Speaking & Workshops

Motivate Your Group with a Powerful
and Inspiring Speaker

From keynote talks and conference plenary sessions to leadership facilitation and customized workshops, Maria van Hekken engages her audience and brings her own special style, focus and competence. She is always present in the moment and makes a deep and welcoming connection. Her presentations provide exceptional content about leadership development that encourage everyone to go for more to achieve their goals.

Making an Impact on Any Kind of Audience

Whether you’re a corporation seeking to motivate employees at a regional meeting, an organization looking for a team-building workshop or an academic institution planning to incorporate a leadership speaker at an annual event, your group is Maria’s top priority. You can count on her to tailor the experience to meet your specific needs. Audiences appreciate how Maria provides the right mix of intelligence, wit and encouraging insights in her choice of material.

Presenting Diverse Speaking and Workshop Topics

Some of the most requested include:

  • Leading with YES: How To Achieve It (and How NOT To!)
  • Your Extraordinary Story: Living Your Life the Way You Really Want
  • The Balancing Act: Practical Strategies to Maintain a Professional, Personal and Family Life that Works
  • Leading with YES: 7 Essential Steps Guaranteed to Create Positive Change
  • The Leadership Challenge® Workshop
  • Leveraging Generation Capital
  • Can You Hear Me Now? The Power of Positive Communication
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Insight from Maria

“I bring my personal coaching style to every speaking engagement. My goal is to truly wake people up to their most authentic selves with interactive, thought-provoking ideas. I want each member of an audience to walk away with at least one idea that intrigues and excites them.”

Positive Results from Our Clients

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  • “Maria van Hekken is a knowledgeable professional who has good instincts in working with our employees. She understands the issues and develops a realistic plan for improvement. Her approach to leadership development is very effective especially in working with those employees who have issues in the workplace related to interpersonal skills, timeliness and accountability.  Maria utilizes a combination of formalized assessments as well as one-on-one coaching to evaluate test results, develop an action plan and follow up on performance.”

    Rich Giordano, Vice President, Regional Operations Manager, Covanta Energy
  • “Yes2Yes doesn’t take a one-size approach when it works with companies. Maria van Hekken listened to our needs and developed a course of action to deliver results. For example, she worked closely with a manager who had lost sight of the company mission and what he was there to do. Strong at building confidence throughout the coaching process, Maria was instrumental in changing negative behaviors that were getting in the way for success. As a result, she gave us a revitalized manager with a renewed focus who was eager to engage in positive, new ways.”

    Emily Ashworth, Vice President and CIO, American Water
  • “Working with Yes2Yes has made a significant and positive impact on numerous leaders at various levels in our company. Maria has a unique ability to come into our facility and relate to everyone she works with. She creates the kind of trust required to help our managers build on their strengths, identify what is holding them back and then makes them accountable to proactively deal with the challenges and problems they face.”

    Joe Volpe, Facility Manger, Covanta Energy
  • “Maria’s positive insight, methods of engagement and ability to bring out the best in everyone she coaches truly distinguishes her in the consultant world. Yes2Yes has a simple, straight forward and reliable approach that has been instrumental in effective leadership development with our employees and has been particularly successful in developing many of our highly technical staff.”

    Amy Enders, Director, Learning & Organization Development, American Water
  • “Maria presented to our group of 30-plus senior executives. With flair, energy and a trustworthy soul that connects with each person, she guided our participants in defining skills, values and passions that will sharpen each person's efforts for improved leadership performance. Maria engaged and motivated each person, and at the end of a worthwhile, creative workshop, drew most participants to approach her for more insight and advice. She is a delight.”

    Paul Brickman, Chair, DC Chapter, Marketing Executives Networking Group
  • “The return on investment (ROI) of my coaching experience with Yes2Yes has been clearly demonstrated. My renewed enthusiasm for my job and my development both professionally and personally have already been noticed by my supervisor and my co-workers. I credit to this to the coaching process. As a direct result, I have been able to differentiate myself with my energy and commitment and have been given the opportunity by our CEO to lead and participate in activities and initiatives that will positively impact the results of the company. The coaching experience has provided great value to me and my company. I know that if calculated, the ROI of this experience would be far more than 100%!”

    Mike Reynolds, Vice President, Farm Credit East
  • “A year to the date after our first meeting, the results Maria promised in her original proposal to accomplish came about. Yes2Yes executive coaching is definitely worth the investment!”

    Kevin Dickey, Agency Owner, Allstate Insurance
  • “Maria’s coaching toolbox is endless. I appreciate the great tools and resources she utilizes that give me tangible actions to move in a meaningful direction.”

    Debra Weiss, Vice President, Global QA, Shire Pharmaceuticals
  • “Maria listens well and hears messages that are underlying. Our interactions were powerful. In one work setting, Maria helped me get to the core of what the workplace challenges were and develop strategies for overcoming them. It led to understanding my own skill set and the personal challenges in addressing my issues. Maria was good at drawing things out of me, analyzing and connecting the dots. Through her coaching, I learned how to talk through and work out a strategy for setting priorities, and utilize an effective time management matrix.”

    Pier Rogers, Director of Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management, North Park University
  • “I have made extraordinary advances as a leader that would have never been possible without someone as positive, encouraging -- and insightful – as Maria van Hekken. Her unwavering faith in me, her consistent sense of calm and her razor sharp intuition inspires authenticity and confidence. This has propelled me to new levels of leadership and confidence. Most importantly, thanks to Maria’s coaching, the gap between who I want to be and who I show up as (on most days) is narrowing. She’s the leader’s leader.”

    Kathy Kiernan, Senior Vice President & Managing Partner, APPI Energy
  • “I felt an intuitive understanding from the beginning… Maria’s experiences and all she shared brought a sense of clarity to me. Her perspective was above the plane -- not just practical, but a “mojo” that had a real impact. She perceives items that are below the surface, that are very important to identify. She really helped me dig deep down to the source of the issue. Her coaching methodologies are effective, engaging and interacting –- and bring out the truth.”

    Gwen Agard, Executive Director
  • “Maria will assist you to connect personal values with professional goals, and do it in a way that helps you build on your strengths. She's an "out of the box" thinking coach. You don't have to be in the same city - we've done extraordinarily successful coaching by phone!”

    Amanda Lipnack, Project Manager, QunetiQ
  • “Maria held up a mirror for me to see my potential. With her guidance and support, I was able to overcome my self-imposed limitations and open myself to the possibilities being offered to me. My supervisor is impressed and delighted with my new-found confidence and has come to rely on my judgment and advice. Before, I had a wealth of knowledge and experience that I felt reluctant to offer. Now I freely participate in management decisions to the degree I enjoy! Thanks to Yes2Yes, I’ve achieved my dream position and I’m succeeding beyond my expectations.”

    Gail Alexander, Chief of Staff, Office of the Executive Dean
  • “I truly have grown from my experience with Yes2Yes. When I first started Maria’s coaching program, I was at a crossroads in my professional life. Utilizing a very structured, yet flexible process -- Maria helped me identify the areas that make me happy and that I have passion around. I’m now applying those values and ambitions to my life, and moving toward my life dream.”

    Patti Woolworth, Sales Executive

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