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Michele Rigby Assad

Former CIA Undercover Operative & Counterterrorism Specialist

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Terrorism Women Strategic Planning Success Inspiration Empowerment Best-Selling Author Faith / Religion

  Books

  Michele Rigby Assad Profile

You must keep secrets but skillfully persuade others to tell you theirs. You have to love your country but willingly leave it behind for dangerous operations around the world. You need to live a double life but be trustworthy enough to carry out the nation's most sensitive tasks.

Michele Rigby Assad was one of those people. Working undercover for the CIA, she served in treacherous areas throughout the Middle East—a woman leading some of the most highly skilled operatives on the planet.

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Michele Rigby Assad Profile
You must keep secrets but skillfully persuade others to tell you theirs. You have to love your country but willingly leave it behind for dangerous operations around the world. You need to live a double life but be trustworthy enough to carry out the nation's most sensitive tasks.

Michele Rigby Assad was one of those people. Working undercover for the CIA, she served in treacherous areas throughout the Middle East—a woman leading some of the most highly skilled operatives on the planet.

The threats were real. The missions were perilous. And deep inside, Michele wondered: Could she really do this job or had she misunderstood her life's calling?

In her book Breaking Cover, Michele has at last been cleared to drop cover and tell her story of incredible struggle, of unexpected challenges and thwarted missions, and most significantly, of powerfully realizing what really matters in the face of her greatest fears.

  Michele Rigby Assad Talk Titles

Get Off the X: The Seminar

Get Off the X: The Seminar
(aka How to get out of your personal or corporate comfort zone)
This training is designed around the well-known security concept, "Get Off the X," a phrase designed to help people react appropriately when their life is on the line, to move away from danger instead of freezing when under attack. Michele has taken this concept and applied it to a better understanding of how to get "unstuck" in one's personal life and career in Chapter 8 of her book Breaking Cover.

This approximately 2 to 2-½ hour seminar transforms trainees into stealthy operational specialists as they use intelligence tradecraft to plot their way off the X. This training incorporates classroom instruction, small group sessions, and personal reflection time.

This training can be designed to fit your organization's needs. Please contact us for more information on how this curriculum can be tailored to your specific industry, group, or budget requirements.

The Life Altering Power of Grit

The Life Altering Power of Grit
Michele uses stories from her CIA experience to illustrate the power of grit, the power of perseverance and determination to learn and grow—no matter what. Instead of focusing on the challenges and negativity presented to her, Michele demonstrates how focusing on mastering a skill, learning new material, and pushing to grow is what transformed her life and career.

• Your mindset is the most important thing.
• Grit trumps natural talent.
• What worked before may not work when the storms of life sweep in. Stay flexible to respond to the challenge.
• That which is unexpected and unwelcome could turn out to be your biggest blessing.

The POWER of PERSEVERANCE:

The POWER of PERSEVERANCE:
Lessons from the CIA to maintain your FOCUS and sustain your MOMENTUM during times of change
Having the right mindset in life is critical. If you think it should be a straight line or without significant obstacles, you may find yourself giving up before you arrive. But if you enter challenges with the proper mindset, knowing it will be jarring, you won't let fear or surprise dictate your emotions and behavior.

Sharing stories from her time in the CIA, Michele talks about how to use perseverance to get through times of change. As you become skilled at transitions, moving, learning, and adjusting, you become an expert at things that scare others.

If you are willing to do what others don't want to, and go places that makes others uncomfortable, something magical happens—you become AMAZING at what you do. It's PERSEVERANCE, FOCUS, AND WILLINGNESS TO DO THE HARD THINGS that makes the difference between being average and amazing.

What Dealing with Terrorists Taught M...

What Dealing with Terrorists Taught Me About Sales, Unconscious Bias, and Hidden Strengths
I'm used to assumptions. I've dealt with them my entire life. It is hard for people to merge the two seemingly different versions of me: an outgoing and kind person who cares very much about others-with the counterterrorism and Middle East expert. Most human beings are conditioned to associate a leader with someone who wields power in a more forceful manner. Those with sunny dispositions are often relegated to the second tier or the back row. This cognitive dissonance is a product of an Unconscious bias that sets our expectations of people's strengths, weaknesses, personality and interests. Our assumptions are based on a lifetime's worth of input, so this happens without our cognizance. We are not aware that this process is occurring.

In the workplace, subconscious bias affects internal processes such as hiring, promotions, leadership development, training decisions, and project management. In terms of operations, subconscious bias affects our marketing and sales strategies, product design, prioritization of projects, and so much more.

Learn the first steps to knocking down the walls to unconscious bias and creating a culture of strong leaders:

• How to build rapport using intelligence profiling secrets–You can't sell to someone unless you understand them.
• My ninja strategy for upending conscious or unconscious bias in five minutes or less.
• Learn to bring the best of yourself into operations to transform average into amazing.

Other Titles:

Other Titles:
• Lessons from the CIA–How to Handle Extreme Stress, Unexpected Change, and Uncertainty

• Making the Most of Your Teams: Diversity and Inclusion

• How to Turn Perceived Liabilities into Your Greatest Strengths

• My Advantage as a Female in the CIA

• What's Worth Fighting For: Your Unique Approach to Operations

• Teamwork and Sales: How to Connect with Anyone (If I can do it with terrorists, you can do it with anyone)

  Topics

Terrorism Women Strategic Planning Success Inspiration Empowerment Best-Selling Author Faith / Religion

  Books

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