Mike Oster
Mike has been providing motivational and inspirational presentations to groups and organizations for over 20 years. His background includes working for a Fortune 500 company, serving as an elected official, owning and operating private businesses, serving on a number of volunteer boards and wearing the uniform of the United States Army through his service in the South Dakota Army National Guard. Mike is a combat Veteran serving in both Operation Iraqi Freedom in Kuwait and Iraq and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. He recently retired after 36 years of service at the rank of Brigadier GeneralThrough service in these positions, continued professional education in performance excellence, over 35 years of marriage to his wife Jo, and raising four kids, Mike has acquired a tremendous background in leadership, teamwork and motivating people. He understands what it takes to build and maintain a positive attitude and how to motivate those around you to be better than they believe is possible.Mike's philosophy of, "when we become better at who we are, we become better in all we do", drives his passion to spread a message of self improvement and helping people realize their maximum potential. He uses humor and real-life experiences to ensure participants connect to the message and learn to recognize and avoid the "negativity traps" that affect our attitudes. His overall mission is to assist individuals and organizations to perform at such a level that Excellence Becomes Their Average!
Most Requested Programs
It Starts With Attitude (Motivation/Inspiration)
During this presentation Mike reminds us that while we can't control the world around us or even the events that directly impact us, we can control how we perceive and react to those events. he reminds us that the most important thing that impacts our performance, personally and professionally, is our attitude and that this is our, and only our, choice. Participants learn teachings and tools that help us go positive instead of negative when life "happens" and see opportunities where others see issues.
First You Give... (Communications)
During this presentation participants identify their primary personality traits and communications preferences. They will identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and needs of those traits and understand some of the challenges they face in relating to others. Most importantly, participants will be provided with the tools to assess and identify the personality traits of others around them and understand how to communicate and relate to them in the way they want to be communicated with which will expand trust and the level of proficiency of their team.
Leadership, On Purpose-With Passion (Leadership)
This program walks leaders through a program asking them to review their assumptions that drive their decisions and adjust the lens through which they currently see the world around them. It reinforces the importance of their commitment to a Vision, Mission and established goals for their personal and professional lives and ensures the establishment of values. This program is always tailored to the organization based on a thorough assessment and understanding of the current needs of their organization and its leaders and can be provided as a keynote or a more thorough multi session approach.
Reconfigger your Tigger (Stress/Resilience)
This program discusses the actions, beliefs, and practices that create a resilient mindset by attacking the truth, that we have, are, or will go through something incredibly challenging in our lives and we will face failure. Participants discuss the need to exercise the mental and emotional muscles that impact their resilient agility to not just survive, but thrive through the challenges in their life. They will learn the practices of Identifying Wins, Putting Life Events in Perspective, seeing Issues as Opportunities, and Developing an Attitude of Gratitude to best position themselves to "bounce back up" when faced with life's challenges.
Testimonials
“Mike Oster’s keynote on The Power of Positive was perfect for the 2022 SoDak SHRM State Conference. He brought a high level of energy, and engagement to our conference! Our attendees loved his keynote, and many attended his follow-up breakout session Building Your Road Map to Success. Both sessions brought so much positivity to our conference; we are so glad we booked him!” - SoDak SHRM
"Mike is very genuine and his commonsense approach to thinking positively reminded me how much control I have over how I approach my job, my coworkers, my family and my friends each day. Mike not only delivers his message with passion, he connects to the audience through his use of stories and humor. I talked to several other attendees who said Mike was the best speaker at the conference." - Watertown Municipal Utilities
"Mike’s session, It Starts with Attitude, to close our conference was exactly what we needed for our broad audience and the intent for our training. Attendees were engaged and the energy was so positive! Attendees have since told me they could have listened to him speak all afternoon and he started in the morning!!! I would highly recommend Mike Oster as a speaker for any type audience. He was prepared and he went over and above what was expected!!” SD Department of Human ServicesMike absolutely crushed it! He is a powerful speaker and has a natural talent to draw people in. He is funny, tells great stories that create an impact and knows how to engage a crowd. He is a master at his craft and and we are so blessed we go to have him for our development training." - Black Hills Federal Credit Union