Business Strategy & Growth

Why organisations work with Carl Leighton-Pope He has sustained a boutique agency relationship with artists like Bryan Adams, Michael Bublé and Billy Ocean across decades of contractual and technological upheaval, which is rare evidence of how to keep large clients inside a small business. The catalogue of names is its own form of credibility: the Marquee Club in 1964, Dire Straits and Simple Minds at NEMS, The Chippendales as a touring product, WWE and Harlem Globetrotters in Europe. Few speakers can draw on a working roster of this length. He is, in commercial terms, an entrepreneur who diversified beyond his core: from agency work into management, into theatre production with Carnaby Street The Musical and LOVE, and into international touring across genres outside music. The delivery is built for audiences who want a senior business story told with humour and specific characters, not a framework deck. Useful for after-dinner, leadership offsites, and entrepreneurial events where the room wants substance carried by narrative. Biography highlights Founder and Managing Director, Leighton-Pope Organisation, London (incorporated 1991, Companies House 02634876). Career began in 1964 at the Marquee Club in Soho, working in an environment that included Rod Stewart, The Who and Eric Clapton. Former agent at NEMS, where he signed Dire Straits, Simple Minds, Patti Smith, The Motors, UFO and Camel. Signed Bryan Adams as an agency client in 1984 and has subsequently represented Michael Bublé, Billy Ocean, Van Morrison, Bonnie Tyler, Chris Rea, Keith Urban and Jeff Healey. Producer and international tour operator for The Chippendales, and his agency has handled WWE and Harlem Globetrotters tours. Writer and producer of Carnaby Street The Musical and the West End play LOVE (2023). Biography The music business has been rebuilt three times in a single working lifetime. Vinyl gave way to CDs, CDs to downloads, downloads to streaming, and the contractual and revenue logic underneath each change tore through agency businesses that could not adapt. The Leighton-Pope Organisation, founded in London in 1991, has carried the same artists across most of that turbulence. That continuity is the credential. Bryan Adams, signed in 1984 while Carl was still building his agency career, remains a client. Michael Bublé and Billy Ocean sit on the current roster alongside historical clients like Van Morrison, Bonnie Tyler, Chris Rea and Keith Urban. Earlier in his career, working at NEMS, he signed Dire Straits, Simple Minds, Patti Smith, The Motors, UFO and Camel. The names matter because they are the proof of an agency model that has held under load. The career began in 1964 at the Marquee Club in Soho. By 1972 he was running a recording studio in Cardiff and managing the band Sassafras on Chrysalis Records. The Leighton-Pope Organisation followed in 1991 and has since extended beyond music into international touring for The Chippendales, WWE and the Harlem Globetrotters, and into theatre production with Carnaby Street The Musical and the West End play LOVE in 2023. The speaking work draws directly on that operating history. The substance is entrepreneurship inside a creative industry, told through specific decisions, specific clients and specific deals over six decades. Audiences leave with named cases and the texture of how a small business keeps very large clients. Key speaking topics Entrepreneurship in the entertainment industry Talent identification and long-term client retention Building a boutique business with global clients Diversification beyond a core service line Music industry reinvention across format cycles Business storytelling for leadership audiences Ideal for Entrepreneurs and founder-led businesses scaling around a small senior team. CEO and board offsites where the brief is business reflection through narrative rather than framework. After-dinner and gala audiences at industry conferences and corporate events. Leadership programmes covering client relationship longevity and creative industry commercial models. Audience outcomes A working understanding of how a boutique agency retains top-tier clients across decades and format changes. Specific cases on signing, developing and managing globally commercial artists. A view on diversification decisions taken across music, live entertainment and theatre. Material on entrepreneurial judgement under industry-wide disruption, drawn from a six-decade career.

About Ömer Atiker A charming entertainer, a bit of a nerd and driven by curiosity: Ömer builds bridges between people and technology. With a M.Sc. in Business Engineering, he founded one of the very first web design agencies in the Netherlands, back in 1996. In 2005, he moved back to Germany and into digital marketing with his own agency, which he still runs. Ever curious, he continued into innovation, change and digital transformation. He became an international keynote speaker, wrote several books, he offers both consulting and coaching as a trusted advisor, has recorded a dozen online courses in both English and German and is a lecturer at several universities.

Why organisations work with Chris Griffiths He brings a named, tested method. GRASP and the Solution Finder process, published across The Creative Thinking Handbook and GRASP The Solution, give teams a four-step route from problem to decision that can be run again without him in the room. He has built the tooling, not just the theory. OpenGenius turned the mind mapping method into Ayoa, a commercial platform used across Pfizer, the NHS, the European Commission and the State Bank of India, which gives his frameworks an operating record outside the keynote. He treats neurodiversity as a creative asset. Through the Inspire Genius Foundation and Ayoa’s neuroinclusive design, he connects creative thinking to the way neurodivergent minds actually work, giving leaders a practical angle on inclusion that is tied to output rather than compliance. He has run the playbook at scale. With Tony Buzan he built a global network of more than 1,000 licensed instructors operating inside Sony, the Ministry of Defence and the NHS, which is unusual evidence that his method transfers beyond the author. His work has been stress-tested in serious rooms. He facilitated a Nobel Laureate brainstorm at the Petra Nobel Conference convened by HM King Abdullah II of Jordan, and has coached senior teams at the European Commission. Biography highlights Founder and CEO of OpenGenius, the company behind the Ayoa mind mapping and productivity platform. Author of The Creative Thinking Handbook (Kogan Page), GRASP The Solution, and Mind Maps for Business (with Tony Buzan), with titles translated across more than 15 countries. Co-creator, with Tony Buzan, of the ThinkBuzan Licensed Instructor Course, a global network of more than 1,000 accredited mind mapping instructors. Founder of start-ups that have ranked in the Deloitte European Fast 50 and The Sunday Times Fast Track 100. Facilitator of a brainstorming session with Nobel Laureates at the Petra Nobel Conference, hosted by HM King Abdullah II of Jordan. Contributor and cited expert in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fast Company, BBC, The Telegraph and GQ. Biography Creativity inside most organisations is still treated as a talent rather than a process. Chris Griffiths has spent nearly three decades arguing the opposite, and building the books, frameworks and software to prove it. His published work sets out a specific method. The Creative Thinking Handbook, published by Kogan Page and now available in more than ten languages, lays out the Solution Finder model. GRASP The Solution distils a four-step process that teams can run on any live business problem. Mind Maps for Business, co-authored with Tony Buzan, remains a standard text on applied visual thinking. The frameworks have a commercial track record attached. As founder and CEO of OpenGenius, he turned the method into Ayoa, a mind mapping and productivity platform used inside Pfizer, the NHS, the European Commission and the State Bank of India. With Tony Buzan he built the ThinkBuzan Licensed Instructor Course into a network of over 1,000 accredited instructors operating inside Sony, the Ministry of Defence and the NHS, a rare piece of evidence that the method works without the author in the room. His businesses have ranked in the Deloitte European Fast 50 and The Sunday Times Fast Track 100. He has facilitated a Nobel Laureate brainstorm convened by HM King Abdullah II of Jordan at the Petra Nobel Conference, and through the Inspire Genius Foundation he funds young neurodivergent entrepreneurs, the group Ayoa’s neuroinclusive design was built around. Key speaking topics Applied creative thinking in business Systematic innovation and problem solving Mind mapping for leadership and strategy AI as a creative partner for human teams Productivity and focus for knowledge workers Neuroinclusive approaches to innovation Entrepreneurship and venture building Ideal for CEOs, founders and senior leadership teams who want a shared method for problem solving across the executive group. Chief Innovation Officers, Heads of Strategy and transformation leads tasked with making innovation repeatable rather than episodic. L&D and People leaders building creative-thinking capability and neuroinclusive practice across the workforce. R&D, product and commercial teams preparing for a specific planning cycle, offsite or innovation sprint. Audience outcomes A named four-step process (GRASP) that leaders can apply to a live business problem the day after the session. A working grasp of the Solution Finder model from The Creative Thinking Handbook and how to run it with a team. A practical introduction to mind mapping as a decision tool, not a sticky-note exercise. A view of where AI fits alongside human creativity, drawn from the design choices inside Ayoa. A clearer read on how neurodivergent thinkers contribute to creative output and how to design sessions that use that.

Why organisations work with Ashley Dudarenok She runs the operating relationships most foreign executives only read about. Alarice and ChoZan, both founded and led by her from inside China, give clients direct access to working partnerships with Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo, ByteDance and Tencent. Thinkers50 placed her on its Radar list and labelled her a “Guru on digital marketing and fast-evolving trends in China,” a designation reserved for thinkers shaping the next wave of management ideas. She translates Chinese commerce into board-room decisions, not headlines. New retail formats, livestream commerce, KOL economics and platform mechanics are framed as actions a Western CMO or COO can take, not as cultural curiosities. A library of books and a working agency, not a single thesis. Eleven titles across consumer behaviour, KOL marketing, B2B and cross-border ecommerce mean the content is regularly refreshed against active client work, not frozen at publication. Western frame, Chinese context. She is a naturalised Chinese national with native-level Mandarin and Russian, English and German fluency, which means she can interrogate Chinese platforms in the language they operate in and explain them in the language Western boards make decisions in. Biography highlights Founder of Alarice (2011), a China digital marketing agency with offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen, and ChoZan (2016), a China digital transformation consultancy. Thinkers50 Radar Class of 2021. Author of eleven books on digital China, including New Retail Born in China Going Global and Digital China: Working with Bloggers, Influencers and KOLs. Recognised among the World’s Top 100 Retail Influencers 2023 by RETHINK Retail and named a LinkedIn Top Voice in Marketing. Clients and audiences include Alibaba, LVMH, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, BMW, HSBC, Disney, Huawei and Adobe. Featured in Bloomberg, Forbes, CNBC, South China Morning Post, Business Insider and CGTN. Biography Most Western executives still understand China through a 2015 lens: factory floor, growth market, regulatory headache. The actual commercial picture has moved on. Livestream commerce is a meaningful share of retail, mini-programs have replaced apps, KOL economics drive product launches, and consumer expectations on speed, personalisation and service have re-set what “good” looks like. Ashley Dudarenok built a business interpreting that gap for global firms. She founded Alarice in Hong Kong in 2011 and ChoZan in 2016, running both as operating businesses with offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen. That structure matters. Her commentary draws on live client work with the platforms she is describing, not on observation from outside the system. Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Tencent and ByteDance are working relationships, not case studies pulled from the FT. The intellectual contribution is recognised externally. Thinkers50 placed her on its 2021 Radar list, the cohort it tracks as the next wave of management thinkers, with the designation “Guru on digital marketing and fast-evolving trends in China.” She is a LinkedIn Top Voice in Marketing and was named to RETHINK Retail’s Top 100 Retail Influencers in 2023. Eleven books, including New Retail Born in China Going Global and the Digital China mini-book series, give her arguments a published spine that conference appearances alone do not. What she offers a board is the ability to treat China as a leading indicator. Boards walk away with a sharper read on how Chinese consumer behaviour is likely to surface in their own market, where their digital and customer-experience playbook is now structurally behind, and which platform mechanics, livestream, social commerce, AI-driven retail, are worth piloting before competitors close the gap. Key speaking topics China consumer trends and digital commerce New retail and social commerce KOL, livestream and influencer economics Customer centricity and the modern Chinese consumer Digital transformation lessons from China Innovation playbooks from Chinese tech and brand companies Future of marketing and retail Ideal for CMOs and brand leaders setting customer experience and digital strategy in consumer-facing industries Retail, luxury, FMCG and automotive boards with material China exposure or China ambitions Innovation and digital transformation leads benchmarking against Chinese platform standards Strategy and corporate development teams assessing how Chinese commercial models are likely to enter their home markets Audience outcomes A current, board-level read on the Chinese consumer and the platforms they live on Concrete examples of Chinese retail, marketing and product mechanics that Western firms can translate into pilots A clearer view of where their own digital and customer playbook is lagging the Chinese benchmark A working list of categories, BYD, Mixue, Labubu, DeepSeek, TikTok parent ByteDance, where China has set the new commercial standard Confidence to challenge internal assumptions that treat China as a sales market rather than a strategic teacher

Why organisations work with Scott Amyx Active deep tech investor with personal capital in D-Orbit (space logistics), Brightseed (plant bioactives), Bloom Diagnostics, Omnitron Sensors and Lunar Station Corp. His read on which technologies matter is filtered through real investment decisions. Range that few speakers credibly hold: climate adaptation, longevity science, the space economy, quantum computing and autonomy. The breadth lets him connect technologies most boards still see as separate silos. Forbes innovation columnist for nearly four years and a Harvard Business Review Advisory Council member. His frameworks have been published and stress-tested in serious commercial venues. Active judge at SXSW Pitch and a Singularity University Smart City Accelerator mentor. He sees the next wave of deep tech startups well before the press cycle catches up. Biography highlights Chair and Managing Partner at Astor Perkins, a New York based deep tech and sustainability venture capital firm. Founder and CEO of Uplifty AI. Author of Strive (Wiley, 2018), endorsed by Tony Robbins; co-author of academic publications with John Wiley & Sons and IGI Global on the Internet of Things and wearable technology security. Forbes innovation columnist, 2019 to 2022; Harvard Business Review Advisory Council member. TEDxRutgers speaker on Strive; co-organiser of TEDxWallStreet; SXSW Pitch judge; Tribeca Disruptor Foundation Fellow; Singularity University Smart City Accelerator mentor. Featured in The New York Times, TIME, Forbes, The Washington Post, WIRED, TechCrunch and Inc. Biography Most boardroom conversations about innovation traffic in the same handful of headline technologies. The deep tech that will actually reshape the next decade is being funded quietly by a much smaller group of investors. Most executive teams have no real view of what they are betting on. Scott Amyx is one of those investors. As Chair and Managing Partner at Astor Perkins, he runs a New York based deep tech and sustainability venture firm. The portfolio backs companies in space logistics, longevity science, climate adaptation and the space economy, including D-Orbit, Brightseed, Bloom Diagnostics, Omnitron Sensors and Lunar Station Corp. Beyond the fund, he writes prolifically. He spent nearly four years as a Forbes innovation columnist and now sits on the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council. His Wiley book Strive, endorsed by Tony Robbins, argues that consistent achievement comes from deliberately seeking discomfort. The thesis traces his own move from impoverished Korean immigrant to deep tech investor. For corporate audiences, the value is specific. Boards routinely struggle to discriminate between technologies that are loud and technologies that are commercially serious. Amyx makes that call on his own balance sheet, with active positions in space logistics, climate technology, longevity science and the broader space economy. Key speaking topics Deep tech and exponential technologies The space economy and frontier markets Climate adaptation and sustainability technology Artificial intelligence and the future of work Innovation strategy for large organisations Longevity and human health technology Venture capital and the next industrial revolution Ideal for Boards and C-suite leadership setting five to ten year strategy under technological uncertainty Chief Innovation Officers, CTOs and Chief Strategy Officers evaluating emerging technology bets Corporate venture capital and M&A teams scoping deep tech partnership or acquisition targets Government agencies and sovereign innovation programmes shaping national technology priorities Audience outcomes A working view of which exponential technologies are commercially serious and which are still speculative A current map of where venture capital is actually placing bets in deep tech A more rigorous lens for board level decisions on technology and capital allocation Specific examples from Astor Perkins portfolio companies that ground abstract trends in real businesses

Chris Hirst is a change agent, widely recognised as an innovative and inspirational leader and speaker. He is the former Global CEO of Havas Creative Group and UK CEO of Grey (part of WPP). After more than a decade in CEO positions he has a proven track record of leading successful transformation programmes, guiding his businesses to record growth, product reinvention, reputational change and a culture of enduring success. He is founder of leadership consultancy Dogsbody Group, speaker, columnist and author. His first book, No Bullsh*t Leadership (Profile Books, 2019) has been a No.1 best-seller for over 36 months and is available around the world. It was named UK Business Book of the Year in March 2020. Based on his hard-won experience this smart, engaging book wipes away the bullshit that surrounds conventional leadership theory and is a proven step-by-step working manual on how to lead – for anyone. Full of universally applicable and direct advice, it demystifies an over-analysed subject to get to the heart of modern leadership: the life-changing, career-transforming power to get stuff done. A recommended essential read in the FT, it was described by Sir Clive Woodward as, ‘a brilliant set of leadership tools that will help you succeed, whatever your goals.’ As Global CEO, Havas Creative Group Chris led more than 10,000 people across all Havas’ global territories, taking the business from an ‘also ran’ to second place in Campaign Magazine’s global rankings in three short years. He oversaw two years of record growth and profits and was shortlisted as global CEO of the year in 2022. During his 5-year tenure as UK CEO of Grey (part of WPP), the agency more than tripled in size, and quadrupled its profit during its transformation into one of the hottest, fastest growing and most creatively respected agencies in the world. A graduate of Brasenose College Oxford (MEng Engineering Science) and Harvard Business School (Advanced Management Program), Chris writes a monthly column for Management Today, is the founder of leadership consultancy Dogsbody Group Ltd, has over ½ million listens for his No Bullsh*t Leadership podcast, and is a regular commentator in press and broadcast media.

About John Ridding John Ridding is the Chief Executive Officer of the FT Group, one of the world’s leading news organisations recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy and for its global perspective. Under his stewardship, the FT has expanded its global operations and transformed itself into a digital business, pioneering the reader-revenue subscription model now widely-adopted across news media. Despite the disruption in the news media sector, the FT has reached record levels of readership, passing the milestone one million subscriber mark in 2019 and continuing robust growth since then. In his 35 years at the FT, John has held a wide range of roles on both the editorial and business side of the organisation. As an award-winning foreign correspondent, he was based in Hong Kong, Paris and Seoul and regularly reported from mainland China, Japan, India and Indonesia. He was managing editor, features editor and deputy editor before joining the business side of the organisation. He led the launch of the FT’s Asia edition in 2003, steering it to commercial and editorial success. John also led the development of the FT’s Chinese language website, which now has more than 2m users and is the leading international source of business news in China. John was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the FT Group in May 2006. He managed the acquisition of the FT by Nikkei of Japan in 2015 and serves as a Special Executive Director of Nikkei. He is co-chair of Nikkei’s Digital Strategy Committee and sits on Nikkei’s Global Investment Committee. The FT now attracts the largest paying readership in its 135-year history, with more than three quarters of its readers coming from digital channels. The FT is recognised as an industry leader in innovation and digital development and a champion of quality journalism. John has held a number of non-executive board positions, including the Economist, and FTSE (the joint venture between the FT and the London Stock Exchange). He currently sits on the board of Bonnier News, part of the international media conglomerate Bonnier AB and on the board of Wilshire, the US based investment and index company. In addition to his business roles, John is on the board of Room to Read, a San-Francisco based global charity that supports learning and literacy in low income countries – with a focus on girls’ education. He graduated from Oxford University with a first class honours degree in philosophy, politics and economics. John lives with his family in London. His other interests include music, running, surfing and scuba diving.

Why organisations work with K D Adamson She has named and framed the shift. Her concept of “nobleization” – the argument that the next phase of business is not globalisation but morally accountable, purpose-led value creation – gives leadership teams a precise, shareable thesis rather than a trend briefing. She challenges the techno-optimist default from a position of intellectual rigour. When AI, automation and digital transformation dominate the conversation, Adamson’s argument that tomorrow is a value problem, not a technology problem reframes the strategic question at board level. This is a harder case to make but her broadcast record on BBC World News, Bloomberg, CNN and the Financial Times confirms it holds up under interrogation. Her “Seismotectonic” model gives leaders a practical foresight tool, not just a perspective. The three-movement framework of what changes rapidly, what changes slowly, what appears not to change at all is actionable in strategic planning contexts and transfers directly from a keynote into workshop and executive briefing formats. Her client base spans sectors where the future-of-value argument has immediate strategic urgency including Google, Airbus, Mastercard, CHANEL, Allianz, and PwC, which gives her the commercial credibility to speak to mixed leadership audiences without being narrowed to a single industry vertical. Her ecocentrist positioning is analytically distinct. Placing ecological systems rather than human enterprise at the centre of value creation is not rhetorical positioning. It is the foundation of her ESG and circular economy arguments, and it produces conclusions that differ meaningfully from those of speakers whose sustainability work begins and ends with reporting frameworks. Biography highlights Founder and former CEO, Futurenautics Group; former Futurist, The Futures Agency Author of Shipping and the 800-lb Gorilla (2017), the foundational foresight text on digital transformation in the shipping and maritime industry Broadcast commentator for BBC World News, Bloomberg, CNN, Financial Times, Al Jazeera, Channel News Asia, and BBC R4 Today Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts; stated member of Chatham House, The Aristotelian Society, the Society of Antiquaries, CERN Open Quantum Institute, and the International Society for the Circular Economy Global client roster includes Google, Airbus, Mastercard, CHANEL, Allianz, PwC, Deloitte, Capgemini, Rolls-Royce, Vodafone, Oracle, and Pfizer Biography The thesis K D Adamson has built over two decades is a direct challenge to the most widely held corporate assumption about the future: that it is, above all, a technology problem. In a landscape where most foresight is organised around what AI, automation, or quantum computing will do to a given industry, Adamson argues that what actually determines where organisations end up is what they believe about value, about purpose, and about who business is ultimately for. Her concept of “nobleization” names this argument precisely. Where globalisation provided the operating logic of the late twentieth century, Adamson contends that the defining shift of the current era is from a global business to a noble one, where ESG, the circular economy, and purpose-led strategy are not peripheral compliance exercises but the competitive architecture of the world arriving. The implication for leadership is significant: the strategic planning tools built for the previous era are no longer sufficient guides. Adamson founded and led Futurenautics Group, where her work on the digital transformation of the shipping and maritime industry made her the sector’s authoritative futurist – a standing substantiated by Shipping and the 800-lb Gorilla (2017), which set the analytical agenda for how one of the world’s most conservative global industries understood its own disruption. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and a regular broadcast commentator for BBC World News, Bloomberg, CNN, the Financial Times, and Al Jazeera, which means her frameworks are tested in real time against the hardest current questions, not only in controlled conference settings. Her “Seismotectonic” model of change, mapping three simultaneous rates of disruption: what changes rapidly, what changes slowly, and what appears not to change at all, gives senior teams a working tool for strategy under deep uncertainty. It is this combination of named intellectual frameworks, commercial range across clients including Google, Airbus, Mastercard, and CHANEL, and the ecocentrist perspective that places ecology rather than enterprise at the centre of value analysis, that separates Adamson from speakers covering adjacent territory. Key speaking topics Future of business value and sustainable transformation The limits of techno-optimism ESG as competitive strategy, not compliance Geopolitics and the end of globalisation AI: belief, systemic risk, and organisational response Leadership beyond control Strategic foresight and scenario planning Ideal for C-suite and board audiences navigating how to reframe business strategy as stakeholder expectations, geopolitical pressures, and ecological imperatives converge Chief Sustainability Officers and strategy leads responsible for translating ESG from reporting obligation into organisational design Global leadership conferences convening senior executives across multiple sectors and geographies, where a macro-systemic perspective is required rather than a sector-specific one Executive leadership teams of multinationals at significant inflection points – where the question is not only operational but concerns organisational identity and the long-term logic of value creation Audience outcomes A named conceptual framework, “nobleization”, for articulating why business strategy must move beyond profit primacy, framed as competitive logic rather than ideology Clarity on why the next wave of disruption is a value problem rather than a technology problem, and what that distinction means for strategic planning and capital allocation A working model for reading simultaneous, differently-paced change: the Seismotectonic framework, applicable in strategy sessions and scenario planning processes A more rigorous way to frame AI risk: focused on collective belief and systemic dependency rather than technical capability alone Greater confidence in articulating an alternative vision of organisational purpose to boards, investors, and internal leadership audiences

Why organisations work with George Nagle He built his innovation method inside oil and gas water chemistry, one of the most conservative industrial sectors there is, and used it to launch 19 products in 14 months across a portfolio worth more than $352 million. His Breakthrough Thinking series gives leadership teams a named, codified methodology to use after the keynote, not a set of slogans to remember. He is a certified FORTH method instructor with black and green belt credentials in Innovation and Growth Systems, Green Belt for Growth, and Value Innovations. The toolset is academically accredited, not invented for the stage. He has applied the same approach across more than 24 industries, which makes him a credible voice for boards and executive teams that want innovation discipline transferred into their context, not borrowed from a single sector. Biography highlights Former global executive and strategy lead at a multi-billion-dollar industrial services company, with portfolio responsibility above $352 million. Launched 19 products in 14 months in the oil and gas water chemistry sector. Founder of The Ideation Emporium of Creativity, LLC, and author of the Breakthrough Thinking series. MS in Biology and MBA in Marketing and Management from Duquesne University; BS in Biology with honours from the University of Pittsburgh. Certified online instructor in the FORTH method; black belt and multiple green belt certifications in academically accredited innovation systems. Published interviews with Authority Magazine on communication, attention, and creative habits. Biography Innovation in heavy industry is hard for a reason. The cultures are engineered for safety, repeatability, and risk avoidance, which are exactly the traits that make new ideas die quietly in a meeting. George Nagle spent his executive career inside that environment, in oil and gas water chemistry, and built a method to move past it. As a global executive, he carried a portfolio of more than $352 million and led the launch of 19 products in 14 months in a sector where most launches take years. That operating record sits behind everything else he does. He went on to found The Ideation Emporium of Creativity, codifying the approach into the Breakthrough Thinking series, including “The Five Letter F Word”, “Miserable At Work? Why? You Don’t Have To Be”, and “How Are Kids Innovating Faster Than You?”. His credentials are unusual for an innovation speaker. He holds an MS in Biology and an MBA from Duquesne University, a BS in Biology with honours from the University of Pittsburgh, and academically accredited certifications in Innovation and Growth Systems, Green Belt for Growth, and Value Innovations. He is also a certified FORTH method instructor. The toolkit is borrowed, tested, and labelled, not improvised. What distinguishes him is the breadth of application: more than 24 industries have used the same set of ideation tools, from industrial chemistry to consumer-facing services. For leadership teams that want innovation treated as a managed discipline rather than a creative-culture initiative, that record makes him a practical voice. Key speaking topics Innovation as a managed discipline Creative ideation and the FORTH method Commercial product launch under operating constraint Strategy communication across organisational levels Breakthrough Thinking methodology Workplace engagement and creative culture Ideal for Chief innovation officers, R&D leaders, and product portfolio executives looking to convert pilots into shipped revenue CEOs and executive teams in mature, process-heavy industries trying to install repeatable ideation Strategy and transformation leads responsible for cross-functional innovation programmes Senior HR and culture leaders pairing innovation capability with employee engagement work Audience outcomes A named, repeatable ideation method audiences can put into a project the next week A clearer view of why innovation efforts stall in conservative organisations and which mechanisms unblock them Specific tools for separating real strategic priorities from organisational noise Practical examples of how a structured innovation cadence produced 19 product launches in 14 months Language for connecting creativity, engagement, and commercial outcomes in a single business case

YuJin Wong is Asia’s leading authority on mental fitness and peak performance in business—delivering powerful, memorable keynotes that energize people and transform organizational culture. From his roots as a lawyer and investment banker, YuJin’s journey into motivational speaking is underpinned by triple academic credentials in psychology, neuroscience, and fitness. He was the first in Asia to achieve Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) status from the Asia Professional Speakers Singapore, an accolade that amplifies his credibility with business audiences seeking proven strategies for resilience, productivity, and well-being. Empowering Business for Real-World Challenges YuJin’s dynamic, research-backed presentations tackle the unique stresses of modern corporate life, where leaders and teams face overload, competitive pressure, and burnout. Through signature frameworks like R.O.C.K.™️, he delivers actionable mental fitness techniques that help organizations: Boost productivity and sustainable performance. Build mental toughness and resilience through adversity. Elevate confidence, self-belief, and leadership impact. Develop a collaborative, high-performance culture that thrives in disruption. Corporate clients benefit from his ability to inspire change that lasts, using an engaging mix of science-based insights, interactive activities, and authentic storytelling. Addressing Core Business Challenging Issues YuJin’s programs expertly address key business challenges: High turnover and disengagement: Practical self-awareness and mental fitness methods help teams stay motivated and focused through tough market cycles. Burnout and mental health stigma: Clear differentiation of mental fitness from traditional mental health equips organizations to build proactive, supportive cultures without stigma, improving retention and morale. Leadership under pressure: YuJin’s real-world experience—his own recovery from financial loss and burnout—resonates with senior leaders navigating stress and uncertainty. Driving innovation and action: Workshops promote creativity, problem-solving, and taking decisive action even in disruptive environments. Engaging, Memorable Delivery YuJin Wong’s stage presence is widely recognized for high energy, emotional intelligence, and spontaneous interaction—ensuring each keynote is not only practical but also fun and unforgettable. He is committed to delivering events that leave participants equipped, inspired, and ready for immediate growth, alongside personalized mental fitness assessments and implementation tools. Awards, Media & Global Impact YuJin’s expertise has earned him multiple awards, including the Global Brands Icon in Wellness & Peak Performance and Asia’s Innovation Leadership Award. A best-selling author and media personality, his insights appear regularly across international media on TV, radio, and print. His reputation as a transformative speaker is celebrated by thousands of business leaders and HR directors worldwide.

Why organisations work with Sharon Gai She offers a working model for redesigning teams and reporting lines when agentic AI absorbs the work middle management was paid to do. Her book How to Do More with Less (Wiley, 2026) maps the shift from task-based to capability-based org structures, with named roles for what humans do once execution is automated. Most AI adoption speakers describe what is happening to organisations from the outside. As Head of Global Key Accounts at Alibaba’s Tmall, Sharon worked inside the operating core of one of the world’s most AI-integrated commercial platforms. The vantage gives her authority on AI’s organisational effects that advisers and analysts cannot manufacture. Her practitioner depth on China’s ecommerce ecosystem, built into Ecommerce Reimagined (World Scientific, 2022), gives commercial and transformation leaders a primary source on consumer-to-manufacturer models and AI-integrated logistics via Cainiao. For European boards looking five years ahead, this is the live case study Western markets are still catching up to. Her “Culture Fluid” framework gives leadership teams a way to address the human side of AI adoption without falling into change-management cliché. It explains why two organisations with the same technology stack will get different results. Her client list spans UBS, Deloitte, Nestlé, Walmart, LVMH, and Lenovo, with platform exposure on Bloomberg, CNN, Reuters, TechCrunch, and Wired. Recognised as a LinkedIn Top AI Voice (2026) and a RETHINK Retail Top AI Leader. Biography highlights Author of How to Do More with Less: Future-Proofing Yourself in an AI-Driven Economy (Wiley, 2026) and Ecommerce Reimagined: Retail and Ecommerce in China (World Scientific, 2022) Former Head of Global Key Accounts at Tmall, Alibaba’s core commerce pillar, led omnichannel and ecommerce strategy for major international accounts including Adidas, P&G, H&M, and Xiaomi Selected for the Alibaba Global Leadership Academy, the internal programme designed to globalise Alibaba’s business units MS in Information & Knowledge Strategy, Columbia University; Honours BA in International Development, McGill University Former Global Shaper, World Economic Forum Named in AAE’s Top Keynote Speakers 2023; recognised as a RETHINK Retail Top AI Leader, LinkedIn Top Voice (2024), and LinkedIn Top AI Voice (2026) Media appearances on Bloomberg, CNN, Reuters, TechCrunch, Wired, CBC, and CCTV; keynote clients include UBS, Deloitte, Nestlé, Walmart, LVMH, and Lenovo Biography The work middle management was paid to do is moving into systems. Reporting, status tracking, summarisation, performance feedback, project oversight: agentic AI now performs each of these to the standard a competent manager would have delivered five years ago. The org chart that organisations grew up with is becoming structurally redundant, and most leadership teams do not yet have a working model for what replaces it. That question is the centre of Sharon Gai’s recent work. Her book How to Do More with Less (Wiley, 2026) maps the shift from task-based org structures to capability-based ones, naming what concentrates in humans once execution is automated: judgement, taste, theory of mind, original problem definition. The book sits within an active body of writing on what she calls the Org Chart of the Future, drawing on the live restructures already underway at Meta, Microsoft, and others. Her authority on these questions comes from operational experience few AI speakers can claim. As Head of Global Key Accounts at Alibaba’s Tmall, she worked inside one of the world’s most AI-integrated commercial platforms, leading omnichannel and ecommerce strategy for Adidas, P&G, H&M, and Xiaomi. Selection for the Alibaba Global Leadership Academy, the internal programme tasked with globalising Alibaba’s business units, deepened that vantage. Her first book, Ecommerce Reimagined (World Scientific, 2022), remains the only practitioner account of China’s ecommerce ecosystem written from within Alibaba, examining how consumer-to-manufacturer models and AI-integrated logistics via Cainiao function inside the company. Her “Culture Fluid” framework addresses the parallel internal question: how to build the agility to compete across simultaneous cultural and technological shifts. The work connects the structural argument of the Org Chart of the Future to the human capability conditions that make any redesign executable. Without the second, the first remains an idea on a slide. Key speaking topics The Org Chart of the Future: AI-era team and role design AI adoption at organisational scale: from pilots to operating model The disappearing middle: agentic AI and management layers Future-proofing in an AI-driven economy China’s AI-integrated commerce ecosystem Culture Fluid: organisational agility across cultural and technological shifts Consumer-to-manufacturer (C2M) models and AI-integrated supply chains Ideal for CHROs, COOs, and transformation leads designing the operating model and workforce for an AI-augmented organisation Boards and executive committees confronting the structural implications of AI on management layers, headcount, and capability planning Chief Commercial Officers and heads of digital in retail, FMCG, luxury, and consumer brands looking at AI’s effect on platform commerce Leadership development programmes where AI adoption needs the perspective of someone who has worked inside an organisation operating at AI saturation Audience outcomes A structural model for redesigning teams and reporting lines when agentic AI absorbs the work middle management was paid to do Operating clarity on which AI use cases produce advantage and which produce vendor revenue A view of how China’s AI-integrated commerce platforms actually function, drawn from inside Alibaba, and what is genuinely replicable in Western markets A direct answer to the question of where human capability concentrates in an AI-driven organisation: judgement, taste, theory of mind, original problem definition A shared language, through the Culture Fluid model, for the human side of AI adoption

Why organisations work with Guenther Steiner He built a Formula One team from scratch – conceived at his kitchen table during the 2008 financial crisis, brought to the F1 grid seven years later as the first American constructor in thirty years. No other motorsport speaker can talk about team-building from that starting point. His account of accountability is grounded in an environment where failure is timed, televised, and scored. The feedback loop for culture and decision-making in F1 is compressed to minutes, not quarters, which makes his observations directly transferable to any organisation managing high-visibility performance. The Netflix series Drive to Survive documented his leadership style across multiple seasons before a global audience. Organisations booking Steiner get a speaker whose directness and authenticity are already known – the profile is established, not claimed. His perspective spans the full leadership lifecycle – from mechanic to technical manager to managing director (Jaguar Racing), to founding principal (Haas F1), to team owner (Tech3 MotoGP). That breadth is unusual among elite sport speakers who typically occupy a single role. Surviving to Drive, his account of a full F1 season from inside the principal’s office, reached No.1 on the Sunday Times bestseller list. The book provides a structured intellectual foundation for his speaking that event organisers can build audience preparation around. Biography highlights Team Principal, Haas F1 Team, 2014-2023 – led the organisation from formation through eight seasons, including a 5th-place Constructors’ Championship finish (2018) and the team’s first pole position (2022) Managing Director, Jaguar Racing (2001-2003), recruited by Niki Lauda; Technical Operations Director, Red Bull Racing (2004-2006) More than a decade in the World Rally Championship, working with multiple manufacturers including Mazda, Prodrive, and M-Sport Ford, alongside drivers Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz Sr Founder and President of Fibreworks Composites, a carbon composites engineering and manufacturing business Author of Surviving to Drive (2023, Sunday Times No.1 bestseller) and Unfiltered: My Incredible Decade in Formula 1 (2024) Led acquisition of Tech3 MotoGP team in September 2025; assumes CEO role from 2026 – his first major ownership position in motorsport Biography Guenther Steiner wrote his first Haas business plan at his kitchen table during the 2008 financial crisis. Seven years later, the team made its Formula One debut at the 2016 Australian Grand Prix, scoring points in its first race – the most successful debut by a new constructor in F1 this century. That founding story is the foundation of his organisational argument. Building a competitive F1 team with limited resources, in a field where performance is measured to thousandths of a second and broadcast to a global audience, produces a specific kind of leadership discipline. Accountability cannot be deferred. Culture either holds under pressure or it does not. Steiner ran that environment for a decade. His career before Haas is equally instructive. He came up through the World Rally Championship as a mechanic and technical manager – working with championship-winning teams at Mazda, Prodrive, and M-Sport Ford – before Niki Lauda recruited him as Managing Director of Jaguar Racing in F1 in 2001. The transition from engineering discipline to senior management, and eventually to team ownership, gives his perspective a structural credibility that purely managerial career paths rarely provide. In September 2025, Steiner led a consortium to acquire the Tech3 MotoGP team, taking on the CEO role from 2026. The move signals a deliberate expansion of his leadership platform from management to ownership – and adds a new chapter to a practitioner argument about building and scaling competitive motorsport organisations that is already two books and one Netflix series deep. Key speaking topics High-performance team leadership Founding and scaling organisations under resource constraints Accountability and decision-making under competitive pressure Performance culture in high-stakes environments Managing risk and failure Operational resilience in elite sport Leadership transition and team ownership Ideal for Senior leadership teams and C-suite audiences navigating competitive or high-accountability environments CHROs and transformation leads working on performance culture and ownership Boards and executive teams in capital-intensive, operationally complex sectors (manufacturing, technology, professional services) Corporate audiences familiar with Drive to Survive seeking direct engagement with a practitioner whose leadership style is already known Audience outcomes A concrete framework for the relationship between culture, accountability, and performance – drawn from an environment where those variables are tested in real time Specific examples of leadership decisions made under resource constraints and public scrutiny, with the reasoning behind them A clearer understanding of what founding and scaling a high-performance operation actually requires, distinct from received management theory Practical perspective on managing failure productively – how teams that lose well build the foundation for winning Direct insight into what separates declared performance standards from lived performance culture