Austin Hill Shaw

San Francisco Bay Area-based, Austin Hill Shaw works with individuals who want to unlock their full creative potential and organizations that want to build cultures of innovation.

In 2004, stemming from a life-changing insight gained during a three-month meditation retreat, he began exploring the subject of creativity in earnest, wanting to understand the opportunities and challenges behind creativity’s seemingly universal appeal. Since then, he has amassed a wealth of knowledge regarding creative expression in art, science, and religion, in childhood development and adult maturation, in business and the economy, in product innovation, in both intimate and organizational relationships, and in non-ordinary states of consciousness, delving into the very core of what is means to be human. More importantly, he has striven to embody all that he’s learned, using his own life as an ongoing experiment, testing and refining his methods in his own pursuits as a writer, coach, and architectural designer.

Today, in a time of rampant job automation and outsourcing, Austin’s message regarding the importance of creativity, the relationship between creativity and innovation, and how to activate them both is swiftly making its way out into the world. Drawing upon an innovative mix of cutting-edge science, artistic expression, and age-old spiritual wisdom, Austin presents a timely and enlivening understanding of creativity and innovation, one that ignites the full-person creative potential of individuals and organizations alike. He is the author of the provocative, "Between the Bridge and the Water: Death, Rebirth, and Creative Awakening," as well as "The Shoreline of Wonder: On Being Creative."

Whether he is addressing a large audience or working with an individual one-on-one, Austin combines visionary insight with heartfelt empathy, profound ideas with unexpected humor, sobering seriousness with joyful irreverence, all with a remarkable sense of presence. He is a gifted storyteller, one with the ability to unpack the complex subtleties of the creative process and present them in a way that can be put to use immediately. Through his keynote presentations, writing, and one-on-one coaching, Austin Hill Shaw is dedicated to helping others awaken their natural creative capacities and to share their creative gifts with others.