Rebecca D. Costa

In today's world - one in which we generate as much data every two minutes as we generated from the dawn of man to the year 2003 - every institution is collapsing under complexity. With more information, data, and devices than they can manage, organizations spanning every industry are dealing with high rates of failure but are failing to adapt their problem-solving skills to this complex climate.

An evolutionary biologist and provocative new voice in the mold of Thomas Friedman, Malcolm Gladwell, and Jared Diamond, Rebecca Costa understands that failure to adapt results in extinction. She applies this scientific tenet - adapt or die - to organizations to help them find ways to quickly adapt to this high-failure environment in order to not only avoid extinction, but to thrive.

Instrumental in introducing new technologies to General Electric, Apple, 3M, and other pioneering companies, Costa is the first thought leader to confront the ways in which the rapid pace of change in every aspect of our lives has outstripped our brain's ability to cope. In her acclaimed book The Watchman's Rattle: A Radical New Theory of Collapse, she explains how each individual has the ability to solve complex problems through a spontaneous intuitive flash of insight - a skill that we can harness to solve seemingly intractable problems.

In her book as well as her keynote speeches, Rebecca Costa shows her audiences how our brains can be trained to develop and sharpen "insight on demand" to solve the dangerous and complex problems now facing us at home, in our businesses, and around the world. A riveting and entertaining speaker as well as a sought-after panelist on topics ranging from corporate and government gridlock, global economic trends, and pop culture to education and environmental policy, she offers powerful takeaways on how to make corporations and organizations - whether medical, technical, financial, or educational - better fast adapters able to thrive in high-failure environments.