Stephen Shapiro
Creating Stability by Turning Innovation into a Competitive Advantage
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Accelerating Innovation.
Creating Stability.
Thriving in a World of Uncertainty, Disruption, and AI.
*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.
Stephen Shapiro cultivates innovation by showing leaders and their teams how to approach, tackle and solve their business challenges. Applying the knowledge he has accrued over decades in the industry, Stephen is able to see what others can’t: opportunities to improve innovation models and the cultures that support them.
The first innovation opportunity Stephen spotted was the opportunity to innovate within his own life. Halfway through his 15-year tenure at Accenture, while co-leading the company’s business process reengineering practice (focused on business efficiency), he realized he no longer wanted to be responsible for people losing their jobs. So he did exactly the opposite by building Accenture’s thriving 20,000-person process and innovation practice focused on growth and job creation.
In 2001, after publishing his first book, 24/7 Innovation, Stephen left Accenture to become a full-time innovation speaker and advisor to clients around the world. Since then he has published four more books – Goal-Free Living (2006), The Little Book of Big Innovation Ideas (2007), Personality Poker (2010) and Best Practices are Stupid (2011) — and spoken to audiences in 50 different countries. His sixth book, Invisible Solutions, was published March 3rd, 2020.
Today, Stephen continues to focus on transforming the way businesses like 3M, P&G, Marriott, Nike, and Microsoft improve innovation practices through customized keynote speeches, advisory engagements and other services. Passionate and captivating, Stephen’s high-energy approach to innovation gets audiences out of their seats and into new ways of thinking about their business challenges.
Stephen served a six-year term on the Board of Directors of National Speakers Association (NSA) and is the recipient of the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation, NSA’s highest earned designation. In 2015 he was inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame (CPAE). He is also a Senior Research Fellow with The Conference Board.
He has a degree from Cornell University in Industrial Engineering, which has helped him optimize the entire innovation process using the engineering techniques he learned there.
He was also involved with Girl Starter, a movement that encourages and enables young women to launch their own businesses. He was a judge and mentor on the TLC television show and has supported the speaking tour and other endeavors.
Stephen is based in Orlando, Florida and loves traveling to meet his clients around the world.
A Systematic Approach for Finding Solutions to Important Opportunities
What if your organization had an effective and systematic approach to deal with any problem or opportunity?
To find better solutions, you need to first ask better questions. The questions you ask determine which solutions you’ll see and which will remain hidden.
This interactive keynote contains a very simple tool to reframe any problem multiple ways: twenty-five lenses that help you gain different perspectives. Packed with powerful stories and practical tools, this speech will enable everyone on your teams to start mastering any challenge.
This keynote/workshop will help the audience…
- Discover why we are hardwired to ask ineffective questions and how to work through those barriers
- Understand the power and importance of well-defined questions
- Reframe any problem multiple ways to help you find the optimal solution
During this customizable and interactive keynote, the audience will not just leave with new concepts, they will have powerful tools they can apply every day.
For longer sessions, teams will have a chance to apply the twenty-five lenses. Not only does this leave people with a deeper understanding, but you also will capture valuable insights that the company can use. This can be done with audiences of any size.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, opposites do not attract. As a result, in business, we tend to surround ourselves with people who are similar to us. Although this is great for efficiency, this lack of diversity can kill innovation.
How can you increase your innovation potential? Play Personality Poker® with Steve Shapiro! This fast-paced, highly interactive game will help you discover:
- Your primary innovation personality
- Your innovation blind spots
- Why the person you like the least is the person you need the most
- What is missing from your team that is limiting innovation and success
- How to create a high-performing innovation team that leverages divergent points of view
This is the most interactive keynote you will ever experience and has been done with audiences of more than 1,000 people in a Vegas casino! Be ready for an incredible way to kick off your conference as it will set the tone for the rest of your event! There can be an additional fee for cards based on size of audience.
Creating Stability in World of Uncertainty, Disruption, and AI
In our fast-paced modern world, workplace burnout and confusion have become the norm. But it doesn’t need to be this way.
Stephen Shapiro’s keynote offers a powerful antidote to the dizzying spinning and relentless chaos overwhelming countless organizations (and individuals) today.
He provides practical tools to help you distinguish genuine opportunities from mere distractions, thereby creating stability in your professional and personal life.
The concept of stability is akin to a basketball player executing a pivot. While one foot moves in a circular motion, the other remains anchored to the ground.
The unsung hero is the foot that doesn’t move, as it provides the solid foundation and stability needed for future shifts.
This speech champions the planted foot. By focusing on what doesn’t—and shouldn’t—change, you can build a robust foundation that supports future shifts without wasting valuable resources on bright shiny objects or fleeting fads.
The emphasis has always been on what’s next. But sometimes, we need to focus on what’s now. Where do we double down our efforts to achieve extraordinary returns today and tomorrow?
This positions you and your organization to shift from a place of power. It involves knowing where to channel your resources for the greatest impact, allowing you to offer clarity and direction to your employees. In the process, you become irreplaceable to your customers.
This presentation also delves deeply into AI strategies that help you determine where, when, and how to invest.
It’s time to stop the spinning and start winning.
The Power of Experimentation Rather than Failure
We live in challenging times. Inflation. Supply chain disruptions. Pandemics. War. Talent shortages.
Given this level of uncertainty, we need a different approach for innovation. When you can’t predict what will happen next, traditional long-term investment strategies fail.
The key to being nimble during these turbulent times is to focus on placing many small bets – rather than a few large ones.
But what bets do you place? Which bets should you kill? And when should you double down? Answering these questions is the key to success.
During this interactive session, you will discover:
- How to place better (more frequent yet smaller) bets
- How to determine which bets are not worth further investment (experimentation)
- How to avoid failure – and what to do when you do fail
- How to create a culture of experimentation – quickly and inexpensively
We also have fun with a simple gambling simulation that demonstrates how we can lower our risk with our bets. The key is getting as many insights about the future, for the lowest possible investment.
This practical session will not only give everyone the tools and mindset for creating small experiments, but also will leave them with specific actions they can take within the next seven days to make progress with their innovation efforts.
The concepts are so simple to implement that companies can create an entire culture around experimentation with little effort, time, or cost.
The “small bets” approach demonstrated during this session are truly a game changer for any organization of any size.
Redefining Innovation that Drives High ROI
Well-intentioned leaders, in their attempts to boost innovation, are inadvertently destroying it. What if “thinking outside the box” actually kills innovation? What if failure is not a necessary component of innovation? It’s time to innovate the way you innovate.
During this customizable and interactive keynote, you will discover that innovation isn’t just about generating occasional new ideas; it’s about staying consistently one step ahead of the competition.
You will discover why:
- You don’t want to innovate everywhere. Avoid trying to improve every aspect of your business. Instead, “innovate where you differentiate.” Focus your energy where there is the greatest potential impact.
- Asking for ideas is a bad idea. Avoid suggestion boxes or abstract questions. They create a lot of noise and wasted energy. Instead, provide well-framed challenges to increase creative output. “Don’t think outside the box, find a better box.”
- Expertise is the enemy of innovation. Breakthroughs are rarely developed by experts within your industry or area of specialization. Instead, reframe your challenge to find solutions elsewhere.
- The pragmatic approaches shared in “Innovate the Way You Innovate” have increased innovation ROI tenfold or more.
Want to bring Stephen Shapiro to your next event? Please tell us a little about your event, and we will get back to you shortly!