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David Duncan

Senior Partner at Innosight, Co-author of "Competing Against Luck"

Senior Partner at Innosight, Co-author of "Competing Against Luck"

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Boston, MA, USA
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David Duncan Biography

Even the best-performing companies and senior leaders are challenged to innovate – repeatedly and strategically. David Duncan, who has consulted with top leaders at many of the world’s most iconic companies, is helping them navigate disruptive change, create sustainable growth and transform their organizations to thrive for the long-term.

Duncan is a senior partner at the global strategy and innovation consulting firm Innosight, where he leads the financial services and innovation capabilities practices. He has developed many innovative approaches to driving transformative growth in large organizations that are in widespread use today. Importantly, these approaches are not just theoretical, but are derived from over a decade working directly with companies to solve some of their hardest innovation and growth challenges.

A trusted and visionary advisor, Duncan is also co-author of two books and a number of influential articles, including the forthcoming “Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice” (HarperCollins, October 2016), co-authored with Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen. A groundbreaking book with the potential to reframe industries, “Competing Against Luck” is based on a simple yet profound idea: customers don’t buy products and services; they hire them to do a job. And understanding which jobs your customers need done is key to innovation success. Duncan is also co-author of the e-book, “Building a Growth Factory” (Harvard Business Press, November 2012) and several Harvard Business Review articles, including “Knowing When to Reinvent” (December 2015), coauthored with CEO of Aetna Mark Bertolini, and “Build an Innovation Engine in 90 Days” (December 2014).

Duncan has extensive experience designing and delivering customized workshops and development programs for leaders, and often gives speeches on topics related to innovation, growth and transformation. He has worked with Fortune 50 companies across the full spectrum of financial services industries, including banking, insurance, capital markets and transaction banking. He has also worked extensively across the healthcare sector, including with payers, providers, pharmaceutical and medical device companies. His focus is helping senior executives develop long-term growth strategies, often with an emphasis on transformation and renewal in the face of industry disruption. Duncan is equally involved in helping leaders to execute on strategy, and in helping companies to institutionalize new growth innovation capabilities through the design and deployment of a broad range of enablers.

A former McKinsey & Company consultant, Duncan graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Duke University and earned a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University.

David Duncan Speaking Topics

  • How to Build a Culture of Innovation

    Building a stronger culture of innovation is a goal of most leaders today. It’s a worthwhile aspiration, but progress toward it is elusive. This is due in part to the expression itself, a juxtaposition of two words (“culture” and “innovation”), each of which is vague and ambiguous; put them together and the problem is compounded. David Duncan introduces a new – and precise – definition for what a culture of innovation really is and the factors that create one, and applies it to real-world examples to explain why some organizations are more (or less) innovative than others. Throughout, he engages participants in a discussion to apply these ideas in their own context, and helps them to identify concrete actions they can take to make their own organizational cultures more innovative.

  • How to Understand What Business You Are Really In

    “What business are you in?” Seems like a straightforward question, but how leaders answer has profound implications for how their organizations compete, innovate and grow. And yet many fall into the trap of defining themselves solely from the perspective of the products and services they sell – a myopic view that leads to flawed decision-making and leaves companies vulnerable to disruption. In this highly interactive presentation based on his forthcoming book “Competing Against Luck,” coauthored with Clayton Christensen, David Duncan uses real-world stories to illustrate the power of defining the business you are in through the lens of the “jobs” your customers are trying to get done in their lives. This shift in perspective changes everything, expanding opportunities for growth and innovation, revealing who your true competitors are, and clarifying which emerging trends matter most. Throughout, Duncan leads participants to apply Jobs to be Done thinking to uncover fresh insights about their own businesses, and leaves them with specific actions to further implement these ideas.

  • Competing Against Luck: Making Innovation a Discipline, Not a Gamble

    With the ever-increasing pace of change in today’s world, innovation as a driver of near-term competitive success and long-term performance is more important than ever. While most leaders would agree, few are satisfied with their innovation results. Despite enormous levels of spend on research, development and marketing, increasingly sophisticated innovation processes, and an army of academics, consultants and other gurus selling advice, success still appears far too dependent on the seemingly unpredictable behavior of both customers and competitors. In other words – on luck.

    What’s missing, believes David Duncan, is an answer to the question that defines the quest for innovation success: what really causes a customer to purchase and use a product or service? Drawing on his groundbreaking book, coauthored with Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen, Duncan contends that customers don’t buy products and services; rather, they hire them to solve important jobs that arise in their lives. Would-be innovators must therefore seek first to understand a customer’s jobs, and then use that knowledge to develop solutions that nail the job perfectly.

    In this highly interactive session, Duncan explains how to use Jobs to be Done thinking and methods to greatly enhance your success rates, identify entirely new growth opportunities, and drive enduring competitive advantage. He shares fascinating stories* of companies that have done this with great results, many drawn from his own experience working directly with leaders of some of the world’s most iconic companies. Throughout, he engages participants on how to apply the Jobs to be Done approach in their own contexts, enabling them to make real progress during the session and to leave with a clear set of action steps for unleashing the power of jobs in their organizations.

    *Stories selected can be customized to the interests of a particular audience, including for any industry and for both B2C and B2B companies.

David Duncan Videos

  • Disruptive Innovation And The Secret Lives Of Customers, With ...
    Innosight. In this episode J.R. Lowry sits down with its Senior Partner David Duncan who shares how Innosight is helping businesses ...
  • David Duncan on the Four Components of the Growth Factory ...
    Innosight senior partner David Duncan outlines what it takes to design a fully functioning growth factory and the importance of leadership ...
  • Webinar: What Business Are You Really In? - YouTube
    In this webcast Innosight's David Duncan discusses using jobs to be done to answer the most important question driving your strategy.

David Duncan Books

  • Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice
    Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice

FAQs on booking David Duncan

  • How do I book David Duncan to speak at my event?

    Our experienced booking agents have successfully helped clients around the world secure speakers like David Duncan for speaking engagements, personal appearances, product endorsements, or corporate entertainment since 2002. Click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page to check availability for David Duncan, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to discuss your upcoming event. One of our experienced agents will be happy to help you get speaking fee information and check availability for David Duncan or any other speaker of your choice.
  • What are the speaker fees for David Duncan

    Speaking fees for David Duncan, or any other speakers and celebrities, are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. The estimated fees to book David Duncan are for live events and for virtual events. For the most current speaking fee to hire David Duncan, click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to speak directly with an experienced booking agent.
  • What topics does David Duncan speak about?

    David Duncan is a keynote speaker and industry expert whose speaking topics include Authors, Business, Business Growth, Business Leadership, Consulting, Leadership.
  • Where does David Duncan travel from?

    David Duncan generally travels from Boston, MA, USA, but can be booked for private corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. For more details, please contact an AAE Booking agent.
  • Who is David Duncan’s agent?

    AAE Speakers Bureau has successfully booked keynote speakers like David Duncan for clients worldwide since 2002. As a full-service speaker booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Please click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page including the details of your event, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book David Duncan for your next private or corporate function.
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    AAE Speakers Bureau is a full-service speaker booking agency, meaning we can completely manage the speaker’s or celebrity’s engagement with your organization from the time of booking your speaker through the event’s completion. We provide all of the services you need to host David Duncan or any other speaker of your choice, including offer negotiation, contractual assistance, accounting and billing, and event speaker travel and logistics services. When you book a speaker with us, we manage the process of hosting a speaker for you as an extension of your team. Our goal is to give our clients peace of mind and a best-in-class service experience when booking a speaker with us.
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David Duncan is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as How to Build a Culture of Innovation, How to Understand What Business You Are Really In and Competing Against Luck: Making Innovation a Discipline, Not a Gamble. The estimated speaking fee range to book David Duncan for your event is $10,000 - $20,000. David Duncan generally travels from Boston, MA, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Dr. Jackie Freiberg, Byron G. Sabol, Ryan Brueckner, Stephen Paskoff and Jeffery Tobias Halter. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling David Duncan for an upcoming live or virtual event.

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