Dave Van Bennekum
As a speaker, entrepreneur, veteran, and the author of Searching for True Community, the first self-help book on national security, I am championing positive leadership and bold approaches that challenge the status quo, showcasing the transformative power of conversation to achieve a breakthrough and effect change.
​
Ready to schedule a speaking engagement? Reach out to me to discuss your event and explore how my unique story can contribute to your mission while elevating your next gathering or conference.
About Me
I've always been a bit of a maverick and I built a career challenging the status quo. It's my willingness to risk failure and take a chance that provided the opportunity for new adventures and led me to write the very first self-help book on national security.
Recognizing old ways no longer work I did what I always do, embraced an unorthodox solution to effect change. And today I share my unique story as a refreshing alternative that sparks a broader conversation on leadership, risk taking and challenging conventional thinking.
From combat zones, to classrooms, to windowless offices in the Pentagon, to ornate corporate boardrooms, I deliver over 30-years’ experience leading large organizational transformations, complex supply chain programs, aggressive growth strategies, and entrepreneurial startups as a Marine Corps Officer and Professional Services Executive.
I'm a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, hold a law degree, a Master of Laws in National Security Law from Georgetown University Law Center and am a member of the Virginia Bar.
Trading in my uniform for a pair of faded jeans, my goal is to empower you to become your own best advocate, to take on the journey from technical chops to selfless conversation and to build the confidence you need to lead through change.
Be your own best advocate
In this captivating talk, I shatter common assumptions about the difficulty in connecting broad audiences to a complex topic, telling my story of challenging the status quo by bringing self-help to national security and empowering you to be your best advocate. Self-reliance empowers us to ask better questions and get better results.
Promote Selfless Conversation
The journey from technical chops to selfless conversation is an arduous one. The rugged terrain incentivizes us to seek shelter instead of embracing creativity. It puts organizations at risk by crushing the self-confidence we need to have selfless conversations that lead to transformation, growth, and new possibilities.
Surpass your organizational goals
With a background in leading large transformation initiatives, growth strategies and entrepreneurial startups, I bring real world experience to your organization. And you'll find my journey in writing a self-help book on national security is a refreshing change that sparks a broader conversation on leadership, taking a risk and challenging conventional thinking.
If the idea of combining national security with self-help sounds odd, you're not alone. But when my wife told me national security is boring and unrelatable, I told her; "Challenge accepted! I'm going to prove you wrong." And that started an over 3-year journey to become a self-help author.
'Searching for True Community" does what self-help does best, makes a complex topic accessible to broad audiences, goes where those audiences are, and connects them to the experts who touch our lives.
Whether its healthcare or home repair, we turn to self-help every day for independence and understanding, to take ownership of our future and empower us to find our voice. When it comes to change, it's a proven model that works. It promotes the transformative power of conversation that often leads to a breakthrough.
​
​This is advanced thinking written to connect with you. It recognizes you are your own best advocate. You get better results when you are more self-sufficient, self-confident, and feel empowered to ask better questions about the causes you care about most.​
​
It's often the odd ball combinations that bring the big breakthroughs, and in writing the first self-help book on national security, I hope to do just that.
