In this keynote‑style monologue, Brant Menswar argues that traditional long‑term planning fails in today’s fast‑changing world because uncertainty outpaces detailed strategies. He proposes that leaders create momentum by empowering individuals to "own the moment"—to act decisively in everyday micro‑interactions. Menswar illustrates the concept with his own story: after a 20‑year music career he became a top motivational speaker, only to have his momentum collapse when his son Theo battled a rare blood cancer and later died from COVID‑19 during the pandemic. A friend’s reminder that a person’s legacy lives on through the people who speak their name sparked Menswar’s "second‑life effort," a commitment to turn grief into purposeful action. He reframes uncertainty as an opportunity to shift from survival mode to hope, defining hope as the combination of desire and expectation that fuels momentum. The talk concludes with a call for organizations to embed moments of connection, belonging, and purpose, thereby generating collective hope and the momentum needed to achieve (or exceed) big goals.
Chapters
You've spent all this time setting big goals for your organization and crafting incredibly thought full detailed plans to achieve those goals, but how do you get your people to actually care about those goals when uncertainty makes us question everything? Changing economies, changing markets, changing regulations. The truth is the world is creating uncertainty faster than those intricate plans can accommodate. The way that you embrace uncertainty, drive accountability, and actually create momentum is by empowering your people to own a moment. Momentum happens in moments. And if you can learn to create momentum in those everyday moments, you can catapult yourself towards success, and you might just find that your big goals aren't big enough. One. Two. Listen. Momentum is rooted in connection. In 2019, I was deeply connected to my values and my purpose, and I started to build incredible momentum in my career. Having transitioned from spending 20+ years as an international recording artist to a full-time speaker, I watched my speaking engagements triple as I was named one of the country's top 10 motivational speakers alongside Magic Johnson and Amy Cuddy and Jack Nicklaus, honestly, just some of my heroes. It seemed like I was unstoppable until I wasn't. You never know what someone's going through in their life, hiding behind a forced smile. For me, I had spent the last 9 years watching my son Theo battle a rare blood cancer. After countless trips to the hospital and living in constant survival mode, I— he was finally on the other side of it. And then we found ourselves in a global pandemic. Theo contracted COVID and his body just couldn't fight it. He passed away in February of 2021. I was devastated. I slowly stopped engaging and found myself Stuck. How do you find motivation when the reasons you do the things you do are no longer there? I watched all the momentum I had built just fade away and apathy took over. If I'm being honest, I I just didn't care anymore. Then I got a call from a dear friend. He said, "Listen, I know you've been through something horrible, but I want you to know something. I believe when you die, you really die twice. The first is when you leave this earth, but the second is when your name is spoken for the last time. So what I want to know is this: What are you doing to make sure Theo's second life outlives his first. 'Cause this wallowing isn't gonna get it done. He was right. I needed to start giving second life effort. Uncertainty might have taken my motivation to change everything all at once, but I had enough left to focus on the moment in front of me. And so that's what I did. I started to own my moments. You see, the true power of uncertainty is that it forces us to live moment to moment. When you begin to approach those moments by asking, what if there was a way, instead of predicting what could go wrong, you transform negative probabilities into powerful possibilities. You see, you break out of survival mode and lift yourself to a different level of desire and expectation. And desire and expectation, well, that's the formula for hope. And hope is what drives momentum. Does your organization have enough hope to create the momentum you need to crush those big goals? You see, hope is also found in moments. Moments of belonging, moments of connection, Connection. Moments of purpose. Let's create some hope by crafting some of those moments together. Let's put in that second life effort to change what's possible for your organization. Are you ready to own the moment?
