Bio

Aaron Schmookler works with business leaders who believe that their people are their greatest asset. As a “Company Culture Engineer,” he supports them to build structures, habits, and mindsets that support an enduring high-performance culture so their profits and their people thrive.

While his career appears anything but linear — ranging from outdoor leadership to corporate contributor to theatre director and founder to teacher of theater and business communication — one thread ties everything together. For over 20 years, Aaron has been striving to help people find their own intrinsic motivation, their capacity to collaborate, and the fulfillment that comes from harnessing the creative impulse in us all to serve others.

In 2014 Aaron and business partner, Adam Utley, co-founded The Yes Works and developed the Adeptability Model of collaboration and leadership training and the Adeptable Culture Audit.

Aaron and The Yes Works serve clients across the country and across industries including Microsoft, MOD Pizza, DiscoverOrg, Burkhart Dental Supply, SOG Knives, 9th Gear, and Textainer to make work good for people and people good for work.

“Every team has genius at work.  Only the best encourage and inspire the genius to emerge.”

Speaking Topics

Leaders and event planners call on Aaron for interactive presentations for groups of all sizes on practical topics of leadership, management, communication, and culture building. What follows are a few of the workshop presentations he’s been asked to provide over and over again.

Inspire Accountability Throughout Your Org: Modeling Is Not Enough

1. 1. What many leaders do to inadvertently sabotage accountability culture, and how to shift it.
   2. The CEO’s responsibility for accountability at the front lines
   3. The power of breaking accountability into 4 constituent parts
   4. “I’m going to take this straight to my leadership team.” CEO The Part Works

Innovate or Die: Actionable Principles to Cultivate an Innovation Culture

1. 1. 1. Eliminating inadvertent innovation sabotage
      2. Tools for a) problem finding, b) creative block clearing, c) solution finding, and d) motivation boosting
      3. Tool for sorting “must solve” problems from those to let go
      4. “Using these tools made this our most seamless acquisition ever.” CEO Lumber Traders
         

Knitting Your Team Together: Strong Management and Cohesive Teams — Remote, Hybrid, or On-Site

1. 1. Three tools to keep busy people connected and cohesive
   2. A critical and actionable distinction between close management and micro-management
   3. Breaking some “conventional wisdom” for better remote meetings
   4. “This has been important and very useful for making our communication better.” CEO Smile Software

Innovate or Die

“Innovate or die,” is not hyperbole. It’s fact. Ask Kodak. Ask Toys R Us. Or your local cab company.

The pace of change has never been greater, and it’s not enough to keep up. To survive and thrive in business, we’ve got to be setting the pace, driving the change, ahead of the curve.

But innovating isn’t something we can simply DO. It’s something that happens inevitably when the conditions are right. And setting the right conditions for innovation is easier said than done. It’s simple, not complicated. And hard, not easy.

And unfortunately, many of the things we do to try to drive innovation actually inhibit it.

Participants will gain mission-critical insights into how to make innovative and problem-solving progress a matter of daily culture and activity.

LEARNING TARGETS:

How to:

• • Find opportunities for innovation
  • Leverage your team’s insight and creativity
  • Create innovation momentum
  • Eliminate innovation inhibitors
  • Build a culture of problem-solving and innovation