The Name on the Building Is Not Enough to Lead.
Chris Sund is a family business speaker for family business forums, multigenerational companies and dealer and distributor families. He works with the questions every family company faces sooner or later: how the next generation earns the room, how to keep non-family employees bought in, and how to hand over leadership without losing the people who built it.
Why Is Succession So Hard in a Family Business?
In a family company, the next generation walks in with a last name everyone recognizes and a trust balance of zero. Long-tenured employees, many of them older and more experienced, are watching to see whether the new leader will earn the role or simply inherit it. Non-family managers are wondering where their own ceiling is.
Chris does not run a family business. He runs companies where leaders are promoted into rooms full of people who know the work better than they do, and his sessions bring that experience to family companies: how authority gets earned, how promotions stay fair, and how one culture holds when family and non-family people work side by side.
- How the next generation earns trust instead of inheriting it
- Leading people who are older and more experienced than you
- Promotion decisions that family and non-family employees both trust
- One culture for family and non-family employees
- Succession as a leadership plan, not only an ownership plan
Authority Is Earned on the Floor
Chris earned his first leadership role as a shift supervisor in a restaurant. A manager handed him John Maxwell’s The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, and the lesson that stuck was the one he learned on the floor: he could not do it all himself, and the title did not make anyone follow him. He had to earn their trust, shift by shift.
Chris has a line he uses when he promotes someone: the interview was last year. He promotes the people the team already follows, and before he decides, he asks the team who helps make the work better. The answer is usually obvious to everyone except the org chart.
For family companies, those two ideas carry most of the weight: the next generation has to earn trust the same way anyone else would, and promotions have to go to the people the team already follows. Chris wrote about what brings the next generation back in Succession: What Brings the Next Generation Back.
Chris was an outstanding speaker and a highlight of our Patient Experience Recognition Dinner. He took the time to deeply understand our organization and thoughtfully personalized his presentation. His message resonated across all roles, engaging, relatable, and inspiring from start to finish.
His engaging style draws the audience into the conversation, creating a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere that encourages learning and reflection. You leave not only inspired but equipped with practical insights you’re eager to implement.
It did not feel like another polished leadership talk. He made it a conversation. He was not afraid to share his own stumbles, which set the tone for everyone else to be candid too.
Programs for Family Companies
Every session is customized to your members, your setting and your year.
You Are Capable of More: Leadership
How leaders earn followership and develop the people around them. The core program for next-generation leaders.
You Are Capable of a Better Culture
One culture for everyone in the building, built on SPARK: support, purpose, appreciation, relationships, and knowledge and growth.
The Leadership Exchange
An interactive working session where family and non-family leaders work through real decisions together.
Formats
Each program runs as a keynote, a half-day workshop or a full-day workshop. Family forums often pair a keynote with a working session for the next generation.
General Session
A general-session keynote for a family business forum, dealer meeting or company gathering, built around earning authority and fair promotion.
Workshop
The keynote plus working time for next-generation and senior leaders: trust, roles, and how decisions about people get made.
Workshop
A leadership day for a family company: keynote, The Leadership Exchange, and planning time on succession and the leadership bench.
Who Books This Session
Related pages: Distribution & Dealer Speaker · Automotive Dealership Speaker · Agriculture Keynote Speaker · Succession: The Next Generation · Skilled Trades & Blue-Collar Speaker · Construction & Trades · How to Recruit and Keep Skilled Trades Workers · How to Increase Sales · Employee Retention Speaker
What Family Business Planners Ask
Does Chris run a family business?
No. Chris is President & COO of Uniti Med and GQR Healthcare and COO of Nebula. He brings the leadership side: how authority is earned, how people get promoted fairly, and how a culture holds when the people at the top change. The examples are built around your family company in a pre-event call.
Can the session address family and non-family employees in the same room?
Yes. That is often the point. The content is about how trust, promotions and accountability work for everyone, so family members and long-tenured employees hear the same standard at the same time.
Is there content for the next generation specifically?
Yes. The half-day and full-day formats include working time for next-generation leaders on earning authority, leading people with more experience, and building their own leadership bench.
Does it work for dealer and distributor groups?
Yes. Many dealers and distributors are family owned and multigenerational. See the distribution and dealer and automotive dealership pages.
Can attendees get the book?
Yes. Copies of You Are Capable of More can be bundled for attendees or for the whole leadership team. See bulk orders.
You Are Capable of More
The bestselling book behind the keynote, and the 2026 Paris Book Festival winner in the How-To category. Ten principles for closing the gap between what a team is producing and what it is actually capable of.
Copies can be bundled for every family member and leader in the company, which makes it a shared reference for the succession conversation.
He Promotes People Into Hard Rooms
Chris is President & COO of Uniti Med and GQR Healthcare and COO of Nebula. He helped build Uniti Med from startup into one of the largest healthcare staffing companies in the US: 10x revenue growth on the core brand, #3 on the Inc. Regionals list of the fastest-growing companies in the Midwest, and a Fortune Best Workplaces award.
Before healthcare staffing he spent ten years in restaurants and beverage, managing restaurants and then running sales and marketing for a brewery. He still has a company to run on Monday, and the material comes from that work.
He is the bestselling author of You Are Capable of More, a Maxwell Leadership Certified coach, and writes for Inc. and Forbes.
Stages I Have Spoken On
Where Business Audiences Have Heard Chris
Company, chamber and business stages where Chris has spoken on leadership, culture and growth.
MICA Fall Business MeetingsBusiness MeetingsemPower BreakfastBellevue, NEGreater Omaha Chamber YP WorkshopOmaha, NEGreater Omaha Chamber POWER ConferenceOmaha, NEBeatStars Company MeetingVirtualAuthentica Connect & InspireOmaha, NEAlso: Distribution & Dealer Speaker · Agriculture Keynote Speaker · Succession: The Next Generation · See all speaking engagements →
Bring Chris to Your Family Business Event
Tell Chris about the company, the generations involved and what the next few years are asking of them. You’ll get a fast, straight answer on fit and availability.
Check Availability & FeesResponse within one business day · Speaker kit, bio & headshots