Poised to replace millions of jobs, it’s easy to view AI as the enemy. But what if instead, we embraced Artificial Intelligence as the key to unlocking our true creative potential?

The future is here, and for the first time in history, it’s highly skilled labor at risk of losing jobs to robots. By some leading estimates, upwards of 40% of all current jobs could be replaced by AI within the next 15 years! But even with the uncertainty it brings, I do not believe AI should be treated as our enemy. In fact, it’s just the opposite.

We should embrace AI. Not as a tool to eliminate jobs, but as one to take over the tedious, repetitive parts of our work, freeing us up to leverage the skills that make us uniquely human: creativity, intuition, empathy, and imagination. The skills we were actually hired to use, but are so often restricted by unruly inboxes, excessive meetings, and repetitive reporting.

As Head of Innovation and Creativity at Disney for the last decade, my job was to uncover the untapped creative potential of our teams by embracing new technology as an opportunity, not a treat. Today, I use this experience
to show CEOs across the world how to do the same, providing their organization with the tools needed to leverage their most important asset: their people.

As part of my Working in Harmony with AI presentation, I’ll show you how by leveraging AI to take over the mundane, repetitive, and time-consuming tasks hiding throughout your organization, you can to redirect your teams’ energy towards the skills that make them uniquely human. And as a result, give your company a massive competitive edge.

How we will compete in the next decade? What skills will we need to survive in a decade of total disruption and rise in A.I.? Simple. Businesses that will win will be those that leverage the most impactful human traits that A.I. won’t be able to replicate (at least not for the foreseeable future): Creativity, Intuition, Curiosity, & Imagination.

As Head of Innovation and Creativity at Disney for the last decade, I learned that there is a huge gap in the market. CEOs everywhere would look to us – The World’s Most Creative Company – for guidance on how to create a culture of innovation, and provide their organization with the tools needed to leverage their most important asset: their people.

But here’s the challenge: until now, no one has made innovation tangible. Many companies hire an Innovation consultancy or build an “Innovation Department,’ only to find that they have not truly driven cultural change and embedded innovation across the entire enterprise.

What if instead, there was a Design Thinking Innovation Toolkit? One that everyone could use that makes creativity tangible, innovation easy, and the process enjoyable? That’s exactly what I have built leaning on my years of experience at Disney, and exactly what I’ll share with you as part of Embedding a Culture of Innovation into Everyone’s DNA presentation.

Disney’s ability to redefine and dominate nearly every industry it has ever entered is no coincidence. The continued success of Disney has been driven by a foundational trait of the company that goes all the way back to its founder, Walt Disney, who was merciless in his pursuit of innovating the customer experience.

By viewing all major business decisions as customer experience decisions, The Walt Disney Company continues to find innovative ways to engage consumers around the world, both old and new. And these innovative experiences have created one of the most passionate, loyal fanbases of all time.

So, how does Disney Think Different and leverage creativity to innovate the customer experience? Through several specific tools and examples, I’ll share this information with your teams during my Delivering Customer Experience Magic keynote.

You’ll learn from the following examples:

• By simply re-expressing the industry challenge Walt Disney created a level of hospitality that has never been replicated.
• How Walt Disney challenged the rules of the industry, coming up with the biggest creative solution of the twentieth century.
• Learn how Disney Parks turned a very product-centric culture into a consumer-centric one.
• How Disney leverages High Tech to enable High Touch, delivering record guest satisfaction.
• Instead of asking “What do we need to do to make greater profits?”, learn how Disney created record revenues by focusing on their consumers' biggest pain points.

Ever wanted to know how Walt Disney came up with the idea for Disneyland or how Netflix completely revolutionized the movie rental industry?

In his over 25-year career at the world’s most innovative organization – The Walt Disney Company – Duncan Wardle learned many important things about building a profitable business and a winning creative culture. The most important? If you want to be different, you have to Think Different!

Leaning on his experience as the Head of Innovation & Creativity at Disney, Duncan’s Think Different keynote takes audiences on a journey. Throughout this journey, they’ll be given a unique set of Innovation Tools and Techniques. These include the breakthrough “What If” creative thinking tool, made famous by Walt Disney himself, who used it to pivot his company from simply an animation house to an entertainment and theme park pioneer.

After this immersive crash course from Duncan, your organization’s ability to mine for creativity and innovation will be drastically improved. In the end, your audience will leave with an actionable set of Creative Behaviors and Innovation Tools that will immediately foster a culture of innovation and creativity in your company.