Sean Kavanagh

Speaker, writer, performer, outdoor enthusiast and entrepreneur, for Sean Kavanagh, taking risks and trying new things has been a lifestyle. Until a near fatal bicycle accident put him in a coma for weeks and out of action for most of a year.

For twenty years Sean ran The Ariel Group, an international training company based in Boston, MA, which he established as a premium communication skills firm, teaching executive presence and storytelling around the world.

Since his accident in 2016, Sean has integrated what he learned in a year-long recovery into his professional life. Labeled a “Fall Risk” and confined to bed by doctors, he soon realized that actually “risking falling” was essential to recovery, and in fact, to living fully once again. And while technically skilled physicians undoubtedly save his life, it was the interpersonal skills of the medical staff the encouraged him to heal. They encouraged him to reject the label “Fall Risk” and to start taking the small risks that would get him back to life.

Sean speaks on the topic of Fall Risk to a range of audiences from doctors and healthcare executives, to the leaders of multinational corporations and government agencies. His central themes include the following:

Healing and Leading are the same thing; both involve helping people to improve. And, to be effective at either, you need to be empathetic and inspiring.

• Trauma can define us positively or negatively; it can be a choice. With perspective and reflection, PTSD can become Post Traumatic Self Discovery.

• Labels are limiting. Accepting the Fall Risk label would certainly have kept him safe from harm, but it would have limited his horizons, and stopped him from fully living.

• Life is one big Fall Risk. Our job as parents, teachers, managers, doctors, coaches and friends is to encourage growth and leaning. Which means trying new things. Getting out of our comfort zones. Risking Falling. Anything else is being a spectator in life, not a participant.

In addition to corporate clients, Sean works with non-profits serving veterans, at-risk youth and social entrepreneurs. He has taught at the UN operations in Haiti, Boston-based Social Innovation Forum and worked with young African leaders. More recently, he has worked with groups that support newly-arrived refugees. He and his wife Donna housed a Syrian family in their former home in Carlisle, MA. He lives with Donna and Tess, their dog, in Chelsea, MA.