Organizational Agility speakers

Why organisations work with Martin McCourt He has run the playbook most boards are still arguing about: taking a single-product, single-market business into more than 60 international markets while protecting the founder’s creative engine. He grew Dyson profits past £300m and crossed £1bn in revenue in 2011, with 80% of the business coming from outside the UK by the time he left. He is one of very few British CEOs who has personally established subsidiaries in the US, Japan, Switzerland, Austria and Germany, and won market leadership in most of them, including the US. He chairs Joseph Joseph and COMPO and sits on the board of Weber, which keeps him close to live boardroom decisions in the design-led consumer and homewares businesses he spent his career scaling. Named UK Business Leader of the Year at the 2010 National Business Awards, recognised for running a company described as the standout performer of the recession. Biography highlights CEO of Dyson for 15 years, leading the move from a single-product UK operation into more than 60 international markets. Took Dyson revenue past £1bn in 2011, with profits above £300m and 80% of revenue from outside the UK. Established Dyson subsidiaries in the US, Japan, Switzerland, Austria and Germany, winning market leadership in most including the US. Earlier senior commercial roles at Mars, Duracell, Toshiba and Pelikan across more than 40 years in manufacturing, design, sales and marketing. UK Business Leader of the Year, 2010 National Business Awards. Currently Chairman of Joseph Joseph and COMPO, a non-executive director of Weber, and a Visiting Professor at Aston Business School. Earlier chair and board roles include Glen Dimplex, the world’s largest electrical heating manufacturer, alongside Tharsus, Lightfoot, Pure Electric, FreeFlow Technologies and Learning Curve Group, several taken through to successful exit. Biography Dyson was a British engineering business with one famous product and one home market when Martin McCourt joined as CEO. Fifteen years later, 80% of the revenue was coming from outside the UK, profits had passed £300m, and the company had crossed £1bn in sales for the first time in 2011. That outcome did not happen by accident. McCourt designed and ran the international strategy that took Dyson into more than 60 markets, building subsidiaries from scratch in the US, Japan, Switzerland, Austria and Germany and winning market leadership in most of them. He moved manufacturing to Asia while increasing skilled UK jobs, and he kept the commercial machine running so that James Dyson could stay focused on inventing. The career underneath that work matters. Before Dyson, McCourt spent more than two decades in senior commercial roles at Mars, Duracell, Toshiba and Pelikan, learning how branded consumer businesses scale and where they break. That history is why he can speak to the practical mechanics of growth, not just the headline outcome. In 2010 he was named UK Business Leader of the Year at the National Business Awards, recognised for running what was described as the standout business of the recession. That work continues at board level. In September 2025 he became Chairman of Joseph Joseph, the British design-led homewares brand, having advised co-founder Richard Joseph in the company’s early years. He also chairs COMPO, the European organic gardening business, sits on the board of Weber in Chicago, and holds a Visiting Professorship at Aston Business School. Key speaking topics International scaling of product-led businesses Building consumer brands across multiple markets The CEO and founder relationship British manufacturing and global competitiveness Innovation-driven growth Leadership through rapid expansion Clean-technology and industrial investment Ideal for CEOs and boards of founder-led or product-led businesses planning international growth Chief Commercial Officers and international MDs scaling consumer brands Industrial and manufacturing leadership teams considering global market entry Leadership programmes for senior operators in product, design and engineering-led companies Audience outcomes A clear-eyed view of what it actually takes to move a single-market business into 60-plus markets A working model for the CEO and founder partnership in inventor-led companies Specific lessons on entering and winning major international markets, drawn from the US, Japan and Europe A sharper sense of where British manufacturing competes and where it does not Boardroom-grade thinking on innovation, capital allocation and long-horizon growth

Why organisations work with Maya Townsend She brings organisation network analysis into the room as a working tool, not a slide. Leaders leave knowing which specific people inside their business carry influence that the org chart hides. She has co-edited the OD Network’s Handbook for Strategic HR (AMACOM, 2012), giving her work a peer-reviewed foundation that most change speakers cannot point to. She advises Gartner on change management and organisation network practice, which means her frameworks have been pressure-tested with the analyst body that many of her clients buy research from. She is one of three US-certified Lewis Method of Deep Democracy trainers, so when polarised teams are stuck on a decision she has a specific method for moving them, not a general facilitation style. She works the seam between strategy and adoption. Clients booking her are usually past the point of needing a diagnosis and want someone who can name the next intervention. Biography highlights Founder and lead consultant, Partnering Resources, an organisation development practice focused on networks, collaboration, and change. Co-editor, Handbook for Strategic HR: Best Practices in Organization Development from the OD Network (AMACOM, 2012). Chapter author, “Organization Network Dynamics and Analysis,” in the NTL Handbook of Organization Development and Change. Adviser to Gartner on change management and organisation network practice. Contributor to strategy+business, People + Strategy, Nonprofit Quarterly, CIO, and Inc.com. MS in Organization Development (with distinction), American University / NTL Institute; certified Lewis Method of Deep Democracy trainer, one of three in the United States. Biography Every large organisation has two structures. There is the one on the chart, and there is the network of relationships that actually moves information, decisions, and trust. Townsend’s work starts from the second one. She runs Partnering Resources, the change and organisation development practice she founded, where she uses organisation network analysis to show leaders the brokers, connectors, and quiet experts their formal hierarchy hides. The diagnosis is concrete: specific names, specific gaps, specific places where a transformation is going to fail unless someone intervenes. The intellectual base behind this work is unusually deep for a speaker in her field. She co-edited the OD Network’s Handbook for Strategic HR with AMACOM, contributed the chapter on network dynamics to the NTL Handbook of Organization Development and Change, and writes regularly for strategy+business, People + Strategy, and CIO. Gartner uses her as an adviser on change management and network practice. What that produces in a keynote setting is a practitioner who can move from the science of how organisations actually behave to the next concrete move a leadership team should make on Monday morning. She has presented at Gartner and Inc. 500 or 5000 events, taught networked leadership at Boston University and Northeastern, and is one of three Lewis Method of Deep Democracy trainers certified in the United States, which she draws on when teams are polarised and stuck. Key speaking topics Organisation network analysis Change leadership in complex systems Collaboration across silos and ecosystems Conflict and polarisation in leadership teams Talent and influence mapping Strategy adoption and organisational resilience Ideal for CEOs and transformation leads landing a strategy that depends on cross-functional adoption. Heads of strategy, OD, and change running enterprise change programmes that have stalled at the middle. Senior HR and talent leaders identifying who actually carries influence in a high-potential population. Leadership teams stuck on a polarised decision and looking for a method, not a facilitation pep talk. Audience outcomes A working picture of the informal networks inside their own organisation, and where those networks are blocking or accelerating strategy. Specific moves to identify the brokers and connectors who decide whether a change effort lands. A sharper read on why past change programmes stalled, anchored in network evidence rather than personality. A method for engaging conflict in leadership teams that turns disagreement into a decision rather than a stalemate.

Why organisations work with Michael Watkins He owns the global category of leadership transitions. The First 90 Days is the methodology Fortune 500 HR functions, executive coaches, and onboarding programs build around, with over a million copies in print across more than twenty languages. His 2024 book, The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking, gives senior teams a named, teachable framework for the cognitive work executives are expected to do but rarely trained in: pattern recognition, systems perspective, mental agility, structured problem-solving, visioning, and political savvy. The Thinkers50 Hall of Fame induction in 2023 places him alongside the small group of management thinkers whose work has shaped how large organisations actually develop leaders, not just how they talk about leadership. He has run the playbook inside companies as well as written it. Through Genesis Advisers, the consultancy he co-founded, his frameworks are embedded in transition coaching programs at major multinationals. Buyers get a speaker who has taught the same audience inside IMD, Harvard Business School, and the Kennedy School. The content is built for senior leaders, not adapted down to them. Biography highlights Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change at IMD Business School since 2007. Author of The First 90 Days, named by The Economist as “the onboarding bible” and selected by Amazon editors as one of 100 leadership books to read in a lifetime. Author of The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking (Harper Business, 2024) and Master Your Next Move, the structured companion to The First 90 Days covering eight common executive transition types. Inducted into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame in 2023; previously ranked on the Thinkers50 list in 2019 and 2021. Co-founder and chairman of Genesis Advisers, a leadership-transition consultancy. Former associate professor at Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School; PhD in Decision Sciences from Harvard University. Biography The First 90 Days began as a study of why senior hires fail and grew into the operating manual that most large organisations now use to onboard executives. The Economist called it the onboarding bible. More than a million copies are in print across more than twenty languages, and the framework is embedded in transition coaching at multinationals worldwide. Michael Watkins built the methodology while teaching at Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School, refined it at INSEAD, and has anchored it at IMD since 2007 as Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change. He directs IMD’s First 90 Days open program and co-directs the Transition to Business Leadership executive program. The same body of work runs through Genesis Advisers, the consultancy he co-founded, where the playbook is delivered inside companies rather than written about from outside. In 2024, he extended the work upward with The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking, which names the cognitive disciplines executives are expected to demonstrate at the top of an organisation: pattern recognition, systems perspective, mental agility, structured problem-solving, visioning, and political savvy. The argument is that strategic thinking is not a personality trait but a teachable craft, and most senior teams have never been taught it. The Thinkers50 Hall of Fame inducted him in November 2023, recognising two decades of work that has demonstrably shaped how large organisations develop their leaders rather than how they describe doing so. Key speaking topics Leadership transitions and executive onboarding Strategic thinking for senior leaders Team leadership and top-team effectiveness Organisational change and culture Negotiation and decision-making Career strategy for senior executives Ideal for CHROs, heads of leadership development, and chief learning officers designing transition and onboarding programs. CEOs and executive committees who want their top team trained in strategic thinking as a discipline. Boards and nomination committees preparing successors for enterprise-leadership roles. High-potential leadership cohorts moving into first general-management or P&L roles. Audience outcomes A named methodology, The First 90 Days, that senior leaders can apply to their next transition rather than a set of principles to remember. Six concrete strategic-thinking disciplines that a top team can use as a shared language inside the business. A clearer view of why most senior-hire failures are predictable, and which interventions in the first ninety days actually change the outcome. Direct access to the thinking of a Thinkers50 Hall of Fame inductee whose work is taught inside HBS, INSEAD, and IMD curricula.

Why organisations work with Mike Evans He gives an audience a defence plan for AI disruption, not a forecast. The 7-Sided Pincer Movement maps the forces reshaping work, and the 5-Ingredient Kryptonite Defence sets out the capabilities that keep people and teams hard to replace. He has worked these forces since the 1990s, inside Kotter International, FranklinCovey, and Tom Peters Company, which puts three decades of change practice behind a topic most speakers picked up after 2023. He built and tested the frameworks inside 34 of the Fortune 50, with named results such as shorter decision cycles at Intel and a rebuilt pilot training pipeline at the US Army Aviation Center. He builds each keynote backward from a structured discovery call with the client, so the room gets its own challenges addressed rather than a stock talk. His Kryptonite Scorecard, a 30-behaviour diagnostic, and the distributed ownership thesis in Achieve with Accountability give a leadership team a way to keep working the plan after the session. Biography highlights Author of two books: Distinct or Extinct: Future-Proofing People and Organizations in the Age of AI (Pincer Press, 2026) and Achieve with Accountability (Wiley). Founder of Pincer Press; works full-time as a keynote speaker and author. Former senior consultant at Kotter International, FranklinCovey, and Tom Peters Company, working alongside John Kotter, Stephen Covey, and Tom Peters. Clients include 34 of the Fortune 50, among them Intel, Apple, PepsiCo, Caterpillar, Cargill, Capital One, and Pfizer. Developer of the 7-Sided Pincer Movement and the 5-Ingredient Kryptonite Defence, with the Kryptonite Scorecard diagnostic. Biography Seven forces are reshaping how organisations work at the same time: software, robotics, globalisation, outsourcing, digital transformation, disruptive competition, and AI as the accelerant that multiplies the rest. Most organisations defend one flank while the other six go unguarded. Mike Evans has worked these forces since the 1990s, well before AI made them urgent. He built his frameworks inside Kotter International, FranklinCovey, and Tom Peters Company. He worked directly with John Kotter on change acceleration, with Stephen Covey on personal effectiveness, and with Tom Peters on operational excellence. His 2026 book, Distinct or Extinct, turns that history into a method. It argues that people and organisations survive disruption by becoming hard to replace, through five capabilities: ideas, speed, talent, distinction, and leadership at all levels. Evans founded Pincer Press to publish it, choosing speed to market over a traditional deal so it reached leaders inside the 2026 disruption window. The frameworks were tested inside 34 of the Fortune 50, including Intel, Apple, PepsiCo, and the US Army Aviation Center. His Wiley book, Achieve with Accountability, supplies the execution layer beneath them, the distributed ownership that lets a workforce act on a plan rather than receive one. At Intel the work shortened decision cycles; at the US Army Aviation Center it rebuilt a pilot training pipeline under a constrained budget. Key speaking topics AI disruption and the future of work Future-proofing people and organisations The 7-Sided Pincer Movement and converging disruptive forces Distributed accountability and execution discipline Change leadership under permanent disruption Personal and organisational distinctiveness Resilience under repeated disruption Ideal for Boards and executive teams deciding how AI changes their workforce and operating model Chief People Officers and Chief Transformation Officers redesigning roles and accountability for an AI-shaped workforce Leadership conferences, annual meetings, and sales kickoffs in sectors under pressure from AI, such as financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, pharma, and technology Associations running “future of the industry” programmes where members are anxious about staying relevant Audience outcomes A map of the seven forces hitting their organisation at once, and which ones they are currently leaving unguarded The five capabilities that keep people and teams hard to replace as AI absorbs routine work A working model for distributing accountability so a workforce can act on the plan rather than receive it Specific changes leaders can put in motion within the week, beyond general AI awareness Shared language senior teams can use after the session to hold momentum

Why organisations work with Neil Martin He built the probabilistic strategy modelling systems now used by more than half the current Formula One grid – not a commentator on F1 decision-making, but the person who changed how the sport models decisions under uncertainty. Two specific, named race outcomes are directly attributed to his calls: Red Bull Racing’s first Formula One win at the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix, and Räikkönen’s win at the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix – both the product of real-time probabilistic reasoning under extreme competitive pressure. He translates a specific, working methodology – Monte Carlo simulation and game theory applied to real-time competitive decisions – into frameworks organisations can use when multiple futures must be weighed against each other with no time to wait for certainty. His experience spans the full decision chain: building the analytical models, leading the strategy team live in the race, and managing the operational culture of teams working against non-negotiable deadlines with global coordination demands. As Co-Founder of PACETEQ GmbH, he continues to build and deploy competitive analytics tools across motorsport, which means his perspective is operational and current rather than retrospective. Biography highlights BSc in Mathematics with Computer Science and MSc in Operational Research, University of Southampton; MSc project on optimal pit-stop and refuelling strategies secured a full-time role at McLaren Racing Pioneered the application of Game Theory and Monte Carlo simulation to F1 race strategy at McLaren from 1998, replacing deterministic planning with stochastic models that could account for uncertain events in real time Team Leader of Operational Research at McLaren Racing; Chief Strategist at Red Bull Racing; Head of Operations Research and Strategy at Scuderia Ferrari (2011-2015) Strategic calls directly credited with Red Bull Racing’s first-ever Formula One win at the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix and Räikkönen’s victory at the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix Co-Founder of PACETEQ GmbH, an AI-powered motorsport analytics business; software originating from his work in active use across more than half the Formula One grid Covered in the Financial Times; featured speaker at the Gartner Data and Analytics Summit Biography Neil Martin joined McLaren Racing in 1996 to solve a specific problem: race strategy was being built on deterministic models that assumed a single most-likely future. He replaced those models with stochastic ones, applying Game Theory and Monte Carlo simulation to uncertain events. Traffic patterns, overtake probabilities, safety car timing – these could now be modelled, and strategy built around a range of probable outcomes rather than one. That shift produced verifiable results at the highest level. At the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix, Martin sent an email from McLaren’s Woking base instructing Räikkönen to stay out under a safety car; the call won the race. At the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix, as Red Bull Racing’s Chief Strategist, he kept both cars out in wet conditions when almost every competitor pitted. It was the team’s first-ever Formula One win – a 1-2 finish built on asymmetric risk reasoning under pressure. Martin joined Scuderia Ferrari in 2011 as Head of the newly created Operations Research department, brought in alongside Pat Fry to rebuild the team’s race operations. He left in 2015. Since then, he has founded Random Logic and co-founded PACETEQ GmbH, an AI-powered analytics business whose tools now run on more than half the current Formula One grid. For senior leaders, the argument is direct. Performance under pressure is not determined by the quantity of data available. It is determined by the quality of the frameworks used to act on it. Martin’s career is a proof of concept for what that discipline looks like when competitive stakes are at their highest. Key speaking topics Decision-making under uncertainty Probabilistic risk modelling Data-driven competitive strategy High-performance operations Risk management in live environments Marginal gains and continuous improvement Analytics-led performance optimisation Ideal for C-suite and senior strategy leaders making high-stakes decisions with incomplete data and competitive time pressure Risk, analytics, and data science functions seeking to operationalise probabilistic thinking across the organisation Boards and executive teams benchmarking their decision culture against elite performance environments Corporate conferences in financial services, technology, and professional services where data-driven decision-making is a strategic priority Audience outcomes A named conceptual shift: from deterministic “most likely scenario” planning to probabilistic mapping of multiple futures and their associated likelihoods Clarity on the conditions under which data produces better decisions, and the organisational habits that close the gap between having information and acting on it with confidence Specific, race-derived examples of asymmetric risk reasoning applicable to resource allocation, market entry, and competitive response decisions Practical understanding of how high-performance teams coordinate under non-negotiable deadlines without sacrificing analytical discipline A benchmark for what genuinely data-driven operational culture looks like when competitive stakes leave no margin for deterministic thinking

Why organisations work with Nick Fry He ran the management buyout of Honda’s F1 team for a nominal sum in 2009, then won both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships that same season. There are very few executives anywhere who can speak from inside a turnaround that extreme. He has led at two distinct scales of performance organisation: a 700-person independent team operating on survival economics, and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 as a global OEM works operation. Most senior teams need both lenses. His career predates F1 by 24 years at Ford Motor Company, including running Aston Martin Lagonda through the DB7 launch. He speaks credibly to industrial leaders, not only to motorsport audiences. He served roughly five years as a UK Business Ambassador under Prime Ministers Brown and Cameron, giving him a working view of how British engineering competes globally. His book “Survive. Drive. Win.” (Atlantic Books, 2019), with a foreword by Bernie Ecclestone, sets out the Brawn GP year in operational detail rather than as motorsport nostalgia. Biography highlights CEO of Brawn GP, the team that won the 2009 Formula One Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championships in its only season. CEO of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 from 2010 to 2013, following Mercedes’ acquisition of Brawn GP. Co-author of “Survive. Drive. Win.” (Atlantic Books, 2019), foreword by Bernie Ecclestone. UK Business Ambassador appointed by Prime Ministers Gordon Brown and David Cameron. Non-Executive Chairman of McLaren Applied, appointed October 2021. 24 years at Ford Motor Company, including Managing Director of Aston Martin Lagonda during the DB7 programme. Biography In late 2008, Honda withdrew from Formula One with almost no notice. The team based in Brackley had weeks to find a buyer or close. The CEO, with technical director Ross Brawn, negotiated a management buyout for a nominal sum, secured an interim engine supply from Mercedes, and ran the operation through the winter on a fraction of its previous budget. The team won both World Championships the following season, with Jenson Button taking the Drivers’ title. Brawn GP existed for one year, and won everything available to it. That season is the central case Nick Fry now teaches. He set it out in “Survive. Drive. Win.” (Atlantic Books, 2019), co-written with Ed Gorman and with a foreword by Bernie Ecclestone. The book is a working account of how leadership decisions are made when the organisation has no margin, not a victory memoir. Mercedes acquired the team in 2010 and Fry stayed on as CEO of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 until 2013, taking a 700-person independent operation into integration with a global OEM works programme. Before Formula One, he spent 24 years at Ford Motor Company. Roles included product planning on the Ford Escort RS Cosworth and the RS200, and Managing Director of Aston Martin Lagonda during the DB7 launch and the move from handbuilt-only production at Newport Pagnell to higher-volume manufacturing at Bloxham. He then ran Prodrive as Managing Director from 2001, before joining BAR and Honda in Formula One. He served roughly five years as a UK Business Ambassador, appointed by Prime Ministers Gordon Brown and David Cameron. He is currently Non-Executive Chairman of McLaren Applied, the company awarded the FIA contract for the 2026 Formula One engine control system, and Chairman of the esports organisation Fnatic. Key speaking topics Leadership under existential pressure Turnaround and restructure in high-performance organisations Decision-making with incomplete information Integration of a small operation into a global parent British engineering and high-performance manufacturing Formula One as an operating model Ideal for CEOs and senior executives facing a forced restructure, funding shock, or major integration Boards weighing the leadership profile required for a turnaround Industrial, engineering, and manufacturing leadership teams Operating committees in performance-driven cultures, including motorsport, aerospace, and elite engineering Audience outcomes A working account of how a senior team made decisions during a survival period in which conventional planning was not possible. A clear view of how leadership behaviours need to change between a small independent organisation and an integrated works operation inside a global OEM. Specific examples of which Brawn GP decisions worked, which did not, and what the CEO would do differently with hindsight. A more honest reading of what Formula One actually demonstrates about high-performance management, separated from the marketing version.

Why organisations work with Nick Jankel He works with senior executives as a peer rather than an outsider. His position lets him challenge leadership teams in the room and stay engaged across the programmes that follow, which is the difference between a keynote that lands and a keynote that fades by the next quarter. Bio-Transformation® (BTX®) is one of the few leadership frameworks built from medical science and philosophy of science rather than consulting practice. The argument that change fails when leaders apply machine logic to living systems is a defensible intellectual position, not a packaging exercise. His Cambridge Triple First in Medicine and Philosophy of Science, combined with twenty-five years applying the framework inside organisations, gives senior leaders a rare combination: a scientist’s argument about human behaviour and a practitioner’s instinct for what works in the room. Across roughly 250 executive leadership and transformation programmes for organisations including Unilever, Microsoft, HSBC, LEGO, Genentech, NHS, and Intel, the methodology has shaped the development of approximately 100,000 senior leaders and executives. His keynotes are designed as interventions: customised, experiential, and built to move leaders toward leading change, AI transition, or transformation, rather than simply describing why it matters. Biography highlights Cambridge Triple First (summa cum laude) in Medicine and Philosophy of Science; clinical medicine at UCL Co-founder and CEO of Switch On Leadership, designer of executive leadership and transformation programmes for organisations including Unilever, Microsoft, HSBC, LEGO, Genentech, NHS, and Intel Creator of the Bio-Transformation® (BTX) methodology, a neuroscience-based framework for individual, team, and organisational change Roughly 250 executive leadership development and transformation programmes designed and delivered, shaping the development of approximately 100,000 senior leaders and executives Author of multiple books on leadership and transformation, including Now Lead the Change (2020) and Switch On (2014); work translated into Chinese Lectured at Yale, Oxford, London Business School, Sciences Po, and UC Berkeley; media coverage in the Financial Times, The Times, The Economist, and The Guardian Transformation coach on BBC and MTV television series; spoke at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Talks@Google, and The Economist Summit Biography Most senior leaders are now asked to lead change, AI transition, and transformation in parallel, often without the time to recover between cycles. The standard answer is to equip them with better strategy. The harder answer, and the one Nick Jankel has spent twenty-five years working on, is that under pressure most leaders default to protecting rather than adapting, and no amount of strategic clarity rewrites that biology. Jankel arrived at this argument by an unusual route. He studied medicine and philosophy of science at Cambridge, graduating with a Triple First, before training in clinical medicine at UCL. He then moved into brand strategy at TBWA/Chiat Day on accounts including PlayStation and Nike. Bio-Transformation® (BTX®), the methodology he later built, draws on all three: a clinician’s view of human systems, a philosopher’s account of how knowledge changes under pressure, and a practitioner’s understanding of how people actually choose. As co-founder of Switch On Leadership, Jankel applies BTX through senior executive interventions, leadership team development, and enterprise-wide programmes for organisations including Unilever, Microsoft, HSBC, LEGO, Genentech, NHS, and Intel. Roughly 250 programmes and 100,000 leaders have been built around the methodology to date. He has explored the underlying ideas in books including Now Lead the Change (2020) and Switch On (2014), and lectured at Yale, Oxford, London Business School, Sciences Po, and UC Berkeley. What separates his keynote work is the deliberate refusal to treat the keynote as a speech. The session is designed as an intervention, customised to a leadership group’s actual change agenda and built to move people, not only inform them. The Financial Times, The Times, The Economist, and The Guardian have covered his work; he has spoken at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Talks@Google, and The Economist Summit, and hosted transformation-focused series for the BBC and MTV. Key speaking topics Executive leadership development under pressure Leading change, AI transition, and transformation Neuroscience of organisational change and human adaptation Adaptive leadership and senior team capability Leadership for the age of generative AI Bio-Transformation® methodology and applied complexity science Ideal for C-suite and senior leadership teams leading transformation, AI transition, or large-scale organisational change CHROs and Chief Learning Officers commissioning executive leadership development programmes at top-50, top-100, or top-500 leader scale Boards and executive committees seeking a science-backed perspective on why standard leadership development underdelivers in conditions of sustained pressure Innovation, transformation, and AI leads in regulated or complex sectors including pharma, financial services, and government Audience outcomes Senior leaders leave with a working understanding of why their organisation’s last change programme stalled at the human level, framed through the Control-and-Protect vs Create-and-Connect distinction at the heart of BTX® Practical tools for regulating stress responses and shifting leadership defaults under live pressure, applicable inside the room and after the event A shared language for naming the human dynamics of change at senior team level, so the work continues without him A clearer view of what generative AI specifically asks of leaders, distinct from what it asks of technology functions Visible movement, not only information: the session is designed to leave leaders ready to lead the next phase of change, not only to think about it

Why organisations work with Nick Tasler He gives leaders a working model of change, Change, Grow, Win, drawn from five books on decision science and his 2025 book Your Year of Wonders, and tested with senior teams at Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase, 3M, and Accenture. He names the failure mode most change programmes miss: the strongest performers often resist change hardest, recasting fear as a reasoned objection. He calls it FOFO (Fear Of Falling Off), and shows leaders how to read it and reverse it. He reframes resilience itself, arguing that returning to your original form is the wrong goal after a shock. Buyers get a sharper definition of adaptation than the usual “stay strong” message. His ideas are pre-edited for working leaders through Harvard Business Review and Psychology Today, so keynote content arrives tested on the audience it is meant for. He runs Decision Pulse, an assessment platform, so the keynote connects to a diagnostic and a workshop rather than ending at the stage. Biography highlights Organizational psychologist and founder of Decision Pulse, advising senior leaders on change and decision-making. Author of five books, including Your Year of Wonders (2025), which sets out his Change to Grow to Win framework. Leadership columnist for Harvard Business Review; contributor to Psychology Today and Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Former Director of Research and Development at TalentSmart, the source of his first book, The Impulse Factor. Keynote work with Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase, 3M, Accenture, Wells Fargo, Dell, Royal Bank of Canada, the Wharton School, and Yale University. Biography Change programmes stall at the level of individual decisions, not strategy decks. The people who stall them are frequently the strongest performers, the ones with the most to lose, who recast their fear as a reasoned objection to the plan. Most leaders read that as a skills gap and spend on training that was never the problem. Tasler’s name for the fear is FOFO (Fear Of Falling Off), and naming it is half the fix. His wider model, Change, Grow, Win, is set out in his 2025 book Your Year of Wonders and built on four earlier books on decision science, from The Impulse Factor to Ricochet. The throughline across all five: leaders and teams who decide well under uncertainty grow faster than those who wait for clarity. The credentials are operational. He began at Accenture, ran research and development at TalentSmart, the consultancy behind The Impulse Factor, and now writes for Harvard Business Review and Psychology Today, translating decision science for working managers. He has lectured at the Wharton School and Yale. His edge in a crowded change field is the diagnostic posture. Decision Pulse, the consultancy he founded, pairs each keynote with an assessment and a workshop, so a leadership team leaves with specific decisions to make and a way to measure them. The claim a board can act on: resistance from your best people is rarely a capability problem, and it shifts faster than any training budget can. Key speaking topics Leading organisational change The psychology of change resistance Decision-making under uncertainty High-performer engagement through change Behavioural science for leaders Resilience and adaptation Strategy-to-execution Ideal for CEOs and senior leadership teams entering or mid-way through a major transition. CHROs and chief transformation officers responsible for change adoption. Leadership development programmes for high-potential and newly senior managers. Sales and revenue leadership teams whose top performers face new rules or markets. Audience outcomes A shared model, Change, Grow, Win, a team can apply to a change already underway. A way to spot FOFO (Fear Of Falling Off) in their strongest people, and a method to reverse it without a training programme. A sharper definition of resilience, drawn from Ricochet, aimed at adaptation instead of a return to the old form. Specific decisions to make on Monday, attached to the change in front of them.

Why organisations work with Nikki Greenberg Her Five Step Future Ready Framework gives leadership teams a structured, replicable methodology for taking AI and technology adoption from boardroom conversation to approved initiative: developed directly from leading digital transformation across a major institutional real estate portfolio, not from consulting at a remove. She reads the built environment, business strategy, and technology fluently and simultaneously: enabling her to assess AI’s implications for physical assets, long capital cycles, and operational infrastructure in ways that technology-only futurists cannot. As founder of Women in PropTech and three-term co-chair of the ULI New York Technology & Innovation Council, she has shaped industry consensus on built-world innovation rather than simply reported on it, which means audiences get a perspective that is ahead of the published analysis, not derived from it. Her client roster spans real estate, financial services, retail, hospitality, and the public sector, giving organisations outside property access to cross-industry pattern recognition on how physical-digital convergence is being handled at scale elsewhere. She translates demographic shifts, emerging technology, and long-range scenarios into specific decisions leaders can take today; not horizon-scanning for its own sake, but a structured pathway from trend to action. Biography highlights Former Head of Technology Strategy (Real Estate) at QIC, where she led the digital transformation of a $22 billion real estate portfolio within a global investment manager with $70 billion AUM Founder and Global Ambassador of Women in PropTech Former three-term co-chair, Urban Land Institute New York Technology & Innovation Council Speaker of the Year, Trends & Technologies category (2025); ULI Global Luminary (2022); MIPIM Global PropTech Awards Finalist (2019); CIO View’s 5 Most Influential Women in Real Estate to Watch Career spanning architecture, development, and technology strategy across Lendlease, Koichi Takada Architects, Greenland Australia, and Brown Harris Stevens Bachelor of Architecture (Hons), Master of Architecture, Master of International Business – all from UNSW, Sydney Conference and event engagements include Harvard Business School, Bank of America, Brookfield, UN-Habitat, Smart City Expo World Congress, MIPIM, and the National Association of Realtors Biography Nikki Greenberg began her career as an architect working on master-planned communities and mixed-use developments across Sydney, New York, and China. That background – designing places intended to serve the next generation of occupants – became the foundation for a career built around a single organising question: what do today’s decisions look like from twenty years out? At QIC, one of Australia’s largest investment managers, she led the digital transformation of a $22 billion real estate portfolio, translating technology strategy into decisions about operations, assets, and customer experience at institutional scale. It is this combination that makes her unusual: she has delivered the physical and the digital, not merely theorised about their convergence. Her Five Step Future Ready Framework, developed from that experience, gives leadership teams a structured methodology for moving from technology awareness to committed action; addressing the specific friction points of incentive misalignment, budget pressure, and multi-generational workforces that stall most transformation programmes. It is the practical core of her keynote work across industries as varied as financial services, retail, and urban planning. She is the founder of Women in PropTech and served three terms as co-chair of the Urban Land Institute’s New York Technology & Innovation Council; roles that positioned her at the centre of where policy, capital, and technology strategy converge in the built environment. Recognised as Speaker of the Year (Trends & Technologies, 2025) and a ULI Global Luminary, she holds a Master of Architecture, Master of International Business, and Bachelor of Architecture with honours from UNSW, Sydney, and is based in New York City. Key speaking topics AI and digital transformation in the built environment Future-readiness strategy and technology adoption frameworks The future of cities, real estate, and physical infrastructure AI and the future of work Technology strategy for asset-intensive industries Demographic change and long-range scenario planning PropTech, ConTech, and innovation in the property sector Ideal for C-suite and board-level leaders in real estate, construction, and asset management navigating technology strategy and digital transformation CIOs, CTOs, and Chief Transformation Officers in industries with significant physical infrastructure; financial services, retail, hospitality, public works Industry associations and sector conferences where audiences need technology insight grounded in commercial and operational reality, not pure speculation Leadership development programmes seeking a cross-industry perspective on AI adoption, future-of-work strategy, and long-range planning Audience outcomes A named, structured framework (Five Step Future Ready Framework) for moving technology and AI initiatives from aspiration to organisational buy-in and implementation Clearer understanding of how demographic shifts, AI, robotics, and automation will affect demand for physical space, workforce design, and capital allocation: framed in sector-specific terms Practical starting points for a digital transformation roadmap: including how to sequence early initiatives while building toward a long-term AI integration plan Greater confidence in communicating technology strategy across functions and seniority levels, including to boards and investors unfamiliar with the underlying technology A recalibrated sense of timeline: which technology trends require decisions now, and which can be monitored without near-term commitment

Why organisations work with Oleg Konovalov He has codified vision as a working leadership skill in The Vision Code (Wiley, 2021), drawing on primary interviews with senior visionary leaders rather than abstracted theory. He was named #1 Global Leading Coach at the Marshall Goldsmith Thinkers50 Awards, a credible signal of standing among working executive coaches. His Visionary Leadership Framework gives boards and executive committees a shared vocabulary for diagnosing where a vision is failing, before it shows up in numbers. He works on the C-suite side of the desk: the brief is usually about getting senior teams aligned and credible to their own organisations, not motivational set pieces. His earlier books on organisational anatomy and corporate culture mean he can connect a vision conversation to the structural and cultural conditions that allow it to land. Biography highlights Doctoral degree, Durham University Business School. Author of The Vision Code (Wiley, 2021), with foreword by Marshall Goldsmith. Author of LEADEROLOGY, Corporate Superpower, Organisational Anatomy, Hidden Russia, and The Fisherman’s Path to Leadership. Named #1 Global Leading Coach, Marshall Goldsmith Thinkers50 Awards. Shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Distinguished Award in Leadership, 2021. Listed in Global Gurus Top 30 in Leadership; Forbes contributor. Biography Most corporate visions do not survive contact with the operating year. They sit on a wall, get quoted in townhalls, and quietly disconnect from the decisions executives actually make. Oleg Konovalov’s work begins from that disconnect, and treats vision as a measurable leadership skill rather than a communications artefact. The Vision Code, published by Wiley in 2021 with a foreword by Marshall Goldsmith, set out his Visionary Leadership Framework. The book is built on primary interviews with senior leaders across industries, including Garry Ridge of WD-40 and the branding strategist Martin Lindstrom, and it argues that vision can be diagnosed, taught, and executed with the same rigour as any other senior capability. His earlier books, including LEADEROLOGY, Organisational Anatomy, and Corporate Superpower, sit alongside that work and connect the vision conversation to organisational design and culture. He holds a doctorate from Durham University Business School and writes regularly for Forbes. The recognition reflects working credibility with senior leaders rather than a media profile alone. He was named #1 Global Leading Coach at the Marshall Goldsmith Thinkers50 Awards, shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Distinguished Award in Leadership, and listed in the Global Gurus Top 30 in Leadership. Key speaking topics Visionary leadership Vision execution and strategy alignment Corporate culture in the digital era Leadership in disruption Organisational diagnosis Executive coaching and C-suite development Ideal for CEOs and executive committees setting or resetting strategic direction Board chairs and non-executive directors assessing senior leadership capability CHROs and chief learning officers designing senior leadership development Founders and scale-up leaders translating ambition into an operating vision Audience outcomes A working definition of vision that can be tested against the organisation’s current direction A diagnostic for where a stated vision is failing inside the leadership team A clearer view of how culture, structure, and vision interact in execution Practical questions senior leaders can take into their next strategy or board conversation

Why organisations work with Oliver Bierhoff His perspective is executive, not athletic. He spent 18 years running one of world football’s most scrutinised national programmes – managing coaching changes, institutional restructuring, and major tournament cycles – as a director, not a player. He has managed through both sides of accountability. He was part of Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning operation and was the senior official who left following the 2022 Qatar group-stage exit. Few speakers can speak with equal authority about sustaining success and owning failure. The structural reform he led at the DFB – unifying men’s football, women’s football, and the national academy under one strategy for the first time in German football history – is a transferable case study in how large institutions resist and achieve meaningful integration. His current advisory roles span strategy consulting (McKinsey & Company), American professional sport (New England Patriots), and sports investment (FINVIA Sports GmbH) – he is operating at the intersection of sport, finance, and organisational strategy, not stepping back from it. He holds a Diplom-Kaufmann in business economics and conducted his studies by correspondence during his playing career, a signal of intellectual intent that goes beyond the typical athlete-to-speaker trajectory. Biography highlights Scored the first «Golden Goal» in major international football history – Germany’s Euro 96 final – and earned 70 caps, scoring 37 goals for the national team Serie A top scorer in 1997–98 (27 goals); Serie A champion with AC Milan in 1998–99; holds the league record for most headed goals in a single season (15) Appointed Germany’s first national team manager in 2004; part of the management structure that delivered the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2017 Confederations Cup Served as DFB Director of National Teams & Academy from 2018–2022; first to unify women’s football, men’s football, and the national academy under a single organisational strategy in German football history Business Advisor to the New England Patriots (DACH region); Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Company; Chairman and Co-Founder of FINVIA Sports GmbH Diplom-Kaufmann in business economics, University of Hagen, completed by correspondence during his professional playing career Biography Oliver Bierhoff scored the first Golden Goal in major international football history in Euro 96 and went on to become Serie A’s leading scorer, a champion with AC Milan, and a 70-cap Germany international. Most sports speakers stop there. What followed was the more instructive part of his career. In 2004, he was appointed Germany’s first national team manager – a role created specifically to bridge players, coaches, sponsors, and the football association across multiple coaching cycles. He held that responsibility through the 2014 FIFA World Cup win in Brazil and the 2017 Confederations Cup, before being elevated to Director of National Teams & Academy in 2018. In this role, he integrated men’s football, women’s football, and the DFB Academy under a single department and unified strategy – the first time this had been done in German football history – and launched the «Project Future» youth development programme in partnership with the German Football League. That tenure ended in December 2022, when Germany were eliminated in the group stage of the Qatar World Cup. Bierhoff accepted accountability and left by mutual agreement. That willingness to be held responsible for outcomes – not just processes – is the thread that runs through everything he says about performance culture and leadership under scrutiny. Since leaving the DFB, he has moved into strategic advisory work at a level that goes beyond sport: Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Company, Business Advisor to the New England Patriots for their DACH market expansion, and Chairman and Co-Founder of FINVIA Sports GmbH, a sports investment vehicle. He holds a business economics degree completed by correspondence during his playing career. The organisations that work with him are not looking for a former footballer with motivational stories. They are looking for someone who built systems, owned consequences, and kept operating. Key speaking topics Building performance cultures in institutional organisations Leadership continuity across coaching and management transitions Accountability and decision-making under public scrutiny Structural integration and organisational reform in complex institutions Translating elite team sport into business performance frameworks Pressure, resilience, and the psychology of competitive environments The business of sport: investment, strategy, and international expansion Ideal for Executive leadership teams and C-suite audiences focused on performance culture and organisational resilience CHROs, Chief People Officers, and transformation leads navigating structural change Organisations rebuilding or reorienting after public setbacks or leadership transitions Sports business, private equity, and investment audiences interested in the intersection of elite sport and institutional strategy Audience outcomes A clearer framework for distinguishing performance culture from performance results, and why the gap between them causes most high-profile failures Practical perspective on managing accountability across leadership transitions without sacrificing stability Insight into how institutional restructuring actually works at executive level: what changes, what resists, and what determines whether integration sticks A more honest lens on public failure: what it demands of leaders, how to process it, and how to use it without being defined by it Transferable lessons from an 18-year executive career in one of world sport’s most scrutinised environments

Why organisations work with Paul Gibbons The Adaptive Adoption framework gives leaders seven pillars for AI adoption grounded in behavioural science, and the Adaptive Adoption Maturity Model shows where an organisation actually stands against them. Both are published openly, so a buyer can inspect the method before booking. “The Science of Organizational Change” is cited by Google’s change team and Microsoft’s internal culture group as foundational to how they approach transformation, more than a decade after publication. Simon Collins, Chairman of KPMG, said Gibbons told them what they needed to hear rather than what they wanted to hear. He is direct with senior teams about where their change thinking is wrong. He founded Future Considerations, named Best Leadership Boutique by Leadership Excellence Magazine, served as a Partner in IBM Consulting’s Talent and Transformation practice, and developed the change methodology at PwC’s Strategy, Innovation and Change think-tank. Clients across that career include Shell, BP, Barclays, HSBC, Comcast and KPMG. His degrees are in biochemistry, organisational behaviour and philosophy, with postgraduate work in economics and neuroscience. He uses that range to name and dismantle the pseudoscience in change management, which is the argument of “Change Myths”, written with Tricia Kennedy. Biography highlights Founder of Future Considerations (2001), named Best Leadership Boutique by Leadership Excellence Magazine, with clients including Shell, BP, HSBC, Barclays and KPMG Partner at IBM Consulting (Talent and Transformation); developed the change management and corporate transformation methodologies at PwC’s Strategy, Innovation and Change think-tank Author of ten books, including “The Science of Organizational Change”, ranked among the top change management texts of all time, “Adopting AI: The People-First Approach” (2025), and “Polymath Poker” (2026) Creator of Adaptive Adoption, the AI Leadership Delta and Behavioural Governance, with the Adaptive Adoption Maturity Model and AI Workforce Readiness Assessment published openly alongside seven research whitepapers Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA); Adjunct Professor of Business Ethics at the University of Denver (2015-2018); member of the American Philosophical Association and the U.S. Academy of Management Council Speaking at the Harvard Business School European Alumni Summit in Amsterdam, September 2026; previously at Talks at Google and the Microsoft Distinguished Author Program Biography Most boards now know their AI investments are underperforming. The harder question is why. In most organisations the behavioural and cultural architecture was never redesigned alongside the technology, and Paul Gibbons has spent three decades building the evidence base that explains it. “The Science of Organizational Change” argued in 2015 that most change management frameworks rest on myth and untested pop psychology. It replaced them with behavioural economics, neuroscience and complexity theory. Google’s change team and Microsoft’s internal culture group both credit the book with reorienting how they approach transformation. Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford Business School calls him one of the most original thinkers in the change field. That critique became a framework for the AI era. Adaptive Adoption sets out seven pillars for AI adoption built on behavioural science, with Change Agility, the AI Leadership Delta and Behavioural Governance as its three working components. Gibbons publishes the whole thing openly, with whitepapers, diagnostics and model cards free to download and argue with. Those frameworks come out of board and C-suite work at scale. He founded Future Considerations, was a Partner in IBM Consulting’s Talent and Transformation practice, and built the change methodology at PwC. He now runs Paul Gibbons Advisory, coaching senior executives on AI over ninety-day sprints, and speaks at the Harvard Business School European Alumni Summit in Amsterdam in September 2026. Key speaking topics Behavioral science and organizational change AI adoption and workforce transformation Culture change and behavior design Change management myths and evidence-based practice AI ethics and organizational governance Leadership in complex and uncertain environments The future of work and human-machine collaboration Ideal for CHROs and people transformation leaders whose AI rollouts have stalled at pilot stage Boards and C-suite leaders making AI adoption and governance decisions Chief AI Officers and digital transformation leads in large, complex organisations Change management and organisational development practitioners Audience outcomes Why AI and culture change programmes stall, explained through behavioural evidence instead of change management convention A measure of adoption based on what people demonstrably do with AI at work The seven pillars of Adaptive Adoption, and a read on where their own organisation sits against each using the Adaptive Adoption Maturity Model Language for board conversations about AI leadership capability, using the seven dimensions of the AI Leadership Delta A working view on which AI claims hold up and which are vendor noise