Read Chad’s resume and you know he’s a rainmaker. A job creator, billion-dollar revenue generator, resilience innovator, change management leader, and successful corporate executive.
What’s not so obvious? He’s blind.
At age 21, Chad went blind from congenital retina disease; he’s since worked his tail off to shift his mindset from victim to visionary, the topic of his book and keynote speaking engagements.
“Blindness is a gift that was given to me,” Chad says. “Disguised in some really ugly wrapping paper.”
He tackled obstacles as opportunities, becoming the first blind executive to graduate from the Harvard leadership program, and developing software to do what Oracle said couldn’t be done. Now Chad teaches that same ‘I/we can overcome’ mindset to teams worldwide, entertaining audiences with his keynote presentations, while explaining the anatomy of resilience—providing tried and tested tools that empower people to emerge from setbacks stronger, sleeker and resolute to succeed.
Yet when Chad engages audiences, he makes it clear that it took a long time and lots of inner struggle to not let his blindness define him. He firmly believes the stories we tell ourselves can either keep us trapped or help us seize hidden opportunities for greatness.
Chad truly feels grateful now for losing his sight, because of how it has fueled him with passion and purpose, enabling him to transform adversity into advantage for so many. In fact, helping others with his book, speaking engagements or coaching isn’t just a job; it’s the reason he went blind AND emerged happier and more successful than before.
Chad’s direct and confident style, combined with a go-for-it inspiring belief system—he is an avid downhill skier and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner (for real)—has made him a high-impact speaker for leaders at companies like Google, IBM, Salesforce, GE and Microsoft.
He’d love to guide every person he meetes to see the world through a different lens, and be gifted an opportunity to improve their vision for themselves and the betterment of others.
