Turn Turnover Into a Leadership Skill Your Managers Can Learn
Most retention plans are built by HR and executed by managers who were never taught how. Chris Sund gives your frontline leaders the specific conversations and habits that keep people — the same ones that produced world-class employee NPS while his company grew 10x.
What Your Managers Leave With
Exit interviews arrive too late to be useful, and the reasons people give are rarely the real ones. Chris teaches the People Quit People framework — a practical model built on the reality that people leave the person they report to, not the logo on their badge. It gives managers something to do on Tuesday, not a policy to file.
- Stay conversations that surface problems months before a resignation
- How to spot the quiet signals that someone has already started looking
- Recognition that lands with people who do not want a spotlight
- What the real cost of a departure is once you count ramp and morale
- Original research: 92% believe they are capable of more than they are doing now
Popular Retention Programs
Every session is customized to your organization, theme, and goals.
People Quit People, Not Companies
The flagship retention keynote — turnover reframed as a teachable leadership skill.
The Power of Small Moments
The ordinary interactions that decide whether someone stays another year.
You Are Capable of a Better Culture
The five research-backed drivers behind a workplace people do not leave.
Motivating Today’s Workforce
What actually moves people when compensation is not the lever you have.
Retention Audiences Chris Serves
Related pages: Culture Keynote Speaker · Employee Engagement Speaker · HR Conference Speaker
What Planners Ask
Is this for managers or executives?
Primarily managers — they are the ones people quit. Executives get the business case and the systems view, but the practical material is aimed at the person running a team.
Do you address pay?
Honestly, yes. Compensation has to be in range or nothing else matters. Beyond that range, Chris focuses on the levers a manager actually controls, which is where most turnover is decided.
Can this be a workshop rather than a keynote?
Yes. The stay conversation material works well as a working session where managers practice the conversation before they need it.
Is the content backed by data?
Yes — including the Untapped Potential Report, original research surveying 200+ professionals on unrealized potential and what workplaces do to unlock or waste it.
You Are Capable of More
The bestselling book behind the keynotes — ten principles for closing the gap between what people are doing and what they are actually capable of. Retention starts there: people stay where someone is asking more of them than the job description does.
Organizations regularly pair a keynote with copies for their managers. Bulk pricing and signed editions are available.
He Kept People While Growing Fast
Chris took Uniti Med from startup to one of the largest healthcare staffing firms in the country — 10x revenue growth, #3 fastest-growing in the Midwest on the Inc. Regionals — while earning a Fortune Best Workplaces award and world-class employee NPS.
Fast growth is where retention usually breaks. New managers, unclear expectations, and people who joined a different company than the one they are now working for. Chris has run that gauntlet and can tell your audience what held and what did not.
He is a Maxwell Leadership Certified coach, a bestselling author, an Inc. contributor, and VP of the NATHO board.
As Seen & Heard
Television, national business press, and the podcasts where Chris talks retention, culture, and leadership.
Stages I Have Spoken On
Where Retention Audiences Have Heard Chris
Conferences and events where Chris has delivered the retention material.
POWER ConferenceOmaha, NEDisruptHR OmahaPapillion, NETalentTrack ConferenceOmaha, NECrawford Memorial Recognition DinnerDenison, IAAHCA/NCAL ConventionNationalemPower BreakfastOmaha, NEAlso heard on: Unlocking High Performance · Culture From the Heart · People Quit People, Not Companies · See all speaking engagements →
Bring Chris to Your Event
Tell Chris about your managers and what your turnover is costing you. You’ll get a fast, straight answer on fit and availability.
Check Availability & FeesResponse within one business day · Speaker kit, bio & headshots