Full Transcript

• Introduce yourself.
• Hi, I'm Carol Ann Lloyd. I'm a historian, Shakespearean and professional speaker. I speak about how we can use the timeless, proven strategies for effective and lasting leadership by accessing the greatest collection of leadership case studies ever assembled: the plays of Shakespeare. I've been a Shakespeare superfan for as long as I can remember. My mom took me to the Utah Shakespeare Festival when I was young, and my grandma gave me her copy of The Complete Works of Shakespeare to take to school. When we moved to the D.C. area, I worked at Folger Shakespeare Library, and now I'm a researcher there. I've also been speaking for years about leadership and professional communication all around the area. I know that Shakespeare wrote the playbook on leadership, and I'm so excited to share these lessons with new and seasoned leaders.
• Tell us what you do.
• Hi, I'm Carol Ann Lloyd. I share the leadership lessons in Shakespeare's plays, and show how they are the keys to our success hundreds of years later. For example, back in some of the darkest days of World War II, when Churchill needed to rally the British people, where did he turn? He turned to Shakespeare. He had the government make a movie of Shakespeare's play Henry V, starring Laurence Olivier, the most popular actor of the time. Years after the war, when Churchill was asked what had contributed to The Allied victory, he said he believed having Shakespeare's words, "once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more" in British hearts definitely made a difference. And that's just one example of all the leadership lessons we can find in Shakespeare. I'm here to bring more of them to you.
• Tell us about your signature talk.
• My signature talk is based on a famous phrase of Shakespeare's. I've made it: "To lead or not to lead." Most of Shakespeare's greatest leaders are not kings, but rather, ordinary people who make the extraordinary decision to lead in their lives, wherever they are and whatever they're doing. I share how everyone from Juliet to Isabella makes a decision to lead, and how we can, too. I demonstrate how to turn Shakespeare's examples of speaking truth to power or setting boundaries in our lives or getting the attention of people who don't agree with us into practical steps we can take right now. So, will you choose to lead?