Keynotes & Presentations
Customized for your event
Jude is on a mission to help more leaders elevate the performance of their team and bring out the best in others.
A Highly Engaging Speaker
on strategy, leadership, teamwork & culture
Keynote speaker
Moderator for panel discussions
Workshop facilitator
Speaking from Experience
- Jude Rake is the founding principal of JDR Growth Partners and brings over four decades of real-world experience building and leading businesses to create lasting economic value.
- He has served in senior leadership roles at iconic companies like PepsiCo and SC Johnson, and has also helped transform family-owned and private equity-backed companies such as Fellowes and Recycled Paper Greetings.
- Jude has successfully led teams across a wide range of industries and functions, consistently driving meaningful improvements in workforce engagement, cross-functional collaboration, leadership accountability, and bottom-line results.
- Jude is the author of The Bridge to Growth: How Servant Leaders Achieve Better Results and Why It Matters Now More Than Ever, and is currently working on his next book, SMART Start™: the First-Time CEO’s Guide.
Jude Rake
Jude is on a mission to help more leaders elevate the performance of their team and bring out the best in others. A sought-after keynote speaker, Jude speaks at family meetings, corporate and industry events, conferences, organizational programs, and workshops. He has presented for stakeholders, board directors, senior leaders and next generation leaders, universities, business schools, trade shows and government agencies.
Jude also moderates panel discussions on the latest best practices related to leadership development, strategic planning for sustained growth, building high-performance teams, and cultivating healthier workplace cultures. Each engagement is customized to fit the goals and the uniqueness of the organization and event.
“Jude was the keynote speaker at our recent conference in Miami where he spoke about servant leadership. In a word, he “crushed” it. Jude not only had the highest scores among presenters for that event, but the highest we have seen among any event we’ve executed.”
Stanton Lewin
CEO at LKH&S
Popular Topics
Leadership
- The Bridge to Growth: How servant leaders achieve better results, and why it matters now more than ever.
- Leaders aren’t born, they are made.
- The leadership traits that differentiate the best from the rest.
Strategy
- What matters most, strategy or execution? What if it's something else?
- Strategic planning that works.
- How to energize your organization with a proven strategic planning process.
- Avoiding corporate inertia: How to make your company more market-driven.
High Performance Teaming
- Raising the Bar: Moving people from satisfactorily disengaged toward eagerly committed to making a difference and winning.
- How to build a high performance team.
- The Exponential Equation: How the best leaders force-multiply their influence.
Culture
- How to build a healthier culture that delivers better results.
- Culture: Why it matters now more than ever, and how you can cultivate a healthier culture.
- Why we need more women in management.
- Why diversity and inclusion matter.
Family Owned Enterprises
- Seizing the advantages of family ownership.
- 9 reasons servant leaders make better family business board directors.
- Connecting the family, board and leadership team with a vision statement.
Jude Rake on Family Business Leadership & Culture
Upcoming & Recent Events
PAST PANEL
March 12, 2025
Strategic Planning for the Family-Owned Enterprise
The Presidents Forum
Strategy and execution are important, but too often the importance of people and culture are undervalued when planning strategy and executing plans. In this session, Jude will share how you and your team can stay ahead of the curve with a proven strategic planning framework he has helped many family-owned enterprises deploy to fuel improved results.
PAST PANEL
November 13, 2024
The Dynamics of Running a Modern Family-Owned Business
ACG Chicago Fall Manufacturing Symposium
Current and former leaders of family-owned businesses speak to the challenges facing such companies today. Learn about strategic growth initiatives and how to think about long-term success and leadership in a family business.
PAST PANEL
October 3, 2024
Team Trust Starts With You
Next Generation Retreat
As a Next Generation family business leader, you face a unique challenge. Positioned at the crossroads of your family’s legacy and your own future, you’ve been tasked with writing a sequel to your family’s business success story.
The theme for this year’s Next Gen Retreat is “Using Your Voice.” Next generation family business leaders will walk away will valuable insight into using their skills, talents, and passions in shaping the future of their family business.
