Steve Haffner

Steve Haffner Speaking Topics

• Problem Solving Is Tricky Business - Crack your toughest problems by unmasking your brain's hidden illusions

  Problem solving is an essential ingredient for success. Unfortunately, we often take an unstructured approach to solving problems—primarily relying on our own intuition and experience to find solutions.

  As a former professional magician, my job was to disrupt the audience’s problem solving mechanisms to prevent them from discovering the solutions to my tricks. I learned how to engage the brain’s subconscious weaknesses and shortcuts and how those same mental illusions thwart problem solving in our work as professionals.

  In this program, audience members become better problem solvers by learning proven techniques for mitigating our hidden assumptions, misperceptions, biases and other cognitive obstacles. Steve engages attendees by illustrating how magicians create the impossible by interfering with their audience’s problem solving processes.

  After this session attendees will be able to:

  • Ask the questions that are essential for success at each step of the problem solving process
  • Use the “Climb Up/Look Down” method to identify core and associated problems
  • Examine and adjust their current approach to gathering and assessing information
  • Apply a more systematic approach to their problem solving process

• From A-ha to TA-DA! - Magically level up your performance by breaking through your invisible mind traps

  Each of us has amazing performance potential, but to reach it we must recognize and break through the hidden illusions that are barriers to our success.

  In this motivational and entertaining program, learn how to achieve “TA-DA!” moments of success and self-improvement by recognizing and overcoming the false beliefs and stories that can trick us into negativity, fear and settling for the status quo.

  Audiences will be able to:

  • Learn the secrets of attention control to better defeat distraction and misdirection
  • Prioritize and leverage the massive advantages of high trust relationships
  • Step out their comfort zone by recognizing and mitigating the status quo bias

• Disruptions, Deceptions and Decisions - Elevate your decision making during times of stressful disruption and change

  Research shows that the stress from major disruptions has adverse effects on our thinking, focus, and ability to make great decisions. In times of major change and uncertainty, the induced stress amplifies our cognitive illusions and distortions, making it difficult to think clearly and make optimal decisions.

  These illusions also negatively influence our ability to adapt and embrace change at a time when adaptation is vital.

  In this thought-provoking program, Steve uses magical illusions to demonstrate how the mental distortions that make magic tricks look real also affect how we think and decide in our work as professionals. He provides tactics for recognizing and overcoming their effects so we can perform at our decision making best, especially during times of disruption.

  Key take-aways from Disruptions, Deceptions, and Decisions:

  • Learn how disruption misdirects our attention and how we can re-direct it.
  • Discover how to overcome over-reliance on habitual behavior and the status quo.
  • Explore decision making strategies that produce better results under stress.

• The Trust Advantage - Discover the astonishing dividends of your greatest asset

  Whether you are struggling with employee engagement and retention, productivity issues or getting more business, many of the problems faced by professionals and businesses stem from a lack of trust. Elevating trust will make an enormous difference in every aspect of your work and life. The problem is that our safety-seeking brains prefer mistrust over trust.

  In this insightful and entertaining program, Steve, a former professional magician, gives a new perspective on trust. He shows how magicians build trust with an audience that doesn’t trust them, and how the brain’s subconscious illusions, distortions, biases and misperceptions create mistrust.

  Most importantly, Steve provides strategies for overcoming these common illusions that lead to mistrust.

  Key Take-aways include:

  • Learn strategies to recognize and overcome the illusions that create mistrust and suspicion.
  • Build trustworthiness by keeping your resources aligned with your goals, priorities, and values.
  • Explore how to avoid the “false certainty” bias that subverts your credibility.