01
Prepare a conversation that matters.
Use AI to explore another perspective, challenge an assumption, and prepare thoughtful questions before coaching or difficult feedback. Check the context with the person.
Frontline AI Leadership · Flagship keynote
Put AI to work for the people you lead.
Jon Harmeling helps leaders use AI to prepare better conversations, strengthen their judgment, and follow through on developing people. A practical keynote grounded in his experience leading a Chick-fil-A restaurant team.
Machines do. Managers decide. Leaders develop.
In person $15,000 plus travel · Virtual $7,500 · Jon responds to every inquiry within one business day.
For leadership conferences, franchise systems, and organizations responsible for frontline teams.
What your audience takes away
Three actions to take back to their people.
02
Recognize a contribution you could miss.
Look beyond the most visible people. Use the information you already have to identify a specific contribution, verify what happened, and recognize it personally.
03
Follow through on someone’s growth.
Build a practical 30-day plan. Identify one person whose growth you can support, prepare one important conversation, make one leadership commitment, and set a date to follow through.
Hear the ideas.
Evaluate the message in conversation.
AI interview · Franchise Secrets
Tasks vs. People
Jon and host Erik Van Horn discuss AI in the restaurant, individual employee goals, and the leadership choices that follow when technology gives time back.
Episode 384 ·
The AI discussion begins at 26:56.
Client feedback · Chadwell Supply ONE Conference keynote
“The best speaker we have ever had at any of our corporate conferences.”
CEO, Chadwell Supply
The Frontline AI Leadership framework
A clear role for the tools. A clear responsibility for the leader.
Machines do.
Let AI organize information, suggest questions, and help prepare the work. When it frees up time, decide where that time can serve your people.
Managers decide.
Check the output, understand the context, and own the consequences. The tool can offer a perspective. Judgment and accountability stay with you.
Leaders develop.
Listen, coach, recognize contributions, and create opportunities for people to grow. Put your commitments on the calendar and follow through.
Jon uses AI to keep employee goals in view and notice contributions he might otherwise overlook. The keynote connects those operating practices to coaching, recognition, and development. The leader listens, checks assumptions, and makes the next commitment.
Built around your audience
Connect the message to the people they lead.
The keynote is designed for leaders responsible for people, including audiences with little experience using AI. Restaurant, hospitality, retail, and franchise leaders will recognize the daily decisions behind the examples.
For other industries and leadership conferences, Jon adapts the applications and discussion to the room. His firsthand stories remain grounded in his own operating experience.
Why Jon Harmeling
Jon is a Chick-fil-A Operator, Army veteran, West Point graduate, and former West Point systems engineering instructor. He brings the experience of applying AI inside a business where leadership decisions affect real people every day.
He shares the practices he uses, their limits, and the conversations a leader still needs to have in person.
Read Jon's storyPlan your session
Format, preparation, and investment.
A 30-minute preparation call and audience-specific customization are included. The call connects the examples, audience exercises, and discussion to your event goals and your leaders' experience with AI.
In-person keynote
$15,000 plus travel
Up to 60 minutes total, including Q&A as agreed. Travel quoted separately.
Includes one 30-minute virtual follow-up within 60 days of the event.
Virtual keynote
$7,500
Up to 60 minutes total, including Q&A as agreed. No travel cost.
Includes one 30-minute virtual follow-up within 60 days of the event.
One 30-minute virtual follow-up within 60 days of the event is included in both standard paid in-person and virtual keynotes. One shared Q&A or application discussion with your audience or leadership team, scheduled together. This is not ongoing or individual coaching.
Want more time to apply it? Add a half-day workshop ($5,000 with a keynote, $10,000 on its own) or book the 90-minute leadership team session ($10,000).
Jon responds within one business day with availability and a fit assessment. A proposal follows within 48 hours after the fit conversation and receipt of the event details needed to confirm scope.
The book and the keynote
Give your audience a way to return to the ideas.
Interested in copies of Frontline AI Leadership for your attendees? Include your event date and estimated quantity in your inquiry. Attendee books are optional and priced separately. Quantity, availability, delivery timing, and shipping are confirmed for your event.
Every attendee also gets free access to the Frontline AI Leadership Field Guide: copy-ready AI prompts for shift handoffs, coaching, recognition, and guest recovery, plus a chapter-by-chapter companion to the book.
Bring Frontline AI Leadership to your event.
Share your audience, event date, and what you want your leaders to take away. Jon responds within one business day with availability and a fit assessment.