Jacob Morgan
Three-time best-selling author, keynote speaker and futurist who explores the future of work and employee experience
SHORTLIST
Jacob Morgan Biography
Founder of The Future of Work University, an online education and training platform that helps individuals and organizations thrive in the rapidly changing world of work. Also the host of The Future of Work Podcast and YouTube series, The Future in 5.
After graduating with honors in business management economics and psychology from the University of California Santa Cruz, Jacob Morgan was excited to join the corporate world. At his first job he was told that he’d be traveling the country, meeting with executives and entrepreneurs, and doing all sorts of exciting work. A few months in, he was stuck doing data entry, cold calling, and PowerPoint presentations. One day the CEO came out of his nice corner office, handed Jacob a $10 bill and said, “I’m late for a meeting, go grab me a cup of coffee, and get something for yourself as well.” That was the last corporate job he ever had.
Today, Jacob Morgan is a trained futurist and one of the world’s leading authorities on the future of work, employee experience, and leadership. He speaks in front of tens of thousands of people each year and his content is seen over a million times a year. Jacob is the best-selling author of three books: The Employee Experience Advantage (2017), The Future of Work (2014), The Collaborative Organization (2012) and his forthcoming book on the future of leadership will be released towards the end of 2019. He speaks at over 50 conferences a year including TED Academy which is one of the largest TED events in the world. His topics range from AI and automation, management and leadership, the future of work, the 4th industrial revolution, employee experience, the internet of things, and many others. In addition, Jacob provides advisory and thought leadership services to various organizations around the world.
He is the founder of The Future of Work University, an online education and training platform that helps individuals and organizations thrive in the rapidly changing world of work. Courses explore topics such as employee experience, the future of work, and leadership skills. Jacob also created “The Future If,” a global community of business leaders, authors and futurists who explore what our future can look like IF certain technologies, ideas, approaches and trends actually happen. The community looks at everything from AI and automation to leadership and management practices to augmented reality and virtual reality, the 4th industrial revolution and everything in between.
His work has been endorsed by the CEOs of Nestle, Best Buy, Cisco, SAP, KPMG, Schneider Electric, T-Mobile, Whirlpool, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Zappos, Atari, and many others.
In addition, Jacob hosts The Future of Work Podcast a weekly show where he speaks with senior executives, authors, and business leaders about how the world of work is changing. His Youtube series, The Future in 5, explores the latest concepts and ideas around the future of work with inspiring and educational 2-3 minute snippets which are all professionally shot and edited.
He has also contributed to and been cited in publications such as Cosmopolitan, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, CNN, Glamour, the MIT Sloan Management Review, USA Today, and The Harvard Business Review.
Jacob Morgan Videos
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SPEAKER TYPE
SPEAKING THEMES
Conference & Keynote Themes:
Business
Branding
Change Management and Transformation
Leadership
People
Employee Engagement
Executive Education
Future of Work
Generations and Tribes
Human Resources
Organisational Culture
Talent Management
Workplace
Technology
AI and IoT
Digital Disruption
Future Trends
Robotics
HOME REGION
USEFUL LINKS
Jacob Morgan‘s Topics
The Experiential Organization
We all spend a lot of time and money trying to create great and meaningful experiences for ourselves. As humans, this is something we all care about and value. But what happened to experience at work? In today’s rapidly changing and competitive world the war for talent has never been fiercer and organizations can no longer rely on their brand power or compensation packages to attract people. So what can organizations do? We are approaching a new world where experiential organizations will dominate. These organizations look beyond engagement and focus on creating a place where people want to show up, not where they need to show up. Based on Jacob’s ongoing research of the world’s most forward thinking organizations he will explore how to design this type of an organization that focuses on culture, technology, and the physical workspace. The future of work is all about the employee experience.
Is your organization ready?
Key Points Discussed
- Why and how the workplace is changing
- The three employee experience environments: culture, physical space, and technology
- Employee experience vs employee engagement
- How to design and create employee experiences
- What some of the world’s most forward thinking organizations are doing
- What employees care about most in the workplace
The Connected World
What Happens When Everything Talks to Everything?
By 2020 it’s estimated that we will live in a world where between 50-70 billion devices will be connected to each other and to us. That’s almost 10 devices per person on planet earth. These devices include cars, jets, washing machines, lights, buildings, parking garages, and anything else you can think of. Imagine one day having to pay a premium to take a vacation in a place where there is no connectivity, this is the world we are heading towards. While living in a connected world sounds intriguing and magical there are also some challenges we will be faced with. In this keynote Jacob paints a picture of what it will be like to work and live in a world where everything and everyone are connected.
Key Points Discussed
- Exploration of the Internet of Things
- How a connected world impacts work
- A day in the life of a connected employee
- Pros and cons of a connected world
- Privacy and security
- Strategies for a connected organization
The Lab vs The Factory
Innovating Innovation to Stay Ahead of Change
Most of our organizations operate like factories that are process-centric, linear, and enforce the status quo. In the modern business world this type of an approach kills innovation. Laboratories on the other hand are dynamic; they embrace failure, and encourage experimentation. How can we shift our organizations from being factories to thinking like laboratories? An organization’s best ideas used to be sourced from a few people. This model no longer works. Disruption is happening in every industry and to every company around the world. This creates challenges for organizations that aren’t able to adapt but also unlocks tremendous opportunities for organizations that are. Is your organization ready to change? It’s time for us to innovate innovation and In this keynote Jacob will explore how organizations can look beyond their walls, design new approaches, and implement strategies around one of the most critical functions inside of our organizations, innovation.
Key Points Discussed
- Ideas vs inventions vs innovations
- Building ecosystems
- Examples of innovating innovation
- Doing business in a disruptive world
- New approaches for innovation
- Thinking differently
The Evolution of Human Resources
When most people think of HR they think, “boring”, “uninspiring”, “hiring and firing” and “outdated.” Let’s be honest they’re right. For decades this exactly what HR looked like. Today HR is becoming one of the most exciting roles inside of our organizations, but it’s changing. The very title of HR is disappearing and the function is being redesigned. So what does this mean for the future of HR? What is it going to look like and how do we prepare for it? In this keynote address Jacob takes a fresh perspective on the role of Human Resources and how it will impact the future of work. This keynote is sure to inspire and engage the HR professionals in the audience!
Key Points Discussed
- How HR is changing
- What the future of HR looks like
- Skills for the future of HR
- The new HR team of the future
- Trends that are changing HR
- People analytics for HR
Leading and Managing in The Future of Work
If you look up the word “manager” in the dictionary you will find synonyms such as “slave-driver” and “zookeeper.” Managers used to sit at the very top of our organizations and they controlled all of the information, the rules, and the decision-making capabilities. Going forward, managers sit at the very bottom of a flatter pyramid and they push everyone else up. The goal of a manager should be to make people more successful than they are. Managers are now coaches and mentors instead of dictators and rulers. In this keynote talk Jacob explores how why the role of management is changing, how it’s changing, and what the future of management looks like. This talk is based off of Jacob’s 10 Principles of The Future Manager.
Key Points Discussed
- Management vs leadership
- Trends shaping the future of management
- 10 principles of the future manager
- The manager as a coach and a mentor
- Shifts in organizational structure and power
- New skills and behaviors for managers
It’s Not Just About Millennials!
Adapting to the 5-Generation Workforce
By 2020 Millennials are expected to comprise 50% of the workforce, by 2025 this number will grow to 75% But are millennials really that different from everyone else and are we spending too much time focusing on them? While this new demographic is indeed a bit part of the future of work we have to remember that we have other generations to consider as well. The future employee is anyone whose attitudes, values, expectations, and behaviors have shifted to adapt to the new world of work. This means they can be 22, 42, or 62. In this keynote Jacob will explore some of the common myths and misconceptions we have about millennials in the workplace and provide some strategies for how organizations need to adapt to having five generations working side-by-side.
Key Points Discussed
- Workforce demographic similarities and differences
- What millennials and Gen Z care about
- Strategies for working with 5-generations
- Common generational myths
- Leading and managing millennials
- Attracting and retaining the future employee
Us or Them? The Role of Robots, Automation, and Humans in the Future of Work
What does the workplace look like when your co-worker is a robot, or better yet, a software bot? Would you be ok with that and do you even have a say in the matter? As technology continues to evolve, the concern over jobs continues to grow. Robots and automation are predicted to take over millions of jobs in the coming years so where does that leave us? Will new jobs be created or will we all be unemployed? More importantly what should we be doing to prepare for this kind of a world and what will the impact be on how we work and even how we live? In this keynote Jacob will present several perspectives on the robot and automation debate to help attendees make up their own minds about what the future looks like.
Key Points Discussed
- The elimination of jobs
- The creation of new jobs
- Skills for the employee of the future
- Automating jobs vs replacing a person
- Types of jobs at risk of automation and those that are not
Solutions and challenges for a robot and AI world
Building Your Personal Brand
Most successful business leaders in the world today have personal brands. Building a personal brand is one of the most important things anyone can do to help future proof their career. This is true regardless if you’re an executive looking to gain more credibility and recognition or an employee looking to move up in the corporate world. Job security and job loyalty are disappearing and nobody is going to look out for you except…you! The good news is that in today’s connected world anyone can build a personal brand but how do you do it? Over the past decade Jacob created a personal brand that has made him one of the world’s leading thought leaders and experts on how the workplace is changing. This means he knows first hand why building a brand is so crucial and more importantly, how to build it. Jacob will share personal stories, mistakes he has made along the way, strategies, and go over valuable tips he has used to build his own personal brand. This keynote is just as applicable for a large audience of attendees as it is for a small group of senior executives who want to increase their reputation and thought leadership.
Key Points Discussed
- What a personal brand is and is not
- Why building a personal brand is so crucial today
- How having a personal brand can future-proof your career
- Strategies for building a personal brand
- Common personal branding pitfalls and mistakes
- The future of personal branding and where it is headed
The Freelance Economy
Disrupting Traditional Employment
There used to be a time when the only way you could earn a living was by working full-time for an organization. Today the traditional employee-employer relationship has dramatically changed and is no longer static. Lifetime and long-term employment are all but dead. Instead we are seeing shorter tenures, portfolio workers, and the rise of freelancers. Today the workplace has become much more dynamic and fluid. Organizations are able to tap into freelancers to do pretty much anything, anytime, and these same freelancers are no longer willing to commit to a single organization full-time. This challenges the very foundation of work and organizations are struggling to figure out how to operate in this new world where talent is fluid and always shifting. In this keynote Jacob will explore what the freelancer economy is, how it’s disrupting traditional employment models, and what organizations should do to adapt.
Key Points Discussed
- Naming and classification of workers
- Trends shaping the freelance economy
- Ways organizations are taping into freelancers
- The benefits and risks of working with freelancers
- Strategies for working in a new dynamic world
- The future of the freelance economy and the impact to organizations
Testimonials for Jacob Morgan
“Jacob delivered a powerful keynote to a group of CHROS that forced them to challenge the status quo and think critically about how they design their own organizations for the future of work. His talk was refreshing, unique, fun, and very informative. I definitely recommend Jacob as a keynote speaker!”
“As a leader focused on the employee experience, leadership and workforce trends, Jacob’s perspectives into the trends of the future workforce are insightful and spot on!”
“Jacob delivered a great keynote to our international executive team on how to think about and create an organization where people truly want to show up. His talk was funny, informative, and eye-opening. I highly recommend Jacob as a speaker!”
“Jacob delivered an inspiring and educational presentation on the future of work and collaboration to our management team. He took a complex topic and distilled it down to something that was easy to understand and grasp. This was crucial since English was not the primary language of our audience. I highly recommend Jacob!”
“When it comes to the future of work, Jacob is both extremely passionate and knowledgeable about the subject. He also has an interesting spin on the kinds of things that can be done to engage and stimulate creative thought in the workplace. I highly recommend Jacob as a speaker!”
“Jacob kept our 1500 attendees engaged from beginning to end by demonstrating his enthusiasm, humor, and knowledge for how work is changing. Though, it is his style that so clearly helped him connect with our audience. Jacob isn’t so much a “lecturer” as a “friend in conversation” and it was a pleasure to spend time with him and added to our understanding of what is happening to “jobs/ work”. I have no hesitation in saying, Jacob was a great choice to join The Forum 2016 hosted by the National Association Workforce Boards. “
“The world’s leading authority on the future of work.”
“Jacob is clearly a passionate speaker and he delivered an engaging and informative keynote session at the Harvard Business Review Summit. He did a great job of conveying his ideas while inspiring attendees to think differently about the future of work. His session received great feedback and I highly recommend him as a speaker!”
Books by Jacob Morgan
