadership
You might already be recognized as a leader by your peers, but true leadership comes from within. What kind of leader do you dream of becoming? In this energetic and engaging keynote, Jeff—a leader in the science of decision-making—will provide you with a simple but powerful approach to developing your own code of leadership. You will learn to codify your core values, worldview, purpose, mission, ethics, passion, role models and goals. You will translate these into a road map for your private, professional and public life.
Jeff developed his approach while working with people who survived life-threatening emergencies and turned them into life-changing wake-up calls. This program will involve and inspire you, having direct relevance to your life right now.
Avoiding Conflict, Saving Face, Defending Your Turf and Other Fantastic Ways To Fail at Teamwork
From the basketball court to the courthouse, and everywhere in between, we all work on teams. Whatever team you’re on, there are people around you who play a zero-sum game. They focus on looking like a star instead of playing to win. Coaches and employers can be fooled by these fake players in the short-term, but you can stand out from the crowd with a long-term focus on establishing your reputation as a straight shooter and a team player. Paradoxically, you will find that you look better when you stop trying to look good.
Jeff developed this program based on his experiences as a management consultant, software executive and clinical practice leader. Finding the humor in dysfunction, Jeff guides audiences through a reflection of their own experiences with people who play to look good instead of win as a team. Then we turn the tables on these fake players and learn how a true player plays to win.
Dr. Jeff's Bio
Jeff’s work as the director of the Decision Services Unit at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center has captured national attention. The unit recently won an award from the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Innovation for its “ideas that had the potential to transform for the better the way health care is experienced and delivered.” In his ground breaking work, Jeff has studied patients making the most critical decisions about aggressive medical therapies. He’s discovered that the steps that help a patient make thoughtful, informed decisions about dealing with cancer can be widely applied to others making difficult decisions.
Jeff is an assistant professor at UCSF where he studies and teaches leadership, teamwork, and decision making. He has spoken about his innovative training and decision-making programs to audiences across the globe. He is the author of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and case studies.
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