Josh Linkner Speaking Topics

• Find A Way™ A proven innovation framework to solve problems, accelerate opportunity, and sustain growth

  As we enter a new era of business, 50% of leaders in the United States have lost confidence in their ability to make decisions in the face of uncertainty. The level of disruption, technology threats, and volatility can be paralyzing. We are in a leadership crisis and must embrace a new model to meet today’s challenges.

  Prolific entrepreneur, venture capital investor, and innovation expert Josh Linkner helps you Find A WayTM through his proven 5-step innovation framework for cultivating full-organization ingenuity. Whatever outcomes you crave the most— from sales growth to competitive advantage to employee engagement — you’ll walk away with specific tools to drive sustainable success.

  The Find a WayTM framework prioritizes agility over brute force, creativity over hustle, and improvisation over perfect planning. Leaders who embrace the model are inspired and better equipped. They feel confident to move forward into the darkness and have a newfound capacity to win consistently, no matter the circumstances.

• RETHINK. REBOOT. REINVENT. An innovative framework to navigate volatile times.

  Over the past 24 months, the world as we knew it was turned upside down. The COVID pandemic sent shock waves through our economy, supply chain, and workforce, ringing in a new era of accelerated transformation. The successful models of the past have been rendered obsolete, requiring leaders to rethink their strategy in this defining moment.

  In this inspiring and actionable keynote experience, 5-time tech entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, venture capitalist, and world-renowned innovation expert Josh Linkner helps leaders respond to volatility with creative confidence. Exploring the core mindsets, habits, and tactics of the most innovative leaders on the planet, Linkner leaves audiences with an elevated capacity for inventive thinking and creative problem-solving through his battle-tested Reinvention Framework:

  • Reset. Pause, take inventory, and reassess. Recalibrate vision, goals, customer needs, market opportunity, regulatory environment, and competitive threats.
  • Release. Let go of existing assumptions and beliefs. Challenge conventional wisdom, defy traditional approaches, and reexamine previous models.
  • Reimagine. Spark fresh ideas using proven tools for creative problem solving and inventive thinking.
  • Redefine. Establish new rules of engagement. Retool existing approaches, models, and systems.
  • Realign. Reengage and reconnect key stakeholders (team, partners, customers, suppliers, media, investors) to the new reality.
  • Relaunch. Put new models into action intentionally while refining and readjusting in real time.
  • Reclaim. This deliberate framework will allow your organization and leaders to regain confidence, market leadership, and momentum.

  Participants (and their organizations) will leave the session…

  • Reenergized. Fueled with inspiration and energy to forge ahead in uncertain times.
  • Reequipped. Armed with a proven framework and specific tools to reinvent a new future.
  • Ready. Emboldened to meet the challenges of the day and drive sustainable success.

Disciplined Dreaming

A proven system to drive breakthrough creativity.

In our modern AI-driven world, creativity has become the currency of success. It’s the one thing that can’t be outsourced or automated; the indisputable competitive advantage. We are all hard-wired to be creative, yet most of us have underdeveloped creative skills. And today, more than ever before, creative problem-solving and inventive thinking are crucial to overcoming obstacles and seizing opportunities

Based on the breakaway New York Times bestselling book published in 19 languages and globally recognized by over 2 million readers as the definitive work on applied creativity, author and creativity expert Josh Linkner takes the audience on a journey to unlock their dormant creative capacity. Inspiring stories, surprising truths, and instantly-applicable solutions make this keynote both energizing and actionable.

This keynote serves leaders & teams who are:

Facing increasing challenges and competitive threats Craving a new approach to harness their full creative potential Struggling to keep up with the pace of innovation

The audience will leave with:

• A proven model for harnessing and applying human creativity
• An understanding of how the most innovative and disruptive leaders think and act
• Practical techniques to generate more high-quality ideas at any time and for any challenge

The Innovative Leader

A modern framework to lead with confidence in the face of uncertainty and change

The business you're running today isn't the business you'll be running next year. In this moment of volatility and uncertainty, we are being called to lead in a radically different way… more decisive, creative, and adaptable. So how can we use this defining moment to ensure relevancy, sustainability, and success in the future?

In this inspiring and practical keynote, battle-tested CEO, venture capital investor, and leadership expert Josh Linkner delivers a modern and accessible framework to help leaders thrive in the face of uncertainty and leverage their skills to move into uncharted territory with confidence.

You’ll learn how to unlock inventive thinking, creative problem-solving, and ingenuity in every box of the org chart. The most successful leaders today help everyday people become everyday innovators. They make sure that innovation is an everyday business. This can’t-miss session goes way beyond the future of work.

This is the future of growth, the future of relevancy, the future of leadership, and the future of success.

This keynote serves leaders & teams who are

• Being called to lead in a bold, new way
• Overwhelmed with the demands of modern leadership
• Craving a more innovative approach to drive explosive growth, gain competitive advantage, and get more from their teams

The audience will leave with

• A modern framework for innovative leadership
• Insights from some of the world’s most prolific leaders
• A behind-the-scenes view of legendary business disruption
• Strategies to drive growth, engagement, and success amid change and uncertainty

THE MUSIC OF BUSINESS: Problem solving, collaboration and agility from the dangerous world of jazz music

Live jazz is an art form that equates to real-time innovation. To even navigate through a single song, jazz musicians must collaborate, adapt to rapidly changing circumstances, and make decisions in the face of ambiguity. As the baton of leadership gets passed from one musician to the next, individual contributors are constantly course correcting, inventing, and creatively solving problems.

Sounds just like your organization, doesn’t it?

In this unique and memorable keynote, jazz guitarist and tech entrepreneur Josh Linkner uses a live musical performance as a metaphor for modern, innovative collaboration. Josh and his fellow musicians lead the audience on a musical journey, sharing an insider’s look at this stunning art form. Through the lens of a jazz musician, participants will gain a fresh perspective and new techniques for creative problem solving, improved collaboration, and real-time agility.

This mesmerizing session’s finale features live audience participation. After helping to ”compose” a new jazz song, three audience members join the band and perform their new composition live in front of their peers (no musical experience necessary). Participants are given handheld percussion instruments • along with some fun props and costumes • and together with Josh and his fellow musicians, the group performs for the audience. This live performance brings the key learning principles to life, always ending in a cheering crowd and terrific pictures for social media.

BIG LITTLE BREAKTHROUGHS: How small, everyday ideas drive gigantic results

The pressure to generate big ideas can feel overwhelming. We know that bold innovations are critical in these disruptive and competitive times, but when it comes to breakthrough thinking, we often freeze up. Instead of shooting for a $10 billion IPO or a Nobel Prize, the most prolific innovators focus instead on Big Little Breakthroughs – small, creative acts that unlock massive rewards over time. By building a daily habit of creativity, leaders and organizations not only enjoy a high volume of small wins, but also the daily practice of micro-innovations — the fastest route to discover the massive breakthroughs we seek.

How did a convicted drug dealer use a Big Little Breakthrough to launch and scale a massively successful fitness company? Why was a nurse practitioner able to use daily micro-innovations to solve healthcare problems that the biggest corporations couldn’t crack? How did a tattoo lead to a 30% boost in performance for a publicly traded restaurant company?

Big Little Breakthroughs isn’t just for propeller-head inventors, fancy pants CEOs, or hoodie-donning tech billionaires. Rather, it is a simple yet effective method for all of us to cultivate the power of human creativity. Focusing on a simple and deliberate approach to daily practice, the system enables people from all backgrounds, training, and walks of life to expand their creative skillset and mindset. It helps everyday individuals and leaders unlock inventive thinking and harness innovation to tackle tough challenges and seize bold opportunities.

The Big Little Breakthroughs framework provides a specific and practical approach to unlocking dormant creative capacity. Instead of wild, risky and expensive moonshots, participants learn to unleash small, daily creative acts to drive gigantic results over time. In fact, cultivating high volumes of micro-innovations not only de-risks the creative process, it builds the much-needed skills that lead to colossal transformations...and the creative confidence to take responsible risks.