Mark Bonchek

Founder & CEO of SHIFT Academy, Digital Strategy Expert, Pioneer in Leadership Development

Travels From Travels From:
Weston, MA, USA
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Mark Bonchek Biography

Mark Bonchek is on a mission to update leaders’ thinking in a digital age. As the founder and CEO of SHIFT Academy, Mark helps companies adopt new business models and become unlearning organizations. With new mental maps, leaders better navigate the ever-changing landscape of business. SHIFT Academy gives teams a shared understanding, a shared language, and a shared purpose through online Expeditions, in-person Summits, and guided Journeys.

Mark Bonchek’s journey began at MIT in the early 1990s where he led a research project on digital engagement, leading to Harvard University’s first doctorate on the topic of social media in 1997. Mark then became the first director of research at the Strategos Institute, where he explored strategies that enable companies to reinvent themselves and transform their business models.

In the early 2000s, Mark began to put his research into practice. He left Strategos to lead the strategy practice in Boston for iXL, then served as COO of TomorrowLab for McKinsey & Company. At McKinsey, Mark designed new offerings in digital strategy using digital media and collaborative community to help leaders create digital strategy. When McKinsey returned to its traditional business model, Mark left to begin his entrepreneurial journey at the crossroads of leadership, strategy, and learning.

As the founder and CEO of Truman Company, Mark created a new model for strategy development and executive engagement based on co-creation and peer exchange. Working with market leaders including IBM and The Economist, Mark’s team reinvented advisory boards, conferences, and online communities as vehicles for customer advocacy, organizational alignment, and transformative change. In 2006, Mark led the merger of Truman Company with Fifty Lessons, a pioneer in the use of storytelling and digital video for leadership development and executive education. The combined company demonstrated the power of combining digital media, online community, and in-person events. But Mark’s vision for fusing marketing and learning was ahead of its time, and the Fifty Lessons library was sold to Skillsoft in 2010.

To understand the internal dynamics of transformative change, Mark accepted a position as the SVP of Communities and Networks for Sears Holdings, where he was responsible for creating a strategic narrative for the company’s transformation and the SHOP framework for multi-channel retail.

Mark’s experience at Sears Holdings revealed that it wasn’t enough to do digital. You also had to think digital. And this new kind of thinking wasn’t about how to use technology. It was about the core insight that Mark discovered in his original research: digital technology fundamentally changes the flow of communication and the relationship between individuals and organizations. Engagement is no longer about pushing messages through channels to drive transactions, it’s about creating ORBITs (Ongoing Relationship Beyond Individual Transactions).

In 2012, Mark left Sears to start the consultancy thinkORBIT, helping companies like Adobe and Kaiser Permanente develop engagement strategies that pull customers, employees, and partners into orbit around their brand. Clients of thinkORBIT have included major corporations such as Staples and the American Heart Association.

Mark’s work with thinkORBIT clients revealed that the shift from push to pull is only one of the mental shifts required to succeed in our digital age. There are many others as well, including product to platform, audience to community, decision to habit, and hierarchy to network. But there is nowhere for leaders to go to update their thinking in these areas, and more importantly, no mechanism to bring these ideas back to their teams.

To address this gap, Mark founded SHIFT Academy in 2014. His team is actively underway developing a next-generation platform that combines mobile apps, in-person events, and consultative journeys to help leaders unlearn the old models and apply the new models in the context of their own organizations.

To accelerate the adoption of SHIFT thinking, Mark is a frequent speaker and regular columnist for Harvard Business Review. As recognition for his insight and contribution, Mark was also recently named to the Agenda Digital 50 list of board candidates by the Financial Times.

Mark lives in Weston, MA with his wife and three sons.

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Speaker profile last updated by AAE Talent Team on 03/05/2024.

Mark Bonchek Speaking Topics

  • Co-Creating Health

    The new relationship between physicians and patients

    Health care is in the midst of a profound transformation. Business models are shifting from fee-for-service to population health. Behavior change is now vital to profitable growth. Technology is empowering and connecting patients who expect to participate in their diagnosis and treatment. The relationship between physician and patient is shifting from compliance to co-creation. Everyone in health care needs new thinking to survive and thrive in the new world created by regulatory and technological change.

  • Digital Transformation

    Co-creating value with platforms, ecosystems, and communities.

    We’ve all heard the cautionary tales of Blockbuster, Polaroid, and Borders as examples of digital disruption. And we’ve seen startups like Uber, Instagram, and Airbnb achieve billion-dollar market valuations before turning a profit. What’s really going on? Is there any hope for incumbents? In this talk, you will learn that the secret to digital success is not the use of technology, but rather a new model of value creation in which platforms enable an ecosystem of customers and partners to co-create around a shared purpose.

    Growth, Platforms, Networks, Community, Purpose

  • Unlearning

    To change how you work, first change how you think.

    Albert Einstein once said, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." The essence of innovation is therefore as much about unlearning as learning. In this talk, you will learn to recognize your own mental models, identity those that stand in your way, and create new ones for yourself and others. The ability to unlearn is relevant for anyone involved in innovation, from salespeople selling innovative products to leaders fostering innovation in their companies.

    Learning, Change, Growth, Innovation, Co-Creation, Transformation

  • Gutenberg to Zuckerberg

    Unleashing the potential of the social revolution.

    Social media like Facebook and Twitter have changed the way we connect, communicate, and stay informed. But what does it all mean? And where is it all going? This talk will reveal why digital technology is so disruptive, and why the biggest changes may lie ahead. You will learn the power of many-to-many communication and gain insight into the next digital revolution, as the "Internet of Things" becomes the social network of things. If you have people who still don’t “get social,” this is the talk for them.

    Social Media, Data, Technology, Internet of Things, Co-Creation

  • Network Leadership

    Letting go without losing control.

    Leaders today face a dilemma in how to manage and govern their organizations. They want to empower their people to innovate and adapt, but fear too much autonomy will cause confusion or chaos. Is there a way to transcend the tradeoff between alignment and autonomy? Organizations as diverse as U.S. Special Forces, Google, and Wikipedia provide a roadmap for distributing power and aligning effort. The secret is a set of principles that guide decision-making under changing circumstances.

    Leadership, Governance, Management, Networks, Holacracy

  • Brand Orbits

    Generating gravity to pull in customers, employees, and partners.

    Digital technology is forcing marketers to rethink brand relationships and reinvent customer engagement. Market leaders like Nike, Sephora, Apple, and Adobe are making a shift from push to pull, creating gravity fields that pull customers, employees and partners into orbit around their brands. Learn how to create your own brand orbits with a shared purpose, strategic narrative, social currency, peer connections and little data.

    Marketing, Engagement, Branding, Customer Relationships, Loyalty

Mark Bonchek Videos

  • Brands: From Push to Pull — Mark Bonchek

FAQs on booking Mark Bonchek

  • How do I book Mark Bonchek to speak at my event?

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  • What topics does Mark Bonchek speak about?

    Mark Bonchek is a keynote speaker and industry expert whose speaking topics include Business, Business Growth, Business Leadership, Consulting, E-Commerce, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Marketing, Social Media, Strategic Leadership.
  • Where does Mark Bonchek travel from?

    Mark Bonchek generally travels from Weston, MA, USA, but can be booked for private corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. For more details, please contact an AAE Booking agent.
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    AAE Speakers Bureau has successfully booked keynote speakers like Mark Bonchek for clients worldwide since 2002. As a full-service speaker booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Please click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page including the details of your event, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book Mark Bonchek for your next private or corporate function.
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Mark Bonchek is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as Co-Creating Health, Digital Transformation, Unlearning, Gutenberg to Zuckerberg, Network Leadership and Brand Orbits. The estimated speaking fee range to book Mark Bonchek for your event is available upon request. Mark Bonchek generally travels from Weston, MA, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Lori Cheek, R "Ray" Wang, Jen Rubio, Robert Rose and Tamsen Webster. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Mark Bonchek for an upcoming live or virtual event.

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