Kathy Dempsey
Kathy Dempsey, award-winning author, international keynote speaker and change expert, said her career was launched in the board room of Chattanooga's Memorial Hospital.
Ms. Dempsey, president of Keep Shedding! Inc., a speaking, training and consulting company that is headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., visited Chattanooga over the holidays.
Over 100,000 people from organizations such as Verizon Wireless, Mayo Clinic, and Honeywell are utilizing her Shedding Philosophy to create change ready organizations, she said.
Asked how this all began, Ms. Dempsey said, “I remember the moment and the spot in the board room of Memorial Hospital on July, 29, 1998, where I had a conversation with colleague David Mann whose pet lizard died because it didn’t shed its skin. This brief interaction launched Keep Shedding! Inc. and the powerful metaphor became the cornerstone our shedding philosophy. Lizards grow by shedding their skin; if they don’t shed, they die! If humans and organizations don’t grow, they die! Shed or You're Dead!”
Author of seven books including her most popular book, Shed or You’re Dead: 31 Unconventional Strategies for Growth and Change, she is the recipient of a Writer's Digest International Book Award.
She is the contributing author for two of the New York Times Best Selling Chicken Soup for the Soul books.
Ms. Dempsey was awarded the prestigious “Top 5 Healthcare Speaker 2014” designation by Speaking.com, one of the country’s most prominent speaker’s bureaus.
She was a Top 10 Finalist for North America's Next Greatest Speaker, and she achieved the highest earned speaker’s designation in the world, the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) which is held by fewer than seven percent of speakers worldwide.
Ms. Dempsey grew up in Chattanooga, graduated from Erlanger Nursing School and UTC. She is the former director of organizational development for Memorial Health Care System.