Speaker profile last updated by AAE Talent Team on 04/15/2024.
The engineers who become CEO do so because they're artists of technology. The marketers because they're sculptors of identity. The finance guys because they're maestros of money, conductors of cash. HR leads when they are Curators of people, creating outstanding business performances.
Innovations always occur (pyramids, paper, gunpowder, silicon), but they're the direct result of the cultures that foster them: empire, nation-state, vassaly, kindom, democracy, theocracy, technocracy, etc. So the Chinese could never build a Google or an Apple, but they excel at production-chain things like paper. Rome built massive stuff because it was organized to build massive stuff. Silicon Valley built things like email and social networks because it was centered around a bunch of guys wearing flip-flops, asking questions like, "Dude, what if I could just send you my thoughts?" The question is this: what are you trying to do or make? What kind of innovation are you going for? And how do you think about the culture that can make it?
We know the world has changed from when we made cars and even chips. But how we do manage in the 21st century world in such a way that works for current day economies. How do we create personal accountability, efficiency, creativity, and creating unbelievable human experiences? How do we define that which is immeasurable and how to do we get the skills necessary to co-create rather than silo our work. And how do we do that so it enables organizations to thrive, human beings to engage, and our larger economy to benefit? Collaboration, that's how.
Whenever we think about leadership, we think of characters that figuratively wear the cape like Batman, but we deny or defuse the impact of the role of collaborators, like Alfred was in the iconic Batman storyline. Yet all modern day work that uses creative talent needs a mix of roles from directing, to guiding, to sidekicks, to enabling leaders. What is that mix for each of us and for our organizations that is the question, and one this talk answers.
The truly kick-ass people in our organizations dont wait for permission to lead, innovate or strategize. They do what is right for the firm, regardless of status. They bring a combination of "curiosity and passion" which Thomas Friedman once said, "are key components in a world where information is readily available to everyone and global markets reward those people." There's a different set of rules & assumptions by which we'll thrive and succeed in this new, networked society and it comes down to this: while you can be a rebel or a subversive without being a leader, you can rarely be an effective leader without also having a little bit of rebel in you.
Nilofer Merchant is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as 5. Curating Kick-Ass Performance, 4. Who You Are is What You Make, 3. Be Better [CEO], 2. What SuperHeroes Can Teach Us and 1. Rebels and Subversives: We Want You. The estimated speaking fee range to book Nilofer Merchant for your event is $30,000 - $50,000. Nilofer Merchant generally travels from Silicon Valley, CA, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Dorie Clark, Andrew McAfee, Rachel Botsman, Saj-Nicole Joni and Sarah Lacy. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Nilofer Merchant for an upcoming live or virtual event.
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