45-60 min
Keynote
A signature talk, tailored to the audience and the calls in front of them.
From $8,500
Chris Myers · SpeakingLeadership in the crisis era.
Leadership in the crisis era.
Brought into the room.
Crisis leadership keynotes and working sessions for boards, banking associations, universities, and executive teams. Built around a consequential decision your audience is facing.
Keynotes from $8,500 · 45–60 minutes · Working sessions available
What the audience takes awayA language for pressure.
A language for pressure.
A way to examine the call.
The Five Modes help leaders name their default response, recognize its shadow, and ask what the decision requires. Historical cases give the room a shared frame; its own decision makes the work concrete.
Chris Myers · CEO, B:Side Capital · Professor, ASU W. P. Carey · Author, Honor Under Pressure
Formats and feesFind the right
Find the right
shape for your program.
Published starting points, before the first conversation. Travel, audience size, and the scope of the program affect the final fee.
Half day
Half-day leadership intensive
The keynote plus a facilitated working session applying the framework to one live decision.
From $12,500
Full day
Full-day / multi-session engagement
Multiple sessions across a program or conference track, with breakout facilitation.
From $20,000
Ongoing
Annual institutional program
A recurring program across a chapter network, a university program calendar, or a leadership pipeline.
Custom
Bulk copies of Honor Under Pressure included with all engagements. Reduced rates for nonprofit and association member programs.
The talksFour ways into
Four ways into
the decision.
Each talk is adapted to the audience. A keynote can be paired with a working session.
01Honor Under PressureAssociation annual meetings and executive conferences
Five leadership modes drawn from historical cases, and the work of building a decision code before the pressure arrives. Shaped around the decisions in front of the room.
02The Five Modes Under LoadExecutive teams, boards, and leadership retreats
A working session on how each leader in the room defaults under pressure, and the shadow that default produces when the load runs long. Participants leave able to name their own mode and the one their team is missing.
03When Process Cannot Make the CallCommunity banks, lenders, credit unions, and boards
Some decisions arrive with no policy that resolves them, no precedent that fits, and no consensus available. This talk is about what a leader falls back on in that gap, and how to build that fallback in advance.
04Transmission and Institutional SuccessionUniversity executive education and long-horizon institutions
Institutions outlive the people who run them only when judgment is deliberately built into successors. The practice for transmitting a standard rather than a set of rules, drawn from the leaders who managed it.
- SBA 2025Top 504 lender in Colorado and New Mexico
- $6.5B+Deployed across 5,500+ businesses
- CEOB:Side Capital
- ProfessorASU W. P. Carey
- 4Books authored
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Tell us about
your room.
Send the date, the audience, and what the room is deciding this year. We reply within two business days with availability and a fit recommendation.
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Practical questionsPlan the
Plan the
engagement.
What does a crisis leadership keynote cover?
Every talk is built around one real decision the audience is already facing, not a general survey of leadership. The core material is five approaches to examine under pressure, the shadow each one produces, and why the standard executive toolkit inverts when institutions stop absorbing risk. The historical spine is Cato, Washington, Seneca, Lincoln, and Marshall, used as cases for discussion.
What speaking formats are available?
A keynote, a half-day leadership intensive, a full-day or multi-session engagement, and an annual institutional program. Program directors can combine a keynote with a working session, with the format tailored to the audience and decisions involved.
What are the speaking fees?
Keynotes begin at $8,500. Half-day programs begin at $12,500. Full-day and multi-session engagements begin at $20,000. Your proposal lists preparation, deliverables, travel, and the total fee before you book. Associations and university programs should ask; the range is wider than the floor suggests.
Do you speak virtually or in person?
Tell us the event location and your preferred delivery format. Chris will confirm fit and availability, and the written proposal will specify the format and any travel before you book.
How far in advance should we book?
Plan on about four weeks. That leaves room to shape the talk around the decision your audience is actually carrying, which is the part that makes it land. Availability moves quickly around conference season, so earlier is better if the date is fixed.
Who books these talks?
Banking associations, credit union leagues, lenders, boards, universities, and executive teams inside institutions deciding under pressure. The common thread is an audience with real authority and a decision in front of them, rather than a general-interest leadership audience.