Build a culture of innovation, agility, and creative problem-solving to lead through disruption and drive sustainable growth with Omnichannel Retail keynote speaker Josh Linkner
Key trends and opportunities that Josh helps leaders navigate
Josh brings deep experience in multichannel retail, spanning a 30+ year career at the forefront of technology, marketing, and merchandising. From advising early e-tail pioneers like Bluefly and Zappos to helping major brands like the Gap, Target, and BestBuy enter the digital arena, Josh has helped retailers and market leaders—including Verizon, CVS, Home Depot, HyVee, and Staples—build the creative capacity and entrepreneurial mindset needed to lead through disruption, not just survive it.
The Green Premium
Consumers are voting with their wallets, and they’re choosing sustainability.
The brands that lead in sustainability foster cultures where every team member is empowered to find creative ways to reduce waste, improve efficiency, and deliver on the values customers care about most.
Unified Commerce
When your culture rewards experimentation and collaborative problem-solving, every customer touchpoint becomes an opportunity to differentiate, delight, and deepen loyalty.
AI-Driven Retail Intelligence
The real power of AI in retail lives at the intersection of data science and human creativity. A blend of art and science where predictive analytics meet inventive thinking, opening new possibilities for retailers who pair technological sophistication with a culture of bold experimentation and creative problem-solving.
Speed as Strategy
The brands that master this balance of flexibility and innovation set new benchmarks. Agility is a growth catalyst that compounds over time. And it starts with building a culture where creative thinking and rapid adaptation are woven into the fabric of everyday work.
Building Direct Relationships at Scale
When organizations invest in owned channels, they’re investing in long-term competitive advantage that doesn’t depend on algorithm changes or platform fees. The creative challenge is building content, experiences, and engagement strategies compelling enough to earn attention in a crowded landscape.
You were amazing this morning!
I heard so many positive comments from customers that it was interesting, inspiring and they found some practical things they could use. Plus, you incorporated our industry and audience so well! Great job!!! You rocked it.
Michael McGarry
CEO, Transitions Optical
Hi Josh. I just wanted to reach out and tell you how much I enjoyed working with you and your team in preparation for our event.
Our members really enjoyed what you had to say and the inspirational manner in which you expressed yourself. I was standing in the back during your keynote, and one of our long-time members who often facilitates for us, turned and gave me a thumbs up, whispering “He’s gooooood.”
Klein Merriman
Executive Director, Association for Retail Environments
We truly appreciate how your keynote talk set the stage for the day
and inspired the audience with innovative ideas, empowered them with the knowledge we can all be creative, and how you customized your session so we all felt that you knew FedEx intimately and were talking directly to us.
Leanne Logan
Principal Global Digital Marketing, FedEx
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 brings deep experience in Omnichannel Retail, spanning a 30+ year career at the forefront of technology, marketing, and merchandising. From advising early e-tail pioneers like Bluefly and and Zappos to helping major brands like the Gap, Target, and BestBuy enter the digital arena, Josh has helped multichannel retailers embrace change, disruption, and ultimately transformation. He’s spoken to a who’s who of market leaders including Verizon, CVS, the Home Depot, HyVee and Staples.
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 Omnichannel Retail Meeting Professionals
Frequently Asked Questions
About Josh
Josh brings deep experience in multi-channel retailing, spanning a 30+ year career at the forefront of technology, marketing, and merchandising. From advising early e-tail pioneers like Bluefly and and Zappos to helping major brands like the Gap, Target, and BestBuy enter the digital arena, Josh has helped multichannel retailers embrace change, disruption, and ultimately transformation. He’s spoken to a who’s who of market leaders including Verizon, CVS, the Home Depot, HyVee and Staples.
Through live and virtual solutions, Josh helps organizations drive innovation, inventive-thinking, and creative problem-solving across every box of the org-chart. Formats include:
- Facilitated leadership sessions/fireside chats with executive leaders.
- Customized interactive team leader workshops to introduce and practice innovation mindsets & techniques.
- Customized In-Person & Virtual Consulting Solutions to help organizations drive a culture of innovation.
Recognizing the capacity for creativity in every human, Josh feels called to help unlock dormant creative capacity to elevate individuals, leaders, and organizations.
YES! One of Josh's most requested keynotes is the Business of Music keynote. It's a memorable experience with a fusion of a live musical performance and keynote presentation. The finale includes audience members "joining the band" to compose and perform a song in real-time to the audience's delight. Cameras will flash as the entire group is dazzled by their colleagues' improvisation and spontaneous invention.
About Josh's Keynotes
Absolutely! In fact, in the 1,300+ keynote he's delivered worldwide, Josh has never given the same keynote twice. Through a proven framework of pre-event calls, stakeholder interviews, and AI & human-powered industry research, Josh handcrafts every keynote for every organization— no "canned" talks.
Yes! Josh has extensive experience in curating the content and the format of keynotes to meet his client's needs.
After every keynote, audience members often walk up to Josh to share they're inspired to tap into their creative and innovative potential. Through live and virtual solutions, Josh helps organizations translate this inspiration into transformative results.
- Facilitated leadership sessions/fireside chats with executive leaders.
- Customized interactive team leader workshops to introduce and practice innovation mindsets & techniques.
- Customized In-Person & Virtual Consulting Solutions to help organizations drive a culture of innovation.
Booking Josh
Josh is always available for discovery calls to explore fit and customized programming options. Nothing is more important to Josh than finding the best fit for your event - even if it means a different speaker.
Yes! Josh has extensive experience in curating the content and the format of keynotes to meet his client’s needs.
Josh lives & practices his message of finding a way. Regardless of lead time, please fill out the Book Josh Form, and he'll do his best to make it work or help you find another speaker who'll be a great fit for your event.
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.