KARL SUBBAN is the bestselling author of How We Did It: The Subban Plan for Success in Hockey, School and Life, speaker and award-winning educator. A school principal for many years, he is also a director of the Greater Toronto Hockey League and the Herbert H. Carnegie Future Aces Foundation. Subban was awarded an honorary doctorate of education by Lakehead University in 2022. He is a certified Maxwell speaker, coach and a trainer. His second book, The Hockey Skates was published in September 2023. Karl’s upcoming title, Raise Your Roof: The Hidden Power of Potential, will be published in April 2025. He lives in Toronto.
Speaking Topics
Karl speaks to a range of audiences, and has keynotes tailored to students and educators, as well as the general public.
Raise Your Roof: The Power of Potential
For more than three decades, Karl Subban has been honing his proven approach to building resilience, increasing perseverance, mastering goal setting—and bringing out the best in everyone. Every year we get bigger, but not necessarily better. Older, but not necessarily wiser. We’re not always set up for success, and despite our best efforts, we can get stuck in a place where we don’t think it’s possible to dream, let alone dream big. As a coach, educator, author and father, Subban knows that understanding and believing in our own potential are key to making changes that matter and bringing purpose to our lives and those around us. Packed with proven strategies for leaders, parents and educators, this keynote will inspire audiences to create meaningful change, realize goals and find fulfillment. The power of potential is at your starting line, not your finish line.
Developing Potential
For Educators
Teachers plant seeds in the mind, body, and soul of young people, and they don’t often see the fruits of their efforts. An example for me was Mr. Kangas, my very first teacher in Canada. He was the primary reason why I wanted to go to school. He pulled me up when I was feeling down, and he wasn’t aware of it until I wrote about him in my first book, How We Did It. He saw me, valued me and made me feel special. His impact on me made me realize that in order to be effective, a teacher must know their students, care about their students, and inspire their students.
Every student has potential and, as educators, we must help them to reach it. Remember, we can only reach our potential through growth. We will explore two primary ways to empower growth in our student leaders:
- Creating a growth empowering environment
- Developing as a growth empowering leader
Potential is having the capacity to develop into something in the future. The potential of the school is directly related to the potential of the students and the staff.
It Always Seems Impossible Until It is Done
For Students
My student keynote will focus on my own journey; sharing stories and lessons learned working in my three worlds as an educator, hockey dad, and coach working with youth in several sports, including coaching the men’s basketball team at George Brown College and being a hockey coach in the Greater Toronto Hockey League for approximately ten years.
My aim is to provide students with tools and frameworks to inspire them reach their unlimited potential. This talk will encourage students to reflect upon the following:
- Is your dream your dream?
- The power in your beliefs
- Facing and working through challenges and adversities
- Focus more on possibility not performance
- Using the 4T’s to take effective action (Time, Task, Training and Team)
- Navigating distractions
- Building confidence and overcoming fear and failure
- Are you teachable, coachable, and likeable?
- Do you want to be good, or do you want to excel?
- You must FOCUS to make it.
To book Karl Subban, contact Rob Firing at speakers@transatlanticagency.com.