Human capital expert building the bridge between science and practice
Europe
Holland
Elke Geraerts is someone with boundless curiosity and passion for people. These characteristics, together with her Ph.D. in psychology, resulted in a flourishing academic career. She held various positions at the universities of St. Andres, Rotterdam, Maastricht, and Harvard. Her time in academia attracted international attention due to her solid research work.
Drawn to the business world and due to her scientific insights into mental resilience, Elke Geraerts started Better Minds at Work. This international consultancy company focuses on increasing employee mental resilience, energy, and productivity and currently includes approximately fifty psychologists, doctors, and consultants.
Due to her ability to translate new psychological insights into fresh and accessible daily applications, Elke Geraerts inspires both individuals and organisations to hone their mental resilience and become the best version of themselves. Her big breakthrough was when her book, Better Minds, became a bestseller. Another of her publications, The Mental Reset, sees her inspire people to move towards a post-pandemic era with healthier, more successful habits.
As a conference speaker, Elke Geraerts has addressed audiences across the globe, from Kyoto to Cape Town, Sydney, San Francisco, Lima, and Dubai. She captivates her audiences with her unique blend of expertise, humour, enthusiasm, and academic insights. She lives in The Netherlands and presents in both English and Dutch.
Metal Resilience – How to strengthen resilience and empower your brain :
We are living in volatile times and this has a huge impact on how we live and work. Especially in these challenging times, it is important to keep our heads above water and be resilient. In this keynote, Elke shares her insights on mental resilience and how we can deal swiftly with any challenge. Expect an eye opener that makes it crystal clear that investing in your own brain leads to more agility, energy and happiness and less stress. With the #1 bestseller Better Minds as a common thread, you learn how your brain exactly works and you discover techniques to strengthen your energy and focus and to get through this time with sufficient motivation. In a 48-hour challenge, Elke will push you to apply a number of tips and tricks in practice straight away. A must-see to thrive in these volatile times!
The Mental Reset – How hybrid work and life strengthen resilience: 2020 and 2021 represented one of the greatest resilience experiments in our lives. What if we embrace this crisis as an opportunity for true transformation? What if we reset our habits so we can face challenges stronger than we ever did before? What if we take this momentum as a head start for ourselves, our teams, and our organisations?
In this talk, Elke Geraerts inspires you with insights that you need to prepare for a post-pandemic era. She shows you how hybrid work and life may render you more productivity, energy, and inner peace at the same time. She takes the time with you to reflect on how this hybrid context strengthens resilience for yourself, your teams, and your company. And on top of that, she shares her ideas about what you can exactly do to advance (self) leadership, foster connection within your team, focus on what really matters, and touch the right future-proof chords. A must-experience if you want to get ready for the post-pandemic reset!
Hybrid Working – Optimizing the integration between work and life: Those who are making the transition to hybrid working, are experiencing many challenges. In addition to your organization’s interests, employees also have their individual needs. There is no one-size-fits-all plan. Designing an optimal hybrid work plan that blends seamlessly with one’s personal life requires reflection, open communication, clear expectations, clear agreements (at home and work), and last but not least, psychological safety.
In this session, you will gain insights into the crucial drivers of productivity: energy, focus, coordination, and collaboration. You will discuss with colleagues your needs to experience maximal fulfillment and happiness at work and develop an action plan.
Mental Capital – A brain gym to deal with stress and change: The COVID crisis has challenged us in our mental resilience and luckily most of us are still standing. Yet, another resilience experiment is about to happen as we transition to new ways of (hybrid) working. This double challenge on our resilience requires a proactive strengthening of our brain. During this session, we will share all our insights on mental resilience and how you can deal swiftly with the challenges imposed on us by the pandemic and the new ways of working. Expect an eye-opener that makes it crystal clear that investing in your own brain leads to more agility, energy, and happiness and less stress and anxiety. With the bestseller Better Minds (initially published as Mentaal Kapitaal) as a common thread, you learn how your brain exactly works and you discover techniques to strengthen your energy and focus and to get through this change with sufficient motivation. In a 48-hour challenge, we will push you to apply a number of tips and tricks in practice straight away. A must-see to thrive in these challenging times!
Authentic Intelligence – How to future-proof yourself and your team: The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the digital revolution and is creating an earlier-than-expected tipping point that is likely to transform business forever. Hence the voices asking whether we humans can still compete against robots and artificial intelligence are getting louder. In this highly topical speech, Elke points out that it is time to demystify technology and shift the focus back onto human beings. She examines which uniquely human qualities can be used to secure our professional future, and which assets you really should embed in your organization’s DNA if you want to ensure your viability in this disruptive world. An inspiring presentation for organizations that already have both feet firmly planted in the future and want to use this pandemic as a transformational momentum.
“I had the pleasure of listening to Elke's vivid expose at a "Resilience Workshop" for BESIX in Dubai. For me personally, her story contained a number of “aha”- points and allowed me to connect some dots on certain challenges encountered in the daily work environment. I left the workshop with a number of insights, quotes ("Attention is the new scarce resource") and practical steps. Her interesting and highly relevant presentation is the best invitation to read one of her books. Definitely worth some "focus"-time!”
“Together with my global team I had the opportunity to experience one of Elke’s sessions on Resilience. This was the best 90 mins I have spent in years! Elke's approach is fabulous. She captures her listeners with her authenticity and passion for the topic. While clearly grounded in science the use of metaphors and practical frameworks makes it easy to access. As a global team we have started our 48 hour sprint to put at least 3 tips in to practice. Her talk is a must for all in the challenging times we live in!”
“Elke has the rare talent of combining scientific insights with our everyday struggles in life. From the moment Elke starts to speak, she is able to hold the audience’s attention. She takes you on a mental journey through our brain and teaches us to get the best out of ourselves. The ultimate 'Elke effect' is that everyone who attends continues to contact each other long after the presentation to talk about how their brain is. A warm, special and, above all, highly talented person whom I wholeheartedly recommend.”
“Disruptive. That is probably the single best word to describe the impact of my meetings with Elke. Authentic interaction, and a lot of smiles too. During meetings I make sure to write down one impactful sentence. With Elke, I wanted to remember every sentence. It all made sense. Grounded in science, yet applicable in daily life. As I am working in developing technology for preventive health, getting Elke’s insights and feedback was essential in shaping our program. Evidently we invited her to speak at our international customer event, where she had a similar strong impact – this time on the entire audience. Thought provoking. Yet so simple, to remember, to apply. You have to experience it for yourself – I highly recommend meeting Elke.”
“Powerful – loaded with applications and insights. Wonderful speaker! Professional, real and useful. Elke’s talk was very positive and provided actual tools to support a more efficient way of working. It’s amazing the preparation, creativity and skills that goes into speaking. Elke makes people learn. Elke makes it look easy. Elke makes people laugh. And, Elke moves people into action. Elke is an expert at captivating and engaging with the audience. I am very happy that her talk was recorded so I can watch it again and again.”
“During the COVID-19 pandemic our leadership team decided to talk openly about mental health. Thanks to Elke, we were able to discuss mental resilience. Elke has the great talent to bring theory in a very vivid way. She is not just another keynote speaker in, yet another, webinar. She makes her insights actionable and easy to recognize. Her talk has been shared by many of our international colleagues. On a personal note, I very much value authentic people with real emotions and honest stories. I am very glad our roads crossed and we all hope for a sequel. Warmly recommending Elke to everyone in search for a “mirror, mirror on the corporate wall”.”
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