The Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau
A speakers bureau that represents the best original thinkers,
writers, and doers for speaking engagements.
A speakers bureau that represents the best original thinkers,
writers, and doers for speaking engagements.
In a world of AI-generated marketing, better beats more.
Marketers today face a dangerous trade-off, says Fab Dolan: in chasing automation and efficiency, many are relinquishing strategy—the very thing they’re paid to deliver. AI’s “easy button” floods channels with generic, derivative content that fails to stand out. The result? Commoditization, not differentiation. The founder of AI marketing platform 99 Ravens and a former Global Director at Google, Fab knows better than anyone that winners of this new era won’t be the ones who use AI to create more. They’ll be the ones who use AI to create better—work that amplifies human ingenuity, drives impact, and reclaims strategy as a marketing leader’s greatest tool. And Fab can show you how.
Fab Dolan is a founder, advisor, and marketing executive with 15+ years of experience on iconic global brands. Recognizing the potential of enterprise AI, Fab left big tech to build an AI platform to democratize access to expert marketing strategy.
Fab’s career spans traditional CPG and tech, including his role as Global CMO for Android, where he established a global go-to-market team for the world’s largest mobile platform and led key marketing investments. Previously, as Country Marketing Director at Google Canada, he helped scale Google’s local presence into a top B2B and B2C market.
Fab has been recognized by Marketing Magazine, Adweek, and Communication Arts, and he has served on the Board of the Canadian Marketing Association. He was also a founding member of the Coalition of Innovation Leaders Against Racism.
Author of Grit, the #1 New York Times Bestseller | Pioneering Researcher on Grit, Perseverance, and the Science of Success
2024 Nobel Prize Winner | 3rd Most Cited Economist in the World | MIT Institute Professor | Bestselling Co-Author of Why Nations Fail and Power and Progress
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Creator of The 1619 Project | Executive Producer of the Emmy Award-Winning 1619 Project Hulu Docuseries | MacArthur Genius
Nike's Former Chief Marketing Officer | Author of Emotion by Design
CEO of The Atlantic | Former Editor-in-Chief of WIRED
Today, we stand at a crossroads. Do we use AI to do more work that ultimately blends into the crowd? Or do we use AI to do better work—work that stands out, sets us apart, and ultimately leaves a legacy?
Fab Dolan knows that the AI “easy button” will change the work of not only marketers, but accountants, leaders, CFOs, and everyone else. “We can use AI to create a flood of derivative nonsense, or we can use AI to create novel, strategic, memorable work,” he says. And he’s showing us how to unlock the true potential of AI to amplify human ingenuity and drive impact.
In this thought-provoking keynote, Fab reveals how AI “easy buttons” impact the creativity of human teams, how agencies and consultancies are reinventing their business models, how CFOs should think about AI investments, and much more. This talk is a must-listen for anyone looking to use AI to get ahead.
At the intersection of human expertise and artificial intelligence lies an untapped opportunity for strategic thinking. Fab Dolan explores this frontier through the lens of what he terms “Strategy DNA”—a research-based approach to decoding how expert marketers think and how their strategic processes can be transformed into technology.
Drawing from his work at 99Ravens building AI agents for expert marketers and his conversations with industry leaders on his podcast X Becomes Software, Fab shares insights about the patterns, frameworks, and mental models that drive effective strategy—and why these elements are largely missing from conventional AI systems. Through engaging case studies and interactive examples, he demonstrates how the most valuable strategic thinking can be transformed into scalable software systems while preserving the irreplaceable human elements.
This talk challenges the prevailing narrative that AI will simply replace human strategists, instead proposing a more nuanced future where technology elevates human intelligence and democratizes expertise. Fab explores the boundary between what can be encoded as software and where human ingenuity still prevails, offering practical frameworks for identifying and enhancing your own strategic strengths.
Attendees will gain perspective on:
For organizations seeking to thrive in the age of AI, this forward-looking talk provides both philosophical grounding and practical wisdom for evolving strategic work beyond traditional limitations.