Playing Offense in Defensive Environments

KEYNOTE TOPIC #1

How to Lead with Courage and Inspire Confidence

Paul is an expert at inspiring audiences to life impacting and purposeful change, starting by Winning Monday.  
Knowing the economic winter we’re in, how do we lead with confidence and courage to play offense in highly defensive environments? How do we make better decisions faster to overcome the stress and anxiety at our most paralyzing forks in the road?  How do shift our WHY from a distantNorth into a 365 operating system that creates camaraderie and connectionwithin any team?  ‍
WARNING: No sugar highs allowed. Keynotes are merely the starting point. Expect a 365 action plan to follow.

15 Year NFL & NBA Executive, Paul speaks to leadership and sales audiences seeking to drive GROWTH, navigate CHANGE, and develop an ACTIONABLE game plan to WIN MONDAY and beyond.

Trusted by the World's Best Teams & Leaders

Most Requested Keynote Topics

All curated to WIN MONDAY (and the long game).

Playing Offense in Defensive Environments

Leading with Confidence during Uncertainty

LEARN MORE

Making Better
Decisions Faster

How to Overcome Paralysis and Inspire Action

LEARN MORE

Scaling Championship
Culture

Leadership and Growth Insights from the NFL & NBA

LEARN MORE

Closing the Confidence
Gap in Sales

A Masterclass to Build Momentum
and WIN

LEARN MORE
“When I speak to 1,000 people and 20 wait to talk after, I love all 1,000…I do it for the 20.”
- Paul epstein

The Power of Playing Offense in Defensive Environments

Leading with Confidence during Uncertainty

Global upheaval, unrelenting change, and economic uncertainty have us all playing defense.

The result: confidence gaps that drive defensive mindsets and actions at organizations all over the world. But what if you had a playbook for playing offense — proactively pursuing and achieving meaningful goals and breakthrough performance — while everyone else is sheltering in place?

This is exactly what Paul delivers in this flagship keynote inspired by 15 years of leading teams in the NFL/NBA and his bestselling book, The Power of Playing Offense: a Leaders Playbook for Personal and Team Transformation.  

Every audience member will walk away with a 5-pillar Playing Offense framework and WIN MONDAY playbook, curated for universal insights and actionable takeaways to implement in any industry or organization.

Keynote Outcomes

  • Inspire your team to leverage purpose as a driver of commitment and performance

  • Cultivate a culture of resilience to endure any climate of heavy change and uncertainty

  • Understand the best and ‘next practices’ of trust building, collaboration, and growth

  • Know what the greatest leaders do, and how to scale these behaviors across organizations

  • Identify the keys to attracting, engaging, and retaining talent with confidence

  • Takeaway Resource for Attendees: Paul’s 52 Week Action Plan to WIN MONDAY

Making Better Decisions Faster

How to Overcome Paralysis and Inspire Action

Even the most elite performers can rush to bad judgements, become paralyzed by indecision, or get worn down by decision fatigue.

In this keynote, Paul reveals the streamlined three-step process he’s used to turn around major sports franchises — from the locker room to the boardroom. Avoid decision traps, move forward clear and confident, and make the best out of your MVDs: Most Valuable Decisions.

Discover the key to making fast and effective decisions for the questions that keep you up at night:

🚥 Should I choose Strategy A or B?
🚥 Which candidate should I hire?
🚥 What should I spend my time on?
🚥 Do I take this deal, or call it off?
🚥 What are my goals for next year?

The secret? The Head-Heart-Hands equation: a simple and repeatable process that taps into the power of our three most basic human tools for making better decisions faster.

Keynote Outcomes

  • Flip fear and uncertainty into clarity and confidence

  • Empower leaders and talent to become highly decisive, aware, and intentional in their actions

  • Acquire an operating framework designed for speed, efficiency, and winning time back

  • Build high-trust teams through heightened authenticity and collaboration

  • Leave with a playbook where everybody knows what to say “yes” to and what to say “no” to

  • Takeaway Resource for Attendees: Paul’s 52 Week Action Plan to WIN MONDAY

Scaling Championship Culture

Leadership & Growth Insights from the NFL & NBA

Culture can only scale when EVERY person in it takes full ownership, accountability, pride, and a commitment to daily excellence.  

That’s the spirit of a champion, and culture (when done right) is our ultimate competitive advantage.

This keynote is inspired by Paul’s 15 years as a culture-building practitioner in the NFL & NBA (including multiple national awards for his work as Founder of the San Fracisco 49ers Talent Academy), then stress tested across his training and consulting practice to deeply examine: what do the greatest cultures in the world have in common?

The biggest needle moving insights are revealed in this talk.

Warning: this is not a classic ‘top down’ approach to culture.  This is a framework where every individual owns their local culture, feeling seen, valued, and recognized.  

As a result their buy-in, performance, and contributions skyrocket as individuals, and it spreads deep and wide through your organization.  

Welcome to a championship culture, that scales.

Keynote Outcomes

  • Learn the nuances of culture building for a team of 50 vs a team of 50,000.

  • Understand the keys to a YES IF culture over a NO BECAUSE culture, inspiring growth and collaboration across teams

  • Scale a values-obsessed team that can endure any market disruption or adverse environment

  • Discover future-proof insights around recruiting, engaging, and retaining your star talent

  • From organizational to individual purpose, learn to align and connect both

  • Takeaway Resource for Attendees: Paul’s 52 Week Action Plan to WIN MONDAY

Closing the Confidence Gap in Sales

A Masterclass to Build Momentum and WIN

Sales is the lifeblood of every organization.  Without it, there is no business to operate.  No people to employ.  No purpose to fulfill.  No impact to ignite in the market.  

CONFIDENCE is what makes it all possible.

Paul realized how confidence can be the ultimate separator and competitive advantage needed to win as a sales leader in the NFL and NBA, breaking the all-time Super Bowl revenue record, surpassing billion-dollar goals while opening new NFL stadiums, and transforming cellar-dwelling NBA teams from 28th in league revenue to 2nd within a single season.

This keynote unpacks exactly how he and his teams did it.  The lessons and insights are industry agnostic and universally applicable.

It’s the perfect blend of sales mindset and winning psychology, coupled with tactical toolkits to maximize confidence and achieve breakthrough performance…immediately.

Keynote Outcomes

  • Learn the best practices of elite performers and how they separate from the pack

  • Identify the confidence gaps that get in the way of optimal and sustainable performance

  • Discover the needle-moving habits and rituals required for daily growth and success

  • Understand the secrets and tactics of overcoming adversity and navigating uncertainty

  • Acquire a process to unlock your mindset, lead with authenticity, and drive purposeful action

  • Takeaway Resource for Attendees: Paul’s 52 Week Action Plan to WIN MONDAY

Interested in More In-Depth Training?

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Each keynote has customized follow-on workshops.

"Paul’s keynote exceeded all my expectations and my team was profoundly moved by his authenticity and heart-based storytelling. He helped Amazon understand the core values at the center of leadership such as compassion, character, and trust.  Point blank, Paul’s the best speaker we’ve ever had!"

Oumar Diagne
Oumar Diagne, Amazon, Finance Director

"Ever since Paul Epstein's keynote to our commercial sales team, the PLAYING OFFENSE mindset and 5-pillar game plan has had infinite impact in the field and beyond. Our team was inspired with purpose, became more resilient, built more trusting relationships, and our culture is that much stronger thanks to Paul.  Couldn't recommend him more!"

Linda Gordon
Commercial Marketing Leader, Johnson & Johnson

"Paul was born to inspire and help others grow into their full potential. He has a unique passion for life, and for people, bringing a special energy to his talks that inevitably becomes a catalyst for positive change. As great as he is in the boardroom, he’s even better in life."

Greg Holmes
Zoom Video Communications, Former Head of Sales & Corporate Strategy

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Your Win Monday Roadmap

Here’s what to expect from the time you engage Paul to the 52 Mondays that follow:

Pre Engagement

From pre-calls to co-promoting your event to WIN MONDAY promo videos to tailoring every talk to your goals, Paul will meet you at the 50.

Event Date

Paul will inspire, educate, and transform - customizing all content for audience specific application, tying every takeaway to how we can WIN MONDAY.

Within Hours of Paul's Speech

All attendees will receive gifts and resources to WIN MONDAY, creating an instant ROI for everyone in the room.

The 52 Mondays to Follow

Every Monday morning, Paul will deliver a single insight to WIN MONDAY through his immediately actionable newsletter, Monday Momentum

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Game Plans to Win the Long Game (starting on Monday)

Beyond a keynote, here's how Paul can accelerate the momentum and deepen the impact.

Train the Trainer

"Bring it In House"

Digital Masterclasses

"Growth On Demand"

Workshops + Retreats

"Custom Experiences"

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This keynote is for you if...

You are growing weary of the never-ending battles of finding, engaging, and retaining talent.  Learn the keys to create an environment where people know they belong, can thrive, and will stay, because they matter.

Learning Outcomes

  • Reconnect fragmented and hybrid workforces to rally around a spirit of camaraderie, empathy, and trust

  • Elevate the level of adaptability and agility so your culture can persevere and endure any climate

  • Learn how purpose can galvanize your organization to greater passion, positivity, and happiness in the day-to-day

  • From partners to tourists to prisoners, learn to lead challenging teams through highly volatile times

Most Requested Topics

This keynote is for you if...

You are driven to compete in today’s relentless market.  Grit, agility, and a resilient mindset are the table stakes. Learn from a 15-year NBA and NFL sales leader, who has walked through the same fires.

Learning Outcomes

  • Discover how purpose can be the igniter of performance, productivity, and courage

  • Grow customer relationships from transactional to transformational, through one simple rule

  • Acquire a framework to build trust and earn loyalty from your team, clients, and key stakeholders

  • From firefighting to FIRED UP – energize your locker room to show up committed to a standard of excellence

This keynote is for you if...

You believe elite performance happens when people don’t need to be held accountable, they hold themselves accountable.  That’s the power of intrinsic motivation, carrots and sticks no longer required.

Learning Outcomes

  • Learn the four cornerstones of intrinsically motivated teams, a case study from the San Francisco 49ers Academy, where you will be challenged by four critical questions:

    • Does your team believe deeply in the game they’re playing?

    • Are their fingerprints on the blueprint you’re asking them to execute?

    • Are people better when they go home than when they showed up that day?

    • Are people making a difference, that matters to them?

  • The answer to these questions should be HELL YES.  This keynote will deliver just that.

Customized For YOU

These keynotes are just the starting point.  
To maximize the impact, let’s customize your experience TOGETHER!

We'll talk through...

  • Biggest challenges and pain points

  • Most sought-after goals

  • Current state to future state shifts and transformations

  • How you want every audience member to think, feel, and do

  • What an 11 out of 10 looks like

Ready to meet Paul at the 50?

Most Requested Topics

This keynote is for you if...

You believe decisions and actions dictate the quality of our results.  What if you had a fail-proof equation that leads to more clear, confident, consistent, and purposeful outcomes?  This is it.

Learning Outcomes

  • Learn the business and life benefits of conquering our mindset and igniting our passion so we can achieve inner success

  • Discover how you and your team can get unstuck and drive toward greater levels of happiness and fulfillment

  • Understand how you can leverage green, yellow, and red lights at every critical decision-making juncture

  • Walk away with a proven playbook of core values to lead the business, career, and life you want, ON PURPOSE

This keynote is for you if...

You subscribe to the platinum rule where you treat others as they want to be treated by speaking to their WHY.  The impact: an organization where people get clear, stand out, and play bigger—at scale.

Learning Outcomes

  • Drive greater awareness so you and your team appreciate how you think and WHY each of you do what you do

  • Learn to communicate WHY to WHY to enhance the identity, empathy, and relationships within your team

  • Through the power of WHY, you can most effectively leverage each person’s strengths, gifts and talents

  • Construct a holistic game plan where your collective WHY’s provide clarity on how the entire team puzzle of purpose and impact fit together

Customized For YOU

These keynotes are just the starting point.  
To maximize the impact, let’s customize your experience TOGETHER!

We'll talk through...

  • Biggest challenges and pain points

  • Most sought-after goals

  • Current state to future state shifts and transformations

  • How you want every audience member to think, feel, and do

  • What an 11 out of 10 looks like

Ready to meet Paul at the 50?