Build a culture of innovation and creative problem-solving to fuel growth, navigate change, gain competitive edge, seize emerging opportunities, and lead with agility—with Financial Services & FinTech keynote speaker Josh Linkner.
Key trends and opportunities that Josh helps leaders navigate
Josh brings 30+ years of experience to teams in financial services, having led innovation and transformation efforts for some of the most notable institutions in the world. From growing up in the industry (his dad was a Financial Advisor) to navigating SEC guidelines around private equity, venture capital, and M&A, Josh is intimately familiar with the language, pressures, and opportunities facing leaders in the financial sector. He helps organizations build the creative capacity and entrepreneurial mindset needed to outpace disruption and drive sustainable growth.
Read Josh's latest insights on AI in Financial Services & FinTech.
Leading Through Economic Volatility
In this kind of environment, the old playbook falls short. The institutions that thrive are cultivating a culture of agility and inventive thinking—adapting quickly and seizing opportunities others miss. Strategic foresight paired with creative problem-solving is the competitive edge that separates leaders from laggards.
Regulatory Complexity and Compliance Innovation
Compliance is a genuine innovation challenge. The leaders who reframe regulatory complexity as a catalyst for creative problem-solving are finding new ways to build trust, differentiate their offerings, and turn mandates into competitive advantages.
Winning the Next Generation of Customers
For financial institutions, winning the next generation requires creative thinking across the entire org chart—from product design and UX to compliance and customer service. The institutions that embed inventive problem-solving into their culture will be the ones that attract, engage, and retain the customers of tomorrow.
AI Agents and the New Financial Workforce
The real differentiator is culture. The institutions gaining the most from AI are the ones where leaders have built environments that encourage human creativity alongside machine intelligence. When your people feel empowered to innovate, AI becomes an amplifier of ingenuity, and ingenuity becomes an amplifier of revenue growth.
The speed of invention is threatening traditional products and services, already relegating some to history.
No business can afford to pause for a moment from the headlong drive to meet new challenges. Josh reminds us that to reinvent the workplace we must continually reinvent ourselves as leaders."
Deborah Hopkins
Chief Innovation Officer, Citibank
Every example resonated. We need to have you back. You nailed it. Exactly what we wanted."
Richard Davis
CEO, US Bank
Josh Linkner creates a clear path on how to achieve the results that transformative change will bring.
This is the key to all future growth and success."
Bill Emerson
CEO, Quicken Loans
Our entire team and our clients have thoroughly enjoyed your presentations and have taken so many great ideas away.
Your feedback scores average 98% from D.C. to Atlanta! We so appreciate the energy, enthusiasm, excellent content, and delivery you bring to each conference. It has been an honor and a pleasure working with you. You are so accomplished and yet so humble. You are truly a great leader and a wonderful example for so many."
Jeanne Gaudette
Marketing Manager, Fidelity Investments
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 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."
Melissa Filipek
Director Public Affairs, American Express
Your presentation was phenomenal.
I’m leaving today with renewed energy, ideas, and enthusiasm."
Erica Oppenheimer
Marketing and Communications Manager, Associated Financial Group
Hi, I'm Josh.
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 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.
Josh has deep experience in the Financial Services & FinTech industry, leading innovation and transformation efforts for some of the most notable institutions in the world. From growing up in the industry (Josh’s dad was a Financial Advisor) to navigating SEC guidelines around private equity, venture capital, and M&A activities, he’s intimately familiar with the language, opportunities, and challenges facing leaders in the financial services sector.
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.
Keynote Topics
+ Outcomes
Find A WayTM
Every problem can be solved, and every opportunity can be seized. Through a proven innovative framework, you'll discover new paths to explosive growth, competitive advantage, and sustainable results.
Expand organization-wide capability for creative problem-solving and inventive thinking.
Big Little BreakthroughsTM
Instead of high-risk moonshots, the most innovative leaders cultivate a high volume of ‘micro-innovations’ and build a culture of everyday innovation.
Gain the tools to become an everyday innovator.
The Music of Business
What business leaders can learn about agility, collaboration, creativity, and performance under pressure from the mysterious world of jazz.
Inject artistry and agility into your business through an unforgettable, interactive experience.
*Please note this topic requires additional talent + gear. Accordingly, additional costs apply.
The Innovative Leader
Become an unstoppable force by unlocking your and your team's ingenuity, gaining confidence, and boosting results in times of dramatic uncertainty and disruption.
Elevate your capacity to lead and win in volatile times.
Disciplined DreamingTM
A proven system for driving breakthrough creativity. Learn how to balance raw imagination with business rigor to achieve profound and predictable results.
Boost creativity and rigor simultaneously to achieve better outcomes.
Rethink. Reboot.
Reinvent.
The business you’ll be running in five years will be dramatically different than today. Unlock the definitive playbook on reinvention, relevancy, and sustainable success.
Gain the confidence to venture into the unknown and thrive, no matter what the future brings.
Innovation in the Age of AI
A modern framework to unlock sustained profitable growth at the intersection of technology and human creativity.
Josh shows you how the path forward involves integrating human creativity with artificial intelligence to thrive amidst uncertainty, rapid change, and disruption.
For Financial Services & Fintech Meeting Professionals
5 Ways Josh Turns Your Event Up To "11"
Sparks a mindset & movement.
His authentic, relatable, research-backed content - with real-world case studies and a high-energy delivery - will inspire your audience to uncover and activate new opportunities every day.
Moves your team into action.
Your audience will not only be energized, motivated, and inspired, they’ll become better equipped with specific tools, frameworks, and techniques to drive meaningful results in the months and years ahead.
Handcrafted, not canned.
Josh takes the time to listen deeply before custom-building a keynote experience just for you. This ensures that every minute is on-point, relevant, and targeted to your unique challenges and opportunities.
Real and accessible.
Josh applies Find A Way™ principles in his everyday work as a leader, venture capitalist, musician, and author. Leaders inspired by his keynote often reach out to him for help finding a way in their everyday work.
Impact - 11, Drama - 0.
Coming from a place of humility and service, Josh believes that a great keynote is about the audience, not the speaker. Meeting professionals often call Josh one of the best keynote speakers to work with.