Paul J. Burke

651.666.8670

Meet Paul

Executive Advisor
Keynote Speaker

Paul is a proven executive and leadership coach with 30 years of experience leading teams and helping entrepreneurs build winning organizations.

View Paul’s Demo Clip

Key Topics for Presentations

The High Price of Unprepared Leaders
Hiring and Retaining the Ideal Team Player in Your Organization
Leveraging Data; The Magic Sauce for Every Team
Unleashing a ‘People Powered’ Revolution in Your Organization
Creating Your Game Changing Customer Experience
Mastering the Meeting: Strategies for Leadership Success

Lunch & Learn Sessions

Keynote Speaker

Master of Ceremonies

Forums & Round Table Host

Paul has over 30 years of sales and marketing leadership managing local, corporate, and global teams. He has also been an entrepreneur; owning, leading, and successfully exiting several businesses. Paul enjoys working with entrepreneurs and leadership teams as a teacher, facilitator, and coach, helping them get more out of their business and work life, “Putting the fun back into dysfunctional.”

Serving as an Officer in the U.S. Army and as a Company Commander during Operation Desert Storm, he learned the value of great leadership, teamwork, and the critical importance of execution. Without those elements all the best plans in the world become just words on a page.

Paul has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business & Speech Communication from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Business Administration in Entrepreneurial Management from the University of Dallas.

Read Paul Burke’s Latest Publication

Latest Episode from Your 10-Minute Executive Coach

Leaders leverage stories to persuade or inspire our teams. We are usually dealing with a common challenge or a required shift in behavior. A good story can help get everyone on the same page and rallying around a common goal or solution.

What makes a compelling story in a business context? And how can leaders improve their story telling skills? This episode will take you through how to develop your story and critical do's and don't of story telling.

Episode #14 Story Telling for Leaders.

Keynote Presentations

The following is a sample of Paul’s previously held keynote presentations.

The audience will be presented with practical solutions to the compelling issues facing businesses today. Employee engagement is down, stress is up, wage inflation and the high cost of turnover are impacting the bottom line.

Managers are vital in dealing with these issue and too many are not prepared. The presentation will lay out a path to elevate current managers with leadership skills that can impact their organizations and reverse these issues quickly and for the long term.

Actionable Takeaways:

Understand the urgent need for managers to evolve into leaders.
5 skills mangers can develop to build their leadership impact.
Clear understanding how leaders influence their teams.
7 Practical tools managers can leverage immediately to elevate their teams.

Download

The audience will be presented with a powerful framework along with easy-to-use tools for identifying, hiring, developing, and retaining the ideal team players in any type of organization. We will discuss the three critical traits that a person must have to be an ideal team player and the three critical activities managers need to implement to improve employee engagement, productivity, and retention. Each attender will leave with information and tools that can be immediately leveraged within their organization.

Actionable Takeaways:

Identify the 3 traits make up an ideal team player.
How individuals can help themselves and others become an ideal team player.
How managers reverse the tide of employee disengagement in today’s workplace.
Practical & Relevant tools that can be immediately implemented to improve employee engagement and retention throughout an organization.

Download

One of the most important tools in managing a business is accurate & timely data. Working with leadership teams, we teach the importance of data and leveraging scorecards. These tools give leadership teams a current pulse on the business, identify issues before they become big problems and help leaders in predicting future activity. Accurate & timely data will take the subjectivity out of decision making so the team can focus solving the issue with facts and not be distracted by personalities or politics.

Actionable Takeaways:

Why good data and a scorecard are critical tools.
The different stages of data management.
What makes a great scorecard.
How to leverage scorecards at every level of your organization.

Download

Why a “people powered” strategy? Too often strategic planning puts people at the end of the discussion or as an afterthought to the many other issues business leaders face. With the current environment of wage inflation & declining employee engagement, business leaders must be intentional about their “people” strategy. The audience will be presented with a powerful framework for developing a people driven strategy, starting with their leadership team. They will be given practical tools that can be quickly implemented and help create a competitive advantage in any industry.

Actionable Takeaways:

The 5 critical steps to create a “people powered” revolution.
How to build a cohesive & functional leadership team.
The 6 Steps to create clarity throughout your organization.
Defining what’s most important right now!

Download

Every business operates in a competitive environment. To succeed we need to be intentional about how we retain and grow our current clients and continue to bring in new clients on a regular basis. We also must make sure we are gaining and retaining the right clients for our business. A great client experience reflects your organizations culture and requires activation at all levels of your organization.

Actionable Takeaways:

Identify your ideal customer.
Steps to design and communicate your customer journey.
Create an effective and efficient communication strategy.
How to empower your team to serve your customers.

Download

In today’s fast-paced, ever-changing business landscape, one critical aspect often overlooked or sidelined is the functional health of the individuals leading and driving an organization’s mission. This presentation will clearly explain how functionally healthy teams can outperform their peers. Attendees participate in several exercises and will be provided with practical tools they can implement immediately to improve the functional health of their teams. We will lay out the four disciplines of a healthy organization including tools to make your meetings more efficient and effective.

Actionable Takeaways:

How functionally healthy teams outperform their
peers.
The critical role leaders play in the health of their
organizations.
The 4 disciplines of functionally healthy organizations.
The 4-meeting model and right meeting structure to create efficient and effective meetings.

Download

Most business owners don’t truly know the value of their Business—or what drives it. In this fast-paced 90-minute workshop, you’ll discover the 8 key drivers that determine the salability and valuation of your business.

Using the ValueBuilder System™, attendees will gain insight into their company’s strengths, vulnerabilities, and opportunities to increase enterprise value.

Whether you plan to sell in five years or never, building a more valuable business improves cash flow, growth options, leadership confidence, and long-term freedom. Walk away with practical tools and a clear roadmap to build a business worth more—and worth keeping.

Download

What Attendees Have to Say…

Prompted me to reflect on my organization, customer base and customer relationships

~ Presentation Attendee

Great reminders of how to maintain, retain new, and get rid of your clients

~ Presentation Attendee

Very informative and makes you look at things in a different perspective especially from a lower employee perspective.

~ Presentation Attendee

valuable for a business owner. can definitely see this growing into a longer coaching session(s)

~ Presentation Attendee

Good for self reflection on where I can grow and identify where I can mentor my team to grow.

~ Presentation Attendee

Easy to understand and motivating

~ Presentation Attendee

It was a fresh way to look at customer service.

~ Presentation Attendee

Insightful and thought provoking

~ Presentation Attendee

Very engaging presentation

~ Presentation Attendee

Excellent speaker!

~ Presentation Attendee

Very informative and enlightening! Have great tools to use moving forward

~ Presentation Attendee

Interactive, good personal experience stories to validate the topic.

~ Presentation Attendee

Open and honest reality to today’s workforce.

~ Presentation Attendee

Relevant and applicable for our workforce

~ Presentation Attendee

Easy to out into action with my team, honest

~ Presentation Attendee

Provides tangible tools to help evaluate yourself as a leader, and develop your team.

~ Presentation Attendee

The session was motivational and provided tangible steps to initiate the concepts.

~ Presentation Attendee

Very good insight on how to command a team and develop a culture

~ Presentation Attendee

What’s the best way to make your job not suck!

~ Presentation Attendee

The audience is very pleased with his topic and his delivery!

~ Presentation Attendee

Loved the energy and tools

~ Presentation Attendee

It was amazing! Action items that can easily be implemented but could have big impact on our teams

~ Presentation Attendee

In a church setting, I would call him a disciple maker. Followed the teachings of Jesus

~ Presentation Attendee

Paul is engaging and really makes you take a look inside your own head and mind along with looking at your business as a whole in order to elevate yourself and your business

~ Presentation Attendee

Helped me refocus and think about my operation and what changes I need to make for the direction I want to go.

~ Presentation Attendee

Very insightful! Was a great refresher! I’ve been doing this for 34 years☺️

~ Presentation Attendee

Lots of little gems to take home and improve meetings. – Alisha B.

~ Presentation Attendee

Paul provided clear, actionable insights on building a clear brand and engaging with our clients to reinforce our business. The insight was useful to team members throughout our organization. – Curt T.

~ Presentation Attendee

Great upbeat energy and practical real life knowledge. Honest – Deb B.

~ Presentation Attendee

Please GO and speak with Paul, he can help lead you in the right business direction!

~ Presentation Attendee

I’m grateful for you being upbeat and dropping beneficial nuggets. I will implement some of these tools in my current business. – Annette B.

~ Presentation Attendee

Paul is very knowledgeable and a true – Cha

~ Presentation Attendee

Informative, concise, and engaging! – Tina C.

~ Presentation Attendee

A useful presentation providing experiential action steps for refining your business operations, and strategizing your customer relationships. – John R.

~ Presentation Attendee

Interesting, intelligent, thought provoking!

~ Presentation Attendee

I that he was very honest and insightful – Jacob G.

~ Presentation Attendee

Targeted commonly overlooked areas that cost minimal

~ Presentation Attendee

Inspiring

~ Presentation Attendee

Quality content with actionable exercises to immediately implement.

~ Presentation Attendee

Very informative for anyone who is thinking of buying or starting their own company. – Heath L.

~ Presentation Attendee

Paul’s speaking was great for what we were needing.

~ Presentation Attendee

Relevant for today’s business climate. Great refresher to get through the noise around me/us and zero in and focus on what I CAN DO to affect and implement change. – Brian R.

~ Presentation Attendee

Great discussion on facing adversity in a tough ag climate. Look at your business and allow yourself to make changes to become better and better each year. – Brian W.

~ Presentation Attendee

Very informative and makes you look at things in a different perspective especially from a lower employee perspective.

~ Presentation Attendee

valuable for a business owner. can definitely see this growing into a longer coaching session(s)

~ Presentation Attendee

Good for self reflection on where I can grow and identify where I can mentor my team to grow.

~ Presentation Attendee

Prompted me to reflect on my organization, customer base and customer relationships

~ Presentation Attendee

Great reminders of how to maintain, retain new, and get rid of your clients

~ Presentation Attendee

Relevant and applicable for our workforce

~ Presentation Attendee

Easy to out into action with my team, honest

~ Presentation Attendee

Contact Paul to speak at your organization’s next event.

Building a Business You Can Sell – Even If You Never Do.

Understand the value of your business from the eyes of an acquirer by discovering how value is impacted beyond top line sales and profits.

The “Owners Trap”
Financial Discipline
Growth Potential
Product or Service Offering
Sustainable Recurring Revenue
Market Differentiation
Vendor Diversification
Key Employees
Customer Loyalty
Customer Diversification

Real value is about multiples of your sales and profits.

Interested in hosting a workshop on building business value?

Get your FREE Value Builder Score

Consulting Services

Paul is committed to helping your organization thrive. Below is a list of key service offerings available.

During this fast-paced 2-days your leadership team will accomplish several key items:

Build a cohesive leadership team.
Document your strategic playbook.
Gain a competitive advantage.
Create best in class hiring, retention, & engagement.

Critical Outcomes

Build the right leadership team structure.
Assess team’s current behavior cohesion.
Document plan to improve cohesion.
Discover & maximize individual and team role alignment.
Implement organization’s strategic playbook.
Plan the optimal meeting structure and pulse.
Learn what traits identify the ideal team player.
Identify tools to improve employee engagement.
Minimize hiring mistakes & money drains.
Improve employee engagement and retention.
Grow your business & increase profitability.

Two Day Overview

Pre-work
- 5-Dysfunctions Assessment – 15 minutes
- 6-Working Genius Assessment – 15 Minutes
- Facilitator attends 1-2 staff meetings.
- Coaching for leader to set objectives.
- Customized plan to meet leadership team’s unique goals & challenges.
Interactive learning
- Structure development.
  - Right people in the right seats
- Team cohesion
  - 5-Dysfunctions / 6 Working Genius
- Strategic playbook creation.
  - 6 Key questions.
- Best meeting structure and pulse.
Create a plan with individual and team commitments.
Follow-up coaching with leader.

Download

During this 12-week engagement you will accomplish several key items:

Strengthen your 5 leadership abilities.
Improve employee engagement and retention.
Create consistent growth for your organization.
Systemize your business processes.
Build a more effective team.

Critical Outcomes

Simplify all aspects of your business.
Delegate & elevate your leadership.
Systemize processes & procedures.
Forecast business activity accurately.
Build the best structure for your team.
Improve employee engagement & retention.
Become a more effective leader for your team
Create one-page strategic plan for your business.
Implement optimal process and procedures.
Create healthy work-life balance for leaders
Leverage scorecards at all levels of your business.
Grow your business & increase profitability.

12-Week Overview

Pre-work
- Specific key reading.
- Issue identification worksheet.
- Document 12 – 18 Month business goals.
12 – Weekly mastermind sessions
- Weekly leadership development curriculum.
- Weekly actionable exercises.
- Key issue discussion with members.
- Document issues and solutions.
3-Monthly one-on-one coaching sessions

Download

During this fast-paced day your leadership team will accomplish several key items:

Get the right people in the right seats.
Build a cohesive leadership team.
Hire, develop & retain the ideal team player.
Discover and align team & individual roles.

Critical Outcomes

Build the right leadership team structure.
Assess team’s current behavior cohesion.
Document plan to improve cohesion.
Discover & maximize individual and team role alignment.
Learn what traits identify the ideal team player.
Identify tools to improve employee engagement.
Minimize hiring mistakes & money drains.
Improve employee engagement and retention.
Grow your business & increase profitability.

Full Day Overview

Pre-work
- 5-Dysfunctions Assessment – 15 minutes
- 6-Working Genius Assessment – 15 minutes
- Facilitator observes 1-2 staff meetings.
- Coaching for leader to set objectives.
- Customized plan to meet leadership team’s unique goals & challenges.
Interactive learning
- Structure development.
  - Right people in the right seats
- Team Cohesion
  - 5-Dysfunctions
  - 6 Type of Working Genius
  - Ideal Team Player
- Create a plan with individual and team commitments.
- Follow-up coaching with leader.

Download

During this fast-paced half day your leadership team will accomplish several key items:

Create clarity for the organization.
Develop an action plan for the next 12 – 18 months.
Communicate clarity to the team.
Implement processes to reinforce clarity.

Critical Outcomes

Discover organizations culture and purpose.
Build the right leadership team structure.
Determine organizations strategic anchors.
Identify key priorities and “What’s most important right now.”
Become better
Implement processes to reinforce clarity.

Half Day Overview

Pre-work
- Preview 6 key questions to be asked and answered – 30 minutes.
- Facilitator observes staff meetings.
- Coaching for leader to set objectives.
Interactive learning
- Creating clarity.
  - Ask & answer 6 key questions.
- Document clarity.
  - Organization playbook
- Build a communication plan.
- Implement processes to reinforce clarity.
Create a plan with individual and team commitments.
Follow-up coaching with leader.

Download

During this fast-paced half day your leadership team will accomplish several key items:

Get the right people in the right seats.
Build a cohesive leadership team.
Discover and align team & individual roles.

Critical Outcomes

Build the right leadership team structure.
Assess team’s current behavior cohesion.
Document plan to improve cohesion.
Discover & maximize individual and team role alignment.
Grow your business & increase profitability.

Half Day Overview

Pre-work
- 5-Dysfunctions Assessment – 15 minutes
- 6-Working Genius Assessment – 15 minutes
- Facilitator observes staff meetings.
- Coaching for leader to set objectives.
- Customized plan to meet leadership team’s unique goals & challenges.
Interactive learning
- Structure development.
  - Right people in the right seats
- Team Cohesion
  - 5-Dysfunctions
  - 6 Type of Working Genius
Create a plan with individual and team commitments.
Follow-up coaching with leader.

Download

During this 6-month engagement your organization will accomplish several key items:

Build a cohesive leadership team.
Document your strategic playbook.
Implement effective meeting pulse & structure
Full alignment throughout organization.
Create best in class hiring, retention, & engagement.

Critical Outcomes

Build the right leadership team structure.
Enhance cohesion on leadership team.
Maximize individual and team role alignment.
Implement organization’s strategic playbook.
Generate clarity throughout organization
Employ the optimal meeting structure and pulse.
Improve employee engagement & retention.
Minimize hiring mistakes & money drains.
Implement optimal process and procedures.
Create healthy life / work balance for leaders
Grow your business & increase profitability.

6-Month Overview

Pre-work
- 5-Dysfunctions Assessment – 15 minutes
- 6-Working Genius Assessment – 15 Minutes
- Facilitator attends 1-2 staff meetings.
- Coaching for leader to set objectives.
4 – Full day leadership meetings
- Leadership team cohesiveness.
- Structure & strategy development
- 2 quarterly off-sites.
26 – Weekly leadership team meeting.
Monthly one-on-one coaching with leader.
One-on-one coaching with other leadership team members.
Implement meeting pulse and playbook with next level leaders.

Download

During this fast-paced day your leadership team will accomplish several key items:

Review and reassess previous quarter.
Leadership team development
Solve strategic issues.
Set team and individual goals for next quarter.

Critical Outcomes

Review previous quarter performance.
Assess team’s current tools.
Update organization’s clarity.
Solve important organizations issues.
Prioritize issues and actions moving forward.
Set Team and individual goals.
Reenergize and refocus team moving forward.
Grow your business & increase profitability.

Full Day Overview

Pre-work
- Coaching for leader to set objectives.
- Update organization issues.
- Team development / training.
Review previous quarter.
- Rock performance.
- Organization scorecard.
- Market developments.
Update organization clarity.
Team development & training.
Strategic Issue resolution.
Set next quarter goals.
- Team & individual rocks.
- Organization goals.

Download

Contact Paul to unlock the full potential of your business today!

Our association chapter has had Paul speak at several meetings: from our annual planning sessions, our awards banquets, and with us as a team. He brings humor, stories, and rich history to each event we invite him to – all while giving attendees and participants positive takeaways that help us in our personal and professionals lives. We can’t wait to have Paul back at our next event!

Adam Hanson

Chapter President

Associated Builders and Contractors of MN/ND

I had the pleasure of hearing Paul speak at the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s Small Business Success Summit. His content was accessible and relatable to all attendees and his presentation was easy to follow. He provided real world examples that could be extrapolated to a person’s real pain points. He came across as confident, yet understood that everyone in the room might find themselves at a different pain point in their individual business and thus his presentation welcomed all participants into the solution instead of leaving them behind. Paul put the focus on the goal of helping each attendee in the room to find at least one actionable thing that could help their business improve – this was very much appreciated.

Tom Florian

Senior Director of Membership & Strategic Marketing

I looked at starting Traction for our office and doing it myself, after really studying the EOS process I decided this was something I didn’t want to do on my own.

It was brought to my attention that Paul Burke had a company Business Acceleration that implemented the EOS system. I then asked him if he would help us get started with Traction an EOS Entrepreneurial Operating System.

After having Paul help us with EOS our company Moral, Meetings and Goals have greatly improved, we solve issues quickly and work together. We now are a team. We are still working on things but everyone agrees that we are better as a company because of EOS. We could not have done it without Paul’s help.

We are grateful for where we are and our growth and we have Business Acceleration to Thank for that. As a business owner I would highly recommend Paul and his company to help you create the company you always dreamed of owning.

Connie Sutton

President

Am-Tec Designs Inc.

In the fall of 2015, the family leadership group of Warners’ Stellian Appliance Co. decided to adopt an EOS Management System and implement the EOS Management Model effective Jan 1^st 2016.

We knew choosing the right Implementer was a critically important decision. Our group can be somewhat intimidating and with over 100 years of combined experience in the business – the independent mind sets of the various family members would not be easily changed.

Paul Burke really guided our discussion and the entire process with true professionalism. His high energy and positive approach encouraged the group to honestly access our abilities and make the difficult decision of who should lead and in what capacity. Paul demonstrated the ability to quickly understand our business and family dynamics.

I would highly recommend Paul and Business Acceleration for any management or governance consul for your business.

Robert M. Warner

President

Warners’ Stellian Appliance Co.

Paul Burke has been leading our strategic planning and visioning process for the past couple of years. Through his facilitation and education our board and the association are continuing to move the dial within our industry. Paul brings a level of professionalism to his leadership presentation style that keeps you engaged and trusting of the process. Paul has also presented multiple different topics to groups within the Association. The feedback is always positive and attendees look forward to his next program. I recommend Paul as a facilitator, educator, and leader.

Barb Lau

Executive Director

Association of Women Contractors