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The Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau

A speakers bureau that represents the best original thinkers,
writers, and doers for speaking engagements.

Jamil Zaki Reveals How Disasters Shock Us Into Remembering Our Shared Humanity for The Wall Street Journal

Though some shoppers have been panic-buying toilet paper and sanitizer against expert advice, there’s a much bigger trend happening during this pandemic—empathy. In his latest op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki explores how COVID-19 has sparked a “global epidemic of kindness.”  

For every news story there is about toilet paper hoarding, there are about 10 more that describe people supporting one another during the coronavirus—heartwarming stories of people delivering groceries to their elderly neighbors, or restaurants pivoting to food relief efforts. “Disasters rip away the tidy fallacy of self-reliance and lay bare our utter dependence on each other,” writes Jamil Zaki, author of The War for Kindness. “They shock us into seeing our shared fragility, which is also our shared humanity. That’s why, in times of crisis, we are usually eager to help strangers, in what the essayist Rebecca Solnit has called a ‘carnival of compassion.’”

 

This type of altruism isn’t just helpful to our communities. It’s also beneficial for our individual health. Zaki writes, “We often think of altruism as a transfer, in which one person sacrifices to benefit another. But well-being is not a zero-sum game: When we devote our time and money to other people, we feel happier.” In other words, kindness can relieve stress, soothe pain, improve our mood, and generally keep us healthier.

 

Read his full article here.

 

To book speaker Jamil Zaki for your next event, contact The Lavin Agency, his exclusive speakers bureau.

The Winning Mindset: Introducing New Speaker Dr. Jonathan Fader

Increasingly, top-end companies and pro sports organizations employ behind-the-scenes performance experts who sharpen their teams’ mental skills for the task at hand. And among these specialists, Dr. Jonathan Fader is a first-ballot All-Star. As the performance psychologist for the New York Mets, he helps players overcome their mental hurdles and attain peak performance. And in his debut book Life as Sport, Dr. Fader applies his leading-edge insights from the world of sport to everyday living, with a focus on visualizing achievement, developing positive rituals, and seizing each moment. He believes that enjoyment is skill you can cultivate, and one that’s paramount to success. In anecdote-rich keynotes, Dr. Fader helps audiences become their best selves—in business, in sport, and in life.

Last October, the New York Mets won their fifth National League pennant and graced the World Series for the first time in 15 years. While fans and analysts praised the team’s on-field accomplishments, Dr. Fader’s off-field work may deserve some credit as well. But whether his client is an MLB team or an industry leader, Dr. Fader strives to bring out the absolute best in them, every time. “Sport psychology,” he says, “is the science of the high-performance mindset,” and it’s extremely useful for professionals in any field.

Confidence, motivation, concentration, performing under stress—these struggles aren’t unique to sport, and neither are Dr. Fader’s lessons. And even if nothing is overtly wrong with your performance, mental acuity can always be further honed. Through mindfulness—focusing our awareness squarely on the present moment—we can optimize our execution, and thus, our results. As Dr. Fader says, “Much like throwing a pitch or strength training, mental skills are always practicable and improvable.” Simply put, Dr. Fader makes people better at whatever it is they do.

Dr. Fader is a licensed clinical psychologist and the cofounder of the Union Square Practice for psychologists and psychiatrists. He is a certified consultant by the Association for Applied Sport Psychology and a longstanding member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers. In his popular Psychology Today blog, The New You, he reminds people that they can change for the better—and motivates them to do so. Dr. Fader’s writing is widely read: he’s been featured in TIME, NY Magazine, Men’s Fitness, and Shape, and has appeared on ESPN, CNN, CBS This Morning, Fox News, and Business Insider. In hopeful keynotes, brimming with optimism, purpose, and sincerity, Dr. Fader teaches us how to live life like a game—and how to win.

To book Dr. Jonathan Fader for a keynote on performance, motivation, and his fascinating new book Life as Sport, contact The Lavin Agency speakers bureau.