Scott Steinberg
Leadership teams know disruption is constant. The harder question is how to make decisions today that hold up against a future they cannot yet see. Most foresight work stalls in the slide deck, never reaching the operating choices about products, talent, and customers where the value actually sits.
Scott Steinberg is a futurist and business strategist who helps organisations turn long-range trends into near-term decisions on innovation, change, and customer behaviour.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Scott Steinberg
- A method for foresight that produces decisions, not predictions. The POP FUTURE workshop format converts trend analysis into specific moves on product, talent, and customer strategy.
- A working library of 30 published books across futurism, innovation, change, and digital transformation, which means buyers can match a programme to a specific board agenda rather than a generic keynote.
- Direct advisory exposure to Fortune 500 operators and US defence leadership, including IBM, PwC, Intel, Microsoft, and the US Department of Defense, with the language and pace that environment demands.
- A trends franchise visible through CNBC, BBC, NPR, and Forbes, which gives senior audiences confidence that the speaker on stage is the same voice they have heard analysing the market elsewhere.
Biography highlights
- CEO of FutureProof Strategies and of BIZDEV, the International Association for Business Development and Strategic Partnerships.
- Author of Make Change Work for You (Perigee/Penguin) and Think Like a Futurist, part of a published catalogue of more than 30 books.
- Named Master of Innovation by Fortune magazine.
- Contributor and on-air expert for CNBC, BBC, CNN, NPR, ABC, CBS, and Fox Business; columnist for Forbes and Reader’s Digest.
- Advisory and consulting work with IBM, PwC, Intel, Sony, Microsoft, MTV, ESPN, American Express, and the US Department of Defense.
- Creator of the POP FUTURE methodology and the What’s the Future of…? and The Future is Yours applied foresight tools.
Biography
Most foresight work stops at the trend chart. Boards see the slide on AI, demographics, or customer behaviour, agree it matters, then return to the operating decisions in front of them. Scott Steinberg’s work is built around closing that gap. His POP FUTURE methodology and the What’s the Future of…? workshop tools are designed to take a leadership team from “this trend is real” to “this is what we do on Monday”.
That bias toward decision shows up across his published catalogue. Make Change Work for You, published by Perigee, frames future-proofing as a set of practical disciplines for individuals and teams. Think Like a Futurist extends the same logic to enterprise planning. Across more than 30 books, the through-line is the same: foresight as an operating capability, not a corporate trend report.
The credentials behind that argument are unusually broad. He runs FutureProof Strategies and BIZDEV, advises IBM, PwC, Intel, Microsoft, and the US Department of Defense, and was named Master of Innovation by Fortune. CNBC, BBC, NPR, and Forbes use him as a recurring voice on technology, work, and consumer behaviour, which means his audiences arrive already familiar with how he reasons.
For senior buyers, the practical value is range. Boards working on AI adoption, generational change, customer experience, or change fatigue can put him in front of any of those audiences and get the same disciplined translation from trend to decision. That is what makes him useful when the brief is wide, the audience is mixed, and the agenda is more than a single topic.
Key speaking topics
- Strategic foresight and future-proofing
- Artificial intelligence and the future of business
- Change leadership and innovation
- Digital transformation
- Customer experience and consumer trends
- Generational shift and future of work
- Organisational culture and resilience
Ideal for
- Board and executive committee strategy offsites setting a multi-year agenda
- Transformation, innovation, and digital leaders running enterprise-wide change programmes
- CMOs and customer experience leaders planning around generational and behavioural shift
- Industry events where a mixed senior audience needs a single integrating view of technology, work, and customer trends
Audience outcomes
- A working definition of what futurism is and is not, and how to use it inside an existing planning cycle
- A short list of the trends most likely to reshape the audience’s industry over the next planning horizon
- A method for translating trend analysis into specific decisions on product, customer, and workforce
- Language and frames that make foresight defensible to a sceptical board or investment committee
Talks
A practical guide to the trends, decisions, and planning habits leaders need to handle the next planning horizon.
Key takeaways:
- How to read emerging trends without falling for hype cycles
- A repeatable model for translating foresight into operating choices
- The specific shifts most likely to reshape the audience’s industry over the next five to seven years
A keynote on building organisations that adopt change as a discipline rather than treating each cycle as a crisis.
Key takeaways:
- Why most change programmes stall at the middle-management layer
- A working model for embedding innovation into existing operating rhythms
- How to keep teams engaged through repeated change without burnout
A senior-audience view of where AI is heading and the practical implications for strategy, workforce, and customer experience.
Key takeaways:
- What current AI capability actually does, separated from market narrative
- The decisions leaders need to take on AI now to avoid being late
- Where AI changes the workforce model and where it does not
A briefing on the values, behaviours, and expectations of the youngest cohorts entering the workforce and the consumer market.
Key takeaways:
- How these generations differ from millennials in practical, observable ways
- What this means for product design, marketing, and employer brand
- The cultural shifts that matter most for leaders planning a decade out