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Josh Linkner

Entrepreneur, Expert on Creativity, Innovation, Reinvention

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Fee Range: 20000-39999, 40000-74999

• Two-time NY Times Bestselling Author, Disciplined Dreaming and The Road to Reinvention
• Four-time tech entrepreneur, serving as founder and CEO of each, driving a combined exit value of over $200 million
• Top-rated keynote speaker delivering inspiring talks on creativity, innovation, reinvention, and hyper-growth leadership
• Founding Partner of Detroit Venture Partners, helping to rebuild his hometown of Detroit, Michigan
• Founder and former CEO/Chairman of ePrize (largest interactive promotion agency in the world)
• Professional jazz guitarist
• Weekly contributor to Inc. Magazine, Forbes, and the Detroit Free Press

*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.

Josh Linkner – a New York Times bestselling author – is a rare blend of business, art, and science.

On the business front, he’s been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which created over 10,000 jobs and sold for a combined value of over $200 million. He’s the co-founder and Managing Partner of Muditā (moo-DEE-tah) Venture Partners – an early-stage venture capital firm investing in groundbreaking technologies. Over the last 30 years, he’s helped over 100 startups launch and scale, creating over $1 billion in investor returns. He’s twice been named the EY Entrepreneur of The Year and is the recipient of the United States Presidential Champion of Change Award.

While proud of his business success, his roots are in the dangerous world of jazz music. He’s been playing guitar in smoky jazz clubs for 40 years, studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, and has performed over 1000 concerts around the world.

His experiences in both business and music led him to become one of the world’s foremost experts on innovation. Josh is the co-founder and Chairman of Platypus Labs, a global research, training, and consulting firm. Today, he’s on a mission to help leaders Find A Way™ through creative problem-solving, inventive thinking, and ingenuity.

Find A Way: A proven innovation framework to solve problems, accelerate opportunity and sustain growth

As we enter a new era of business, 50% of leaders in the United States have lost confidence in their ability to make decisions in the face of uncertainty. The level of disruption, technology threats, and volatility can be paralyzing. We are in a leadership crisis and must embrace a new model to meet today’s challenges.

Prolific entrepreneur, venture capital investor, and innovation expert Josh Linkner helps you Find A Way™ through his proven 5-step innovation framework for cultivating full-organization ingenuity. Whatever outcomes you crave the most – from sales growth to competitive advantage to employee engagement – you’ll walk away with specific tools to drive sustainable success.

The Find a Way™ framework prioritizes agility over brute force, creativity over hustle, and improvisation over perfect planning. Leaders who embrace the model are inspired and better equipped. They feel confident to move forward into the darkness and have a newfound capacity to win consistently, no matter the circumstances.

This keynote serves leaders & teams who are:

  • Facing uncertainty and volatility.
  • Seeking better ways to drive the outcomes they crave the most.
  • Struggling to keep up with the pace of change.

The audience will leave with:

  • A proven model for harnessing ingenuity to solve any problem and seize any opportunity.
  • Innovative strategies to drive better results every day.
  • The confidence to walk into the unknown and emerge victorious.
BIG LITTLE BREAKTHROUGHS How small, everyday ideas drive gigantic results

The pressure to generate big ideas can feel overwhelming. We know that bold innovations are critical in these disruptive and competitive times, but when it comes to breakthrough thinking, we often freeze up.

Instead of shooting for a $10 billion IPO or a Nobel Prize, the most prolific innovators focus instead on Big Little Breakthroughs – small, creative acts that unlock massive rewards over time. By building a daily habit of creativity, leaders and organizations not only enjoy a high volume of small wins, but also the daily practice of micro-innovations — the fastest route to discover the massive breakthroughs we seek.

How did a convicted drug dealer use a Big Little Breakthrough to launch and scale a massively successful fitness company? Why was a nurse practitioner able to use daily micro-innovations to solve healthcare problems that the biggest corporations couldn’t crack? How did a tattoo lead to a 30% boost in performance for a publicly traded restaurant company?

Big Little Breakthroughs isn’t just for propeller-head inventors, fancy pants CEOs, or hoodie-donning tech billionaires. Rather, it is a simple yet effective method for all of us to cultivate the power of human creativity. Focusing on a simple and deliberate approach to daily practice, the system enables people from all backgrounds, training, and walks of life to expand their creative skillset and mindset. It helps everyday individuals and leaders unlock inventive thinking and harness innovation to tackle tough challenges and seize bold opportunities.

The Big Little Breakthroughs framework provides a specific and practical approach to unlocking dormant creative capacity. Instead of wild, risky and expensive moonshots, participants learn to unleash small, daily creative acts to drive gigantic results over time. In fact, cultivating high volumes of micro-innovations not only de-risks the creative process, it builds the much-needed skills that lead to colossal transformations…and the creative confidence to take responsible risks.

THE MUSIC OF BUSINESS Problem solving, collaboration and agility from the dangerous world of jazz music

Live jazz is an art form that equates to real-time innovation. To even navigate through a single song, jazz musicians must collaborate, adapt to rapidly changing circumstances, and make decisions in the face of ambiguity. As the baton of leadership gets passed from one musician to the next, individual contributors are constantly course correcting, inventing, and creatively solving problems.

Sounds just like your organization, doesn’t it?

In this unique and memorable keynote, jazz guitarist and tech entrepreneur Josh Linkner uses a live musical performance as a metaphor for modern, innovative collaboration. Josh and his fellow musicians lead the audience on a musical journey, sharing an insider’s look at this stunning art form. Through the lens of a jazz musician, participants will gain a fresh perspective and new techniques for creative problem solving, improved collaboration, and real-time agility.

This mesmerizing session’s finale features live audience participation. After helping to ”compose” a new jazz song, three audience members join the band and perform their new composition live in front of their peers (no musical experience necessary). Participants are given handheld percussion instruments – along with some fun props and costumes – and together with Josh and his fellow musicians, the group performs for the audience. This live performance brings the key learning principles to life, always ending in a cheering crowd and terrific pictures for social media.

THE INNOVATIVE LEADER: A modern framework to lead with confidence in the face of uncertainty and change

The business you’re running today isn’t the business you’ll be running next year. In this moment of volatility and uncertainty, we are being called to lead in a radically different way… more decisive, creative, and adaptable. So how can we use this defining moment to ensure relevancy, sustainability, and success in the future?

In this inspiring and practical keynote, battle-tested CEO, venture capital investor, and leadership expert Josh Linkner delivers a modern and accessible framework to help leaders thrive in the face of uncertainty and leverage their skills to move into uncharted territory with confidence.

You’ll learn how to unlock inventive thinking, creative problem-solving, and ingenuity in every box of the org chart. The most successful leaders today help everyday people become everyday innovators. They make sure that innovation is an everyday business.

This can’t-miss session goes way beyond the future of work. This is the future of growth, the future of relevancy, the future of leadership, and the future of success.

This keynote serves leaders & teams who are:

  • Being called to lead in a bold, new way
  • Overwhelmed with the demands of modern leadership
  • Craving a more innovative approach to drive explosive growth, gain competitive advantage, and get more from their teams

The audience will leave with:

  • A modern framework for innovative leadership
  • Insights from some of the world’s most prolific leaders
  • A behind-the-scenes view of legendary business disruption
  • Strategies to drive growth, engagement, and success amid change and uncertainty
Disciplined Dreaming™: A proven system to drive breakthrough creativity

In our modern AI-driven world, creativity has become the currency of success. It’s the one thing that can’t be outsourced or automated; the indisputable competitive advantage. We are all hard-wired to be creative, yet most of us have underdeveloped creative skills. And today, more than ever before, creative problem-solving and inventive thinking are crucial to overcoming obstacles and seizing opportunities.

Based on the breakaway New York Times bestselling book published in 19 languages and globally recognized by over 2 million readers as the definitive work on applied creativity, author and creativity expert Josh Linkner takes the audience on a journey to unlock their dormant creative capacity. Inspiring stories, surprising truths, and instantly-applicable solutions make this keynote both energizing and actionable.

This keynote serves leaders & teams who are:

  • Facing increasing challenges and competitive threats
  • Craving a new approach to harness their full creative potential
  • Struggling to keep up with the pace of innovation

The audience will leave with:

  • A proven model for harnessing and applying human creativity
  • An understanding of how the most innovative and disruptive leaders think and act
  • Practical techniques to generate more high-quality ideas at any time and for any challenge
Rethink. Reboot. Reinvent: How to drive disruption and accelerate transformation

We’re living in a rate of change like none other in history. The hard truth is that we can no longer rely on the models of the past and expect the same results.

In this energizing and actionable keynote, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of rapid change and how to respond confidently and intentionally. New York Times bestselling author and lifetime disruptor Josh Linkner shares a proven model for you to take control and reinvent your own future.

This keynote serves leaders & teams who are:

  • Struggling to keep up with the rate of change.
  • Overwhelmed with competitive threats, technology advancements, and shifting disruptive market forces.
  • Recognizing the need for reinvention but struggling to gain traction.

The audience will leave with:

  • A proven framework to lead reinvention efforts of all shapes and sizes.
  • The confidence to walk into the unknown and realize they can now navigate whatever challenges or opportunities emerge.
  • Mindsets and tactics to ensure relevance, adaptability, and sustainable success.
  • The ability to rethink old approaches and discover new ones.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson
“When Josh speaks, business improves.”
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Director Public Affairs, American Express
Thank you a million times over—you nailed it with the presentation yesterday and it was spot on for our team! You sparked so many follow-on discussions yesterday and were a continued theme throughout our meeting—people are already brainstorming great new ideas about how to implement small innovations and use your tips to break down barriers on our teams.
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The Coca-Cola Company
Josh, as always you are amazing. It is quite obvious that you took the time to prepare to bring everything you have. Thank you for your coaching and support throughout. I am sending you so much gratitude. You amaze me...always!
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Marketing Manager, Fidelity Investments
It has been such a great experience and opportunity to work with you. Our entire team and our clients have totally and thoroughly enjoyed your presentation and have taken so many great ideas away from it. Your feedback scores average 98% so far from D.C. to Atlanta! You are a huge hit with everyone and we so appreciate the energy, enthusiasm, excellent content and delivery that you bring to each conference. It has been an honor and a pleasure meeting and working with you. You are so accomplished and yet so humble. You are truly unique. A great leader and a wonderful example for so many.
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Chief Commercial Officer Genomic Health
Your ideas and energy truly jump started a number of initiatives. You were an 11 out of 10!
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Executive Chairman, Ford Motor Company
In today’s fiercely competitive global marketplace the most important resource any business has is the creative thinking of its people. Josh Linkner lays out a road map that will guide individuals, teams, and companies to higher levels of creativity. It is a journey that will lead to better ideas and breakthrough thinking.
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Managing Director, Intel Security
We very much enjoyed your talk and workshop. You created just the right finish and exclamation point in our program. The feedback from our team – amazing, energizing messages, entertaining and humorous, actionable learnings, things people can do right away.
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CEO, Cardinal Health
Building a culture of innovation in large companies is critically important, and there’s no better way to learn than with a trusted roadmap of tools and real-life examples. Josh Linkner illustrates how innovative thinking is possible for every employee and business leader, so we can all unlock our full creative potential.
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Chief Innovation Officer and Global CTO, The Coca-Cola Company
Josh Linkner helps organizations discover and exploit their strengths in a changing business world. He clearly shows how to reignite innovation and unlock new business value such as speed, agility, persistence and partnership.
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