Michelle Gielan

A mindset hijacked by stress is one of the biggest barriers to high performance for leaders and their teams, yet new research shows 91% of people could improve their default response to stress using simple, proven habits. The antidote to the weight of change, uncertainty, and non-stop demands is building a resilient, optimistic mindset.

In one of the largest studies on stress, Michelle has identified the three major dimensions of your response to stress that predict your well-being and performance. In a separate landmark study done in partnership with Stanford and Yale, her team trained executives at UBS to rethink their relationship with stress. Four weeks later, that group reported a 23% decrease in stress-related symptoms including headaches, backaches, and fatigue. Drawing from that work and numerous other studies, Michelle will train your audience to identify stress response pitfalls that waste energy and leave us stuck, use unavoidable stress to boost their performance, develop simple habits to be more resilient and optimistic in mere minutes, and cultivate interconnected teams with cultures of high performance, optimism, and sustainable resilience.

We often overestimate the impact our life circumstances have on our happiness and success. New research shows 90% of our long-term success is predicted not by our external circumstances, but by how we process the world around us.

So what is the scientific key to our success? Optimism: the belief that challenges are temporary, and if we take action, we can improve our circumstances. Optimists are historically more successful – not to mention they experience more joy achieving their goals!

Michelle has conducted research with people in the wake of everything from small setbacks to life-changing events, and she has identified the hallmarks of an optimistic mindset that lead to more energy, better health, greater wealth, and significantly less stress. During this interactive session, Michelle shares the strategies for raising our personal optimism quotient, responding to challenges more effectively, and channeling this new mindset into tangible success.

In our corporate culture, it can sometimes be difficult to be both female and positive without fear of being perceived as “pollyannish” or out of touch with reality. Michelle shatters the misconceptions about positive leadership using science to show how to avoid prejudice and change the mindsets of those around you to drive success.

She describes funny and poignant stories from her time as one of the top female media professionals, as well as from her work with influential female executives at companies including Google, Microsoft, and Bank of America. In this talk, Michelle reveals how to cultivate rational optimism, change the social script using verbal and nonverbal cues, guide the negative towards the positive, and be perceived as a strong, deep, and optimistic female leader.

Effective, positive communication is the single biggest driver of success at work. New research in the fields of neuroscience and positive psychology is showing the incredible ripple effect positive communication can have on employee engagement, productivity, and happiness.

After spending years as a national CBS News anchor broadcasting to millions and receiving an advanced degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Positive Psychology, Michelle developed simple, yet proven techniques for positive communication that drive individual and team success for quantifiable results. She trains professionals to inoculate their brains against stress and negativity, praise effectively, get others to adopt a more resilient mindset, and shift the culture at work to create a talent-enhancing environment.