I help people stop performing
and start building.
Most people aren't stuck because they lack talent. They're stuck because they're operating on someone else's definition of success. I fix that.
Four ways to say the same thing.
The Short Version
Terry Rice is a Brooklyn-based keynote speaker, business strategist, and creator of the Hard or Wrong test, a decision framework that helps high performers stop grinding on the wrong things and stop quitting the right ones too early.
The Real Version
Terry spent years building the 'right' life: the career, the title, the external markers of success. Then burnout and addiction forced him to confront the gap between who he was performing as and who he actually was. That breakdown became the foundation for everything he teaches today.
The Work
Through keynotes and workshops, Terry helps leaders, teams and entrepreneurs replace comfortable complacency with inspired action. His work has been featured on Good Morning America, in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Forbes and Black Enterprise. He has spoken at SXSW, HubSpot INBOUND, and for organizations including Berkshire Hathaway and Adobe, who booked him back to keynote fourteen years after he left the company.
The Framework
The Hard or Wrong test settles the decisions that hurt. Three questions, plus one in the middle that most people skip: why is it hard? It tells you what to push through, what to redesign and what to stop, using evidence instead of gut feel.
13 things.
Open one at a time. Read the ones that pull.
There was a version of my life I kept in my back pocket. The right job. The right trajectory. The version where everything finally clicked and I stopped feeling one decision away from losing it all.
I told myself I just needed a little more time, a little more stability, slightly better circumstances. Then I would get there. Then I would feel like myself.
Nobody told me that version was never coming. Not because I failed. Because I kept living for something that only existed in my head. A placeholder, so I never had to fully commit to the life I was already in.
We are on the only trip we get. The flight didn't crash. We didn't take a wrong turn. This is the flight. And it's shorter than most of us are comfortable thinking about.
The day I accepted that, I stopped waiting and started building. Everything I now say on stages starts right there, with one honest look at the situation.
Want the short version you can share? Read the manifesto →
"You write in order to change the world, knowing perfectly well that you probably can't, but also knowing that literature is indispensable to the world. The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even but a millimeter the way people look at reality, then you can change it."
I'm still here. Fighting for that millimeter. Fighting one more round. Who's with me?
Want to work together?
Whether it's a keynote, a workshop, or a conversation, I'd love to hear what you're building.