Click HERE for Videos of Josh discussing Creativity & Innovation!
Introduction
What’s the riskiest move a company can make today? Doing the same old same old. Hugging the status quo. Staying the course in spite of a changing marketplace. In a world economy that can flip in a nanosecond, thinking that the future will follow the past is the fast road to obsolescence. What’s the antidote? Igniting your company’s creativity. Finding new routes to growth, profitability, and innovation with Josh Linkner.
Josh jolts organizations and people worldwide, helping them recharge their creativity to reawaken companies and careers. A successful four-time entrepreneur and well-respected jazz musician, Josh bridges the gap between the arts and business to help audiences maximize their creative potential. Josh teaches, inspires, and entertains. He is on a mission to make the world a more creative planet by providing powerful, fun, and practical techniques that push all levels of the business world to jumpstart their creative energies. Applying Josh’s proprietary system, Disciplined DreamingTM, you will notice immediate and profound results. You will unleash hidden creativity and fresh thinking in every setting – from your weekly staff meeting to major innovation sessions to new product breakthroughs. You will tap into a deep well of inspiration and new ideas, any one of which could dramatically alter your company, career, or your life. You will come alive with supercharged wonder and curiosity, improving your leadership, performance, and overall enjoyment of life.
- Get unstuck – break free from myths and barriers to unleash creativity
- Tap into the hidden brainpower inside yourself and your company
- Establish an ongoing system to nurture and harvest your team’s best ideas
- Avoid costly mistakes of flawed idea selection and measurement
- Increase your ability to deal with ambiguity and uncertainty
- Learn how to adapt more quickly and proactively to changes in the marketplace
- Apply focused creativity to specific business problems of all sizes and shapes
Speaking Topics
Unleashing Creativity
We now live in a world of dizzying speed, exponential complexity, and ruthless competition. As most of the advantages of the past have become commoditized, creativity has become the currency of success; in both business and life. In this interactive talk, Josh shows participants how to jump-start their creativity to drive meaningful and immediate results. Attendees will learn specific techniques to unleash their most valuable resources – human creativity, imagination, and original thinking.
Innovation for Competitive Advantage
Innovations often fail because they are lack originality. The world doesn’t need another commodity or ‘me-too’ solution. Real innovations turn industries and marketplaces upside down – like the mobile phone or the iPod. Long-term success can’t come from cost-cutting; it can only come through growth and innovation. Josh offers a road map for organizations to discover successful, game-changing innovations. Takeaways include how to trap the competition, how to increase your rate of innovation, and how to invent new products and services that cannot easily be copied in the marketplace.
7 Steps to a Creative Culture
Despite today’s ultra-competitive environment, companies like Zappos, Groupon, and Facebook have enjoyed tremendous growth and profitability. The leaders of hyper-growth companies often credit a culture of innovation as the primary driver of their success. In this interactive session, Josh shares proven philosophies and practices to help you build and maintain a creative culture. In turn, you will enjoy breakaway growth and success.
Creative Selling
Professional selling has become increasingly challenging and competitive. With constant pressure to drive better performance, sales teams can no longer rely on the models of the past in order to win. Success today requires an entirely new approach. Having landed 74 of the top 100 brands, Josh brings fresh perspective to the challenges of selling, and jumpstarts the creativity of sales organizations to drive bottom line results.
What folks are saying about Josh’s speeches…
“Josh Linkner, CEO of ePrize, is a tremendous business leader who has established a successful and sustainable company, as well as a culture that nurtures employees to help them maximize their potential.”
Hon. Jennifer M. Granholm, Governor, State of Michigan
“Thank you for today. It was inspirational, unrestricting, and energetic. It was one of the best days I’ve had out of the office. Your energy is contagious and my creative thinking was uninhibited.”
David Riemer, Sr. Marketing Manager, Kmart
“Josh Linkner’s keynote presentation was truly inspiring and one of the main highlights of our conference.”
Tel K. Ganesan, President, TiE Con
“Josh’s energy, enthusiasm and love for what he does really shines through. He also puts the right balance of simple, concise messages with humor. Yet at the same time you know he is serious by the examples of what he does with his own business. The presentation and content were both a ‘10’.”
Lisa K Miller, VP Events, MEDC
“Josh’s presentation, was defiantly a 10: interesting, informative and deeply inspirational. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Many participants said that they left energized and motivated to make fun changes to improve creativity in their own lives and in their work place”
Rob Pasick, Ph.D, Founder & CEO, LeadersConnect
“Josh’s presentation provided inspiration and a powerful reminder to our team that problems can be solved and good ideas made great through the use of creative thinking. We are incorporating his ideas into our daily activities and thoroughly enjoyed his use of humor to engage our team. Josh is an excellent presenter.”
Karen Davis, Executive Director, Make-A-Wish Foundation
“Josh Linkner’s message – that creativity is the most important organizational competency in the 21st century – compels and informs at the same time. With an engaging mix of data, anecdotes, and field-tested techniques, Josh outlines the innovation landscape and then reveals proven techniques for building and sustaining a creative culture.”
Samuel Gerace, Chief Executive Officer, Veritix
“I’ve attended so many speeches throughout the years, and found Josh’s presentation to be one of the best – if not the best – I’ve ever seen! Josh conveyed a serious message in a lighthearted and entertaining manner, with plenty of practical, useful information. His polished delivery and use of visuals, including laugh-out-loud video clips, gave the audience so much more than just “a talking head.” Great stuff!”
Jonathan Liebman, Chairman/CEO, Specs Howard School of Media Arts, Inc.
“Josh’s presentation was one that made you watch, listen and learn and is a clear example of when you connect with people – they can gain insight and knowledge that will help open doors to new opportunities.”
Nathan Forbes, Managing Partner, The Forbes Company
“When Josh Linkner was presenting to our group you can just feel his talent and passion. The energy of the diverse audience was completely engaged as Josh clearly and thoughtfully delivered his message about creativity and innovation. Josh’s presentation was easily one of the best I have ever heard.”
Danny Ferry, General Manager, Cleveland Cavaliers
“The message about creativity and innovation was excellent. It was clear, well researched, engaging and kept the attention of the audience. Your use of stories, facts and humor made the time fly by. I had several people come up to me afterword and thank me for having you come in and speak to the group. They were energized and excited to put the principles in play.”
Bill Emerson, CEO, Quicken Loans
“I want to personally thank you for keynoting our industry event and delivering the most dynamic presentation I have seen in the 21 years since the event was started. Large events like these require audience engagement and you were able to deliver that through your multi-media presentation, Q&A, and sheer force of personality. Your creativity topic hit home to every leader in the room. My only regret is we should have had you address the attendees at the very beginning of the conference to set the tone for our entire event. Thank you again for sharing your energy, passion, and skill to our industry conference.”
Rob Lowy, Publishing Director, Industry Week
“Josh brought a great source of refreshing content about creativity in business that was just what our GrowCo Conference needed. His energy and enthusiasm about the topic inspired attendees and gave them take-aways to implement in their own companies. Josh has a strong stage presence and was extremely easy to work with. Building a 6-time Inc. 500 company as well as writing a best-seller, he clearly knows what it is like to run a fast-growing company and lead an entrepreneurial lifestyle. We were thoroughly pleased to have Josh and will continue to seek out Josh for future speaking opportunities.”
Karlie Krieger, Event and Speaking Coordinator, Inc. Magazine
“Josh delivered compelling messages around creativity and innovation, and left our global sales team thinking about ways we will incorporate his practical suggestions into our work and our lives. His energy, enthusiasm and passion in sharing these messages is absolutely contagious!”
Pam Berklich, Senior Vice President, Kelly Services
“Josh was a hit! He really engaged the audience while sharing a message of value to help release their creativity. Thank you for a successful event!”
Gary Tuerack, President, The National Society of Leadership and Success
“I went home so fired up and inspired! You were totally infectious! Amazing, awesome, incredible presentation!!!”
Matt Mosher, CEO, HiredMYway
“You were absolutely phenomenal! I am not sure how I am going to continue our speaker series now that you have set the bar so high!”
Deirdre Groves, COO, The Collaborative Group
“My son listened to you speak this week. He came away with an enthusiasm for life that I had not heard in him for awhile. Thank you!”
Patty Renbarger, CEO, B.C.R.
“Josh recently spoke for us he did an absolutely fabulous job! Josh was a tremendous motivation for us to be more creative as we work to build our businesses and our community in a challenging economic environment. I have heard Josh on several occasions now and would highly recommend that you bring him in to speak. Thank you Josh for inspiring us all to be more creative!”
Mark Tremper, Vice President, D.C. Federal Credit Union
“Thanks for the insight on creativity. The presentation was great and your passion to make a difference is remarkable.”
Mike Semanco, President, Hennessey Capital
“Thanks for a great talk today. It was a wonderful reminder of the power of creativity that is in all of us… but also that we have the power to inspire others to take a chance and make great things happen. Your enthusiasm for what is possible is contagious.”
Jennifer L. Vizina, Vice President, Marsh
“Your talk was very inspiring tonight and I am grateful for your insight and passion”
Debbie Oestreich
“Josh Linkner is a polished and engaging speaker who brings a lifetime of entrepreneurial experience to the subject of thinking outside of the box. His keynote address at the Ohio Venture Association captivated an audience of 200 with a mix of anecdotes and lessons drawn from his experience, illustrated with sophisticated graphics. I would travel a long distance to hear Josh speak again.”
Jonathan Murray, President, Ohio Venture Association & Managing Director, Early Stage Partners
“I felt compelled to send you on a short email to let you know quite how blown away I was by your presentation to us yesterday in London. It was quite literally one of the most motivating and thought provoking two hours of my professional career.”
Robert Cunningham, United Kingdom Internal Audit Head, Heineken
“I just wanted to drop you an email to say a big thanks again for the input today. The feedback I have heard has been incredibly positive, and I think it really contributed to the strong outcomes for the real work we went on to do over the day. It was definitely the first time I’ve heard someone from Sony Japan feedback to a room as Yoda! I also really appreciated how you tailored you message to the audience from the discussions in the weeks prior to the program.”
Andrew Caldwell, Development Group Manager, Impact International
“Thank you so much for keynoting The Marketing Forum. Your presentation was perfectly on target! I will send you the official evaluation numbers in a few weeks, but everyone I have spoken with so far really enjoyed your presentation. I thought it was just what we had discussed; targeted for this audience, combining a 30,000 mile view with specific takeaways to implement now.”
Chyai Mulberg, Conference Manager, Richmond Events