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Charlene Wheeless

Powerhouse Communications Leader Providing a Keen Understanding of the Challenges Faced by Businesses and Corporate Leadership

Charlene Wheeless, renowned communications leader, navigates the leadership landscapes with empowering insights. As Principal VP of Corporate Affairs for a $40B global infrastructure company, she drives communications, risk management, and sustainability. With captivating storytelling, she inspires audiences worldwide to choose "CHOICE not CHANCE" for transformative leadership and personal growth.

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Bio

Charlene Wheeless is a distinguished communications leader and keynote speaker, renowned for her insightful perspectives on navigating the evolving landscape of businesses and corporate leadership. With a career marked by empowerment and growth mindset, Charlene brings a depth of experience that resonates with audiences worldwide.

In her roles, including as Principal Vice President of Corporate Affairs for a $40B global infrastructure company, Charlene has spearheaded internal and external communications, reputation risk management, issues management, and sustainability efforts. Her expertise extends beyond traditional corporate realms, encompassing a profound understanding of leadership dynamics and personal growth.

On stage, Charlene captivates audiences with her authentic and empowering storytelling, drawing from her experiences as a black female executive and cancer survivor. She emphasizes the power of choice in shaping one's outlook and achieving transformative outcomes. Charlene's profound message of choosing "CHOICE not CHANCE" resonates deeply, inspiring individuals and organizations to embrace intentional culture-building and leadership development.

Charlene is also a respected author, with her book "You Are Enough! Reclaiming Your Career and Your Life with Purpose, Passion, and Unapologetic Authenticity" serving as a guiding light for those seeking a more purposeful approach to personal and professional growth. Her work underscores the importance of reclaiming one's life with purpose and passion, offering a blueprint for success grounded in authenticity and empowerment.

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Keynotes

Featured Keynote

Create a Culture of Choice Not Chance
As leaders grapple with the dynamics of an ever-shifting corporate culture, Charlene Wheeless shows them how a focus on Choice Not Chance is a powerful framework for creating vibrant and sustainable workplace cultures of breakthrough performance and fulfillment.

With more than three decades of experience in leadership, corporate affairs, communications, and operations, including her role as Principal Vice President of Corporate Affairs for a $40B global company, Charlene proves to be a revolutionary guide for leaders and teams who want to transform.

This keynote provides a pivotal and future-forward look at what companies can do to strengthen their capabilities in many areas while at the same time taking a giant step ahead of their competitors when they address all that she shares.

Key Takeaways:
- Six essentials of intentional leadership, compassion, and the powerful results that occur when you have an open mind when solving your challenges.
- The importance of understanding humanity and how there is courage and bravery in showing weakness both personally and professionally.
- Choosing choice over chance matters and how quiet quitting needs to be viewed differently.
- Your superpower can be seeing people for their value in a sometimes challenging and unforgiving world, rather than believing in the misleading perceptions that are sometimes automatically thrust onto them.

Unleashing the Power of Self-Agency to Perform Your Best

Unleashing the Power of Self-Agency to Perform Your Best

Embracing the concept of self-agency has never been more crucial in the corporate world than it is today. As leadership speaker Charlene Wheeless shares, "We are not born winners and losers; we are born choosers." This powerful mantra sets the tone for an exploration into the essence of self-agency. As we navigate a workplace where 2024 will see more Gen Z individuals than Baby Boomers, it is more evident that traditional leadership models are becoming obsolete. If leaders expect to lead the way they were led, it will not bode well for their organizations. The answer lies in helping every individual embrace opportunities and be seen.

Personal agency stems from the choices we make and the profound realization that we indeed have choices. In a world filled with options, the ability to make informed decisions is a skill that sets high-performing individuals apart. The dichotomy of choosing to lead life or letting life lead you is at the heart of this transformative journey.

Charlene Wheeless is unlocking the spirit to self-agency – where choices become opportunities, authenticity becomes strength, and courage becomes the driving force behind your success.
Lessons From Being Invisible/Making the Invisible, Visible

Lessons From Being Invisible/Making the Invisible, Visible

Charlene shares valuable insights into the experiences and challenges faced by people who feel invisible or marginalized in their workplaces and communities. Here are some of the key lessons from her speech:

Acknowledge the problem: The first step towards addressing the issue of invisibility is to recognize its existence. Many people who feel invisible may not even realize that they are being excluded or ignored. Therefore, it's crucial to acknowledge the problem and take steps to address it.

Speak up: When you feel invisible, it's easy to remain silent and to let others dominate the conversation. However, it's essential to speak up and share your ideas and opinions, even if they are different from others. By doing so, you can challenge the status quo and make a meaningful contribution.

Build relationships: Wheeless emphasizes the importance of building relationships with others, especially those who are different from us. When we connect with people who have different perspectives and backgrounds, we can learn from their experiences and gain new insights.

Seek out allies: Having allies who support us and advocate on our behalf can be a powerful tool for overcoming invisibility. Wheeless suggests seeking out mentors and sponsors who can offer guidance, advice, and opportunities.

Be resilient: Overcoming invisibility is not easy, and it may take time and effort to achieve. Therefore, it's essential to be resilient and to persevere, even in the face of setbacks and challenges.

Charlene's keynote on "Lessons from Being Invisible" highlights the importance of recognizing and addressing the problem of invisibility in our workplaces and communities. By speaking up, building relationships, seeking out allies, and being resilient, we can overcome this challenge and make a meaningful contribution to our organizations and society.