Jonathan Brill helps companies decrease risk while making bigger bets. He advises senior leaders on issues related to risk management, product portfolio strategy and digital transformation. He is a non–executive board member and advisor to the Chairman at Frost & Sullivan, one of the world’s largest growth strategy and market intelligence firms.
As the Global Futurist and Director of Technology Vision at HP, Jonathan led research programs that identified the company’s portfolio of long–term opportunities and threats. In this role, he advised the company on a broad range of product strategy, investment, workforce development and digital transformation issues. Previously, he was the Chief Executive of innovation firms that developed more than 325 products and generated $27 billion dollars in new revenue in real estate, food, technology and retail for organizations like the US government, MIT Media Lab, Microsoft, Verizon, PepsiCo, and Samsung.
He co–founded the US Pavilion at Expo Milano, 2015, and directed content for its 27,000 SQF exhibit about global food policy. Mr. Brill is an internationally requested analyst, commentator and speaker for organizations like TED, Singularity University, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and SXSW.
Jonathan is the author of Rogue Waves: How to Future Proof Your Business Against Radical Change, McGraw–Hill, 2021.
He holds a degree in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute and has completed extensive executive training at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
Sample Topics
The Future (what to do about it)
The news seems to be increasingly random and unexpected. It’s not, if you know the bigger picture. Most ‘Surprising’ events are only surprising to outsiders.
- Governments were surprised when scientists gene edited babies, but this had been a major academic discussion for over a decade.
- Investors were surprised by recent unrest in Chile and Hong Kong, yet economists suggested a high likelihood of unrest.
- Business leaders were surprised by AI ‘breakthroughs’ in that were, in fact, proposed in the 196os.
While no one can know the future, we can sure know a lot about it. In this insightful talk, Global Futurist Jonathan Brill walks you through the hidden sociological, economic and technological changes that are shaping your country, your business and your life. He goes beyond analysis to identify the best practices to thrive in our rapidly changing world.
This research based discussion is more than commentary. It is based on five years of rigorous research he has done as the Global Futurist at HP, the Fortune 50 company and Research Fellow at Frost and Sullivan, one of the largest market research firms on the planet.
The Unexpected impact of Exponential Innovation
57% of businesses that make significant investments in innovation underperform their industry peers. Why is it getting harder to growth through product innovation? More importantly, what can you do about it?
Innovation is accelerating by nearly every metric: Global patent and data production, education level and number of researcher. Paradoxically, more R&D output is shrinking the lifespan of new products, making them harder to monetize.
New data tools and global competition are rewiring nearly every value chain. In the process, they are upending the rules of successful R&D.
In this insightful talk, Jonathan unveils how to manage products, processes and business model innovation to grow, based on his experience as a Serial Inventor, the Global Futurist at a Fortune 50 company and Research Fellow at Frost and Sullivan, one of the largest market research firms on the planet.
The Future of the United States
Many of the foundational assumptions your executives are making about the US labor and consumer market are no longer true. We all know that America is going through dramatic social, economic and technological change as its population and infrastructure age in the face growing debt and a rising China…but few executives have systematically examined the impacts.
In this actionable talk, Jonathan Brill walks you through the specific opportunities and challenges your organization needs to plan for and how to respond to them.
In this insightful talk, Jonathan shares the key growth strategies for US-based manufacturing and services companies. While the presentation is exciting and compelling, it is based on over 5 years of economic and competitive research his teams have done as the Global Futurist at a Fortune 50 company and Research Fellow at Frost and Sullivan, one of the largest market research firms on the planet.
AI on Your Org Chart: Amplifying Human Capital Through Digital Transformation
Companies will spend $7.1 trillion on digital transformation in the next, yet half of projects won’t increase profitability. This is because, more often than not, companies focus on changing their organizational processes without changing their architecture and culture.
Modern firms are built on the, now 150 year old, staff and line organizational model. This architecture brings with it a culture and power dynamic that runs counter to the advantages of digitalization: The ability to streamline coordination between functions and devolve decision making power.
Changing corporate architecture and culture is hard work, yet the companies that are thriving through transformation are doing just this.
In this talk, Jonathan Brill provides you with a roadmap to solving the challenges your company faces based on hard learned insights as global business leader at HP during one of the largest digital transformations in history.
Derisking Your Future
The world is moving faster than you can plan for it… but not planning isn’t an option, especially for established companies. Investors want reliable returns. The complexity of enterprises requires everyone to move in lockstep. How do you manage this paradox?
So, why do some leaders like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos make better bets in high risk situations? They have better tools for making sense of the future. They use probabilistic management to look at both forecast and risk management differently than most people. They use three powerful tools for predicting and managing risk.
In this talk, Jonathan Brill draws on over a decade of research on decision making and a career helping both startups and Fortune 50 companies out perform their markets through innovative risk taking.
What Your Children Need to Know About Their Future
AI. Biotech. Global business. The world is changing faster than ever. The first question on every parent’s mind is: What does this mean for my children? The answers might surprise you. In a world where technology is augmenting our cognitive skills, like the ability to do multiplication tables, organize and remember old conversations, high value skills change. Your children will need to learn to think bigger and master the skills of today’s senior managers at the beginning of their careers.
While some skills your children will need to learn are new, in many cases, the skills of the future are hundreds or thousands of years old. They are the skills of CEOs and Kings, but now with a twist. In this entertaining talk, Jonathan Brill will gives you the tools you need to future proof your kids.
Jonathan provides powerful insight based on his unique vantage point as the Global Futurist at a Fortune 50 Silicon Valley company, board member at one of the largest market analyst firms on the planet and CEO of companies that have developed over 325 successful products.
Workshop: Planning for Ambiguity – Why do some leaders make better bets?
They have better tools for making sense of the future. In this exciting, highly interactive workshop, your team will learn tools and techniques to make bigger bets while more effectively managing risk.
- Planning for Ambiguity: Using probability to manage risk.
- Required Miracles: Identify what needs to remain true to succeed.
- Tracking the Right Indicators: Tools for due diligence in ambiguous situations
- Ecosystem Analysis: Tools for predicting what is likely to happen next
- The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Future proofing your plan with scenarios
- The Go West Technique: Tools for managing risk when you don’t know the final destination
Throughout the interactive experience, Jonathan provides immediately usable tools that have worked repeatedly and taught to thousands during his 25 year career as a Global Futurist, Fortune 50 Tech Executive, CEO Advisor and Serial Entrepreneur.
Workshop: Futureproofing Your Leadership Style – What skills do managers need to master in the age of automation?
In a world where technology is stripping away repetitive tasks, junior leaders need to learn to think bigger and master executive skills earlier in their careers. In this entertaining, interactive experience, your teams will collaborate to learn immediately usable tools, that will turbocharge their careers, including:
- Structured Creativity: How to reliably make leaps of imagination
- Flip the Telescope: Considering the big picture and the details
- Navigate the Void: Making sense of the unknown
- Probability Juggling: Managing portfolios of risk
- Tag Team Leadership: Building alignment and creating ecosystem value
Throughout this experience, your team will learn best practices that Jonathan has uncovered in his 25 years of experience as a Fortune 50 Tech Executive and Chief Executive of consultancies that have invented over 325 products worth $27 Billion for customers.
Workshop: Have Less (and More Effective) Meetings
Most leaders spend over 75% of their time in or preparing for meetings. Office workers typically spend in excess of 40%. Alignment is the largest hidden drag that limits organizational performance, yet things still go wrong. How can you have less meetings and better alignment?
Your team will master the 5 master skills that will make them more efficient and more agile:
- The Southern Preacher: Master the three components of an effective communication
- The Greek Mythologist: Using meeting archetypes: Creative, Planning, Operational, Informational, Alignment
- The Italian Diplomat: Setting the Agenda, Pre-read, Facilitation, Feedback, Commitments
- The Stand Up Comic: Keeping meetings on track and the room engaged
- The Navy SEAL: Giving good direction in ambiguous circumstances
Throughout this interactive group experience, your leader will walk away with best practices that they can disseminate the day they learn them.
