The Electronic Security Expo (ESX) has announced its general session speaker. Don Yaeger, 11-time best-selling author and longtime associate editor for Sports Illustrated, will teach teams how to achieve their goals by connecting to a greater sense of purpose on the ESX Main Stage, June 21 at 11 a.m., the organization reported.

“While it’s easy sometimes to look and say, ‘We’re in the security industry; nobody should doubt why what we do is important,’ the truth is, most of us get caught up in a daily grind,” Yaeger said. “So how do we engage those people who work for us, who get caught in the daily grind? How do we engage them to remember that sense of purpose?”

Yaeger’s session, titled, “Great Teams Understand ‘Why,’” will explore what makes effective teams run so well, and how a sense of a greater purpose can help organizations achieve greatness.

No stranger to great leadership, Yaeger will share his findings from interviews with successful athletes and businessmen like USA Basketball Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K), 2014 NBA Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant, USA Basketball CEO Jerry Colangelo, four-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady, thought-leader Simon Sinek and longtime Medtronic CEO Bill George, ESX officials described.

Yaeger stresses the importance of purpose when engaging employees: “The answer is to make a very intentional effort to get them to feel why what we do matters. It’s not just a phrase on a wall, it’s not a line at the bottom of our signature — it becomes an active piece of the way we gather and run our team,” he said. “I’ll go through how to make that happen, and how the best teams I’ve studied have done exactly that.”

Yaeger’s presentation is one of three main stage events at ESX intended to educate, energize and inspire audiences to elevate their personal and professional lives. Off the main stage, there are four educational tracks for professionals to explore, each filled with peer-led seminars on carefully vetted industry and business topics.

This balance of main stage inspiration, coupled with up-close and personal seminars, provides a variety of opportunities for professionals who want to learn more at ESX. The event also features networking opportunities for attendees to engage with their colleagues and peers, and an expo designed for quality and in-depth conversations.

Because ESX is open exclusively to electronic security and life safety professionals, including companies that service the connected IoT space for homes and businesses, exhibitors can better target their conversations, and guests have more focused and meaningful networking opportunities.

The Thursday general session with Yaeger is endorsed by media sponsor SDM.

Registration for the event is open and early-bird pricing is in effect for a limited time. Premium Passes, the event’s all-inclusive registration type, are priced at $199 for a limited time — to allow companies large and small to invest in the development of their leadership teams. Visit ESXweb.com to register or to learn more.