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Amy Jo Esser 🎤Keynote Speaker

@amy_jo_esser

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Keynote Speaker | Leadership Dev. Expert
I help high-achieving leaders stop starting over & start finishing strong.
12 years. 0 voluntary attrition.

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I finish what matters most - even when life is full. If you know you are capable of more…this is for you. by @amy_jo_esser

✨ Hey I’m Amy Jo (many call me AJ)
Welcome, Finisher friend ❤️‍🔥
I’m a keynote speaker, high-performance leadership coach, and creator of Winning Rhythms: The Finish Line Formula™, where I empower driven leaders who may feel overwhelmed to master their daily rhythms, lead with heart, and finish with excellence.

I spent 30 years leading high-performing teams as a corporate executive in IT and Quality. Now I help driven leaders build rhythms that create unstoppable momentum — so they can lead with heart & finish with excellence.

I’m a mom, grandmom, lifelong learner, and faith-filled Finisher who believes transformation happens one daily rhythm at a time.

But here’s the truth: I’m not average anymore — and if you’re here, something inside you knows you aren’t either. Together we’re becoming who we’re meant to be — Finishers who lead with heart and live with excellence.

If you’re ready to stop starting over and start crossing finish lines, you’re in the right place.

💫 10 Fun + Real Facts About Me

1️⃣ I’m called Amy Jo, AJ, or Jo (and yes, I answer to them all. My maiden name Bump, so I’ve heard every “Bump-on-the-Road” joke possible).
2️⃣ I’ve worked out every day for 30+ years (except a few flu days ... Finisher streaks matter).
3️⃣ I’d rather do 100 squats than run five minutes.
4️⃣ I’m obsessed with great vanilla ice cream — bought a deep freezer before I married just to store 2½ gallons every two weeks.
5️⃣ I grew up on a Wisconsin dairy farm 🐄 and learned the work ethic that built my rhythms.
6️⃣ Proud mama to Amber Jo, married to our son-in-love Tim, and “grandmom” to Declan (who named me!), Dominic, and Catherine Amy.
7️⃣ I’m a recovering fainter 😅 (it’s a thing).
8️⃣ Spent 30+ years in IT — ending as Director of Quality & Testing for a top U.S. insurance company.
9️⃣ Worked with Roger Love, vocal coach to stars like Reese Witherspoon and Tom Brady, helping his clients find their voices.
🔟 I’m addicted to growth — personal development events are my Disneyland 🎤📚.
💬 Drop a comment and introduce yourself — what’s one rhythm helping you live above average right now? 👇✨ by @amy_jo_esser

Getting a speaking yes feels good. Getting two feels like the rhythm is working.

The second yes came with a bonus I did not plan for. The club's name is going to write my opener for me. I am not giving it away until after the talk.

Here is what the Finisher's Gap Check flagged this week. My opening was the first thing to fix. I went back and practiced. The opening flowed naturally this time. That is what the Gap Check is for, not to grade you, but to show you exactly where to put the next rep.

The ask is the rep most leaders skip. They prepare the talk and wait to be found. The Winning Rhythm says make the ask and let the result show you what to do next. by @amy_jo_esser

What part of the thing you care about could you work on in five minutes?

I am working on the first two lines of my Rotary talk. I can say them out loud on my morning walk and hear whether I am giving the first line enough room to land.

Dolly did not wait for a quiet room or a clean notebook. She had done enough private work that when the idea showed up, she was already ready for it.

If your own project has been getting the leftovers, pick one piece small enough to practice today.

I am building my own finish line in public right now. Find Built in Public on my page. by @amy_jo_esser

Your next level will ask something new from you. The question is whether you're looking for it before it shows up on stage.

Here are four places to look using the Finisher's Gap Check. Save this for when you're stuck.

Who does this finish line need me to become? What do I need to get better at? What level of preparation or execution will this require? What do I need to practice consistently, not occasionally?

A gap only helps when it's specific enough to practice. "Open with a question in the first ten seconds" is something you can rehearse tomorrow. "Get better at speaking" is not.

Write down one gap from one of these four. One is your whole assignment for tonight.

Comment FINISH LINE if you're building yours alongside me.

Day 8/67 | Built in Public by @amy_jo_esser

Overpreparing is one of the most common ways high achievers protect themselves when they're new.

Three things we can learn from Tom Brady's fix:

1. Pick fewer points.
2. Know how each one ends before you start it.
3. Prepare the way you already know works. For Brady, that meant going back to how he prepared as a quarterback.

Roger Love, the voice coach who certified me, lists Tom Brady among the athletes he's coached. Training under Roger taught me what Brady learned in the booth. The work that makes you sound natural happens where nobody hears it.

Save this for the next room you walk into as the beginner.

I'm building my own finish line in public right now. Find Built in Public on my page. by @amy_jo_esser

The goal I set for the next 61 days could fail in public. I set it anyway.

Here is the filter I am running on everything that wants a spot on my calendar right now. Does this move my impossible goal? Does it grow the person capable of reaching it? Does it protect the energy I need to do both? If all three answers are no, it waits.

My thinking here was shaped by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy's book 10x Is Easier Than 2x. A big enough goal starts making decisions for you about what to protect, what to drop, and who to call.

Save this filter and run tomorrow's plan through it before you build your day.

Comment FINISH LINE if you are building your finish line alongside me and not waiting for the new year.

DAY 7/67 | BUILT IN PUBLIC by @amy_jo_esser

The five words are not a list. They are a decision you make every single night before tomorrow arrives.

Day 6 of 67. I am pursuing a signed corporate keynote by December 31 and documenting every rep in public so you can watch the Winning Rhythm work in real time.

My Finisher Identity is five words. Disciplined. Courageous. Excellent. Consistent. Visible. Tonight I am not trying to score all five. I am choosing one and deciding what it looks like tomorrow before I go to bed.

Excellent. For a leadership keynote speaker, Excellent means preparing the talk before the room exists. Today that looked like adapting my keynote for a Rotary Club audience later this month, going into the specific language and concerns of the people who will be sitting in those chairs. Tomorrow it looks like practicing that talk out loud for the first time. I am writing that down tonight so tomorrow-me does not have to negotiate with herself about whether to do it.

This is the shift that separates high achievers who finish from high achievers who drift. Most high achievers I work with have the goals written down. What is missing is a tonight decision about what tomorrow actually looks like. A goal without that decision is just ambition waiting to expire.
A goal without a tonight decision is just a wish dressed up in ambition.

Before you go to bed, pick one characteristic of your Finisher Identity. Write one sentence that starts with "Tomorrow, my word will look like." Put it somewhere tomorrow-you will see it first. That sentence is not motivation. It is a contract with the future version of you.

Comment FINISH LINE if you are building your finish line alongside me and not waiting for the new year. by @amy_jo_esser

The five words are easy. The evidence is where you find out if you mean it.

Day 5 of 67 and I ran this entire week through one filter. Where is the proof that I am becoming the woman who signs that contract?

This week had back to back functions, almost no desk time, and bedtimes later than my standard. I am naming that out loud because hiding it would make this whole series a lie. My gap is sleep discipline and the Awareness Rhythm just showed it to me in black and white.

Here is what did have evidence. I walked into a networking event and said out loud exactly who I am and what I do. I got my workout in before a very early morning event. I practiced my keynote at least fifteen minutes every single day. I showed up when staying home would have been easier.

Four out of five. One gap. Real data.

Before you go to bed tonight, score yourself against just one characteristic of your Finisher Identity. Write down one piece of evidence from today. Decide what one piece looks like tomorrow. Save this and do it with me.

Comment FINISH LINE if you are building your finish line alongside me and not waiting for the new year. by @amy_jo_esser

I grew up in Wisconsin. Last night I watched the Milwaukee Brewers win their first World Series, and I could not stop thinking about pick 182.

Cooper Pratt was not a top prospect. He was not on anyone's shortlist. Four months ago he was in Triple-A Nashville, learning the game, putting in reps nobody applauded, riding buses to stadiums most people never hear about.

Last night his bat is going to Cooperstown. Six straight World Series hits. A rookie record. A championship for a franchise and a state that has never had one.

The record was public. Every single rep that built it was not.

Here is what I believe after 30 years of leading teams. The person nobody is watching right now is often the one who changes everything later. Not because they got lucky. Because they kept building their standard before they knew exactly when they would be asked to use it.

You practice before you are picked. You prepare before you are invited. You do the rep today that nobody will ever see, because you cannot know

Pick 182 just won the World Series. Save this for the day you feel too far back to matter.

Built in Private. Repetition in private.

Follow for the private rhythms behind extraordinary finishes. by @amy_jo_esser

The calendar does not lie. Your intentions might.

I tracked every 30 minutes for two days and found exactly where my finish line was losing. I was writing down what mattered. I was never protecting time for it on my calendar. Every open space filled itself with everything except the work that counted.

Before you go to bed tonight, look at tomorrow. What time do you need to leave the house? Work backward to bedtime. What matters enough to already have a place on your calendar? Where have you left open space that will fill itself without your permission?

Then ask the question I am adding to my Awareness Rhythm. Would the future version of me spend this hour this way?

Rest counts. Family counts. Fun counts. The things we say matter simply deserve to appear somewhere in how we are living.

Save this for tonight. Day 5 I am going deeper into the gap between how I am living and the future version of me I named on Day 3.

Comment FINISH LINE and tell me what you are finishing by December 31. by @amy_jo_esser

The Awareness Rhythm is not only about where your time goes. It is about who is spending it.

Before I did anything today I asked myself five words: what would that person do?

To answer those five words, you first have to name her. As part of the Awareness Rhythm work, write down three to five characteristics of the future version of you your finish line actually requires. Not who you hope you are today. The specific identity of the person who crosses that particular line.

The woman who signs a corporate keynote does not wait until the room exists. She rehearses before it does. She makes the ask before the yes feels likely. She decides what done looks like and stops when she gets there.

Then do one thing today that person would do.

Keep your 30-minute timer running. Day 4 I am sharing my real numbers. Bedtime included.

New here? Go back to Day 1. Comment FINISH LINE and tell me your December 31 finish line. by @amy_jo_esser