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Frans Johansson    

Innovation Expert & Author of "The Medici Effect"

An author, entrepreneur, and acclaimed international speaker, Frans Johansson has inspired readers and audiences worldwide with his ideas on leadership and success, innovation, and diversity, while his practical insights have empowered thousands to take action. Innovation legend Clay Christensen cited Frans’s debut book The Medici Effect as “one of the most insightful books on managing innovation that I have ever read,” while his follow up, The Click Moment, was hailed by Fast Company as the book that challenges traditional business-school thinking, and has been charged with destroying the 10,000 hour rule. Since its publication in 2004, The Medici Effect has become the definitive book on diversity driving innovation, influencing numerous industries and fields such as architecture, design, economic development, education, and investing. It has also been translated into 20 different languages to date.

In his role as thought leader and CEO of The Medici Group, Frans has advised executive leadership at Fortune 500 companies such as Disney, IBM, Nike, and Synchrony (formerly GE Financial). Frans has been featured on ABC, CNN, CNBC, the PBS Newshour, and National Public Radio and serves on the Board of Trustees of the New York Hall of Science. He has spoken to audiences on six continents, in virtually every industry, and across disciplines, from creatives to engineers, financiers to scientists, and politicians to humanitarians.

Raised in Sweden by his African-American/Cherokee mother and Swedish father, Frans has lived all his life at the intersection. He has written articles on healthcare, information technology, and the science of sport fishing. He has founded a software company, an international healthcare firm, and a hedge fund. Frans holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from Brown University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Speech Topics

The Rise of the New Intersectional Leader

With global economies, business and people more connected than ever, unpredictability and volatility are the new normal. This is true whether you are a bellwether company, category leader, or innovator with history behind you. How can leaders navigate in this uncertain climate? Frans Johansson believes that tomorrow's most successful leaders will be Intersectional Leaders who tear down silos, embrace diversity, and plan for the unexpected. This new class of Intersectional Leaders will spark organization-wide culture change to drive growth for their firm. In this talk, the audience they will discover how they can develop their leadership abilities to inspire change, breakthrough innovation and growth, even when the answer is not so obvious.

Intersectional Thinking and the New Innovative Leader

The only constant is change, and our interconnectedness means the world has become far more unpredictable. How do leaders navigate in this climate? Frans Johansson believes it takes a new kind of thinking, passion, courage, and collaboration to thrive and compete successfully in todays business world. He coined this Intersectional Thinking, and it calls for leaders to create, actively seek, and see intersections around them. Leaders who become Intersectional Thinkers can spark organization-wide culture change using their existing resources, perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds. In this talk, the audience will gain a fresh look at innovation and what it means to be an adaptive leader. More importantly, they will discover how they can develop their own creative abilities to inspire change and innovative growth.

Diversity Drives Innovation

The world is changing fast. People today are more global than ever and move often between many cultures and countries. Companies, cities, and nations must compete on a global basis. In this new order of rising economies and beleaguered first-world nations, diversity is more important than ever for innovation. Frans explains how todays most innovative companies form culturally diverse talent pools and teams as a specific strategy to innovate. These companies have become #1 brand leaders, R&D centersand very profitable. In this program, Frans clearly and persuasively shows what happens when companies make diversity their most powerful innovation tool.

The Medici Effect: Ground-Breaking Innovation at the Intersection of Disciplines and Cultures

What do goat milk, spiders, and fishing lines have in common? Fiber optics and concrete? Ant hills and architecture? Most of us would assume nothing. But out of each of these seemingly random combinations have come radical innovations that have created whole new fields. In this talk, Frans Johansson takes us on a fascinating journey to The Intersectiona place where ideas from different fields and cultures meet and collide, ultimately igniting an explosion of extraordinary new innovations. Through the Medici principles of innovation, see how companies become global leaders; how products and services yield huge margins; and how the most unlikely of people have outdone the experts in their own fields.

The Click Moment: Seizing Opportunity in an Unpredictable World

Success, were told, is the outcome of careful planning, analysis, and strategy. But the truth is, success is far more random than wed like to believe. In fact, in todays complex, volatile, and random world, the five-year business plan is obsolete, and going through the motions can no longer guarantee strong performance. If planning is out the window, what do you have? According to Frans Johansson, look for Click Momentsrare opportunities, often serendipitous, to change course. He will discuss how to spot Click Moments and increase their occurrence in our lives, how to place lots of high-potential bets, and how to harness the complex forces that follow into a winning strategy.

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