863 Word Biography

Motivational Speaker Scott Greenberg has inspired hundreds of thousands of people with his unique blend of keynote presentations and workshops. Scott’s uncanny ability to connect with a variety of audiences and discuss universal messages about resilience, leadership and peak performance keep him in constant demand. Presenting to over 60,000 people a year, Scott’s diverse client list includes countless corporations, associations, government agencies and educational institutions.

Scott’s success as a keynote speaker was not by design. In fact, his original objective was to become a filmmaker, and after graduating from UCLA in 1992 with a degree in English/Creative Writing, he accepted a scholarship to attend NYU graduate film school. As the youngest student in the Masters program, Scott longed for a rich life experience to draw from in order to inspire his films. But as the adage goes, “Be careful what you wish for.” Within one semester, doctors discovered a softball-sized tumor in Scott’s chest and diagnosed him with cancer. Scott left film school to spend the next year battling for his life.

As the grandson of a “Schindler’s List” holocaust survivor, Scott grew up hearing his grandparents’ stories of survival and developed a fascination for the area of human resilience. During his chemotherapy and radiation treatments, he kept a journal and noted the attitudes and behaviors of fellow patients. Why did some suffer and others thrive, regardless of their specific diagnosis? Would these same reasons also apply to people’s personal and professional lives? This curiosity would eventually become the basis for thousands of speeches.

Scott successfully beat the disease and immediately left for Hollywood to work in film production and screenplay analysis. Eventually he landed a job in the more corporate environment of MGM Pictures. He went on to start his own successful screenplay consultancy for screenwriters called “The Scripts Works,” managing a staff of script analysts to provide feedback and networking opportunities for thousands of writers from all over the world.

After a television program called “Life Choices” did a segment on Scott as a cancer survivor, he was invited to be the keynote speaker at a leadership conference for teens. Instead of focusing on cancer, Scott combined his knowledge of story telling with his interest in human resilience to create a motivational presentation discussing the more universal issues of personal power and overcoming adversity. The response was incredible, and further requests for Scott to speak poured in. He quickly realized he could still make a living as a storyteller, but now with an added element of helping others.

Scott left Hollywood and supplemented his new ambition with his scariest challenge yet-- substitute teaching in Los Angeles high schools. (“The students loved me. I knew this because whenever they’d walk into the classroom and see me, they’d shout ‘ A sub – yes!’ ”) By confronting five new classes each day, Scott learned how to quickly connect with groups and used them to practice his material. If he could win over teenagers, he could reach anyone.

Many years and thousands of audiences later, Scott has proved this theory correct. In addition to becoming one of the most popular motivational speakers for high schools in North America, Scott has also presented for lawyers, realtors, sales executives, health care professionals, managers, athletes, customer service reps and other groups looking to achieve peak performance. He is published in Chicken Soup for the College Soul and has written his own motivational leadership books, including the Jump Start Leadership Workbooks (Volumes 1 & 2), and The Sandbags & The Fire: How Leaders Cut Loose Their Hang-ups & Soar to Success.

Scott has guest lectured on public speaking at American Jewish University and has developed and/or facilitated leadership and peak performance programs for countless organizations. He’s led conferences for the Kiwanis International Key Leader Program, and helped develop the Teen Leadership Camp program for Rotary International, who honored Scott by naming him a Paul Harris Fellow. He’s facilitated tolerance programs for educators and law enforcement agencies at the Los Angeles Museum of Tolerance and is currently partnering with Rotary and the City of Azusa, CA on a tolerance program for youth.

More than an inspirational speaker, Scott has also employed his leadership techniques in a real world business setting. In 2005 he built and currently owns an “Edible Arrangements” franchise in West Hollywood, CA, managing ten employees while still on the road speaking. His store regularly ranks among the top five grossing franchises in California, and was one of only three franchises (out of 800 stores) recognized for “Best Customer Service.” 

Scott still occasionally provides film and television script feedback for a number of working screenwriters. He’s appeared in radio and television commercials, independent film, and co-hosted a reality TV show pilot for Fox Television.
Along the way, he's run a marathon, gotten married and become a proud father of two.
And while nothing can quite compare to his love of building sandcastles with his children, motivational speaking comes a close second. Scott's passion for providing nuts and bolts advice to audiences is apparent the second he picks up a microphone. Poignant stories, hilarious anecdotes combined with practical, substantive messages always leave crowds buzzing with excitement.