Start Leading Before Anyone Says You Can.
YP summits, chamber young professional groups, DisruptHR, emerging leader programs, and campus-to-career events.
Most young professional programming is built around networking and personal branding, which is useful and is not what the room is actually anxious about. What they want to know is whether they are allowed to lead something before somebody hands them a title. Chris Sund has spoken for the Greater Omaha Chamber's YP workshop, the YP Summit, and DisruptHR in two markets, and he took on real responsibility considerably earlier than his résumé justified.
A ceiling set at thirty can quietly govern the next three decades.
My KC Live, KCTV5 Kansas City →The clip does the promotion for you.
YP events are filled by people forwarding something to a friend, not by an email blast. Chris has been on morning television in six markets and in Forbes, Inc., and the Midlands Business Journal, and the clips are short enough to post as-is.
Five things this room is actually asking about.
Not networking tips and not personal branding. The questions underneath the questions, which nobody puts on a conference agenda.
- Permission to lead without a title. Most people in the room are waiting to be told they are ready. Almost nobody gets told. Influence is available at every level and it starts with taking responsibility for something nobody assigned you.
- What to do about the ceiling somebody already set. A comment from a manager, a professor, or a parent about what they were suited for often got absorbed as fact. Naming that out loud is the moment a YP room goes quiet, and it is the reason this session gets remembered.
- How to have the conversation they are avoiding. Asking for the raise, addressing a peer, telling a boss something is not working. Most early-career anxiety is one unhad conversation, and the skill is learnable.
- Why the first promotion is a different job. The person who becomes a supervisor at twenty-eight is handed a role nobody trained them for. Knowing that in advance changes how they walk into it. See the article on this.
- One move, not a five year plan. Every session closes on a single specific action for the next thirty days, which is a horizon this audience will actually act on.
On what the YP session is about
Eight ways organizations book him for YPs.
Chambers frequently pair a YP session with an evening keynote for the wider membership. One travel day, a fraction of two visits.
YP Summit Keynote
General session for a regional young professionals summit or conference.
YP Group Program
The monthly or quarterly program for a chamber young professionals group.
DisruptHR
Twenty slides, fifteen seconds each, auto-advancing. The least forgiving format in speaking, and one he has done in two markets.
Emerging Leaders Workshop
Interactive session where the material gets practiced rather than described.
Leadership Academy Cohort
Three or four half-days across a quarter with the same group, which produces the most durable change.
Campus To Career
Graduating students and recent grads, at a university or a YP organization's student event.
Company Emerging Talent
Internal high-potential programs, ERGs, and early-career cohorts inside a single organization.
Virtual YP Session
Live online for a group spread across a state or region.
Built for the people who are next.
The framework holds across all of them. What changes is who is in the room and what they go back to on Monday.
Chamber YP Groups
Monthly programs, annual YP events, and young professional councils. See chamber speaking.
YP Summits
Regional and statewide young professional conferences.
DisruptHR
The five minute format, in any market running it.
Association Young Members
Young professional sections inside state and trade associations.
Company Talent Programs
High-potential cohorts, ERGs, and early-career development programs.
Colleges & Universities
Career readiness and student leadership events. See student leadership.
Leadership Academies
Chamber and community leadership programs with a cohort structure.
Nonprofit Young Boards
Junior boards and young philanthropist groups. See nonprofit speaking.
Economic Development
Talent attraction and retention initiatives working to keep young people local.
Four movements. Ten principles.
Every session runs the same architecture as the bestselling book, which is what lets a five minute DisruptHR talk and a half-day cohort session be the same message at different depths.
The Foundation
Ownership and time. What is inside your control this early, which is more than most people assume.
The Breakthrough
The comfort ceiling and the inner voice. The section this audience remembers years later.
The Standard
Truth over praise, and the hidden gear. Who will tell you the truth when you are early enough to use it.
The Purpose
Finishing, and leaving people better. The close, and the one that reframes a career rather than a job.
A copy for every person in the cohort.
This audience actually reads it, and it works as the text for a leadership academy or emerging leaders program between sessions.
You Are Capable of More: A No-Excuses Guide to Becoming Your Best Self. An Amazon bestseller from Game Changer Publishing, with a foreword by Ben Newman.
Ten chapters across four movements, written for exactly this reader: capable, early, and unsure whether the thing in the way is the job or themselves. The free companion toolkit includes a self-assessment, a discussion guide, and a thirty day challenge. Nothing is gated behind an email address.
The feedback speaks for itself.
Chris energized the room, sparked conversations, and encouraged connections throughout the event, with a lasting impact on our future leaders.
Chris is a thoughtful, intentional leader who understands the influence he carries. His message challenged me to think differently about how I lead, serve, and influence others.
His engaging style draws the audience into the conversation, creating a relaxed atmosphere that encourages learning and reflection. You leave not only inspired but equipped.
Chris would be an incredible addition to any live audience. Each time he finds a unique way to connect on both a personal and professional level, keeping everyone engaged and attentive.
Chris consistently brings knowledge, insight, and practical advice. He led two impactful sessions and left everyone with tools they could use immediately.
Chris energized the room, sparked conversations, and encouraged connections throughout the event, with a lasting impact on our future leaders.
Chris is a thoughtful, intentional leader who understands the influence he carries. His message challenged me to think differently about how I lead, serve, and influence others.
His engaging style draws the audience into the conversation, creating a relaxed atmosphere that encourages learning and reflection. You leave not only inspired but equipped.
Chris would be an incredible addition to any live audience. Each time he finds a unique way to connect on both a personal and professional level, keeping everyone engaged and attentive.
Chris consistently brings knowledge, insight, and practical advice. He led two impactful sessions and left everyone with tools they could use immediately.
Events already on your calendar.
He took responsibility before he was handed it.
Chris Sund is an executive leader, keynote speaker, and bestselling author of You Are Capable of More.
As President and COO of Uniti Med, GQR Healthcare, and Nebula, he helped grow Uniti Med 10x in two years and earn the number three ranking on the Inc. Regionals list among the fastest growing companies in the Midwest, while the organization earned Fortune Best Workplaces recognition and Great Place to Work certification three years running.
He is a father of three based in Fremont, Nebraska, a Maxwell Leadership Certified speaker, trainer, and coach, Vice President of the NATHO Board of Directors, and a Forbes Business Council member. He is close enough to the early part of a career to remember it accurately, and far enough along to be worth listening to about it.
Details your committee will ask for.
YP organizers ask these.
Is this a networking or personal branding session?
How much does a young professionals speaker cost?
Will it work for a room from twenty-two to forty?
What is DisruptHR and can he do it?
Can we combine a YP session with a larger event?
Do you work with company emerging leader programs?
Is it interactive?
Can we get books for attendees?
Does it work virtually?
How do we start?
Other ways organizations book him.
Same framework, built for the specific room you are filling.
Tell them it is already their turn.
Send your date, who is registering, and what you want them to leave with. You will get availability and a plan back within one business day.