Tag: innovation & creativity

As machines advance, human imagination will become a company’s most valuable resource. This, says DAVID EAGLEMAN—neuroscientist, bestselling author and host of PBS’ The Brain—is the dawn of The Creativity Economy. In his new book, The Runaway Species, he explains why the brain is hardwired to innovate, and how an understanding of this can help organizations thrive. 

 

To book David Eagleman for your next speaking event contact The Lavin Agency, his exclusive speakers bureau. 

Neuroscientist David Eagleman “makes being a scientist look like fun” (The New York Times): he’s a bestselling author, the scientific advisor for HBO’s Westworld, host of PBS’s The Brain, a celebrated TED speaker, and right now, he’s actually helping deaf people hear. In his latest book The Runaway Species, he explains why humans are creative, how creativity works, and offers truly useful strategies for producing great ideas.

Eagleman co-wrote the new Runaway Species with someone who cultivates creativity for a living: composer Anthony Brandt. Using stunning full-color images, they analyze hundreds of samples of human innovation, from Picasso to umbrellas, iPhones to lunar travel, painting a picture of creativity that’s both moving and inspiring—“everyone is creative; it’s part of the basic software we’re all running.” They demonstrate how creativity can be supported in schools, how it can be stoked in the boardroom, how it can improve businesses, institutions, relationships, and ultimately, how an understanding of our capacity for innovation—our deepest and most mysterious gift—can transform, and even save, our world. 

 

In this new excerpt from Wired magazine, Eagleman explains the path of the iPhone, starting with the invention of reel-to-reel tapes in 1924. 

 

“We’re a species with a runaway imagination,” Eagleman says. “As far as we can tell, no other species puts as much effort into exploring imaginary territories as we do.” We often think of creativity as reserved for genuises. Eureka moments, lightning-flashes of inspiration. But in actuality, innovation has always been a process of taking what we’ve got, and “bending, breaking, and blending it,” says Eagleman. “All new ideas evolve from the old; all creativity is based on prior experience; all new ideas have a history.” 

To book David Eagleman, or to book another remarkable innovation speaker, contact The Lavin Agency, his exclusive speakers bureau.   

Future Festival 2017 Toronto—a three-day conference where the world’s best innovators gather to prototype their future—is happening now. Jeremy Gutsche, veteran Lavin keynote speaker and the festival’s founder and host, is also the CEO of TrendHunter.com: the #1 most powerful, predictive, and popular trend platform in the world.

“The reason why,” says Gutsche, “is that we use big data from 150 million people to be more predictive about finding better ideas, faster—like a giant innovation focus group.” Which isn’t a bad description of Future Fest, either: a gathering of unique minds and creators, experiencing the future together, workshopping actual problems and coming away with real, actionable solutions. It’s “choreographed for engagement,” he says, “an experience unlike anything an insight leader has ever been a part of before. That’s Future Fest.”

 

The Lavin Agency represents speakers at the cutting edge of their field. To book Jeremy Gutsche or another innovation speaker, like Adam Alter or Amber Mac, contact us today. 

Today is day three of Trend Hunter’s Future Festival—and attendees can expect a jam-packed morning of rapid innovation workshops, and another exciting afternoon of experiential trend safaris. But as the event continues, we thought we’d look back at a few highlights of yesterday’s incredible keynotes on the trends defining the future (which were capped with a brand-new, 90-minute presentation from one of our exclusive speakers—and the festival’s organizer—Jeremy Gutsche).

 

One thing to know about the Future Festival: no brief article could possibly encapsulate it. It’s rare for a conference to offer so much, both in terms of inspirational ideas and unforgettable experiences!

 

Our staff spent some of Wednesday at the Trend Hunter headquarters, learning about their particular approach to office culture. With so many younger employees, Trend Hunter has learned to how to help millennials be both happy and productive in the workplace. For them, that means daily check-ins: once in the morning, to establish important objectives, and again at the end of the day, to discuss the most value-added activities completed. Immediate and generous feedback is essential for the team—and gamified accountability kept employees working to beat their own records.

 

On Thursday, at the TIFF Lightbox Theatre, Jeremy Gutsche kicked things off with his “Better & Faster” keynote, based on his New York Times and Amazon bestselling book. We learned the three neurological traps that prevent us from realizing our full potential, and the three instincts—hunter instincts—we can foster to achieve success. Learning Gutsche’s six patterns of opportunity helped us re-imagine our business from the bottom up. And for those not present, you can head over to Trend Hunter’s Innovation Assessment to start thinking of new ways to invent and create, no matter who you are or what your industry.

 

Then came a series of distinct modules, each on another facet of business in 2016, and each presented by another member of the Trend Hunter team. 

 

Sean Watson reported on the groundwork of the Internet of Things, or IoT, and how widespread connectivity, hyper-informed targeting, and anatomical takeovers will soon transform your organization. 

 

Armida Ascano spoke on nuances in consumer preferences, giving an overview of contemporary lifestyle and leisure choices that sorted buyers into three groups: assertists, fad-chasers, and elitists—a helpful framework for selling to different sorts. Ascano also presented on the concept of hyper-convenience: how we can empower consumers through digital connectivity, availability, and advanced customization. 

Jaime Neely explored the preferences and behaviors of today’s health-conscious consumers, establishing three archetypes of the healthy: the halfway, the holistic, and the hardcore—and how enabling healthy choices for consumers is part of an ongoing revolution in food.

 

Shelby Walsh cleared any confusing fog around millennials by dividing the generation into three markets, and life-stages: the nouveau, the mid-, and the professional, offering brands a way to create experience-driven services that can respond and cater to very different people within one generational umbrella. Walsh also spoke on gamification—and how to use the nature of competition to incentivize loyalty and make obstacles for consumers less intimidating (especially for millennials and the Gen-Z set).

Taylor Keefe spoke on retail innovation. Today, it’s all about greater convenience and the power of community; in the Store Wars, we need to stay connected to consumers like never before. So we learned about subscription services, in-app e-commerce, and boosts to lifestyle loyalty.

If you thought millennial-marketing was the next big thing, think again. Courtney Scharf helped attendees define Gen Z, and just what this growing demographic wants. Specifically, she explained how equality and empathy, entrepreneurialism, and the notion of authenticity characterized this massive segment.

 

Jonathan Brown then presented on Trend Hunter’s business innovation group, which interviews leaders at the world’s top companies to share their strategies and approaches to support innovation. Brown took Adidas, Pepsi, and Aflac as his prime case studies of companies that stoke curiosity and encourage new ideas.

Jeremy Gutsche gave the closing keynote—his second of the day, and never before seen. Titled “How to Start a Revolution,” this presentation brought forth tactics to create a culture of revolution and exploit opportunity to achieve success. We won’t go into details, here, of what he discussed, but you can tell from this graphic of Gutsche’s “2017 Megatrends and Patterns of Opportunity” that this is a comprehensive, compelling look at the patterns and repeatable strategies undergirding business cycles and breakthroughs.

 

The Future Festival, up to now only an annual event, is also evolving (and breaking out of Toronto)! In March 2017, a series of one-day future festivals will be arriving at six major cities: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Orlando, and London. Tickets are 50 percent off until October 31, 2016—so get you and your team on board now for great savings (and a great opportunity).

 

To learn more about the Future Festival, or to book innovation and business speaker Jeremy Gutsche for your next conference, call The Lavin Agency, his exclusive speakers bureau.

Major congratulations are due to one of our top innovation speakers, Jeremy Gutsche! His “Better & Faster” keynote—available to watch here—has surpassed five million views! An incredible achievement, but certainly not surprising. Once you witness Gutsche’s charisma, creativity, and unique insights into entrepreneurship, disruption, adaptation, and business success, you’ll know exactly why.

 

This inspiring talk is based on Gutsche’s book Better and Faster: The Proven Path to Unstoppable Ideas—that’s a New York Times bestseller, a #1 Amazon seller, and a CEO Read “Select” book for leaders, entrepreneurs, and managers. Leadership and motivational speakers can come and go—but Trend Hunter CEO Jeremy Gutsche is always in demand. He’s presented on consulting, strategy, and cultivating a culture of innovation at nearly 500 keynotes over the past five years alone (a whirlwind of enthusiasm and drive that you just have to see live).

Your organization can think better, and faster, about doing business. Get in touch to book innovation speaker Jeremy Gutsche for your next conference or event, and kickstart your creativity now. 

Tom Wujec—Chief Disruptor at Autodesk, and world-renowned innovator—dropped by The Lavin office in Toronto to speak about his current research, work, and keynote topics. In particular, he spoke about new disruptive technologies and creation processes: everything from the 3D printing of luxury goods to large-scale mapping software for city planners to innovations in dental surgery.

New digital and information technology—growing exponentially, and increasingly cheap—is revolutionizing the way we imagine, manufacture, and distribute products, from cars to shoes, movies to skyscrapers. And such widespread change produces what Wujec calls the VUCA effect: volatile, uncertain, chaotic, and ambiguous. This entails a destabilizing, disrupting, and democratizing force that requires new skills and understandings to adapt to it—human concerns, ultimately. And some of Wujec's most profound insights center on human creativity, capacity, and workflow.

In these video excerpts, Wujec discusses what happens when human and robotic workflows intersect—and how while some employees in certain industries might be able to retain their jobs, others will certainly be disrupted. He outlines how capitalizing on emerging digital technology can mean incredible success, while refusing to adapt can spell the end. And he stresses how information technology has untold repercussions for nearly every sector: manufacturing, real estate, media, transportation, retail, education, finance, entertainment, healthcare—the list goes on. This makes Wujec a versatile and an invaluable guide for all industries facing such widespread transformations.

Wujec is celebrated for his talks on innovation: why it matters, why it is a vital engine of economic growth (especially today), and how to foster it within any organization—from plucky startups to billion-dollar legacy companies. To book Tom Wujec as the keynote speaker for your next event, contact The Lavin Agency speakers bureau.