Al Ritter is a highly sought after speaker and seminar leader. His plain, insightful style makes a profound difference for his audience. Audience members walk away with new knowledge, and most importantly, new behaviors.

Before starting his own consulting and speaking business, Al was an engagement leader for the large consulting firm Accenture, and was recognized as that firm’s resident expert in leadership, team development, culture and large scale change. Earlier, he had a noteworthy corporate career, including senior vice president for Citigroup, chief financial officer for Swift & Company, and marketing and operations positions with PepsiCo.

Al has helped thousands of people through over 500 talks, seminars and workshops. He is also the author of two best selling books on leadership: Life is a Paradox, sub-titled Counter-intuitive Secrets to Success, and The 100/0 Principle, sub-titled The Secret of Great Relationships.

Al has spoken to dozens of associations and businesses. His presentations consistently receive rave reviews for the practical information they contain, his enthusiastic delivery, and his credibility.

Major Topics

Al has given over 500 speeches and seminars. Major topics are:

• Servant Leadership
• The 100/0 Principle
• High Performance Teams
• Effective Strategy Development and Implementation
• Powerful Corporate Culture

Servant Leadership. Effective leadership is a dual commitment — a commitment to both results and relationships, never compromising one for the other. The big mistake many leaders make is having a single-minded drive for results, which tends to damage their relationships and thus compromise the very results they want. In this talk, through personal and client real life stories, Al enables the audience to clearly see, understand and take action on the components of great leadership, including the discipline of execution, handling breakdowns, being transparent, active listening and acknowledging others. You will work on your weaker components right at your seat.

The 100/0 Principle. This is the primary means to creating great relationships. This principle is the counter-intuitive notion that the access to great relationships is you taking 100% responsibility for the relationship, expecting nothing in return. When you authentically and persistently treat another with grace and kindness, the other person usually responds in kind, and the relationship approaches 100/100. That kind of relationship typically generates breakthrough results.

High Performance Teams. Effective teams consist of effective leaders. Thus, the same qualities that define an effective, mission driven leader are characteristic of the team as a whole. The imperatives of a high performance team include a shared team purpose, active mutual support, clear, coordinated action, and the ability to handle breakdowns.

Effective Strategy Implementation. A great number of organizations have more difficulty implementing a new strategy than developing the strategy. Effective implementation requires employee involvement and truth based decisions about the new business direction being made at the senior level. Our Collective Alignment Process enables effective strategy implementation. Across the board, companies that have used this process experience a dramatic improvement in bottom line performance.

Powerful Corporate Culture. The culture of any organization is determined by employees’ ability to distinguish different kinds of conversation. Culture truly is a function of effectiveness in conversations. Conversational skills include speaking in a way that ensures clear, coordinated action, speaking that creates a new future rather than being driven by the past, powerfully listening, etc.

If you would like to book Al for a speaking engagement, please click here.

Where Al has Spoken

In the past few years, Al has presented to dozens of Chicago area and other professional and educational organizations on the topics shown above.

Professional Associations

• IMC – Institute of Management Consultants
• NSA – National Speakers Association
• TSPMA – Tennessee School Plant Management Association
• The Midwest Private Equity Conference
• ABPMP – Association of Business Process Management Professionals
• Chicago Executive Forums
• Many Chambers of Commerce
• Several Rotary Clubs

Educational Organizations

• St. Louis University Graduate School of Business
• The University of Chicago Business Forum
• The Harvard Club of Chicago
• The Chicago Booth Entrepreneurial Roundtable
• The University of Chicago Consulting Forum

Companies/Nonprofits

• UNICEF
• Disciplined Growth Investors
• Mack Trucks
• Renault
• Nutrasweet
• American Safety Razor
• Hartz Mountain
• Allstate Insurance
• Mobil Europe
• Joni and Friends
• Frito-Lay
• Churches and church groups

After presenting to the Batavia, Illinois Chamber of Commerce he got this feedback:

“You hit a home run in your presentation. You really helped me address a leadership problem in my company, and I know many people walked away with a commitment to new actions in both their business and personal lives. Your stories and examples were superb; they really hit a nerve for all of us.”
— Carolyn Hanna, Program Director

Al always shares many stories from the hundreds of clients he’s worked with and demonstrates how these principles can apply to you and your business.

You’ll leave the presentation with ideas you can use, actions you will take, and be inspired and motivated to take your leadership and your business to a whole new level.

Al’s presentations consistently receive rave reviews for the practical information they contain, his enthusiastic delivery, and his credibility.

If you would like to book Al for a speaking engagement, please click here.

What Audience Members Say

“Your talk at the University of Chicago Business Forum was excellent. There were so many important take-aways. Congratulations on your excellent, engaging and challenging invitation to implement counter-intuitive approaches to leadership.”
— Denny Kecso, Senior Director, Keane, Inc.

“You were awesome last evening! You have such a wealth of knowledge and experiences and you are sharing it in an incredible way.”
—Joanne Dobbie, Director of Corporate Education, Northwestern University

“The 100/0 principle saved my life. By practicing that principle, we now have a truly high performing investment team. And just as important, we’ve significantly strengthened our relationship with other functions in the firm, including my own relationships with counterparts in other areas.”
— Scott Larson, Investment Director, Disciplined Growth Investors, Inc.

“Fabulous information that I can translate into action immediately, for myself and my leadership team”
— Nicole Dawson, Strategic HR Business Partner, Start Sampling, Inc.

“Excellent presentation. Very informative and interactive. Brings light to important ideas. I will definitely use this information.”
— Gracy Dickerson, Manager, Human Resources, Bley LLC

“Great job of exploring the relationship side of effective leadership.”
— Andy Rockwood, Executive Forums

Contact Al today to schedule an event.