In this high‑energy keynote, speaker Brant Menswar urges the audience to "own the moment" for themselves and others by acting with deliberate intention and grounding actions in personal values. He explains that values‑based decisions in a moment‑driven environment generate momentum, and he frames uncertainty as a catalyst for hope. Menswar outlines three non‑linear stages of momentum, emphasizes the importance of connecting head and heart through personal favorites, and illustrates his points with vivid personal anecdotes—including breaking the sound barrier, running the Cleveland Marathon, and jumping with sharks. Throughout, he blends humor, music references, and emotional storytelling to inspire resilience, repeated effort, and the creation of a lasting legacy.
Chapters
I'm asking you to do this because I want you to know what it looks like and what it feels like to own a moment for someone else. You have to act with deliberate intention, but your light has to be shining on the person that you want to help. But the only place you can affect change is now, in the moment you're in. I always write the values that I want to bring on stage with me down. I tape them down to the riser here so that I can be deliberate with my intention and make sure that I speak these values into existence on purpose. So that's exactly what we're gonna do today. We're bringing hope, we're bringing impact, and we're gonna make sure that everybody walks out of here feeling those two things. Because values-based decisions in a moment-driven environment is how you move forward and create momentum. I really need everyone I need everyone to just forget about the struggles that they walk in the door with and to forget about those anxieties that they're worried about what's going to happen in the future. And I need them to meet me here in the present because that's the only place we can actually change what's possible. And that's exactly what we're about to do. Rock and roll, baby! Wow, it was moving. I think we laughed, we danced, we sang, and we cried. It was all emotions in one. You learn to own that moment, to master that moment, to find what matters most to you, to build the resiliency so that you can lay a foundation for momentum to happen. Here we go! I need that lovin'. Well, my name is Brant Menswar. You might recognize me from 20 years with the band Big Kettle Drum. Thank you. Listen, you must not watch Animal Planet because we were huge on Animal Planet. There are 3 stages of momentum, and these stages aren't linear. In fact, we can find ourselves dipping in and out of these stages at any moment. Anybody here dealing with uncertainty at all? A few, a little bit, right? How about uncertainty and its unwanted travel? Partner change, right? If you don't know what this is from, so help me God, I will ask you to leave. What most people overlook is that uncertainty also brings with it something incredibly powerful, and that is hope. In fact, hope can't exist without uncertainty. There are lots of different ways to do this. I like to start by talking about our favorites, because there's a reason we all have favorites. There's a bunch of science behind it, and I could bore you with all of that science, but instead I thought I'd rather just show you what I mean. I got my first real 6-string, bought it at the 5 Dime. I played it till my fingers bled. We'll teach pitch lessons when we're done. I only wanna see you standing in that purple rain. Purple rain, purple rain. Preach! That's my church right there. There's a reason we have favorites, and that's because our head and our heart connect. That's what happened when you heard those songs the first time is that your head and your heart connect. And when your head and your heart connect, it engages your limbic brain. Your limbic brain is where all of your emotional long-term memory is stored. And that's why you can remember lyrics to songs written over 30 years ago and why you can't remember a single Justin Bieber lyric from today. Mic drop. Thank you. Thank you so much. Try the veal, it's fantastic. What is that moment that exists for you that someone would go, "Huh?" A surprising moment in my life was that I got to break the sound barrier. Twice. I ran the Cleveland Marathon yesterday, so— All right. I was in the Long Island Sound I threw some chum in the water, attracted sharks, and I jumped in with them. I'm here to tell the tale. Because this is about owning moments for other people and helping them create momentum. That's what great leaders do. And if this moment doesn't work, I promise you, you will have another moment right behind it. And you try again and you hold on to hope and you try again and you hold on to hope and you try again. And that's what happens. That's how you get to your goals, because it's too easy to quit. We quit because we haven't discovered those values that hold us accountable and give us that resilience. So now you know how to change your mindset. Now you know how to discover those values. Now you can start to build a legacy that outlives You.
