Speaker's Bio

Ross Woodstock

Short Bio

Ross Woodstock is the author of Lead to Lift Up Others: Leadership Insights from a Caregiver’s Journey in which he shares 12 leadership insights from his years as a caregiver for his wife Sharen—a victim of a devastating stroke that changed both of their lives. Ross’ work as an executive coach and leadership consultant has impacted thousands of leaders in business, government, education, healthcare and non-profit organizations.

Long Bio

Ross Woodstock is an author, speaker, executive coach and leadership consultant with a desire to impact the lives of leaders seeking to realize their full potential. Ross grew up in a small town in southern Michigan and moved to the Lansing area where he has worked for his entire adult life.  His journey included a 27-year stint in the media industry, starting as a radio reporter and eventually rising to the position of President and General Manager of the CBS TV affiliate in Lansing. He has also served as a communications strategist with Kolt Communications.

Ross has a tremendous passion for leadership. He has spent the past decade dedicated to working with leaders to help equip them to unleash their leadership talents in amazing ways.

Ross Woodstock speaking

Ross is a certified Leadership Fitness Trainer through the Fit Leader’s Program™, which he continues to teach within several organizations including the State of Michigan, Michigan Department of Corrections, GreenStone Farm Credit Services and the Michigan Health and Hospital Association. He is a co-facilitator in the Leadership Lansing program through the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce. He is credentialed in the Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team™ and regularly conducts team building trainings within organizations. He is also a certified DiSC instructor.

Ross has a master’s degree in Management and Administrative Services from the University of Texas at Dallas. He received a bachelor’s degree in Management of Human Resources from Spring Arbor College.  In 1995, the Spring Arbor Alumni Association honored Ross with its Professional Excellence Award, citing him for “outstanding professional and community contributions and for achieving honor and distinction for Spring Arbor College.”

Keynotes

The Four Most Powerful Words in Leadership

One of the greatest leadership lessons Ross learned during the early years of my career was the importance of four little words in our lives. They are simple words, really.  But the cumulative effect of these words on an organization, a community and, yes, even the world, can be amazing.  If you live by these words every day—not just memorize them and say them, but truly live them out in your own leadership life—these four words will make a significant difference in your ability to make a difference in your organization, your ability to build great teams, your ability to build a stronger, more profitable business, and most importantly your ability to make a difference in the lives of those around you.

I believe in you.

Let Ross show you how you can lift up of others by investing yourself into their lives. You can accomplish this by letting them know you believe in them, celebrating their success, remaining positive in the face of chronic negativity, demonstrating resilience, encouraging those around you, remaining humble, maintaining an attitude of gratitude and committing to a strong foundation of values.

Live Your Leadership Legacy

A legacy is not about what you can achieve for yourself; it is about what you can do for others. It is about making a difference in as many lives as possible and leaving the world in a better place.

You may feel you have more pressing issues to deal with today than worrying about what people are going to think about you after you ride off into the sunset. Ross believes there is nothing more important to your leadership than your legacy.

Ross Woodstock coaching

Legacy-leavers influence people daily, simply by who they are as leaders. You will make a lasting impact that will influence how others choose to live and lead. Most of the time, you will have no idea who you have impacted and the difference you have made in their lives.

Ross will explain how legacy-leavers need to seize the moments of courage that appear often unexpectedly in life. Audience members will also have the opportunity to begin crafting their own legacy statement that will serve to guide them on their future leadership journey.

Travelling Transformation Highway

You are not the leader you were ten years ago, five years ago or even one year ago. Change, which is occurring at the fastest pace in history, mandates that you continually evolve and grow. If you do not constantly evolve, you will be left behind. Not only is transformation critically important for you personally, but it’s also essential for your professional life. Your team needs you to lead them into a new era with new ideas and a fresh perspective. Transformational leaders have the power to inspire and motivate the team and build a culture where innovation flourishes. You will be challenged, sometimes daily, to initiate, sell and manage change initiatives. Transformational leaders will develop transformational teams that results in transformational organizations.

Are you willing to be that leader?

Ross Woodstock coaching

Our world desperately needs leaders who can embrace and celebrate differences, encourage multiple points of view, challenge the status quo and push the envelope on innovative approaches to problems. We need leaders who can unify where divisions exist, collaborate when communication breaks down, and find common ground to create solutions that others say cannot be achieved.

Ross will challenge to you is to be the type of leader the world needs. Resolve to change the world one person and one day at a time. Make a decision to take charge to the best of your ability in your everyday world.

But, Wait. There’s More

After his keynote Ross is available to provide amazing breakout sessions that are highly interactive, engaging and fun. Topics include:

  • The Power of Positivity: Overcoming Negative Voices in the Workplace
  • The Importance of Celebrating Small Milestones
  • Overcome Life’s Challenges with Resilience
  • Maintain an Attitude of Gratitude
  • Encourage the Courage in Others
  • Develop. Develop. Develop. Bringing Out the Best in Others

Lead to Lift Up Others

The compelling stories surrounding Sharen’s battle to achieve a satisfactory quality of life paint a picture of the characteristics needed to build a leadership legacy that will leave a positive impact on the world.

Praise for Lead to Lift Up Others

“Ross takes you on his personal journey as a caregiver for Sharen and wonderfully connects his unexpected life experiences and his 27 years in broadcast media to leadership insights. Ross’ core values of family and faith are strongly reflected in how he approached life challenges and pursued new career opportunities to help individuals strengthen leadership development. You will take away key strategies in improving your leadership skills while assessing new approaches in working with, growing and investing in your team.”

Tim Daman
President & CEO
Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce