Over my speaking career, I have been fortunate to have repeat customers - clients who hire me again and again.
I love these opportunities because they push me to dig deeper, adapt, and create new ways to connect with each audience. I never give the same speech twice. One such repeat client, cityCURRENT, has booked me four times. I love the challenge of speaking to their audiences because they represent a diverse mix of for-profit and non-profit organizations—all brought together by a shared mission: to make their community unstoppable in serving others.
The lesson I learned, is that to inspire action in a room filled with people from vastly different backgrounds, professions, and missions; the answer lies in the heart. As President Abraham Lincoln famously said, “To win a person to your cause, you must first reach their heart, the great high road to their reason.”
To move an audience, you must connect with their emotions before you connect with their logic. That’s why every keynote I deliver is built on storytelling, shared purpose, and an actionable framework that helps people take immediate steps forward.
For my fourth appearance with cityCURRENT, I shared my I.N.S.P.I.R.E. framework, a step-by-step guide designed to help leaders activate their teams and themselves. Leadership is about moving people toward a shared goal, and for cityCURRENT, that goal was clear: building unstoppable communities through purposeful action.
The first step in how to inspire an audience is clarity. Never assume that the mission, goal, or objective is obvious to anyone. While defining what needs to be accomplished is important, the real driver of action is the why behind it.
When people understand why something is worth their time, effort, and energy, they are far more likely to commit to it. Emotion lives in the heart, and without it, there’s no action.
To motivate your audience, you must acknowledge the challenges they face. Inspiration isn’t about painting a rosy picture—it’s about helping people see that overcoming obstacles is not only possible but necessary.
For cityCURRENT, I addressed common struggles that community organizations face:
By naming the obstacles to overcome upfront, I built credibility and trust with the audience. They knew I understood their world - and that the strategies I was about to share would help them break through these barriers.
While acknowledging obstacles is important, dwelling on them too long can paralyze an audience. If you let people focus too much on the problems, they’ll convince themselves the goal is unattainable.
Instead, I helped shift their perspective by reframing obstacles as opportunities.
This shift is critical for sparking belief. When audience members move from thinking “This is too hard” to “I can do this”, they open the door to greater possibilities - eventually evolving their mindset to “We can do this!”
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Stories are the bridge between logic and emotion.
To inspire an audience to take action, they need to see themselves in the message. That’s why I shared relatable examples—both personal and drawn from cityCURRENT’s own community impact stories.
From my experiences navigating failures in business and the military to real examples of cityCURRENT organizations creating tangible change, these stories grounded the framework in reality.
When people hear a story they relate to, they start to believe that success is possible for them, too.
Inspiration fades without action.
Once the audience shifted their mindset from “I can’t” to “I can”, I introduced measurable challenges they could tackle immediately upon leaving the event.
Like any goal worth pursuing, big challenges must be broken down into smaller, actionable steps. These small wins create momentum, turning inspiration into meaningful progress. It may lead to a short discomfort, but you can learn to be comfortable, being uncomfortable.
Inspiration isn’t complete without emotion.
At cityCURRENT, I reminded the audience that the work they do—helping others, strengthening communities, and leading teams—isn’t just about hitting numbers.
It’s about changing lives.
I encouraged them to reconnect with why they started in the first place. Because when people re-engage with the meaning behind their work, they don’t need external motivation—they find it within themselves.
If you want to motivate your audience, you have to help them see success before they get there.
Visualization is one of the most powerful tools for achieving goals. When people can vividly picture the impact of their efforts, they become more committed to taking action.
I asked cityCURRENT’s audience to imagine:
When people envision success, they chase it. Remember, luck favors the prepared.
In this keynote, the I.N.S.P.I.R.E. framework came to life as I connected cityCURRENT’s mission of giving back to the community with the power of how we lead ourselves every day.
One of my core leadership tenets is: Everyone is a leader.
I emphasized that leadership isn’t about title or position—it’s about taking ownership of your actions. When audience members recognized their ability to lead themselves, they became empowered to take the first steps toward creating “do good” teams within their organizations.
By pairing emotional storytelling with actionable steps, I left the audience not just motivated - but equipped to make a real impact.
The path to being unstoppable begins with daily action. If you want to inspire an audience to take action, you must:
✔️ Connect their hearts to the mission
✔️ Acknowledge the challenges they face
✔️ Shift their focus to solutions
✔️ Give them relatable stories and actionable steps
Are you looking for ways to motivate your audience and move them toward action?
If your team is looking to go beyond what they thought possible, let’s talk. I’d be honored to help you build a roadmap to success and show your team how to Be Unstoppable.
Be Unstoppable,
Alden
"If you’re looking for a dynamic speaker and masterful storyteller, who you’ll truly love working with and who will pour valuable insight and inspiration into your audience, look no further than Alden Mills. We have booked him for four events and he was AMAZING each time! He took the time to get to know our organization and different audiences, and then customized his presentations and messages so that they perfectly fit the theme of our events. His keynotes were packed with captivating stories and powerful lessons that covered everything from leadership and teamwork to and community service. I cannot say enough positive things about Alden Mills. His level of professionalism and service, his performance as a speaker, and the job he can do for you. My advice: book him and see for yourself! You’ll be just as impressed!”
-CEO, cityCURRENT