Writer, entrepreneur, futurist and M.I.T.-trained rocket-scientist Dr. Cliff Kurtzman has given presentations, keynotes and workshops across the USA along with speaking excursions to Canada, Brazil, Israel, Netherlands, Germany, Japan and Norway, and to EO groups and Universities.

Over the past 22 years, Cliff has enjoyed a series of entrepreneurial successes, being named Entrepreneur of the Year by EO Houston after one of his businesses doubled its sales eight times in a one year period. In speaking to audiences, Cliff addresses how “dominoes” — disruptive world events, as well as the actions of those close to us — provide us with challenges that are often outside of our direct control.

As such “dominoes” fall in our lives, the question becomes…  will we be crushed as a Consequence of someone else knocking them over; or will we learn the Truths necessary to knock them over for ourselves in a manner that creates a desired future for our family and our business?

Cliff’s 10 Domino Principles provide a framework for taking control of our lives and businesses, navigating the present, and shaping an exceptional future, in a world filled with disruptive events. 

For business meetings, retreats, workshops, conferences, and seminars, Cliff delivers challenging, insightful and engaging content centered on how to gain an advantage by incorporating The Domino Principles into our lives.

Speaking Topics

• Holy Shit, What a Ride!!! — Bucket List Art and Science for an Extraordinary Life.  As soon as you start to pursue a dream, your life wakes up and everything has meaning. The people who have lived the most extraordinary lives didn’t do so by accident. They made it happen through tenacity and determination, and they celebrated each and every success along the way. Cliff starts the audience on a journey of planning and living a life full of exceptional experiences.

• Using the 10 Domino Principles to stay two steps ahead of the inevitable. When asked to explain why he was so successful, Wayne Gretzky once noted that a good hockey player plays where the puck is, while a great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be. Cliff explains the 10 Domino Principles and how they provide a framework that allows each of us to thrive and flourish by understanding how events happening today will impact our lives tomorrow; how to stay steps ahead of our competition; and how to steer clear of the forces in the world attempting to control our destiny and derail our dreams:

The 10 Domino Principles:

1. Deceptive Perceptions — “You must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.” — Richard Feynman

2. Determined Proactivism — Continually strive to be a cause of the future rather than a result of the past. The future can be better than the present, and you have the power to make it so.

3. Dance Passionately — Never stop dreaming of a better world, working to bring your dreams to fruition, and celebrating the gifts you already have in your life today.

4. Distress Potential — Recognize and take advantage of the fact that the greatest opportunities often come out of times of crisis and distress.

5. Developmental Psychohistory — While one cannot foresee the actions of a particular individual, one can sometimes apply the laws of statistics to large groups of people to predict the general flow of future events. Economic bubbles, mass hysteria, collective obsessional behaviors and “rational selfish behavior” can be driving societal forces whose repercussions must be recognized and anticipated.

6. Discerning Predictions — “Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” — Wayne Gretzky. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity, or of human ingenuity.

7. Disequilibrium Propagation — Understand how and why our world is constantly shifting from one state of disequlibrium to another. There is no normal anymore.

8. Differing Perspectives — Always look at each situation from multiple perspectives and understand how others with opposing viewpoints have reached their position. Curiosity creates opportunities.

9. Disaster Preparation — Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

10. Don’t Panic! — Keep your head even if all about you are losing theirs. Don’t sweat the little things, don’t put effort into trying to change things outside of your control, don’t stop believing in yourself, and don’t succumb to dysfunctional paralysis.  Never let fear dictate your future.

• Removing distortion and smokescreens from our lives. Cliff shows you how to identify the 55 techniques of faulty reasoning and distortion that people use when they try to convince us of something that isn’t necessarily true or factual, and how to use your knowledge of these techniques to your advantage in your business and personal life.

• Lying to ourselves. Domino Principle #1: Deceptive Perceptions, notes that “you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.” While the lies and distortions that others, including the media, tell us are harmful, often it is the lies and distortions that we tell ourselves that are the most dangerous and the hardest to recognize and acknowledge. Cliff teaches how to root out the distortions and self-deceptions in our own lives and learn how to set up and knock over our own chains of dominoes to create better and more fulfilling futures for ourselves and our families and businesses.

• Knowing where you are today, and where you are going tomorrow. Your journey to a happier, healthier and more successful future, for both yourself, your family and your business, begins with the self-awareness to understand who you are today, defining where you want to be tomorrow, and then setting up and knocking over a chain of dominoes to create your desired future.

• Understanding how events happening today will impact our lives tomorrow. Cliff provides strategies to take command of those aspects of our lives which we can control in order to realize chain reactions that will produce desired future outcomes.

• Recognizing the differing roles of moral, ethical, cultural, scientific and religious world views in our decisions and our lives. Some decisions and truths can be determined scientifically, while in other cases we must we rely upon our own value system to choose a course of action.

What others have said about Cliff’s presentations:

“Your presentation to ING was so well received last year that we would like to invite you to speak to another group of our general management.” — Simon H. van Otichem, ING Group, The Netherlands

“Thanks again for inviting me to your speaking engagement on Wednesday. I truly enjoyed it. I now understand why people pay you so much money to come and speak. You did a great job.” — Gary Remy, CEO, Bizopia (N.B. I’m not really that expensive!)

“Thank you for all you did at the conference. Your desire to make sure you contributed to the value of that seminar came through loud and clear in your presentation. And, it was also nice to actually meet you, the person. You’re a truly nice person.” — Nancy Roebke, Executive Director, Profnet, Inc.

Please use our Contact Form to inquire about having Cliff speak to your group.