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Dr. Simone Ahuja

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Fee Range: Contact Speaker Exchange Agency

  • Best-selling Author & Keynote Speaker
  • Fortune 500 Innovation Strategist
  • HBR Contributor & Business School Advisor

*Fee ranges are presented as a guideline only. Speaker fees are subject to change without notice. For an exact quote, please contact your Speaker Exchange Agency representative.

Dr. Simone Bhan Ahuja is the founder of Blood Orange, a Minneapolis-based global innovation and strategy firm. She is the co-author of the international bestseller, Jugaad Innovation, called “the most comprehensive book yet on the subject” of frugal innovation by the Economist. Her most recent book, Disrupt-It-Yourself, is an intrapreneurship playbook that makes clear how and why leaders must support the passionate and purpose-driven “intrapreneurs” inside their organizations in order to drive innovation and business growth while increasing engagement.

Simone is a keynote speaker, innovation advisor, and consultant to organizations including 3M, UnitedHealth Group, Procter & Gamble, Target Corp, Stanley Black & Decker, and the World Economic Forum. She has served as an advisor to MIT’s Practical Impact Alliance and the Centre for India & Global Business at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. She is regular contributor to publications including the Harvard Business Review and FastCompany. Simone is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and a practitioner of improvisational comedy. She resides in Minneapolis with her family.

Cracking the Intrapreneur’s Code: How to Think and Act Like a Startup in Large Organizations

Innovation isn’t just for R & D and the organizational elite. Some of the most impactful innovations come from passion and purpose-driven intrapreneurs – these are the entrepreneurs in your organization without a formal mandate to innovate. Cracking the Intrapreneur’s Code empowers and inspires your intrapreneurs to take action through memorable stories, a clear process, and a whole lot of fun. Based on research from her book Disrupt It Yourself, Simone presents a proven approach to guide your intrapreneurs from ideas to innovation impact.

This program is perfect for leaders and teams who want to:

  • Address disruption by out-innovating from within their organization
  • Build a culture where everyone feels empowered to innovate – and knows how to do it
  • Drive more innovation every day – without upending their entire organization

The Audience will leave with:

  • A clear framework for everyone to activate innovation
  • A simple and proven action plan to accelerate ideas into bottom-line impact
  • The creative confidence they need to get into intrapreneurial action
(R)evolution is an Inside Job: How to Think and Act Like an Internal Entrepreneur

Do you have ideas about changes needed in your organization but don’t have a clear pathway to bring them to life

Do you have ideas about changes needed in your organization but don’t have a clear pathway to bring them to life? Is problem-solving in your blood, but maybe not in your job description? Each of us can be a leader and changemaker – but what happens when we question the status quo within our division or industry?

In this interactive, practical, and fast-paced keynote, explore what you need to light your intrapreneurial fire. Examine the top challenges of successful intrapreneurs (internal entrepreneurs) and map strategies to navigate these in your life.

This program is perfect for leaders and teams who want to:

  • Build a consistent pipeline for innovation and innovation talent.
  • Build a culture where everyone feels empowered to innovate where everyone feels empowered to innovate – and knows how to do it.
  • Create a more inclusive culture that catalyzes innovation.

The audience will learn to:

  • Identify and develop ideas that will have the highest impact on your organization.
  • Leverage a process that allows them to test ideas in low risk, high impact ways.
  • Get comfortable with so-called “failures” and re-frame them as learning.
Jugaad (Frugal) Innovation: How To Create High Value at a Low Cost

Thinking like an entrepreneur isn’t just for startups. Solving even the biggest problems starts with you and the resources you already have. What you need is the right mindset and a simple toolkit to get you there

Thinking like an entrepreneur isn’t just for startups. Solving even the biggest problems starts with you and the resources you already have. What you need is the right mindset and a simple toolkit to get you there.

Based on her research in emerging markets and her bestselling book, Jugaad Innovation, Simone shares inspiring stories of frugal innovators who solve problems large and small with the right mindset and a set of guiding principles. This high-value, low-resource approach to problem-solving occurs at the intersection of business, design, and social innovation.

This program is perfect for leaders and teams who:

  • Want to create more business value with fewer resources consistently.
  • Want to democratize innovation, so it’s the domain of all employees.
  • Feel challenged and stressed by having to grow the business with less time and fewer resources.

The audience will learn to:

  • Use your creativity to reframe problems as opportunities.
  • Gain support for new ideas to move faster and have a greater impact.
  • Leverage existing resources so they can start problem-solving now.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as a Catalyst for Innovation: A roadmap to creating opportunities to uncover bias and drive innovation

Innovation is the most powerful way for organizations to stay relevant and grow in our rapidly evolving world. By increasing the diversity of their teams and creating space for diverse voices to be heard, business leaders can dramatically increase their innovation output

Innovation is the most powerful way for organizations to stay relevant and grow in our rapidly evolving world. By increasing the diversity of their teams and creating space for diverse voices to be heard, business leaders can dramatically increase their innovation output. In this energizing and optimistic keynote, Dr. Ahuja shares engaging stories demonstrating why diverse teams create more “out of the box” ideas and drive nearly 20% higher revenue. She provides a fun and often surprising experience that uncovers your own biases in real-time and shares practical tools for building the psychological safety fundamental to successful innovation and business growth.

This program is perfect for leaders and teams who want to:

  • Want to reduce bias and build a more inclusive and curious culture.
  • Want to build a healthy culture of psychological safety to support diverse voices and ideas.
  • Want to harness curiosity to drive more inclusion and innovation.

The audience will leave with:

  • A crystal clear connection between DEI and innovation/business growth.
  • A clear strategy for removing barriers to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  • Proven steps to navigate difficult conversations that fuel DEI and innovation.
Please contact us to see testimonials.
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