Jim Axelrod

Jim Axelrod Speaking Topics

• 10,000 Days: Getting the Most Out of What You've Got Left

  A recent phone call left me re-evaluating my vision for my life. A college roommate was recounting his recent numerous and lengthy vacations. “Don’t you ever work?", I asked. “I did the math," he replied. "If I stay healthy, I’ve got about 10-thousand days left, and I’m not squandering one of them.” Since we are the same age, the same calculation held for me. If all goes well, I’ve got about 27 years left. In a talk designed to prod audience members into examining how to maximize the quality of whatever quantity they are granted, I will share my process for squeezing the most satisfaction out of my remaining chapters. Take the lessons acquired through the first two-thirds of your life and apply them to the last third.

  Questions asked and answered:

  • What are the most important lessons you've learned in life? When have you succeeded? When have you failed? What lessons can you take from your biggest failures and apply going forward?
  • What are your non-negotiable rules of life?
  • How would you define “enough?” Why is that important?
  • How proficient are you at listening? At empathizing? At apologizing?

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• Crossing the Bridge: How to Make Sure-Footed Walks Through Challenging Terrain

  "Twenty-two years ago, I had a harrowing, near-death experience covering the Iraq War. Crossing the Euphrates with the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division, our humvee stalled on a bridge. We fell under Iraqi fire. For the first time in my life, I made a close acquaintance with the idea of a bad choice costing me my life. Getting to the other side that day has shaped every day since. The lessons learned have never been more valuable navigating the extraordinary challenges in my field of journalism – lessons that are transferable to anyone’s professional setting, as well as their personal lives.

  Questions asked and answered:

  • What is my decision-making process for critical decisions in professional and personal settings?
  • What are the questions I should be asking myself to reach desired goals?
  • What are my obligations to teammates, colleagues, and those closest to me as I’m plotting a course for myself?

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• Two Ears & One Mouth: The Art of Listening

  After 36 years in journalism, I have one rule that I try to adhere to more than any other. I've got TWO EARS and ONE MOUTH. I try to use them accordingly and proportionally. I've conducted thousands of interviews over my career. I've sat down with everyone from George W. Bush to Bruce Springsteen to victims of horrific trauma. Sometimes I've had five months to prepare for the conversation. Sometimes, I’ve had five minutes. But always the fundamentals of informative and compelling exchanges are the same: great conversations flow from great connections -- and great connections rest on foundations of trust and safety. The most reliable way to create that environment? Listen twice as much as you talk. Using examples culled from pieces I've reported for CBS NEWS, I will take an audience through the fundamentals of active listening -- with results that have a wide range of applications from sales to internal communications.

  Questions asked and answered:

  • How do you prepare for important conversations?
  • What are your fundamentals of creating people being seen and heard?
  • What are the keys for sustaining important lines of questioning?
  • How do you ask tough but necessary questions?
  • What is the value of silence in conversations?

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• Managing Others: Exiled from Planet Me

  For 35 years, I was an award-winning TV Correspondent. Emmys, DuPonts, a Polk, a Peabody – they were all proud bullet points of a resume built by my time living on Planet Me. That’s what I only half-jokingly call the landscape a network reporter navigates when producing stories – where almost everything revolves around the needs of the correspondent, and a support team handles everything from transmitting the video back to headquarters to making travel arrangements. Then, in late 2023, I was asked to take on the challenge of re-building and re-launching a storied CBS Franchise. EYE ON AMERICA had grown stale and poorly-executed. Retooling it required me to not only report my own stories, but manage a unit charged with producing four longer-form, Eye on America stories a week for the CBS Evening News. Over the next year, my exile from Planet Me taught me some key lessons about building a highly-engaged, super-motivated, and passionately-committed unit. In the process of learning how to manage, I became a better reporter - and better human being. My reflections on the process would provide informative and constructive presentations for corporate meetings where improving workforce productivity and morale are a focus.

  Questions asked and answered:

  • How do you make people you lead feel seen and heard?
  • How do you implement change?
  • How do you respond to criticism?
  • How do you deal with generational differences in expectations and attitude?

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