Chris Heeter

Being Wild means having the courage to bring the gift of all of who you are to all of what you do. Chris' Wild life serves as the canvas for her speaking and team building programs.

Expert on

  • Leadership
  • Organizational Development
  • Personal Development
  • Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI)
  • Corporate Culture
  • Teamwork / Teambuilding

Fee Range

$10,000–$15,000

Travels from

MN, US

With a lot of help from the National Speakers Association, I learned about the business of speaking.  The sled dogs, the wilderness trips, and ALL the experiences and stories have done the rest.  My favorite description of what it feels like to get to speak to an audience or work with a team comes from the speaker/poet David Whyte: “Good speech is half what you plan to say, and half what is listened out of you.”

On to the more “traditional” bio…

Chris Heeter was selected was the highest rated speaker of Meeting Professional International’s recent World Education Congress and is a Top Ten Speaker by MeetingsNet.

She is out to create a Wild revolution in the workplace. A wilderness guide since 1984 and professional speaker since 2001, Chris has led and worked with a diverse array of teams, both canine and human!

Featured on The Discovery Channel’s “National Geographic Today,” she brings
decades of leadership experience indoors, to conferences and offices, working with
teams and leaders, helping us recognize that leadership and teamwork doesn’t have to
be so complicated.

With remarkable parallels to the work world, Chris shares hilarious stories from
her sled dog team with their quirky personalities and from guiding whitewater trips,
where successfully navigating obstacles is part of the journey.

She sits on the board of the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center, is a
Wilderness First Responder and a graduate of NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership
School). She holds a bachelor’s degree in recreation and social work from George
Williams College, where she recently received the Distinguished Alumnae Award.

She is a poet and shares her writing and Wild Dares through her newsletter, Wild Thoughts.

Chris challenges and inspires organizations and individuals toward Wild leadership, compassionate presence, and daring authenticity.

WILD LEADERSHIP

In this interactive presentations leaders will hear new ways to:

  • Work with the personalities and gifts of each team member, harness their energy and unique skills.
  • Guide your team through change where everyone stays on board and engaged.
  • Stop managing people, start inspiring them… Be You… and help them Be Them.

WORK ON A WILD TEAM

In this customized session Chris will guide attendees to: 

  • Hone your communication skills to truly support each other and gel as a team.
  • Be more of who you are to make your team more successful and responsive.
  • Get to YES together while understanding and appreciating differences.

COME BACK WILD

Life since the spring of 2020 has been disrupive and we are ready to come back more Wild. Attendees of this session will learn to: 

  • Resist the urge to revert back to ‘business as usual’ following change or disruption in order to keep what is working and dare to change what isn’t
  • Elevate mental health and wellbeing during times of change so that employees have what they need to do their best work 
  • Integrate a deeper, more compassionate understanding, appreciation, and welcoming of differences-large and small-within your team or organization

BE WILDLY INCLUSIVE

People are craving specific ideas and actions that will help them be more equitable and inclusive. Attendees in this session will: 

  • Learn how curiosity and humility pave the way to better understanding.
  • Grow beyond the Golden Rule to “Do unto others as they would like to be done unto.”
  • Build a sense of belonging and connection for all employees and customers.

CREATE A WILD WORK CULTURE

Culture change should be constantly improving and it starts with Leaders. Attendees of this session will discover how to:

  • Encourage innovation by tapping into the full abilities of your workforce.
  • Increase productivity and engagement by creating a culture of readiness.
  • Disrupt your industry by being agile, open, and willing to do things differently.