Keynote speaker · Former NFL player · Entrepreneur · Operator · National TV contributor
Leadership is Service.
The leaders worth following are the ones holding the rope. I help teams become people others can hang their weight on.
Trusted on the platform, and seen on national television.
100+ national television segments since 2014. Four Leadership books. Two TEDx talks.
The promise
Most leadership talks hand a room a slogan and a slide. I hand them a question they cannot put down. If you were hanging off the side of a cliff by a rope, who would you want on the other end, and are you that person for anyone else? A team that answers it honestly stops keeping score and starts covering for each other. That is the whole job.
The signature keynote
Rope-Holders
My high school football coach asked me the rope question at my first practice. It changed how I lead, how I hire, and how I build. It has done the same for rooms full of executives, and one company made “holding the rope for each other” a pillar of their 2026 strategic plan.
See the keynotes
“His theme of “holding the rope for each other” struck a powerful chord. That message has had a lasting impact on our organization and is now one of the three core pillars guiding our 2026 strategic plan.”
Who books Chris
Companies and conferences.
Culture, leadership, and the human edge as AI takes over the execution.
Faith and education.
Schools, universities, athletic departments, and faith-based organizations.
Trades and operators.
The people who keep the country's infrastructure running.
Chris holding the first Bible in his collection: a 160-year-old pocket Bible carried by a Union soldier in the Civil War, given to him by his brother on his eighteenth birthday.
The collection
On my eighteenth birthday, my older brother John handed me a 160-year-old pocket Bible carried by a Union soldier in the Civil War. The moment it touched my hands, I felt the courage of a man who believed faith and values could hold him together in complete chaos. I have spent the years since gathering more than two hundred of them, carried by soldiers on the front lines of every American conflict from the Revolutionary War to today. Nearly every one carries the soldier's name written inside. Some still hold service records tucked in the cover. Many are marked up front to back, verses underlined, prayers and dates written in the margins in the soldier's own hand. Held together, they are a record of steady faith kept in the hardest hours a person can face. The collection is the whole argument, made in objects. You lead by what you are willing to carry.
More about ChrisThe networks call him.
Fox Business · Fox News · CNN · MSNBC · HLN
From a Fox Business regular to the TEDx stage, the same message travels across every network that has put him on air. Watch a few minutes and you will know exactly what your room is getting.
See the mediaOne soldier's Bible. One leadership lesson. Every week.
A short weekly note built around a single artifact and the person who carried it. No noise, no pitch.