Tom Hicks

Interactive Keynotes on Change, Resilience, Overcoming Adversity & the Joy of Learning

Expert on

  • Employee Engagement
  • Teambuilding
  • Leadership
  • Personal Growth
  • Resilience
  • Workplace Culture

Fee Range

$2,500–$5,000

Travels from

IA, US

Biography

Tom Hicks is a keynote speaker, former college dean, and lifelong educator who believes the best way to understand growth is to experience it.

Following a season of significant personal setbacks, Tom discovered an unexpected lesson while learning to juggle: growth doesn’t come from avoiding challenges. It comes from embracing the learning process with curiosity, persistence, and play. That insight became the foundation of his interactive keynote experiences.

Today, Tom has helped thousands of students, leaders, educators, and professionals reconnect with their growth mindset by literally teaching audiences to juggle. Through engaging storytelling, humor, and hands-on participation, he creates memorable experiences that help people build resilience, navigate change, and celebrate progress over perfection.

Audiences leave inspired, equipped with practical tools they can immediately apply, and often surprised by what they’re capable of accomplishing both on stage and beyond.

Speaker Videos

Embracing Failure & Growth Through Juggling

Growth begins when we stop fearing failure and start celebrating learning.

Memorable. Meaningful. Practical. In Embracing Failure & Growth Through Juggling, participants don’t just hear about resilience—they experience it. Through the challenge of learning to juggle, they discover that growth happens when we replace judgment with curiosity, celebrate progress over perfection, and embrace learning. Along the way, they’ll gain practical phrases like “How fascinating,” “I can’t do this…yet,” and “This is new to me” to use long after the juggling balls are put away.

Participants Will…

  • Reconnect with their growth mindset by experiencing the learning process firsthand and replacing judgment with curiosity.
  • Celebrate progress over perfection by viewing mistakes as opportunities to learn, grow, and improve.
  • Navigate change and uncertainty with greater confidence by building resilience, adaptability, and a willingness to try something new.

Rediscovering Our Resilience One Juggling Ball at a Time

Resilience isn’t something we’re born with—it’s something we build, one challenge at a time.

In this engaging, hands-on keynote, participants literally learn to juggle while discovering how resilience grows through curiosity, persistence, and the willingness to keep trying. Audiences leave energized, encouraged, and equipped with practical mindset tools to navigate setbacks, embrace challenges, and keep moving forward with confidence.

Participants will:

  • Strengthen resilience through the experience of learning something new.
  • Build confidence by celebrating progress over perfection.
  • Develop practical habits for persevering through challenges.

Play, Fail, Grow: A Juggling Experience for Teams and Leaders

Play isn’t a distraction from great work—it’s one of the fastest ways to unlock learning, connection, and growth.

In this energetic, interactive keynote, participants literally learn to juggle while discovering how play creates the confidence to try, the courage to make mistakes, and the curiosity to keep learning. Through a shared experience of learning something new, teams strengthen collaboration, adaptability, and a culture where progress matters more than perfection.

Participants will:

  • Experience how play accelerates learning, connection, and innovation.
  • Strengthen collaboration through a shared learning experience.
  • Create a culture where curiosity fuels continuous growth.