Mary Kelly

Dr. Mary Kelly is an internationally renowned author and keynote speaker on leadership, productivity, and business growth. In 21 years as a Navy intelligence and logistics officer, Mary trained more than 40,000 military and civilian personnel.

She has spent 25 years active in the Navy leading multi-national teams throughout Asia. She was an intelligence officer specializing in Asia and Russia, an HR director, a chief of police, and a professor at the Naval Academy. Her Ph.D. is in economics, and she specializes in development. Mary is the author of 11 books on business growth and leadership.

Programs | Keynotes include:

[Presentation length 45-75 minutes/ Also available for full-day training sessions]

Why Leaders Fail and the 7 Prescriptions for Success

Thousands of leadership programs tell you how to be a great leader. Far fewer delve deeper into the surprisingly common mistakes supervisors, managers, and even CEOs unknowingly make that derail their team’s effectiveness and productivity. Using real scenarios and examples collected through their combined years of leadership and management expertise, Mary Kelly and Peter Stark examined data from over 100,000 employee surveys to pinpoint the 7 most common reasons some managers fail while others are so successful.

Whether in your first year of management or your 30th, Why Leaders Fail shows participants hidden pitfalls and how to avoid them. The program also outlines specific actions that ensure success. Based on the book of the same title, this content-rich, data-based program is also entertaining and full of actions that participants can use to further develop their leadership skills, outcomes, and organizational morale.

• Gain insight into behaviors that may be sabotaging the loyalty of your direct reports.
• Understand why your top talent may not be performing up to their potential.
• Gain tools to help you align team goals with the organizational mission. – Gain awareness of how you are perceived by your direct reports, peers, and supervisors.
• 49 actionable prescriptions for success.
• Free access to a personalized leadership assessment to identify your leadership strengths and weaknesses.

FutureNomics for Associations

What Associations Need To Do to Be Invaluable in 2025 Mary is the bridge between economics and leadership. She has several interactive leadership programs, and her keynotes are full of actionable takeaways.

Her program, Futurenomics: An Economic Snapshot and What To Do Next, gives leaders and managers economic information in a fun and informative way, as well as leadership recommendations to improve productivity and profitability. It is VERY different, and audiences love it. Mary’s programs capitalize on her experiences in the Navy as an intelligence officer with Top Secret Leadership and Why Leaders Fail and the 7 Prescriptions for Success.

Mary’s programs are most popular with organizations and industries that value economic information that is presented in a useful and entertaining way, such as credit unions, banks, insurance companies, and medical practices.

Master Your World:

10 Leadership Strategies to Improve Productivity, Profits, and Communication Leadership is creating a vision as well as executing the strategy. Leadership is also why people, and companies, succeed or fail. Some people believe leadership is limited to the people at the top, but real leadership happens at all levels in every organization. True leaders strategically plan and implement long-term programs to take advantage of talent and increase morale throughout the organization.

Everyone benefits when leaders apply three core techniques and then refine them with seven critical applications. Engaging and immediately applicable, this inspirational program is packed with templates and tools so leaders can achieve optimal results.

Learning Outcomes:

• Learn what most employees are not getting from their leaders and managers that they need to be more effective.
• Implement actionable items to create cohesive teamwork and better engage those around you. – Improve personal and professional productivity with less stress.
• Discover how to best use your networks and relationships to further your influence and your business.
• Find the keys to being happier and more productive at work (and at home) by applying the Master Your World techniques.

Mary’s keynote also include:

• A.R.M.E.D.
• Top Secret Leadership
• Military Leadership You Need Now
• Leading the Future Workforce
• Leading Change
• Leading Business Growth
• 360° of Leadership – Steering Around the Icebergs
• Leading Communication: Stop the Barking
• Leading Profitability in the New Economy