Dennis Geelen

Business Coach | Keynote Speaker | Author of The Happy Accidents newsletter and The Accidental Solopreneur book

I’ve spent most of my career helping people navigate change.

Sometimes that meant working with leadership teams and organizations.
Sometimes it meant coaching solopreneurs who were building something new after an unexpected turn.
And more recently, it’s meant telling true stories that remind us how unpredictable, strange, and meaningful real life can be.

At the core of everything I do is one idea:
people don’t change because of frameworks alone, they change because of perspective.

What I Do

I’m a speaker, author, and consultant who helps individuals and organizations make sense of uncertainty, transition, and unexpected opportunity.

My work focuses on:
 • Leadership and change
 • Human-centered decision making
 • Serendipity, timing, and “happy accidents”
 • Stories that challenge neat narratives about success and control

I’m currently building The Uncanny, a storytelling project exploring true stories that sound impossible but actually happened.

Who I Work With
 • Event organizers looking for keynote talks that are thoughtful, grounded, and story-driven
 • Organizations and nonprofits navigating change, leadership transitions, or cultural shifts
 • Individuals who want practical clarity through focused, one-hour coaching conversations

(I’m no longer actively promoting large programs or long-term coaching, but I still take on select conversations and workshops when there’s a strong fit.)

What I’ve Created
 • Author of The Zero In Formula and The Accidental Solopreneur
 • Host and creator of story-driven newsletters, podcasts, and short-form video content
 • Speaker on topics including change, leadership, serendipity, and starting before you feel ready

Want to Connect?

If you’re reaching out about:
 • Speaking engagements
 • A focused workshop or session
 • A thoughtful one-on-one coaching conversation

Feel free to DM me.

And if you’re someone who loves true stories that make you pause and say, “That can’t be real”…
you’ll probably enjoy what I’m building next.

Founder

Coaching and mentoring to help you start and scale your one-person business.

Most leadership training gets this backwards.

We teach people how to manage others…
before they know how to manage themselves.

And then we wonder why teams struggle.

There’re some uncomfortable truths we don’t like to acknowledge when it comes to leadership: 

- If you can’t manage your own reactions,
you can’t manage conflict.

- If you don’t understand your own personality, you’ll misread everyone else’s.

- If you don’t take responsibility for your results, you’ll blame your team.

- If you can’t prioritize your own time,
you’ll create chaos for everyone around you.

Contrary to what we like to think, leadership doesn’t start with strategy. 

It starts with self-awareness.

In my 12-week leadership coaching program through Zero In, the first four weeks are entirely about leading yourself.

It’s the foundation for everything that comes afterwards (where we then focus on leading individuals and then leading teams).

In those first four weeks, we dig into personality, stress triggers,
how others actually experience you,
how you respond under pressure,
and how you prioritize what matters.

Because once you can lead yourself…
leading others becomes exponentially easier.

If you’re serious about becoming the kind of leader people actually want to follow,
start there.

Speaker | Author | Consultant - Guiding organizations through leadership transitions and complexity

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Some of the most damaging leaders I’ve seen weren’t incompetent.

They were unregulated.

Don’t get me wrong, they were smart,  strategic, and experienced.

But they couldn’t manage themselves.

They couldn’t control their reactions in tense moments.

They took feedback personally.

They blamed circumstances when results slipped.

They said “yes” to everything and then created chaos trying to deliver.

And their teams paid the price.

Leadership isn’t just about vision or communication.

It’s about emotional control.
Self-awareness.
Responsibility.
Discipline with your time and energy.

If you can’t lead your own habits, emotions, and priorities, you end up outsourcing the consequences to everyone around you.

And that’s when trust erodes.

Have you ever worked for a leader who struggled to lead themselves?

What did that look like and how did it affect the team?

Is it your goals?
Is it your habits?
Is it your purpose?

Or is it actually none of those things?

Leadership-in-a-Box®

We provide premium 60 minute off-the-shelf leadership development programs for our client organizations that are "ridiculously practical" for learners (*same day skill application*) and easy for facilitators and coordinators at scalable enterprise pricing.

Founder & CEO

Nathan Magnuson Leadership

◘ Leadership consulting, coaching, keynote speaking and training program facilitation on corporate leadership development and engagement initiatives
◘ Author: Stand Out! & Ignite Your Leadership Expertise
◘ Over 300 articles posted on NathanMagnuson.com and various publications

Executive Consultant - Leadership Development, Speaker, Coach, Author

HCA Healthcare

Manage team responsible for deploying and managing variety of leadership development programming to region of 14,000 employees, selection and coaching for high potential program participants, performance management, talent review, organizational development and assessment administration.

Director, Leadership & Organizational Development

Tenet Healthcare

◘ Project lead for Mid-level & Frontline leadership development strategy & infrastructure for 130K employee organization
◘ Project lead for Executive Onboarding process (full project life cycle)
◘ Delivered online leadership program to 6,500 leaders with 80% participation and 99% satisfaction
◘ Executive coach program & curriculum lead for high potential leadership academy
◘ Vendor manager for Accenture, Harvard Business Publishing, Table Group, Advisory Board, Avanoo, SVI and others
◘ Facilitation, coaching, assessment interpretation, vendor evaluation & management for variety of development programs/projects as needed
◘ Support talent management projects as needed (talent review, succession planning, performance management, etc.)

Manager, Leadership Development

Masco Administrative Services

◘ Build talent development infrastructure for various levels of management nationwide, including design, development & delivery of leadership programs & events
◘ Advise, design & develop functional training programs, processes & supporting infrastructure to prepare new operations leaders through Center of Excellence
◘ Program manager for new manager onboarding program, executive mentor program, internship program
◘ Lead and/or support initiatives related to performance management, employee engagement/assessment, organizational talent review, succession planning, assessment administration initiatives, role profile management, etc.
◘ Talent partner for various functional areas of the company
◘ Total Cost Productivity recognition winner for HR

Organizational Development Specialist

Accenture

Leadership Development Program Content Developer with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
◘ Served as liaison between leadership foundation team and instructional designers to ensure leadership course content met desired learning objectives
◘ Directly supported design and development stages of leadership content for week long Leadership Seminar targeting 5,300 middle managers
◘ Helped shape leadership coaching aspects of Leadership Seminar and development of an internal coaching practice for organization
◘ Coordinated and integrated use of assessments to enhance learning experience into training (360, FIRO, JOHARI Window reports, etc.)
◘ Collaborated on train-the-trainer certification program, participant practical exercise creation, Kirkpatrick evaluation levels, and various other onboarding or learning initiatives
◘ Managed project workplan for assigned module

Culture Transformation Lead for Defense Intelligence Agency IT Directorate
◘ Consolidated client assessment data to develop themes for future desired culture state and and integrated into Core Values Campaign
◘ Proposed Core Values Campaign to senior client leadership
◘ Built culture roadmap with change management phases
◘ Authored communications to highlight Core Values to workforce (website, newsletter articles, executive email messages, etc.)
◘ Coached client leadership to deliver Core Values presentations during existing workforce programs
◘ Developed internal workforce rotational program processes and communications for client program manager

Stakeholder Engagement Operations project with IRS
◘ Managed and improved weekly and quarterly state reporting processes

Organizational Development Consulting Analyst

U.S. Army Reserves

Joined Army Reserves in April, 2006, deployed to Iraq from Nov, 2007 - Nov, 2008
◘ Member of Army Special Operations Forces (SOF) community
◘ Regularly worked & liaised with senior leadership from military, U.S. Department of State, USAID, and international agencies
◘ Authored and obtained grants for operational expenses for NGO projects, up to $150,000
◘ Personally advised local Iraqi micro finance institution and small business development center
◘ Increased loan creation by 240% over 12 month period
◘ Increased loan capital from $540K to $1.2M with 0% default rate
◘ Opened 3 satellite offices, created over 2500 jobs

Civil Affairs Specialist/Business Advisor

Leadership-in-a-Box® | Speaker | Author | Veteran | Professional Encourager

I believe one of the greatest gifts in all of life is the gift of being well led.

One of the ways I contribute is by providing executive and HR leaders with high quality, easy-to-use and "ridiculously practical" leadership programs that scale across their organizations. It's called Leadership-in-a-Box.

Our very first enterprise client told me, "I've researched 10 different vendors and Leadership-in-a-Box is by far the most practical option!"

I'd love to show you what's special about our "ridiculously practical" approach.

https://www.leadershipinabox.com

I'm also the author of Ignite Your Leadership Expertise, Stand Out! and over 300 articles at NathanMagnuson.com and in various publications.

If you have an important leadership development priority for your organization, let's talk!

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The Battle

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Nathan Magnuson

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Dennis Geelen's LinkedIn Performance

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