Keynote topic
Change Management Keynote Speaker - George Stern
George Stern inherited a 115-person Jefferson County agency under pressure and rebuilt the operating model live – the win was the day the lines at the counter actually shortened. He is the keynote buyers book when the org has been transforming for two years with nothing changing at the front line. Audiences leave with an operating-model-first model of change.
George refuses to call a roadmap a result. He has run the actual turnaround – a 115-person public-sector agency, in plain sight, in an environment where the lines at the counter were the only honest dashboard. The keynote is the operating version of change: ship one front-line behavior change per cycle, debrief it weekly, retire one transformation workstream with no measurable behavior attached. The room books him because he has done this, not theorised it.
Or reach the team directly — GeorgeStern@clash.cc
Why the right voice
Why a former elected official who ran the turnaround, not the deck
George was the elected Jefferson County (Colorado) Clerk and Recorder running a 115-person agency. The operation was awarded the 2020 US Election Assistance Commission Clearinghouse Award and was profiled on CBS 60 Minutes in 2022. He is a Harvard Law magna cum laude graduate, Obama White House Counsel's Office alumnus, McKinsey alumnus, and an active volunteer firefighter at Aspen Fire Protection District. He is now CEO of G&P LLC, which acquired a mid-seven-figure US digital agency in January 2026 - so the change material is being practiced in private-sector operating context as well, not just talked about.
- Harvard Law
- Obama White House
- McKinsey
- Former elected official
“One of the most talked-about moments of the offsite.”Jeff Haars, VP, Amentum (NASA contractor)
On stage
The first five seconds decide the call.
A firehouse story that lands the same in your boardroom. George teaches emotional intelligence as an operating skill — pause, understand what’s actually happening, respond with clarity. Not about being soft; about not letting ego make the next decision.
What the room walks away with
Tools the audience uses the next morning.
The room leaves with an operating-model-first picture of change. One front-line behavior change shipped per cycle – named, measured at the level of the work, not the dashboard. One weekly debrief in the language of the floor – what shifted, what stalled, what we are retiring. One transformation workstream retired per quarter when it has no behavior attached – the most important and least practiced move in the model. Senior leaders leave with a way to talk about change that the front line believes. Operators leave with a debrief format and a behavior-change cycle they can run with their own team.
- 01
The Jefferson County turnaround as the working definition of change at the level of the work.
- 02
Ship one front-line behavior change per cycle, named and measured at the level of the work.
- 03
Run a weekly debrief in the language of the floor, not the language of the dashboard.
- 04
Retire one ' transformation ' workstream per quarter when it has no measurable behavior attached.
- 05
A test the room can apply on Monday - did the front-line move shift this month, yes or no.
The contrarian bit
Why ' transformation ' keeps stalling on Monday
Workstreams, swim lanes, RACI, milestones, dashboards. The deck looks decisive. The work doesn't move. The front line has seen this version three times in five years and has learned that the right move is to keep their head down and wait for the next reorg to dissolve the last one. Change becomes a category the team performs, not a thing they do.
George started at the Jefferson County counter. He inherited the agency under pressure, did not begin with a strategy deck, and rebuilt the operating model live – the kind of operation he had no interest in running unless it actually worked. The win was the day the lines at the counter actually shortened. That is the test. If the front-line operating move does not shift this month, the change did not land – regardless of what the dashboard says.
In the cycle after the keynote, the team counts differently. Workstreams stop being the unit; front-line behavior changes shipped per cycle are. The senior team retires one transformation initiative per quarter that has no behavior attached. The weekly debrief runs in the language of the floor. The dashboard starts agreeing with the team instead of arguing with it.
Questions
Change Management — booking George.
Yes. George reads the brief with the buyer – which workstream is two years deep, where the front line has stopped believing the programme – and adjusts the anchor scenes. A public-sector transformation offsite gets a different cut to an operational excellence summit or a manager cascade event.
Still deciding? Talk it through with the team.
Other topics George speaks on
- Generational Leadership Keynote Speaker - George Stern
- Leading Under Pressure Keynote Speaker - George Stern
- Firefighter Leadership Keynote Speaker - George Stern
- Government Leadership Keynote Speaker - George Stern
- Practical Leadership Keynote Speaker - George Stern
- Frontline Leadership Keynote Speaker - George Stern
Booking
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In-person, US · virtual & workshop formats on request · the team replies within 24 hours.
Back to George’s full profile“One of the most talked-about moments of the offsite.”— Jeff Haars, VP, Amentum (NASA contractor)
Represented by Clash Creation · clash.cc