Brad Meltzer

In these tumultuous times, when employees and top leaders are managing through exhaustion and burnout in a remote environment, this is one of the most important questions you can ask. Brad Meltzer uses his trademark storytelling to highlight the importance of this message on what really matters. It will leave the audience refocused and reenergized around the fundamental reminder of the very source of their resilience in the first place: their legacy.

While saving the house where Superman was created, Brad Meltzer started a quest to find out what his legacy might be. Hear the funny, inspiring, and always entertaining story that will never let you look at your life the same way again. Weaving together the historical stories of Abraham Lincoln, Amelia Earhart, and yes, Superman, Meltzer helps you reevaluate what’s truly important: family, friends, and those whole lives you touch by making an impact in your workplace. Are your employees and top leadership stressed out? Give them the one thing money can’t buy: Help them reveal their legacy.

In today’s world, where cruelty and venom have become sport, how do you make magic and find empathy?

In his viral commencement address at the University of Michigan, Brad Meltzer electrified the country and the 2024 graduating class, including his son, who also graduated that day. In election years, the Michigan commencement address is usually delivered by the President of the United States. This time, they wanted someone non-political and chose Meltzer, who has dedicated his career to kindness and empathy.

To prepare, Meltzer consulted with friends and social scientists Adam Grant, Simon, Sinek, Tim Urban, and others. The result was a national sensation, shared over a million times. In MAKE MAGIC, Meltzer offers your employees tools for creating an extraordinary life, one magic trick at a time.

Meltzer reveals that there are only four types of magic tricks:

1. you make something appear,
2. you make something disappear,
3. you make two things switch places and
4. you turn one thing into something else—the hardest trick of all, transformation.

At a time when the world can feel divided and disconnected, MAKE MAGIC is the antidote we need: beyond a simple feel-good book, this is filled with real social science from the world’s top experts—while also brimming with hope and heart. It also demonstrates that we’re all magicians at heart — and we all…always… have another trick up our sleeves.

What can we learn about leadership from Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Amelia Earhart, George Washington, Gandhi or Einstein? Brad Meltzer’s two million-selling I AM series has helped teach an entire generation about the world’s greatest heroes. Brad’s latest book, #1 Amazon best-seller The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington was praised by Bill Clinton and lauded by George H.W. Bush as “a wonderful book about leadership.” In this thought-provoking talk, the best-selling author looks at these figures through the lens of leadership and promoting positive organizational values and culture. What do these great heroes have in common? Meltzer contends that their accomplishments didn’t come from their resumes. Instead, they came from the moral values they displayed as kids — values that we need to get back to in corporate culture today: decency, humility, generosity and selflessness. So much more than a history lesson, this fascinating motivational keynote zeroes in on the enduring elements of leadership and culture that transcend trends, technology and changing times.

What’s the greatest risk you’ll ever take in your life? It’s admitting what you want. We all know what we want. But we rarely admit it. Why? Because putting yourself out there—especially emotionally—is scary. If you admit what you want, you risk not getting it. And failure terrifies us. So how do you actually pull it off? How do you take the greatest risk you’ll ever take in your life and admit what you want? You need to do three things: Remember what you love, remember what got you’re here, and most important, remember what terrifies you.

On the night Brad Meltzer’s first son was born, he began collecting heroes for his boy. And for nearly a decade, Meltzer studied these heroes throughout history. From Thomas Jefferson (who had the humility to never publicly take credit for writing the Declaration of Independence) to the Wright Brothers (who brought extra materials to every test flight, anticipating their own failure) to George Washington to Rosa Parks to Mr. Rogers, Meltzer reminds us that their stories are not about fame ¾ they’re about what we are all capable of on our very best days.  See why Meltzer’s book on heroes¾from Jackie Robinson, to Abraham Lincoln, to Eleanor Roosevelt¾shot up the inspirational bestseller list.  Let Meltzer teach you how to find the real hero in your life.  And the power of never letting anyone tell you ‘No.’