Shannon Huffman Polson

“Shannon Polson scored 90% top two box! That is the highest score for all of our sessions over the two-day period. There were glowing verbatims as well.”

Shannon is a polished, professional, and dynamic speaker on issues related to grit and purpose. She elegantly draws on her military experience to build practical applications for people from all walks of life. Everyone from attendees and resource providers to agency leads and the planning team were deeply moved by your presentation.

What a powerful message. Having Shannon as our keynote speaker to kickoff our National Sales Meeting was exactly the uplift and encouragement we needed to start the week. Shannon was engaging, thoughtful and commanding as she shared her experience of being a female in a male dominated organization. The entire room was tuned into the message and it was inspiring to say the least!

BLOWN AWAY! As an employee at McKesson, I had the opportunity to hear Shannon speak and I was truly blown away! Shannon's ability to take her military and corporate background and not only make it relatable, but truly captivate her audience was unlike any speaker that I've ever experienced. Her "face the wind" to rise analogy is something that still sticks with me in my day-to-day life. Don't think twice about hiring Shannon! You won't regret it!

Shannon was and absolute star, helping my team through the most challenging time in our business. She was inspiring, her words resonated, and she left everyone wanting more. Brilliant storytelling combined with fantastic ways to learn about True Grit. Ten out of ten is not high enough marks.

“With her message of intersecting passion and purpose, and choosing mindset every day to take on challenges, Shannon provided the ‘wow factor’ that we strive to deliver to our members — who lined up literally by the hundreds to meet her after the presentation.”

The Grit Institute Workshop "From Surviving to Thriving" Key Results - Attendees reported "life-changing aha" moments and the course received an NPS score of 100(!) with the comments and insight to back it up. I can't think of a better time in recent history when we, as leaders, have such a visible opportunity to demonstrate grit and resilience. Three of our employee resource groups, the Intuit Military Network, Intuit Women's Network and Tech Women at Intuit collaborated on a two day workshop with Shannon and the Grit Institute last month. Recognizing the opportunity to help our fellow employees in such worldly uncharted waters of recent events, we hypothesized that our teams wanted to move beyond the stagnation and paralysis of today's challenges and really move from merely "surviving" to "thriving." A lighthouse, in uncertain times, can guide the way. An opportunity we all have as leaders. We partnered with Shannon to develop a customized course that reflected our companies core values and provided tangible, immediate practices to finish 2020 strong and kick off 2021 even stronger. I most highly recommend Shannon and the Grit Institute if you are looking for a leadership workshop to help inspire and motivate your teams. Continuing education in leadership is an investment in your people and an investment in your organization. Thank you, Shannon!

Shannon led my community of Female CFOs in one of the strongest, most participated events of 2020. Shannon's energy, professionalism and absolute passion was infectious and left all the women in my community wanting to push farther in their careers and in their position as leaders. Thank you Shannon for all you do!

As the CRO of a high growth software security company, we are consistently focused on developing a strong company culture. As part of this transformation, we had the honor of hosting Shannon to be our Key Note speaker for our FY'23 company Kickoff. The presentation has already had an impact company wide in terms of getting people aligned with vernacular and mindset. Shannon's ability to tell a gripping story from real life experience and deliver practical skills for daily application is second to none. One of the key requests from my side was to not only deliver a motivation speech, but to train and coach the organization on defining a path to purpose and establishing a growth mindset through consistent application and grit. She nailed it. The result was alignment and another step closer to a unified culture. Thank you Shannon for an incredible introduction into the institute and we look forward to continuing our journey.

Dynamic, riveting, impactful and inspiring fall short in describing Shannon's leadership sessions. She spoke at our Company Kick off and had me in the cockpit of an Apache right there with her. Heart racing to make a critical decision with conviction - trusting your training, your team, your helicopter's performance and your weapon system. It's that preparation in rehearsals that builds confidence to execute. There are similarities in business to learn from her experience, to launch your team to drive to mission critical outcomes. Very inspiring!!