Erik Wahl Headshot
Report a problem with this profile
[email protected]

Erik Wahl        

Internationally Recognized Graffiti Artist, Entrepreneur & Bestselling Author of "Unthink"

Erik Wahl is an internationally recognized artist, TED speaker, and No. 1 bestselling author. His breakthrough experience as an artist and entrepreneur has translated into making him one of the most sought-after corporate speakers on the circuit today.

On stage, Wahl’s keynote experience creates a dynamic multidimensional metaphor for how to systematically embrace innovation and risk. His message: disruption is the new normal, and businesses must embrace creativity in a wholesale fashion or risk being left behind. Wahl’s presentation inspires organizations to be increasingly agile and outlines how to use disruption as a competitive advantage. Some companies will be disrupted, and others will choose to be the disruptors. Choose wisely.

His book, "The Spark and the Grind," activates the essential components of translating ideas into action. His breakthrough thinking has earned praise from the likes of top influencers in both art and business.

Wahl’s previous book, a bestseller called "Unthink" was hailed by Forbes Magazine as The blueprint to actionable creativity, and by Fast Company Magazine as “provocative with a purpose.”

The Warhol of Wall Street, the Renoir of ROI, The Picasso of Productivity, the Jobs of … Well, Jobs. Wahl discovered an alarming truth early in his career as a partner in a corporate firm: organizations that encouraged the mental discipline of creativity did better than those that did not make innovation a priority mission. So he set out to challenge companies to change their way of thinking.

In the meantime, inspired by street art, he became an acclaimed graffiti artist—though he has since stopped selling his works for personal gain and instead uses his art to raise money for charities. His keynote is where his passion for business growth and art converge into a fascinating performance.

Wahl’s list of clients includes AT&T, Disney, the London School of Business, Microsoft, FedEx, Exxon Mobil, Ernst & Young, and XPrize.

Speech Topics


Building a Better Brand in the Time of Adversity

When the global economy has gone off the rails, it’s time to rethink who you are and what you can offer to a new world. In this presentation, Erik discusses how to leverage your digital and human capital to emerge stronger and more authentically than ever before.

Topics covered:

  • Purpose, passion and performance
  • Humanizing your brand in a digital future
  • Amplifying trust to build authenticity
  • Driving a new competitive narrative

Disruption = Innovation

Our greatest growth happens on the border between chaos and order. In this presentation, Erik provides a history of innovation through disruption (Instagram, AirBnB, iPhone, Uber, AIDS, 9/11 and himself) and shows audiences how to spot and create opportunities to benefit their communities and their organizations.

Topics covered:

  • Adopting a growth mindset
  • Beginner’s mind leads to discovery
  • Overcoming fear and achieving peak performance
  • Dynamic intelligence
  • Navigating ambiguity

· Divergent thinking

Shift Happens: Constant Creativity Through Chaos

Erik helps audiences to reframe change, embrace the positive, and leverage their creativity. This pandemic will be remembered as a seminal moment in history, the major disruption of our lifetime. Erik’s messages will use examples of how successful entrepreneurs and inventors built something from nothing, and give audiences the tools to do the same.

Topics Covered:

  • Embracing disruption and resiliency
  • Chaos creates opportunities for innovation
  • Differentiating from the competition
  • Amplifying your unique value proposition
  • Shifting to habits to fortify our mindset

The Art of Vision for Educators

Through this highly interactive and motivational keynote, speaker Erik Wahl uses his skills as an artist as a metaphor and a vehicle to inspire the educational community to build a vision in the best interests of our children. He draws his audience in through humorous and heartwarming stories as well as audience participation. His goal is to help educators at every level explore new levels of achievement and success. Whether you are a teacher, an administrator, or a bus driver, you have the ability to profoundly and positively impact the lives of your children. "The Art of Vision for Educators" is specifically designed to be a unique and entertaining multimedia experience as much as it an educational tool.

Wahl challenges and empowers the education community to recreate their vision for their students. The principals in this uplifting and highly practical message will redefine the role of a teacher as an artist as well as an architect.

The Art of Vision in Business

Your best sustainable edge in business is your ability to visibly differentiate yourself from your competition. "The Art of Vision" is an entertaining and highly practical program that uncovers new ways to make your organization more creative and ultimately more profitable. It is no longer enough to have good customer service, and a good product. The truly great companies have altered the landscape to create a unique experience for the customer. Whether in sales, service or leadership principles, professionals at all levels can achieve superior performance by creatively differentiating themselves from the competition.

The Art of Leadership

As the business landscape continues to change, leaders need to stay ahead of the game by fostering a steady stream of disruptive strategies and unexpected solutions. They must revive stagnant markets or completely reinvent the competitive dynamics of an industry. Disruptive thinking requires a culture of innovative leadership that can provide the framework and motivation to generate those strategies and execute those solutions. From small startups to global corporations, all business leaders who wish to transform organizational processes and behaviors must master these skills.

To thrive in this new era, organizations, institutions, executives, and entrepreneurs need to rethink the habits that have made them successful in the past and challenge the conventional wisdom and industry models that have defined their world. Through “The Art of Leadership,” speaker Erik Wahl will make business leaders wonder, “Why haven’t we ever thought about our business and culture this way before?

Show more speech topics
I Am Artist

For many of us, our creative potential got buried long ago because of self-doubt, criticism, and lack of use. Using a short film by the same name, the “I Am Artist” program is an innovative training experience designed to help audiences rediscover their inner artists by tapping into their childlike (not childish) “beginner’s mind.” “I Am Artist” will give members of your organization the tools they need to dig deep to uncover their unique talents, leading to breakthrough levels of success.

Businesses are most successful when they are pushing the boundaries of their industry, creating new solutions, and exceeding customer expectations. None of those things are possible if members at all levels are not working at their creative best. Experiencing speaker Erik Wahl’s “I Am Artist” program will form a tribe of artists within your organization who want to create a corporate masterpiece and refuse to settle for anything less than originality, creativity, and excellence.

Unthink: Rediscover Your Creative Genius

Somehow we've come to believe that creativity is reserved for the chosen few: the poets, the painters, the writers. But the truth is that creativity is in all of us. It's about rediscovering the keys to unlock your fullest potential.

Speaker Erik Wahl will help you reframe your thinking so that new creative actions become possible. You'll step outside convention to discover unexpected solutions to business challenges. You'll inject your daily grind with passionate new solutions. You'll rethink your assumptions about your role at your workplace. And you'll begin the process of rethinking your life as a blank canvas of limitless opportunities by which to create your masterpiece.

This program will allow your organization to

Step outside convention to discover new and unexpected solutions to business challenge challenge pre-conceived notions about what’s possible-- UNthink your way to increased creativity, productivity and passion

UNthink.

Somehow we’ve come to believe that creativity is reserved for the chosen few- the poets, the painters, the writers. The truth is bigger and better than that. Creativity is in all of us. We simply need to rediscover the keys that will unlock our potential. UNthink is the keynote experience that will push members of your organization beyond their traditional thought patterns and habitual levels of performance. UNthink will inspire audiences to realize they are capable of so much more than they have been led to believe.

The UNthink program helps reframe your organization’s thinking so that new creative actions become possible. Learning how to UNthink will inject your daily grind with new passion, allowing employees to see how the organization wants and needs all of their talents and energies, not just the ones they’ve been using so far. You’ll begin the process of rethinking your life as a blank canvas of limitless opportunity on which to create your masterpiece.

The Art of Leadership

Leadership, a word often used but rarely seen as a quality requiring you to get your hands dirty. True leadership requires essential skills and commitments for any business leader desiring to transform their people and organizational processes. To thrive in this era of daily change, leaders must rethink their habits and challenge the conventional wisdom which previously defined their world.

The Art Of Vision

The best sustainable edge in business is the ability to differentiate yourself from the competition. Through this entertaining and highly practical program, we will uncover new ways to make your organization more creative, innovative and profitable, but more-so, help your employees to see the need to become better storytellers within your company and towards your industry.

Show less speech topics

News


Erik Wahl keynote to close out Cardinal Health RBC 2016
Cardinal Health RBC will host an eccentric keynote speaker as part of its closing session on Saturday, July 23 — just before attendees head home to implement all of the new tools they gained at this year’s conference in Chicago. Author, speaker, entrepreneur and graffiti artist, Erik Wahl comes to the Windy City with a reputation for getting business leaders to “unthink” everything they’ve ever thought about their customers and patients, recasting their focus to inspire new opportunities and reinvigorate business operations.
Well-known artist to help Jersey schools
Internationally known graffiti artist and author Erik Wahl will pitch in to help raise money for the Jersey Community School District’s fine arts program, the school board was told Wednesday.
Famed Artist Erik Wahl Auctions Painting For Charity - Look to the ...
Famed artist Erik Wahl created a painting at an event in West Hollywood in June 2013, which was a celebration to launch his new book 'UNthink.'

Related Speakers View all


More like Erik