The Keynote Experience

Start with Wow

Learn to leverage the groundbreaking science of awe and wonder to innovate and win in leadership and life.

Harris and his work is trusted by leaders at:

Start with Wow

How to Leverage the Groundbreaking Science of Awe and Wonder to Innovate and Win in Leadership and in Life

Simon says, “Start with Why,” but there’s an important step getting skipped by countless leaders and it’s costing them. In this highly-acclaimed keynote, Harris makes the case that we should actually “Start with Wow,” and lays the groundwork for how leading with “wow” leads to game-changing thinking, culture and innovation.

Based on the latest research and neuroscience as showcased in his bestselling book, The Wonder Switch, Harris will take your audience on an unforgettable journey back to a state where truly anything is possible–the state of child-like wonder. In a culture of rapid and unprecedented change, he'll help your audience understand how worry is a misuse of their imagination, and how every member of every team has the capacity to create, innovate, and solve big problems by starting with “wow” instead of “how.”

This is more than just another talk by just another speaker—it’s a transformative experience of magic, storytelling, insights, and ideas that will capture both the minds and hearts of your audience, all while offering a new, narrative-shifting paradigm that leaves them never seeing themselves, or their work, the same again.

What do innovative organizations like Apple, Google, Disney, Amazon, Meta, Nike, NASA and more have in common? They send their leaders and teams to Harris to learn how to leverage the power of awe and wonder to shift narratives and create the future.

Inquire now, and discover why hundreds of event planners have called Harris, “The best speaker we’ve ever had.”

Every problem is a storytelling problem.

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With narrative as the operating system of your brain, everything you and your team experience, from innovation and creativity, to hustle and burnout, is shaped by a story. A narrative subscribed to, and influenced by, everything. And with constant influencing, it’s up to you to start with “Wow”, so you can finally experience the desired outcomes you're looking for. 

The latest neuroscience shows that simply changing your narrative doesn’t happen easily – it requires what researches refer to as a positive awe state. Change isn't just assisted by awe and wonder, it requires it. Only a state of wonder releases your brain from the paralyzing fear of the unknown, and empowers a willingness to embrace a new story.

“Harris was great! Absolutely phenomenal...I was blown away.”

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John Maxwell

Legendary Leadership Expert

Big problems can't be solved with
small solutions.

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This is not about a people problem, or finding balance between in-person vs. remote employees, or exhaustion from constant disruption, change and pressure. You have a storytelling problem rooted in some broken and unhealthy narratives, many of which have permeated your culture. If you want to solve big problems, you're going to need some new stories, combined with a Wonder Mindset that gets you back on track.

Instead of misusing imagination on worry, fear and anxiety about the future, it's time to kickstart breakthrough innovation and creative thinking to discover creative solutions and out-of-the-box ideation that helps you lead in the marketplace and experience growth. Not growth that's throttled to incremental percentages, but exponential, compounded 10-100x growth that helps you stand out and win.

Magicians know what it takes to
harness wonder.

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For Harris, "start with wow" isn't just a catchy phrase, it's the way of life that has served as a foundation for a long, successful career that started at a young age, and led to winning awards, headlining prestigious venues, and receiving titles like "Most Influential Young Leader."

At age 9, Harris got his first magic set, performing for a small group at the Ladies Club in St. Louis at just 11 years old. Since that first spattering of applause, he was hooked, spending the next 25 years learning, innovating, failing, and unlocking wonder for a desperate world. 

Harris has gone on to speak in front of over 2 million people, live, in over 40 countries. He has started and run several 6 and 7-figure brands, including STORY, an immersive global gathering for creative entrepreneurs and Fortune 100 brands.

From Nike to NASA, Amazon to Chick-Fil-A, he has consulted and challenged teams and leaders to embrace the power of narrative intelligence and child-like wonder so that they, too, can start with wow and scale their impact.

Examples of Additional Keynote Topics

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There’s a global leadership crisis, and it’s directly connected to a crisis of curiosity and creativity.

We don’t just need slightly better leaders. We need extraordinary leaders––Wow-Level Leaders––who choose wonder over worry, curiosity over cynicism, and learn to recognize the reality that “creative” isn’t just something all leaders are, but that “create” is the essence of what all leaders do.

By redefining leadership at it’s core, Harris offers tangible examples of how team leadership starts with wow, and what you can do to lead every team member to unlock their greatest potential and deliver their best, most creative work.

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"The Wow-Level Life" is more than just an unforgettable keynote experience or momentous series of events; it's a movement towards living a life that's not just good, but extraordinary.

By teaching ourselves to find beauty and magic in the broken and monotonous inundating life as we know it, you can kickstart a journey of self-discovery that will get you clear and unstuck, instead living a life overflowing with opportunity, wisdom, and wonder.

Building upon the ground-breaking neuroscience and leading psychological research on mental and emotional health as outlined in his #1 bestselling book, The Wonder Switch, which Seth Godin called “An unforgettable book about our ability to care and lead,” this keynote experience will increase employee engagement and retention, reduce stress, burnout and anxiety, and reignite the sense of “wow” that gives birth to the kind of “why” that helps teams thrive and organizations win both in leadership and in life.

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We are storytelling creatures. We think in story. We feel in story. We walk around all day long telling ourselves stories to make sense of our pain, find meaning in our experiences, and to not just survive, but belong.

Story is the operating system of the human mind. The stories we’re told and the stories we tell ourselves form powerful narratives, and those narratives drive all human behavior.

Armed with new storytelling wisdom, you and your audience can learn to wield story skills wisely to spark or navigate change, communicate complex visions or ideas with simplicity, and shift the narratives that are driving the choices, beliefs and behavior of those you wish to lead.

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Top 10 Reasons to Work with Harris

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1. Unforgettable

Maya Angelou once said, “People will forget what they heard you say, and they will forget what they see you do, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” Harris approaches every single event with this idea in mind. Audiences will forget what speakers say, and they forget what they watched happen in the room, but if you can make them feel something, what was seen and heard will be unforgettable. Harris has a unique ability to resonate and help audiences feel things that many people say they haven’t felt in years. Let Harris help you make your event truly unforgettable.

2. Transcendent

There’s something about experiencing the magic that Harris brings to every event that is transcendent and difficult to put into words. It’s part of what sets him apart and makes his presentations so special. Let him help you reawaken child-like wonder, and leave you in awe of the world around you and the role you play in it.

3. Custom-Crafted

Every audience is different. Every organization is different. Why should every presentation be the same? Harris custom tailors his work for every event, every audience and each venue. The difference is tangible.

4. Easy to Work With

Unlike many other presenters with a background in the entertainment industry, Harris is showing up to your event to serve you, not to be served by you. No outrageous requests. No green M&M’s. We repeatedly hear, “Harris was the easiest person we’ve ever worked with.” We’re confident you’ll say the same.

5. High Impact

Producing a live event is hard work. Why go to all of that effort if your audience isn’t truly impacted by their experience? Harris knows how to connect with your audience on a heart level, and impact their lives and work in a way that will leave them thinking about their experience for weeks, months and years to come.

6. Excellence

“Harris is quite simply the best I’ve ever seen or heard.” We hear that on a regular basis, which means you can count on getting nothing short of excellence from Harris and his team. His 20+ years of experience can lead to a stress-free event. Choose excellence.

7. Unique

While everyone who partners with Harris continually raves about his presentations, many event planners have struggled to put their experience with him and his uniqueness into words. His approach to creating live experiences is unlike any other. In a world where so many try to be the same, why not work with someone who stands out as unique among the rest?

8. Entertaining

Ever sat through a boring speaker or a bad performance? A speaker who may have even had some incredible things to say, but none of it connected because it wasn’t entertaining? With a 20-year history as an award-winning entertainer, it’s no wonder Harris is one of the most entertaining speakers in the country. In fact, Harris’s path to becoming a communicator was largely in part to opening for other speakers who after the event said, “They should have just hired you to give the talk. That was hard to follow.”

9. Relatable

Harris grew up on a farm in East TN in a poor community. By 21-years-old he had made a million dollars. By 22, he was bankrupt because of foolishness and debt. Now in his mid-30’s, he is leading and has grown a successful organization on solid leadership, positive character, and a lot of perspective gained from an experience-rich life and career entertaining in over 30 countries on 5 continents. Through it all, Harris has a unique ability to relate to everyone in the room, as if he is speaking directly to them.

10. Integrity

Maybe it’s old-fashioned, but we still believe in integrity and common sense. Harris and our entire team work hard to serve you, and will do so with gratitude and integrity. Join us in our efforts of valuing long-term partnerships instead of short-term gains by working with someone you can trust.

Book Harris

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Are you interested in crafting a compelling live experience that makes your event unforgettable? Let Harris help you engage and inspire your audience.

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