Jake Wood
Jake Wood is the Executive Chairman of Team Rubicon, a global nonprofit he co-founded in 2010. He is also the CEO of Groundswell. Additionally, Wood writes and speaks frequently on topics of leadership, and organizational culture.
Price range
- $50,000
Expert
- Adversity
- Celebrity
- CEO
- Hero
- Inspirational
- Leadership
- Motivation
- Peak Performance
- Teamwork/Teambuilding
Experience
- Athlete
- Military
- Nonprofit
- Sports
-
About
Jake grew up in Bettendorf, Iowa. While he always had the desire to join the military, Jake instead accepted an athletic scholarship to play football at the University of Wisconsin.
In 2010, following four years in the Marine Corps, Wood organized a team of veterans and doctors to head to Haiti following the devastating earthquake.
After several weeks running medical triage clinics in Port-au-Prince, Wood and his cofounder, William McNulty, returned to the States and incorporated the effort as a nonprofit – Team Rubicon.
Under Wood’s leadership, Team Rubicon has become one of America’s most celebrated nonprofit organizations. A decade into its work, Team Rubicon has over 125,000 volunteers, responded to disasters in over 700 communities, and raised nearly $250 million for its work.
In addition to its impact on the ground, Team Rubicon is widely known for its innovation and unique culture. The organization was named the “Top Nonprofit to Work For in America” by Nonprofit Times, and has twice been an Inc. Best Places to Work honoree.
In 2018, Jake received the Pat Tillman Award for Service at the ESPN ESPYs
-
Video Clips
-
Topics
THE ONE & THE NINE
For every 100 people in a typical organization or on your team, there are 10 people who shouldn’t even be there, 80 who at their best have a neutral impact, 9 who perform exceptionally, and one who is a true leader capable of taking command and creating a winning team or culture. This reality is forcing organizations to rethink what they know about leadership, change management, and risk. Those that can adapt will thrive, while those that refuse change will flounder and fail. Jake gives organizations the framework for becoming a better leader and building more agile organizations. Using his own remarkable journey as an Athlete, Marine Scout Sniper, and co-founder of Team Rubicon, Jake shows how you can find and build the team needed to win life’s battles and become the “one” others look to.
CONQUERING CHAOS
The world is fast-moving and full of uncertainty. No situation demonstrates this like the battlefield, which is why the US military developed VUCA, a framework for understanding – and defeating – chaos. VUCA, representing Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity, helps leaders define the challenges they confront and how best to conquer them. Listeners will learn how Vision, Understanding, Clarity, and Agility interact to help teams thrive in chaos, whether in the boardroom or the marketplace. Wood’s experiences as a Marine Sniper in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as an entrepreneur who has built the fastest-growing disaster response organization in America, provide him with compelling real-life stories to draw upon that help listeners understand the key lessons of Conquering Chaos.
CROSSING THE RUBICON
Jake Wood will take listeners on his journey from college football’s largest stadiums, to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, to the founding and development of America’s fastest-growing disaster response organization, the highly acclaimed Team Rubicon. Audiences will be captivated by rich storytelling and compelling visuals and will feel as if they are alongside Jake in disaster zones around the world. Each participant will be left inspired to cross their own Rubicon, irrevocably committed to tackling what’s most important in their life.
-
Testimonials
1 person has recommended this speaker
“Wood inspired the hell out of them. Flat out one of the best speakers I have seen in my lifetime. Period.”