Session Description

In today's workplace, employee engagement alone is no longer enough. HR executives are being asked to build cultures that can adapt, lead, and perform through uncertainty, disruption, and constant change.

This session introduces the EPIC framework as a strategic leadership development model for strengthening workforce readiness and organizational resilience. Participants will explore how Excellence, Perception, Inspiration, and Compassion can help HR leaders move beyond measuring engagement to shaping the behaviors, mindsets, and leadership practices that drive sustainable performance.

The session connects EPIC principles to business priorities, talent strategy, culture, change leadership, and executive influence.

This talk challenges participants to rethink HR's role from program management to strategic people leadership and equips them with practical questions they can use to guide stronger decisions, develop adaptive leaders, and build a more purpose-driven workforce during uncertain times while sustaining trust, alignment, and organizational momentum.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:

• Evaluate the limitations of traditional employee engagement approaches and identify strategic people indicators that better connect workforce behavior, leadership capacity, and organizational readiness during uncertainty.
• Apply the EPIC framework as a leadership development model for aligning HR strategy with business priorities, culture, change demands, and the organization’s mission, vision, and values.
• Develop one executive-level HR action step that uses EPIC principles to influence people-management practices, strengthen adaptive leadership behavior, and support a more resilient, purpose-driven workforce.

About the Speaker

Matthew R. Kutz (Ph.D., BCC) is a Clinical Professor in Florida International University and President of the World Federation of Athletic Training & Therapy. A Fulbright Scholar in the Medical Sciences and former Visiting Research Fellow at Gold Coast University Hospital, he also currently holds an adjunct appointment at Griffith University’s Business College (Australia). A TEDx speaker and Distinguished Fellow of the National Academies of Practice, he created the Contextual Intelligence Profile™, used globally across Fortune 500 firms, universities, associations, government agencies, churches, and NGOs. He is an award-winning educator and author of multiple books and scholarly articles on leadership and contextual intelligence.