Joe Roberts
Speaker Expertise
Addiction, Mental Wellness, Resiliency/Change
Joe Roberts is deeply committed to the idea of prevention and safety outside of his typical industry conference appearances. Here is the Skid row CEO speaking at Summerland Middle School sharing with students the importance of "the little things" and how good choices can positively change the trajectory of their lives.
Joe Roberts aka The Skidrow CEO is an expert on resiliency and change. Having experienced both catastrophic failure and extraordinary success Joe teaches how to overcome the roadblocks that get in the way of high performance. He helps companies and individuals redefine what’s truly possible by confronting limiting mindsets. Participants at Joes’ events leave inspired and moved to action.
What is most amazing about Joe is that in 1989 he was living on the streets of Vancouver as a homeless skid row addict. Through perseverance, determination and his resilient human spirit, Joe pulled himself out of darkness and despair, to become a highly respected business and community leader.
Joe’s business solutions have made millions of dollars for his clients, across a variety of business sectors. It is from this experience that Joe draws when addressing Fortune 500 companies, professional associations and organizations internationally.
Joe is also the Executive Director and Co-Founder of The Push for Change Foundation, a charity advocating for youth homelessness prevention. Joe walked 9064KM across Canada from May 1, 2016 until September 29, 2017, pushing a shopping cart to raise money and awareness about youth homelessness.
Presentation Description & Topics
From Skidrow to CEO “It’s About the Little Things”
- Understanding WHY human beings make mistakes and unsafe decisions is one step closer to building safer work environments and communities.
- Why is the “safe” message always unpopular?
- Why do we think the rules “are for everyone else but me”?
- Who else is impacted by our poor choice? Did our family sign up for this?
In this keynote, Joe teaches why we do the dumb things we do and shares the dire consequences. Walk with him as he takes you back to his first poor choice and how that lead to a journey filled with degradation and despair. Dangerous step after poor choice landed him on the streets of East Vancouver in the 1980’s homeless and broken.
The story does not end there, fortunately. Choosing in 1991 to walk a different way, Joe shares how right decisions and safe, healthy actions lead to success and leadership.
Joe’s unique style of inspiration combined with his legendary dark humour will have you shed a tear while making you laugh ‘til it hurts.
In this session you will learn:
- The payoff for breaking the rules – it’s cool acting dumb!
- Why the little things matter so much
- How the right example is our greatest weapon
- How mentorship and leadership changes lives
- The importance of paying it forward
A few of Joe’s Safety Clients Include:
- ASSE Regional Meeting Saskatoon
- Cenovus Energy
- Consulting Engineers of AB
- DiVal Safety Summit
- Edmonton Police Services
- Enform Petroleum Safety Conference
- Flint Energy
- Manitoba Safety
- Pulp and Paper Safety Conference
- Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association
- Saskatchewan Safety Council
- United States Consulate General