CEO of FutureThink and Bestselling Author
Lisa Bodell: Biography at a Glance
- Lisa Bodell has worked with top global brands like Google, SAP, Citigroup, and Novartis to eliminate complexity, boost innovation, and improve collaboration, transforming how teams work and deliver results.
- As CEO of one of the world’s leading firms in simplification and innovation training, Lisa provides companies with actionable tools that drive measurable performance improvements.
- Named one of the “Top 50 Speakers Worldwide,” Lisa captivates audiences with high-energy keynotes that spark cultural change and motivate teams to embrace smarter, simpler ways of working.
- Her books, Why Simple Wins and Kill the Company, are used by leadership teams worldwide to drive breakthrough thinking and streamline ineffective processes.
- She has also been featured in many major books, such as Warren Berger’s A More Beautiful Question, Adam Grant’s Originals, and After Shock, the 50-year celebration based on futurist Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock.
- With advisory roles for the World Economic Forum, NSA, and Fortune 100 boards, Lisa brings deep credibility and insight to the urgent need for simplification and innovation in today’s fast-moving workplace.
Videos
Biography
When the most important work isn’t getting done, it’s not the people that need to be fixed – it’s the work. Lisa Bodell, a global leader on simplification, collaboration, and innovation, helps organizations transform performance by reimagining the work. By trading complexity for simplicity, organizations find new ways to unleash creativity and spark the energy so essential to innovate and compete. It also lifts morale, increases engagement, and improves employee well-being and retention. Lisa is the author of two groundbreaking books, Why Simple Wins and Kill the Company. She ranks on the “Top 50 Speakers Worldwide” list and captivates audiences with her insights, energy, and humor. Lisa inspires them to question the status quo and make small changes that have a profound impact, giving them time and energy to focus on the work that matters most.
After earning her business degree from University of Michigan, Lisa launched her career at Leo Burnett in Chicago, where she discovered a gift for uniting strategically-driven ideas with forward-thinking themes. She went on to build two successful businesses before moving to New York and focusing on the simplification and innovation space with FutureThink. Founded in 2003, FutureThink works with leading brands worldwide and has become one of the largest sources for simplification and innovation research, tools, and training in the world.
Lisa brings a compelling perspective to the sought-after topics of simplification and innovation to thousands of people each year. A thought leader and serial entrepreneur, her transformational message has inspired executives at top-ranked organizations such as Google, SAP, Citigroup, and the Department of National Intelligence to lead change in their organizations.
Lisa has contributed her expertise to a wide variety of media. She is a monthly contributor to Forbes and has frequently appeared in other media, including Fast Company, WIRED, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and CNN. She has also been featured in many major book,s such as Warren Berger’s A More Beautiful Question, Adam Grant’s Originals, and AfterShock, the 50-year celebration based on futurist Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock.
Lisa has taught innovation at both American University and Fordham University and has a TED popular talk on the topic. She serves on the board of advisors of several organizations, including the Global Agenda Council for the World Economic Forum, the United States National Security Agency, the Association of Professional Futurists, and Novartis.
Topics
Simplicity Unleashes The Energy To Transform
It’s impossible for people to leverage their imaginations when they’re drowning in the work of doing work. Lisa shows organizations how to unleash people to focus on work that really makes a difference.
Curiosity As Your Next Competitive Advantage
Curiosity is a power skill that drives innovation. And in a world where information is increasingly accessible and abundant, knowing how to leverage curiosity and ask the right questions is more important than ever before. In this speech, Bodell will teach how to ask Killer Questions. With this technique, teams are empowered to shift their mindset from judging to learning and as a result, their questions can reveal candid information, uncover fixable problems, and illuminate competitive opportunities.
Killing Complexity
Imagine what you could do with the time you spend sitting in meetings and writing emails every day. Complexity is killing companies' ability to innovate and adapt, and simplicity is quickly becoming the competitive advantage of our time. Drawing on research from her book, Why Simple Wins, Lisa Bodell inspires leaders and their teams to proactively move beyond the feelings of frustration and futility that come with so much unproductive work in today’s corporate world, to create a corporate culture where valuable, essential, meaningful work is the norm.
The Great Reset
Winning innovators readily embrace opportunities for change. They also recognize that both great changes and great innovation can occur during times of great constraint. As the pace of change continues to accelerate, teams that wish to survive and succeed must be able to leverage challenges to their advantage. In this speech, Bodell will share methods that your teams need to ignite disruptive thinking, build agility, and turn problems into possibilities.
Unleash Innovation
Winning innovators embrace change - do you? This keynote is an inspirational call to arms: to start a revolution in how we think and how we work. What holds you and your organization back from better innovating, every day? In too many organizations, we’re stuck in the land of the status quo. We’ve forgotten how to think differently, and lack the tools to solve problems creatively. The very structures put in place inside organizations to help them grow all too often hold them back. If you want people to approach change differently, you have to help them change their approach.
