01
Become Who's Next
You're not done yet.
SPEAKER · ENTREPRENEUR · STRATEGIST
Become
who's next.
GROW ON PURPOSE.
MaryAnne Karstadt is a leadership speaker, entrepreneur, and strategist who challenges audiences to think differently about how they lead, grow, change, and respond to what comes next.
Keynotes · Workshops · Leadership Experiences
The through-line
Change on purpose.
You will be changed either way. The question is whether you will participate?
Experience changes us continually,
through success, failure, and loss.
The opportunity is to participate in
who we become, instead of
leaving it to circumstance.
One of MaryAnne's signature ideas
Look under the surface.
MaryAnne grew up working beside her father managing man-made lakes. She would watch him kneel at the water's edge, sink his hands into the water, close his eyes, and wait. When she asked what he was doing, he said:
“I'm feeling under the surface for what is about to happen.”
Leaders do the same thing in reverse - what if the thing you can see isn't the thing you need to change?
Treating the visible problem gets temporary results.
Look underneath for what created it...
On stage
A body of work about growth, change, and what we become next.
MaryAnne speaks on leadership, growth, change, identity, resilience, reinvention, performance, and execution - and tailors the through-line to the room she's in.
02
Change on Purpose
You are changing... Like it or not. The question is - will you participate?
03
LOOK UNDER THE SURFACE...
The visible problem is rarely the whole problem.
04
WHEN YOUR STRENGTHS BECOME YOUR CEILING.
Sometimes what got you this far is exactly what's keeping you here.
05
KNOWLEDGE DOESN'T CHANGE YOUR LIFE. EXECUTION DOES!
Insight only matters when it changes our actions and impacts our outcomes.
From the boardroom to the stage
Ideas hit differently when they've been lived.
She's not a career speaker working from a borrowed framework - she's an entrepreneur and operator who brings lessons forged in real businesses to the stage.
National stages
- NASDAQ ·New York CityKeynote
- NEW YORK TIMES CENTER ·New York CitySolo interview on life, business & leadership
- NEW YORK TIMES CENTER ·New York CityAuthor panel on self-discovery, relationships & community
- TEMPE CENTER FOR THE ARTS ·Tempe, AZDebX Speaker Showcase
“When we saw 'lake and water management' in her bio, a few of us worried it would feel narrow for a room full of executives. Ten minutes in, MaryAnne had the whole audience mapping her diagnostics onto their own operational messes, and by the closing Q&A people were still lined up to talk to her.”
“She didn't lecture us on leadership theory. She showed us what it looks like to run a system you didn't design, and to finally ask what invisible rule is driving it. Two of my VPs pulled me aside afterward and said it was the first outside talk in years that changed how they run their Monday meeting.”
See her on stage
Watch the room change.
For your audience
Break through plateaus instead of working harder inside them.
MaryAnne doesn't want an audience inspired for an afternoon.
She wants them seeing differently when they walk out of the room.
See the pattern
Recognize what's actually driving recurring results instead of repeatedly treating the visible symptom.
Question the rule
Identify the assumptions and invisible rules shaping decisions, behaviors, and limitations.
Lead with clarity
Respond with greater awareness and less reactivity when the pressure is on.
Create real change
Find the leverage underneath the problem - where changing one pattern can change far more than one outcome.
She turned mess into message, experience into wisdom, and a lifetime of becoming into something she could hand to the rest of us.”
It was such an awesome experience to see MaryAnne on that stage and give such an amazing, inspirational talk. MaryAnne has a gift for speaking.”
Knowledge doesn't change your life.
Execution does.
Operator. Entrepreneur. Pattern Strategist.
The belief is obvious. The rule that created the belief is not.
She doesn't teach leadership from the sidelines.
She lives it.
Tempe Center for the Arts
I've built things and started over when the ground fell out from under me.
My desired outcomes only came when I stopped trusting the obvious answer and I started asking better questions:
What am I not seeing?
What rule am I living by?
Is this true for me today?
Who do I choose to become from here?
Bring MaryAnne into the room
Transformation waits only for a single conversation.
Keynotes
Big Ideas and Practical Shifts,
For All Audiences.
Breakout Sessions
Focused sessions to explore and apply the ideas.
Half & Full-Day Workshops
Interactive and hands-on, built for deeper application.
Leadership Retreats & Offsites
Intimate settings for leaders ready to look underneath.
Small-Group Coaching & Masterminds
Moving insight toward implementation.
Panels, Discussions & Moderation
Candid conversation, leading the room and making space for others.
Let's start a conversation
Bring MaryAnne to your next event.
Tell us what you're creating, and if it's a good fit MaryAnne will personally follow up with next steps.