Matthew Zakreski

Matthew Zakreski Speaking Topics

• Leadership Development; Culture; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Work

  Spotting Neurodivergence in the Wild: A Guide to Supporting Differently Wired People

  This workshop will focus on broader neurodiversity and how neurodivergent and neurotypical people differ. There are neurodivergent people (people with different brains, like those who are ADHD, gifted, Autistic, Dyslexia, etc.) in all lines of work, from the students in classrooms to C-suite members in the boardrooms, so we all must see ourselves as neurodiversity-affirming if we are going to get the best from our charges. When we ground our work with people in neuropsychology, our understanding of our behaviors, social skills, learning styles, and emotional regulation drastically changes for the better. Neurodivergence is both a vital lens to serve and see people through, but it also represents a broader social justice movement that extends far beyond the areas where we interact. We must work with the people we have, not the people we wish we had. Accepting that reality not only creates a happier workplace, but also more content and engaged stakeholders. When we meet our people where they are and work with them to play to their strengths and develop their weaknesses, they not only feel better, but they do better too.

  Attendee Results:

  • Participants gain a working knowledge of what is neurotypical and what is neurodivergent, as well as practical examples of what that looks like in the real world.
  • Participants understand and practice the concrete steps anyone can take to become more neurodivergent-affirming in their personal and professional lives.
  • Participants develop a menu of accommodations that allow the people they serve to better play to their strengths and minimize their weaknesses.
  • Participants connect neurodiversity to both social justice movements and broader Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work.

• Employee Mental Health in Organizations

  “They’re All Going to Find Out I’m a Fraud!” Combatting Impostor Syndrome

  Impostor Syndrome is a psychological pattern where a person doubts their fitness, devalues their accomplishments, and fears being “discovered to be fraud.” It is a common pattern in neurodivergent individuals but can occur in anyone who feels or is made to feel different. The feelings evoked by Impostor Syndrome can be intensely dysregulating and unpleasant. Impostor Syndrome is created by a maladaptive pattern of cognition and social comparison that can have negative impacts on academic performance, social skills, activity engagement, and self-esteem. This session will define Impostor Syndrome, explore some symptoms of it both internally and externally, and give examples of situations that may trigger it. We will all process techniques on how to blunt its impact. Participants will be encouraged to learn how to check their thinking, practice self-compassion, and give themselves credit for the work that they have already done while appreciating the work that is left to do.

  Attendee Results:

  • Participants can define Impostor Syndrome and identify the internal feelings and external behaviors associated with it.
  • Participants process whether they have Impostor Syndrome and how it feels for them while also developing skills to manage those feelings.
  • Participants develop a series of strategies that allow the people they serve with Impostor Syndrome to identify, process, and overcome these feelings.
  • Participants identify areas in the organizational practices that may be contributing to their stakeholders experiencing Impostor Syndrome and develop strategies on rectifying those practices with more equitable exercises.

Organizational Climate and Authentic Communication

I'm in the Business of Hope: How to Keep Believing when Things Feel Impossible

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." Sounds great, doesn't it? Having hope is wonderful but, as we always say, "if it was easy, you would have done it already." So why don't people have hope? Because. Life. Is. HARD! As a psychologist, I often say I am in the “business of hope.” But what is hope? And how do we have it authentically when it feels like the world is increasingly chaotic, unfair, and cruel? This talk will focus on what hope truly is from a psychological standpoint and explore how to apply it meaningfully to our lives. I also will talk about the importance of hope from a authenticity perspective and how to keep our hopeful messaging from straying into being fake or toxic positivity. We will also identify potential barriers towards having hope and workshop solutions to overcome those challenges that draw our people towards us and allow us to create the communities that create and maintain hope.

Attendee Results:

• Participants gain a working knowledge of what hope is and isn’t
• Participants understand the practices that they can use to foster environments of hope and include their stakeholders in those benefits.
• Participants develop strategies that foster individual belief in hope and give that person a realistic pathway towards actualizing that hope.
• Participants determine ways to anticipate and overcome threats to hope, including failures in and outside of the organization’s control.

Defining Organizational Values and Setting Expectations to Ensure Growth

Failure is Fun...damental

Have you messed up today? Failure is inevitable, yet we spend a lot of time and emotional energy trying to prepare for and avoid failure. This talk helps us to understand the role that failure plays in teaching us and informing our behavior, because failure is fundamental to growth. When we spent less time avoiding it, we improve faster because of the lessons in failure. By reframing failure as inevitable, we can prepare ourselves for it and develop resilience around these incidents. Instead of becoming hopeless when faced with the inevitable nature of failure, this talk focuses on how to identify the positive aspects of failure, from teachable moments to opportunities to build resiliency. By accepting the reality and inevitably of failure, we lessen its negative impact on us and open ourselves to meaningful and authentic growth. This talk will focus on how to build resiliency and navigate failure in the best possible ways. We all fail so we might as well fail greatly together.

Attendee Results:

• Participants gain an understanding about how failure impacts us emotionally, socially, professionally, and personally.
• Participants practice reframing and communicative strategies that accept failure and attempt to authentically find the positives in it.
• Participants develop an understanding of how the fear of failure decreases psychological and emotional flexibility and how to structure their organizational practices to promote courage, risk-taking, support, and flexibility.
• Participants connect failure to its impact on skill development so they can use that language in their mentorship and feedback.

Developing Resiliency and Emotional Awareness in Employees

The Power of Non-Zero Thinking: Understanding Anxiety and Making it Work For You

Anxiety is a part of life. And that’s OK! It can be very unpleasant, but it isn’t all bad, despite what our brains tell us. It may surprise you to learn that anxiety even has an evolutionary benefit. We spent a lot of energy trying to avoid anxiety or minimize it, but the true path forward isn't running from anxiety but rather embracing anxiety to allow us to grow. Anxiety can change our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and while it attempts to do so for the worst, we can use it to empower ourselves by embracing the power of non-zero thinking. There’s always a chance that something bad could happen, but by embracing that fact, we open ourselves up to other possible outcomes that are less negative and possibly even positive. This session will go through the psychological science of anxiety and the strategies that have been developed to manage it. We will also workshop how to implement those strategies at individual, group, and organizational levels to support everyone's growth.

Attendee Results:

• Participants gain a working knowledge of where anxiety comes from and how it impacts our bodies, thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
• Participants can connect the evolutionary benefits and function of anxiety to the modern workplace.
• Participants develop organizational and interpersonal strategies that make space for processing anxiety and accepting it as an outcome of effort, rather than attempting to vilify or diminish it.
• Participants connect with resources that give stakeholders individual tools to understand and manage their own anxiety.