- Expert on Overcoming Obstacles & Navigating Change
- Bestselling Author of Vision-Mindset-Grit
- Former Financial Advisor and Member of the Million Dollar Round Table
Vision-Mindset-Grit
Get Ready to Experience a Powerful, Emotional and Life-Changing Presentation!
Whether your organization is working through change management initiatives for improved company performance, uncomfortable adjustments to existing leadership structure, company merges, or technology and internal upgrades, one thing is certain: it will be up to the individual team members to capture the company VISION, maintain the right MINDSET to work through the new transitions, and apply the daily GRIT needed to put those goals into action.
In today’s rapidly evolving marketplace many organizations are trying to maintain a winning culture as they deal with an array of business challenges requiring change. Perhaps you’re experiencing changes within your industry, have limited bench support, operational and support issues and budget cuts, or are experiencing cultural change, increased demands in the arena of goals, objectives and responsibilities. Whatever your challenges are, the true measure of success is how well you respond to adversity, change, setbacks and fear. Whatever belief system you employ must be powerful enough to conquer these obstacles and any other impediments to your personal and professional growth, or you—and your organization—will be left behind.
“After a year of considerable challenge and change, we invited Scott Burrows to address our leadership team. His presentation focused our team on setting their goals, especially when the journey is difficult. I recommend Scott’s presentation without reservation to any group that needs that extra boost to take that next step in their journey.”
CRAIG ANDERSON
Senior Vice President
VISION-MINDSET-GRIT
Leading Organizations Through Change
As audiences worldwide have discovered, Scott Burrows’ compelling story is the hero’s journey, providing what will be an unforgettable and lasting memory to inspire your audience to stand up to change. Using his physical paralysis as a visual metaphor, Scott reveals how to drive results using the same mental focus that helped him reinvent his life after a catastrophic accident left him paralyzed from the chest down. He will demonstrate there are no barriers or stop signs in life, just detours and workarounds, and he will provide your team members with the blueprint for success.
Through the power of storytelling, Scott will show your attendees firsthand how to apply the same timeless principles of Vision-Mindset-Grit that have had a profound impact in his life. Three simple yet powerful words that, when put into action, can absolutely help you conquer adversity and master change, setting the stage for developing cutting-edge ideas and leadership strategies that will benefit your entire organization.
Scott’s Compelling Story of Transformational Change Is the Hero’s Journey!
Scott Burrows is a top Motivational Change Management Speaker who teaches the concepts of Vision, Mindset and Grit worldwide using his life-changing story as the backdrop for organizational success. Three simple, yet powerful words that when put into action can help you and your organization stand up to any challenge, push the limits of what is possible and set goals that stretch the mind—even during times of change, uncertainty and fear.
By the age of 19, Scott was a star athlete and fierce competitor. He excelled in golf and track, was a college wide receiver at Florida State University for legendary coach Bobby Bowden, and a top-ranked kick-boxing Black Belt champion whose last fight was broadcast by ESPN.




During the height of his collegiate career, his life changed dramatically. On November 3rd, 1984, he survived a catastrophic automobile accident as a passenger in a friend’s car and broke two vertebrae in his neck that left him paralyzed from the chest down and diagnosed a quadriplegic. Told he would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, Scott realized his split-second decision to not wear a seat belt altered his course forever.
Despite his grim diagnosis, Scott astounded his doctors and refused to be sidelined. After six months of intense physical therapy at Craig Hospital in Denver, Colorado, he fought to stay alive while battling numerous life-threatening complications, including a pulmonary embolism. With the support of his family, friends and his Christian faith, Scott turned an impossible goal into a reality. He returned to college and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and had some fun along the way—competing again, this time, in a completely different sport. They call it full-contact wheelchair rugby, otherwise known as Murderball, a Paralympic sport that allowed him to compete with the best physically challenged athletes from around the world. Working as one, these people came together to expand their Vision and prevent their Mindset from becoming their biggest handicap.
After graduating from college, Scott’s served as a Financial Advisor in the Insurance and Financial Industry for Northwestern Mutual. He specialized in life and disability insurance planning as well as retirement, estate and wealth planning. In his 5th year, he hit a huge goal and qualified for the prestigious Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), the Premiere Association of Financial Professionals, which is a 100% commission-driven sales production award that fewer than 8% of his peers qualify for annually from more than 500 companies in 70 countries around the world.
At the pinnacle of his career, Scott experienced yet another setback, a second automobile accident. Although he was buckled in this time, new injuries forced him to RE-evaluate, RE-invent and once again RE-ignite his life by practicing and executing what he preaches.
During his nine-month recovery, Scott reminisced about the overcoming adversity speakers he heard at sales and leadership conferences. Their life-changing stories inspire others to chase their dreams regardless of obstacles or barriers. That’s when Scott decided he would make the tough decision to leave an industry he had so much passion and success in to pursue a speaking career that has taken him around the world.
Scott also took advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help expand his brother’s golf course fertilizer, chemical and equipment company into Southeast Asia by disrupting an industry and doing what the competition was unwilling to do — offer custom-blended fertilizers designed specifically to meet the needs of golf course fairways and greens based on individual soil tests. This expansion brought in an excess of 1.6 million the first year.
In Scott’s book Vision Mindset Grit!, his father defined those three empowering words in the foreword: Vision refers to your goals and aspirations, the endpoint you are seeking; Mindset is the continual mental preparation and adjustment needed to meet oncoming challenges; Grit is the day-to-day determination to persevere when you are too tired, too sore or too beleaguered to continue on.
Scott has inspired audience throughout the United States as well as Australia, Spain, Bahamas, India, Thailand, Bermuda, Costa Rica, Mexico, the Czech Republic and Canada, as well as to our soldiers at the Minot Air Force Base.
KEY PROGRAM Takeaways
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Scott's Clients Have Used These Alternate Titles:
- Thriving Through Changing Times
- Rise to the Challenge
- Triumph Over Change
- The Power of Tomorrow: NO LIMITS
- Stand Up to Any Challenge
- Rising and Thriving
- Transforming Limitations into Opportunities
- Vision, Mindset, Grit: Key Components to a Successful Strategic Plan
“This keynote sets the tone and stage for the entire convention. We look for someone who can inspire us, has a message that ties to our convention theme & industry, and who would motivate us. Scott delivered on these three key points and more! Scott was able to weave his personal story with lessons learned, strategies to overcome obstacles that come your way, and encourage all to never to quit because success can be just around the corner. Our audience was clearly captivated. A measure of success was that he received two standing ovations. Standing ovations rarely happen in our keynotes, and two have never happened before Scott. Working with Scott was a pleasure. He was available, communicative and generous with his time. He made sure he delivered what we were looking for in a keynote. I highly recommend him as a keynote speaker and would be happy to talk with you personally about our experience.”
LIZ WHITNEY, Director, Education & Meetings,
International Warehouse Logistics Association
“Sometimes the last speaker at a conference is faced with everyone looking at their watches and wondering about their flights to get back home. Scott Burrows changes that equation in every way. Not only are people glued to their seats, they are hanging on every word. His passionate story about overcoming the most difficult of life’s challenges is a must-see and must-hear for anyone that believes in ascending to the highest of mountains or reaching for the moon and the stars. There were few dry eyes in our audience when Scott was done, but there were many hearts and minds opened to the possibilities of what perseverance and belief in oneself can achieve. Scott Burrows delivers more than a speech about what he has overcome in his life, he brings a mindset that can change your life.”
“We recently launched a new division and were facing challenges and growing pains common in the start-up phase of many organizations; basic operational and support challenges as well as the challenge of being ‘first’ and having to establish a successful culture and foundation with limited bench strength to draw upon. Scott Burrows was definitely the right choice, and his personal story touched everyone. Scott worked with my management team and me to understand our business goals and challenges, and effectively paralleled these with his own experiences to illustrate how his approach could be applied to their personal challenges. He was effective in his delivery, and he provided them with the inspiration and motivation to continue breaking new ground, while establishing a winning culture in the process.”
“I could say that Scott Burrows simply ‘spoke’ to our buying group organization’s owners and senior partners, but actually, it would be better stated that Scott mesmerized this group of hard-to-impress folks on these topics that day! By diligently researching SMA before his speech, learning in-depth our purpose, practices, challenges and opportunities, and precisely aligning these with the myriad relevant aspects of his amazing life’s story, Scott drove home to all a message of seeing what is possible and good, overcoming all obstacles to get there, and winning! He left our audience standing, clapping and deeply wishing that he would stay with us a whole lot longer!”
CHRIS ROWE, Director of Marketing Services,
Strategic Marketing Alliance
“Scott Burrows did an excellent job delivering a very powerful and motivating keynote presentation at our global Finance & Operations team meeting in Bermuda. His message of Vision, Mindset and Grit resonated with our team in a tremendous way as Scott did an excellent job at not only speaking from his heart but also personalizing his message to touch on various challenges and initiatives that our team has been facing or focusing on. Scott’s story about how he has overcome tremendous challenges in life to achieve enormous success is relevant at both a personal and professional level and we all walked away with a greater sense of belief in ourselves as individuals and as a team.”
JAMIE FRASER, Chief Accounting Officer,
RENAISSANCE RE SERVICES, Ltd
“Scott Burrows has a story to tell. A moving story, one that will make your eyes well up, will make you come to your feet in support and will leave you with a message forever implanted in your brain. I had the pleasure of spending a few hours with Scott in the hours leading up to his presentations to two different groups that we were hosting over a weekend conference. Both groups have a slightly different vision and purpose. This is where he has exceeded any speaker I have ever dealt with. He “listened” to me over the conversations that we had and wove our message, our story into his presentation with a masterful way that one would have thought it was the only message he ever presents. The following day to a different cohort, he accomplished the same feat. It was a joy to listen to him, a greater joy to get to know him.”
HARVEY WEINGARTEN, DDS
The Commission on Dental, Competency Assessments
From Scott’s Blog
“The Advisors left feeling upbeat, motivated and confident that they could overcome their own challenges and the changes they are experiencing in the industry in order to grow their business.”

“Your presentation was heartfelt, motivational and inspirational; our customers walked away with a little different perspective regarding their business challenges and the change they are experiencing in the food industry. We could not have asked anything more of your keynote!! You are a true pro!!”

“Not only was Scott’s presentation heartwarming, inspiring and motivational, but a learning experience as well. If you ‘get fully into the moment’ of whatever experiences you may be facing, you can change the way you view that situation. You can see it as a chance to learn from the situation.”
