Speaking
“Quite frankly, I’ve been too busy ‘doing’ to even think about ‘speaking.’ But lately, they have been all coming together in my head–revelations born of experience in the trenches. I now know it is time to share them.”
From the Ivory towers of Oxford University to barrios in Brazil, from the soundstages of Hollywood to the Outback of Australia, from the privileged houses of Eton to the orphanages of Cambodia, Rick’s own story is one of diverging experiences and constant change. Yes, he is first a filmmaker, philosopher, author, and listener but he is also a proud imperfectionist and a committed “authentician.” And his greatest descriptor is that of a husband and a father. He believes that we own nothing more valuable than our own stories and that by learning to unlock them, we can use them to heal us and set us free.
Current In-Demand Topics
Unleashing Your Emotional Immune System
Rick believes that 4 out of 5 of us don’t need to be a drain on vital mental health services because most of us have within ourselves everything we need to achieve wellness the natural way.
He calls it our Emotional Immune System and it appears to work just like our biological one—when you get a cut, all of the forces in your body go to heal it. The difference is that this Emotional Immune System is activated by one thing and one thing alone:
It is activated by emotional intelligence. It is the key to innovative thinking, authentic leadership, meeting complex challenges, increasing productivity, sparking transformation and creating general wellness.
Good For:
• Kids & Teens
• Adults
• Employees
Master or Victim: The Infinite Knowledge of Harold and the Purple Crayon
When Rick was a child, he mysteriously lost his hearing for a year. During that year of silence, it was this illustrated book that gave him hope. In the book, Harold, confined to his room, decides to draw his own adventure using his purple crayon. He wants to go for a walk in the moonlight, but there is no moon, so he draws one. He has nowhere to walk, so he draws a path… and so on.
Harold discovers that he can be the author of his own life, the central character in his own story. In a world often filled with “victims,” how do we find our own crayon?
Good For:
• Kids
• Adults
IQ vs. EQ: If Knowledge is Power, Self-Knowledge is Superpower
We all have within our grasp direct access to a superpower—one that dwarfs all other superpowers. After all, what good is it to have the power of flight if we don’t know where to go? What good is it shape-shift if we don’t know who we are in the first place?
If the greatest mystery we will ever face is, “Who in the world am I?”, finding the answer to that question can give us power over unlocking almost every other door. This superpower is already inside you. Find out how to unlock it.
Good For:
• Kids & Teens
• Adults
Storytelling 101: The Key to All Human Communication and Connectedness
It’s as old as time itself. Telling stories around the campfire. It’s in our very DNA. It’s how we connect and communicate.
What do the best educators, leaders, salesmen, artists, lawyers, health providers, scientists and the like all have in common? They know how to tell a story.
Learn the secrets and you’ll see just how much more interesting your own story becomes.
Good For:
• Adults
• Employees
• Kids & Teens
Who’s Puppet Are You?
According to Rick: “It has come to my attention over 5500 interviews that we are all someone’s or something’s puppet.
“For instance, I have struggled with impatience my whole life. I have been impatience’s puppet. In the last decade, however, I have addressed this problem through the 5000 Days Project. What better way to deal with impatience than to start a project that never ends? Yes, I will never reach the end of this project while I’m alive. There: I found a way to make impatience my puppet.”
Whose puppet are you?
Good For:
• Adults
• Employees
How to Manage the 40 Thoughts that Fill Your Mental Hard drive.
While brain science claims we can take in as much as 11 million bits of information per second, we can only really hold 40 thoughts in our head at one time.
Which 40 thoughts we choose to focus on determines our outlook and where we reside on the continuum between our longings and our fears. In fact, it determines our mental health. The great news is that with some practice, we can choose which 40 thoughts fill our mental hard drive.
What 40 thoughts fill yours?
Good For:
• Adults
• Teens
• Employees
Who’s Writing your Autobiography?
Are you the main character in your own story or a secondary character in someone else’s? Will you be the Captain of your own ship or simply a Passenger?
Are you letting circumstances define you or are you defining yourself?
Who is the author?
Good For:
• Adults
• Kids & Teens
• Employees
EQ: Your Most Valuable Asset
What is the key to producing authentic and innovative leaders, fearless creative game changers who know how to shift and transform based on the changing set of complex challenges before them?
Growing Emotional Intelligence within your team enables them to leave their baggage at home and bring their “A game’ to work creating a force greater than the sum of its parts.
Good For:
• Adults
• Employees
How Movies Can Grow our EQ
Each of us are the main character in our own epic movie—or at least we should be. But what about those obstacles, those character flaws and those fears that blind us from knowing where we need to go?
Understanding story structure and character arcs can illuminate the way.
Spoiler Alert: It works!
Good For:
• Adults
• Kids & Teens
• Employees
Select, Customize & Inspire
These topics can be presented as keynote presentations, workshops, campfire seminars, Q&A format, or live online presentation (video conference).
Typical presentations range from 30 - 60 minutes.
All talks can be tailored to use your existing language and reflect the needs of your organization or event.
A slide deck is created to guide people through the content visually.
A handful of follow-up materials are included such as private links to supplementary films as well as ebook links and recommendations.
“A successful life all comes down to listening to people. Rick’s talk, sharing lessons he’s learned from more than 5,000 interviews, was both captivating and insightful. The takeaways can improve corporate cultures, friendships and families.”
— STEVE CASE, CHAIRMAN OF REVOLUTION, FOUNDER OF AOL; FORMER CHAIRMAN OF TIME WARNER
Booking Inquiries
Rick’s Bio
Rick Stevenson has filmed over 5500 in-depth interviews with kids and teens from 12 countries as part of a longitudinal project using his StoryQ method of inquiry dedicated to raising emotional intelligence. He is a creative and passionate combination of award-winning filmmaker and Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford University.
He has directed, produced and/or written twelve feature films and 100 hours of television working with artists such as Robert Redford, Hugh Grant, Christopher Plummer, Kiefer Sutherland, Meg Ryan, and Patrick Dempsey. He’s an author, a public speaker, a husband, and a father of four who splits his time between Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia.
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