2026 Symposium Erin Ramirez

Bio

Erin Ramirez is an Adaptability Strategist and organizational scientist who helps leaders make clear decisions and move forward when things feel uncertain or complex. 

Earlier in her career, Erin served as a senior leader at a global Fortune 500 company, where she led efforts to prepare teams and organizations for major enterprise-wide changes impacting up to 70,000 people. Today, as the owner of Real Change Studio, she works with leaders and teams throughout the country as an executive coach, keynote speaker, and advisor, helping them navigate change, strengthen collaboration, and keep projects moving forward when plans shift. 

 Erin was also named a Nobel Peace Scholar and a Lilly Scholar. These experiences took her around the world studying leadership, serving communities, and working alongside people solving real-world challenges, and they continue to shape her work today.

Topic 

Adaptability Edge

Description

Every project manager knows the feeling: the plan is set, the team is aligned… and then everything shifts. Priorities change. Technology disrupts. The path forward goes gray. The best project leaders don't just manage through the gray. They find the color… the possibilities hiding inside the chaos… and they bring their teams with them. This closing keynote is built to send your members home energized, equipped, and owning a powerful identity: I am someone who figures it out. No matter what. Drawing on the AQ (Adaptability Quotient) research model and real examples from PM teams navigating AI adoption, workforce disruption, and scope volatility, this session reframes adaptability as a learnable competitive skill, and gives every person in the room the tools to start building it today.

Learning Objectives

The mindset shift: why adaptability is the #1 competitive skill in PM right now, and why their capacity for it is expandable

 The Competitive Advantage Formula: how highAQ teams and individuals turn disruption into opportunity while others stall

 Unlearning: the decision to let go of what got them here so they can reach what's next

 Mental Flexibility: how to break out of either/or thinking and find Both/And solutions under pressure

 A personal toolkit: practical tools to use before they leave the parking lot