With the immense workforce challenges experienced in today’s shifting marketplace, companies must find a way to encourage employees to stay focused and resilient in the wake of our shifting economic crises. One way to meet this challenge is through an Inspirational Overcoming Adversity Resilience Speaker who will excite, engage and leave the audience with a lasting message that will bolster team spirit and teach practical tools for managing change. Scott Burrows is an impactful resilience speaker who will rally employees to challenge not only themselves, but effectively manage adversity with the mindset of a champion.
Inspire your Team with Resilience Speaker
Scott Burrows' Life-Changing Presentation!
“The Carestream experience with Scott Burrows was nothing short of extraordinary. He did not simply speak to our people, he transformed the way we think, and challenged us to reframe and purposefully examine where we are and where we want to be. The few moments when my eyes left Scott to see how our people were receiving him, I was moved by the extent of their engagement; eyes riveted, leaning forward, holding their breath, crying and laughing, riding his highs and lows with him. From my 40 years of experience in this business, I place Scott among the giants in this field.”
NEIL BRYANT
Vice President,
Sales Development, US&C
Resilience Speaker Scott Burrows speaks from experience as a person who has overcome enormous obstacles and produced unexpected success during times of catastrophic change. His undaunting spirit and three-pronged strategy of VISION, MINDSET, GRIT provide a great foundation and perspective-builder if your company is ready to introduce new initiatives into the corporate structure.
Use Scott’s motivational resilience keynote to underscore the value of taking the lead when things get tough, and finding ways to embrace fear and remove resistance surrounding change. Inspirational speaking events are also an effective way to support an organizations culture by offering examples and solutions to ongoing issues at the staff and volunteer levels.
Whatever challenges your company or association may face, the true measure of success is how well you respond to adversity, change, setbacks and fear.
The 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.
Scott’s Compelling Story of Transformational Change Is the Hero’s Journey!
Scott Burrows is a top Inspirational Resilience 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:
- Rise to the Challenge
- Anything Is Possible
- Triumph Over Adversity
- Stand Up to Any Challenge
- Rising and Thriving
- The Power of Tomorrow: NO LIMITS
- Thriving Through Changing Times
- How to Develop an Unstoppable Mindset
- Overcoming Adversity
- Don’t Stop Believing
- 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
“If living with success is easy and overcoming adversity is the true test of the human spirit, Scott Burrows passed the test with flying colors and went right to the head of the class. Scott’s presentation on Vision, Mindset and Grit is an extremely powerful, warm, enlightening and inspirational chronicle of an amazing man with a very active and passionate heart and soul. Scott exemplifies WILL and HUMANITY. Beyond the fundamental message of never giving up, Scott Burrows delivers multiple messages in his presentation that stimulate deep thought, raw emotion and bold energy to dig a little deeper and be a lot stronger. In 20+ years of hand-picking speakers to create very substantive impact with large and diverse audiences, Scott Burrows was hands-down, heads-up, eyes-welling and hearts-pounding one of the very best.”
JOEL DANDREA, CEO, Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association
“Scott Burrows addresses Registered Representatives and Agents eager to hear his story of overcoming adversity in ways that others could not imagine possible. Scott delivers an exhilarating and motivational presentation while simultaneously signifying that the much-debated Mind-Power relationship exists. I was introduced to Scott’s techniques to harness the astounding power of mind to influence one’s body. His message resonated with the entire audience, earned Scott standing ovations throughout his time on stage, and left many wiping tears off their faces in silence and disbelief. Scott’s sheer grit sends so many of us on a mission to pursue triumph over adversity and to make positive changes and not give up when things go wrong. Truly one of the best speakers I had the honor to listen to.”
JOSEF PIETRASZ, MBA, Farmers Financial Solutions
“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
“Exceeded my understanding to overcome adversity. He is a highly motivating speaker with an amazing life journey. Spectacular and jaw-dropping presentation.”
“Once he started his presentation, I was hooked. Such a moving and motivational session. Great way to end the conference. You could not have selected a better speaker or topic. Again, Bravo!”
“This was so powerful – excellent choice for the closing speaker.”
“Scott was a wonderful way to end our session. Just cannot get over what a positive person he is and full of amazing energy!”
ASHRM: American Society for Health Care Risk Management
“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.”
“Scott did wonderful job serving as the keynote speaker for our 2022 Annual Sales Conference. His presentation impacted our employees in such a positive and emotionally stirring manner that we have continued to hear comments such as ‘Best meeting yet!’ and ‘What an awesome event!’ Scott’s buildup and delivery grip the attention of the audience and pull them in by captivating their attention. We provided Scott with descriptive information about our company, and he took the time and effort to customize it by weaving it throughout his presentation, allowing our employees to relate to the message he was were sharing. This included using the D&M Leasing language and lingo our sales team utilize everyday while on the job. It was energizing, captivating, relatable, and astounding! We have booked many speakers over the years. Scott raised the bar and delivered the impact we were looking for.”
GREG BUELL, CFO, HERNCO (D&M Leasing Family of Companies)
“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 theme of this year’s meeting was ‘Believe,’ and Scott’s story blended beautifully with our meeting message. He seamlessly incorporated our client’s name, goals and other key information into his talk.”
JOYCE RUSSELL, President

“It was as though Scott had been working side-by-side with our General Agents, as he clearly demonstrated an understanding of the issues and opportunities they face.”
J. CRAIG COLLINS, Senior Vice President

“Scott took the information he gathered in our per-meeting call and wove it seamlessly into his message, which made it relevant to each and every person in the room.”
CHRIS POWELL, Senior Vice President
