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Jonas Ridderstrale
Dr. Ridderstråle's uncompromising, imaginative and decidedly fresh take on contemporary business life makes him one of the world’s most sought after and appreciated speakers

A business speaker with a difference - Jonas Ridderstråle has called time out on business as usual

“We need business as unusual. We need different business. We need innovative business. We need unpredictable business. We need surprising business. We need funky business."
  • Made a big impact with unconventional business book Funky Business: Talent makes capital dance when it was published in 2000 with Kjell Nordström.
  • Visiting Professor at Ashridge Business School and the IE Business School in Spain.
  • Wants to give people the courage to link up their knowledge and start executing their own ideas
  • Topics covered include Forces of Funk - What drives change?, Life in the Funky Village - Business megatrends, The Future Firm - The shape of things to come, The Holy Grail of Business - Compete on fitness and sex-appeal, Re-energize! - Making Change Happen, Leading leadership - Developing a corporate religion and The +Factors -New recipes for success
Speaking Style: Jonas Ridderstrale provides a fresh, new take on common business conceptions, engaging audiences of all ages with his charismatic and often unconventional take on how best to approach business situations

Read Jonas' Full Bio to find out more...
Topics Covered
  • Strategic Management and International Business
  • Funky Business
  • Formulating Strategies and Organisational So
  • Karaoke Capitalism
  • Life in a Global Village
  • Global Innovation
  • The Future Firm - The shape of things to come
  • Re-energizing the Corporation
  • Re-energize! - Making Change Happen
  • The +Factors -New recipes for success
  • Forces of Funk - What drives change?
  • The Holy Grail of Business - Compete on fitness and sex-appeal
  • Leading leadership - Developing a corporate religion
  • Life in the Funky Village - Business megatrends
Biography
Jonas Ridderstråle was born in Sweden in 1966. He studied at the Stockholm School of Economics and has an MBA and a PhD in international business. His doctoral dissertation examined multi-national product development. He went on to teach for a number of years at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Leadership.

When he is not traveling around the world on speaking engagements he lives in Stockholm with his wife and two children.

Career
Jonas Ridderstrale is co-author of the best-selling business book Funky Business - Talent Makes Capital Dance with Kjell Nordström. Together they form a kind of business-world Gilbert and George – a Swedish double act with bald heads and dark suits, presenting their ideas at speaking ‘gigs’ around the world with verve and panache. Their message is that business as usual is not an option and with great stories, examples and jokes they seek to steer their audience towards an understanding of how to add value in a globalised, deregulated world. Topics include leadership, change and building a kind of corporate religion.

They followed up their success with Karaoke Capitalism: Management for mankind and Funky Business Forever: How to enjoy capitalism. In 2008, there was another book, this time with Mark Wilcox – called Re-energizing the Corporation: How leaders make change happen. The books have been translated into more than 30 languages and published in 50 countries. His research has been published in leading academic journals and he has written articles and been interviewed in magazine like Time, The Financial Times, The Times, Stern and Newsweek.

As well as his writing and speaking commitments he is also co-owner and chairman of management training company - the Swedish Management Group - Mgruppen. He has worked with many Fortune 500 companies, government bodies, sports teams and even trade unions.

His ‘Lego’ style approach to public speaking means he can blend aspects of his best selling works with even more contemporary thoughts and themes to meet a clients’ needs.

Honours
In a survey of the best business books of all time Bloomsbury Publishing put Funky Business at No 16
Jonas was recognized as Sweden’s outstanding young academic of the year in 2000 by JCI Sweden and in 2007, he received the Italian Nobels Colloquia award for “Leadership in Business and Economic Thinking”.

For more than 10 years Jonas Ridderstråle has appeared on the Thinkers 50 list.

Praise for Funky Business
"Funky Business gives a unique, informed and defiantly funky perspective on the new world order. It is the antidote to bland writing and bland thinking."
Tom Peters

“An irreverent take on how business is changing in the Internet era.”
Fortune Magazine

"Funky Business - the groovy bible of modern business philosophy"
Red magazine

Praise for his work
"Jonas has made an enormous impact on all of the executives he has met in Sony Europe. He has opened our eyes to new ways of looking at the world and how we need to adapt to face the future. He is innovative, challenging and entertaining in his approach and engages with people at all levels. He will make a significant difference to the way you view the future."
Roy White, VP of HR Sony Europe

“Mr. Ridderstrale has become the antidote to the graph-wielding business academics on the lecture circuit."
Richard Donkin, The Financial Times
Publications
  • Funky Business: Talent makes capital dance, co-authored with Kjell Nordström (2002)
  • Karaoke Capitalism: Managing for Mankind, co-authored with Kjell Nordström (2004)
  • Funky Business Forever - How to Enjoy Capitalism, co-authored with Kjell Nordström (2007)
  • Re-energizing the Corporation: How Leaders make Change Happen, co-authored with Mark Wilcox (2008)
Languages
  • Swedish
  • English
 
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