Peter Sheahan

Why organisations work with Peter Sheahan

• A defined commercial framework. Matter and the Edge of Disruption give boards a concrete way to locate where their existing profits, reach, and reputation can be redeployed to create new markets, not just defend old ones.
• Operating credibility, not just theory. He has built three companies and runs Karrikins Group, advising leadership teams at Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Wells Fargo, Hyundai, Pfizer, and Cardinal Health on transformation execution.
• Authority recognised by his peers. The National Speakers Association ranked him among its 25 Most Influential Speakers and inducted him as the youngest member ever into its Hall of Fame.
• A clear thesis on commoditisation. He gives commercial and sales leadership a usable argument for moving organisations off price competition and onto value, trust, and indispensability.
• A senior-room voice on the human side of growth. His work on culture, attraction, and retention is grounded in the same commercial logic, treating people strategy as a driver of competitive position rather than an HR programme.

Biography highlights

• Founder and Group CEO of Karrikins Group, a global growth and transformation consultancy.
• Author of seven books, including Matter, Flip, Generation Y, and Making it Happen; published by Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Amplify.
• Inducted into the National Speakers Association Hall of Fame as its youngest-ever member.
• Named one of the 25 Most Influential Speakers in the World by the National Speakers Association.
• 2,500+ keynote presentations delivered across more than 40 countries.
• Advisory and keynote client roster including Apple, Microsoft, IBM, AT&T, Wells Fargo, Hyundai, Pfizer, Cardinal Health, Chick-fil-A, and BP.

Biography

The companies that sustain growth do not protect what made them successful. They identify the place where their existing reach, reputation, and profits give them permission to build the next market, and they move before they have to. That place is what Peter Sheahan calls the Edge of Disruption.

The thesis is laid out in Matter: Move Beyond the Competition, Create More Value, and Become the Obvious Choice, co-authored with Julie Williamson, PhD. The book studies more than thirty companies that achieved indispensability by leaning into disruption rather than defending against it. It is the intellectual spine of his consulting practice at Karrikins Group, where he advises Fortune 500 leadership teams on transformation, growth, and commercial repositioning.

His earlier books cover the same terrain from different angles. Flip set out the case for counterintuitive thinking when markets refuse to behave predictably. Generation Y and Making it Happen addressed how the workforce side of a business has to evolve in step with its commercial ambitions. Across the work, the argument is consistent: growth comes from identifying where the most important problems are converging, then committing operational resources before the rest of the market sees them.

The credibility behind the argument is operating, not academic. He has built three companies, delivered more than 2,500 presentations across 40+ countries, and counts Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Wells Fargo, Pfizer, and Cardinal Health among the leadership teams he has worked with. The National Speakers Association named him among its 25 Most Influential Speakers in the World and inducted him as the youngest-ever member of its Hall of Fame.

Key speaking topics

• Growth strategy under disruption
• Business model innovation and the Edge of Disruption
• Competitive advantage when products and services commoditise
• Culture as a commercial driver
• Workforce attraction and retention
• Trusted-adviser positioning and winning on value

Ideal for

• CEOs, chief strategy officers, and chief growth officers planning the next horizon of competitive position
• Boards and executive teams confronting margin compression or post-acquisition integration
• Chief commercial officers, sales leadership, and revenue teams shifting from price to value
• CHROs and chief people officers tying talent strategy to commercial outcomes

Audience outcomes

• A defined view of where the organisation’s Edge of Disruption sits, and what would need to be true to commit to it
• A working argument for moving customers, talent, and internal narrative away from price as the basis of choice
• Sharper language for the leadership team on what genuine differentiation looks like in their category
• Renewed conviction in the commercial logic of culture, talent, and organisational design decisions