Biography

Susan Salgado is a consultant, speaker, and thought leader whose expertise lies at the intersection of organizational culture, leadership, and customer experience.

Susan partnered with famed restaurateur Danny Meyer for 15 years as Director of Culture and Learning for some of New York City’s top-rated restaurants. In this role, she created and implemented the company’s leadership training programs, which were a fundamental component of its success in growing its culture throughout significant growth, including creating and scaling the Shake Shack brand.

As a popular keynote speaker and advisor to corporate leaders, Susan draws on her expertise in assessing, building, and sustaining culture through effective leadership to help organizations continually and intentionally evolve their culture over time and across geography, particularly during rapid growth. Speaking clients include Hyatt, JPMorganChase, Wisconsin Restaurant Association, Ford Motor Company, Assa Abloy Group, Barron’s, Coca-Cola, Novartis, Health Connect Partners, Edward Jones, and Marine Hotel Association.

As the business world pivoted during 2020 and 2021, Susan responded to the critical issues of The Hybrid Workforce and The Future of the Workplace with tailored keynote speeches to industries as diverse as automotive, pharmaceutical, financial services, and manufacturing.

In addition to her Ph.D. from NYU-Stern School of Business, Susan holds a BS and an MBA from Lehigh University. Susan has been a contributor for Inc. Magazine, is a TED speaker, co-founded the NYC chapter of Conscious Capitalism, and was named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business.

Susan lives in NYC with her husband and daughter.

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THRIVE ONLINE: BUILDING ENGAGEMENT IN A VIRTUAL WORKFORCE

Workforce engagement is challenging in the best of times. During this pandemic, remote or virtual work has been forced upon organizations unexpectedly and challenged even the most engaged teams to bolster cultural connections and foster even greater teamwork. When the pandemic is over, many organizations will choose not to return to conventional workplaces – in fact, two-thirds of employees surveyed would prefer to remain virtual. In this keynote, Susan applies some of her best practices in employee engagement to the virtual workplace, focusing on the cultural impact of remote or virtual work and the leadership strategies that have the greatest impact on employee engagement in a virtual world.

REDEFINING LEADERSHIP IN THE CONTEXT OF CULTURE

Leadership alone doesn’t drive results—it’s the combination of leadership and culture that leads to exceptional outcomes. So whatever you seek to achieve, the leaders in your organization must be equipped with the skills and mindset to create a caring and accountable workplace where employees will be engaged and want to win. This talk focuses on the impact of leadership on culture, and leaves audiences with tools they can use to create caring yet driven teams.

BEYOND PING PONG TABLES: CREATING AN UPLIFTING CULTURE THAT DRIVES RESULTS

Every company has a culture, whether or not you have consciously designed that culture. The question is: Do your leaders understand your culture, and can they leverage your culture to achieve their goals? This talk focuses on creating a culture that yields a sustainable competitive advantage by aligning your values with the way your company operates, and the way your teams behave, to achieve outstanding results.

HIRE HARD, MANAGE EASY: BALANCING COMPETENCE AND CULTURAL FIT

Across industries and in businesses of all shapes and sizes, leaders are facing the same challenge: How do we hire the right people for our company? How do we know they will perform? How do we go beyond the candidates’ “canned” answers to really understand if there’s a cultural fit? And, once we get that fit, how do we make the right employees want to stay? This talk will leave your audience with the tools to create a blueprint for recruiting and retaining the best employees for your business.

HAPPY EMPLOYEES, HAPPY CUSTOMERS

It’s common sense: Take care of your staff, and your staff will take care of your customers. But many companies fail to recognize the impact of employee morale on the customer experience. That’s why this talk focuses on creating winning teams who deliver memorable, thoughtful customer experiences by first fostering a caring work environment where employees feel truly valued and appreciated.

HAPPILY ENGAGED: STRATEGIES FOR CREATING A TRUSTING, DRIVEN WORKPLACE

The majority of America’s workforce is actively disengaged. The antidote to this problem isn’t as complicated as you might think. The key to creating a workplace where employees go above and beyond begins with leaders who care. This keynote focuses on simple strategies for recognizing and addressing employee apathy on your team, to help convert passionless employees into ambassadors of your brand.

HOSPITALITY AT WORK: CREATING INIMITABLE ADVANTAGES THROUGH EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS

What is hospitality? While most people think first of the hospitality industry—hotels, restaurants, and travel. But this talk focuses on an old-fashioned notion of hospitality that drives a competitive advantage in any business: caring for others. We all know that the best memories are rooted in feelings, and in this talk, you’ll learn how to create memories that last a lifetime—through your employees.

Testimonials

Rated one of our top speakers, Susan delivered a powerfully engaging talk about adopting strategies to put hospitality at the center of the business model. We couldn’t agree more that it’s all about how you make your customers feel.
– MARK GALANTE, SVP, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, PURE INSURANCE
Susan delivered an amazing keynote during our first virtual sales meeting. We were thrilled with how much time she spent with us before the meeting, learning about our company, talking to employees, and listening to executives speak before her session. Her message was perfectly aligned with our focus on creating exceptional culture, and we received amazing feedback from our attendees – they all thought she knocked it out of the park, as did we!
– JESSICA MCGRATH, CMP, EVENTS MANAGER, ASSA ABLOY DOOR SECURITY SOLUTIONS

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