Adam Markel

In today’s fast-moving and often unpredictable business environment, franchisees face mounting pressure to stay competitive, lead high-performing teams, and deliver consistent value to customers—often while adapting to evolving systems, market demands, and workforce expectations.

This keynote introduces the concept of strategic resilience—a proactive capability that empowers franchisees to absorb disruption, adapt intelligently, and come back stronger. Unlike reactive crisis management, strategic resilience equips franchise leaders to confidently navigate uncertainty while creating a culture of adaptability and shared ownership across their teams. With a focus on actionable strategies tailored for the franchise model, this session helps participants tap into one of their greatest advantages: a built-in support system of franchisor resources, collaborative community, and field manager intelligence.

Through engaging stories, relevant data, and simple frameworks, franchisees will walk away with practical tools to lead change effectively, build trust with their teams, and turn resilience into a competitive edge—both locally and across the system.

Key Learning Objectives Include:
● Master Strategic vs. Operational Resilience: Understand how both are essential to sustained success—and how to apply each in the franchise context.
● Lead Adaptively: Discover how to foster team resilience through psychological safety, agility, and real-time problem solving.
● Leverage the Franchise Advantage: Learn how to harness the unique strengths of
franchising—community, support, and field leadership—to scale best practices and drive results.
● Build a Culture That Bends, Not Breaks: Leave with tools to embed adaptability into daily operations, team dynamics, and long-term growth plans.

This keynote delivers a strategic shift for franchisees to embrace resilience not just as a response to change, but as a proactive tool for long-term success. By embedding strategic resilience into leadership, team dynamics, and everyday operations, franchisees can unlock greater consistency, adaptability, and impact at the unit level. With Adam’s powerful insights, franchise leaders will leave inspired, equipped, and ready to lead with confidence—leveraging the strength of their community, the support of their field teams, and the adaptability that drives performance across the system.

For franchisees, the pressure to consistently deliver results while managing teams, meeting brand expectations, and adapting to change is relentless. From rising labor challenges to shifting customer demands, franchise owners are being asked to do more with less—often while trying to protect their own energy and avoid burnout among their teams. The key to meeting these challenges head-on and sustaining success? Resilience by design.

In this high-impact keynote, Adam Markel reframes resilience as a strategic advantage—not just a personal trait, but a teachable, scalable system for helping teams stay energized, engaged, and adaptable. Designed with the franchise model in mind, this session provides practical tools to help franchisees cultivate team-wide resilience, lead with confidence, and build cultures that perform at a high level—even under pressure.
Adam draws on decades of experience—as a CEO, attorney, and lifeguard—to offer real-world stories and tools franchisees can use immediately. He also shows how to tap into one of the greatest assets in franchising: the built-in support system of field teams, peer franchisees, and shared best practices. By embedding resilience into the everyday operations of a unit, franchise leaders can drive performance while creating workplaces where people want to work—and stay.

Key Learning Objectives Include:
Lead Through Change, Don’t Just React to It: Learn how to overcome resistance and guide your team with clarity during uncertainty and transitions.
Build Holistic Resilience: Understand how physical, mental, and emotional well-being support sustainable success for both leaders and their teams.
Use Well-Being as a Performance Strategy: Discover how prioritizing energy and wellness can actually unlock greater productivity, creativity, and retention.
Maintain Momentum Without Burnout: Develop energy management habits that help your team stay engaged and effective, without running on empty.
Shift from Surviving to Thriving: Reframe setbacks as growth opportunities—and equip your team to bounce forward, not just bounce back.

This keynote delivers a strategic shift for franchisees to embrace resilience as a leadership advantage that drives results. By designing team culture and operations around well-being and adaptability, franchise leaders can reduce burnout, boost retention, and create a thriving environment at the unit level. Adam’s actionable insights and system-focused approach leave franchisees empowered to lead with confidence and resilience—leveraging their community, field support, and teams to future-proof success.

For franchisees, change isn’t just a reality—it’s a constant. From shifting consumer preferences and staffing challenges to evolving brand standards and market dynamics, franchise owners and their field teams must be more than reactive. They must be Change-Proof—capable of navigating disruption with confidence, sustaining performance under pressure, and adapting quickly to seize new opportunities.
In this empowering keynote, Adam Markel delivers a resilience framework purpose-built for the franchise environment. Drawing from his extensive experience as a business leader and bestselling author of Change Proof, Adam equips franchisees with practical tools to future-proof their mindset, strengthen team performance, and lead with clarity—even when the path forward is unclear.

With relatable stories and easy-to-implement strategies, Adam shows how resilience is more than a buzzword—it’s a growth strategy. Franchisees will learn how to prevent burnout, create a culture of collaboration and trust, and transform uncertainty into innovation. Most importantly, they’ll learn how to leverage the full strength of their franchise system—including the insights of field managers and the support of their broader community—to turn change into a competitive advantage.

Key Learning Objectives Include:
Turn Change into a Catalyst: Break through fear of the unknown to unlock creative thinking, problem solving, and innovation.
Prevent Burnout Before It Starts: Spot early warning signs and implement practices that sustain energy and morale across your team.
Build Everyday Resilience: Develop simple, repeatable habits to help yourself and your team perform at a high level—no matter what’s happening around you.
Lead a Culture of Support: Learn how to foster a “Got Your Back” mindset that strengthens team trust, accountability, and collaboration.
Leverage the Franchise System: Discover how to make the most of your built-in support network—from franchisor tools to field managers—to stay agile and ahead of the curve.

This keynote delivers a powerful mindset shift for franchisees—transforming resilience from a reactive response into a daily advantage. By cultivating Change Proof habits across every level of the business, franchisees can lead teams more effectively, avoid burnout, and navigate challenges with confidence. Adam’s insights will leave audiences energized, aligned, and ready to turn disruption into opportunity—leveraging the full strength of their franchise system to fuel long-term success.

In the fast-paced world of franchising, where unit-level success hinges on team performance, customer experience, and operational consistency, one factor rises above the rest: culture. Franchisees across industries are facing real pressures—recruiting and retaining great talent, preventing burnout, and leading teams that stay motivated in the face of constant change.

This keynote introduces the Got Your Back (GYB) Blueprint—a practical and proven approach to creating a culture of trust, accountability, and mutual support at every level of your franchise. When team members feel safe, seen, and supported, they don’t just show up—they contribute, adapt, and stay.

Adam Markel shares how a GYB culture isn’t just good for morale—it’s a strategic advantage. Rooted in the principles of collaboration, resilience, and psychological safety, this talk equips franchisees with tools to lead more effectively, reduce turnover, and build thriving team cultures that become magnets for top talent. And importantly, it helps franchisees tap into one of their greatest assets: the power of their system—from field managers to fellow owners—to scale what works and build community across locations.

Key Learning Objectives Include:
Create a Culture of Trust: Learn how to lead with vulnerability and accountability to build team-wide trust and ownership.
Attract and Retain Talent: Discover how culture can be your secret weapon for recruiting top talent—and keeping them.
Spot and Prevent Burnout: Identify early signals of burnout and implement team practices that support well-being and productivity.
Boost Engagement with Purpose: Align team efforts with shared values and a sense of belonging to increase performance and loyalty.
Leverage the Franchise Ecosystem: Harness field intelligence, peer support, and franchisor resources to amplify success across units.

This keynote delivers a practical, people-centered blueprint for franchisees to reimagine team culture as their greatest advantage. By building trust-driven teams and fostering a “Got Your Back” mindset, franchise owners can reduce turnover, elevate performance, and create thriving environments where people want to work—and stay. Adam’s insights will leave audiences empowered to lead with heart and strategy, while leveraging the full power of their franchise system to scale a culture of success.

AI is no longer on the horizon—it’s here. And for franchisees, the question isn’t if it will impact their business, but how. Whether it’s smarter scheduling, streamlined operations, improved customer engagement, or enhanced team communication, AI has the potential to make day-to-day franchise operations more efficient, less stressful, and more profitable.

But with innovation comes uncertainty. Many franchisees and their teams are navigating real concerns—Will AI replace jobs? Will it add complexity? Will it erode the human side of service? In this practical and energizing keynote, Adam Markel helps franchise leaders replace fear with understanding—and anxiety with action. By blending insights on resilience, change leadership, and emerging technology, Adam equips franchisees to lead their teams through disruption and into a new era of innovation.

Participants will learn how to foster a culture of openness, adaptability, and trust—while also leveraging their franchisor’s tools, field support, and community to scale smarter, not harder. This keynote is designed to help franchisees create future-ready teams that embrace AI with curiosity and confidence—not confusion and fear.

Key Learning Objectives Include:
Demystify AI for Franchise Teams: Understand how tools like automation and machine learning are reshaping the way franchise units operate—from back-end systems to frontline service.
Empower, Don’t Replace: Learn how AI can enhance human performance—helping staff reduce stress, avoid burnout, and focus on high-value tasks.
Improve Well-Being and Work-Life Balance: Explore how AI tools can streamline time-consuming tasks and support healthier, more sustainable work rhythms.
Build Resilience Around Change: Help your team embrace uncertainty, build adaptability, and move through resistance with clarity and purpose.
Lead Innovation from the Unit Level: Discover how franchisees can champion AI adoption in a way that aligns with brand standards, local team needs, and community expectations.

This keynote delivers a mindset shift for franchisees—reframing AI as a tool for empowerment, not disruption. By combining resilience strategies with real-world applications of AI, franchise leaders will leave equipped to guide their teams through change with clarity, care, and confidence. Adam’s practical insights help franchisees build innovation-ready cultures that work smarter, lead stronger, and thrive across the system.