Innovation Keynote Speaker
Innovation isn't a brainstorm. It's a set of decisions most organisations arrange their processes to avoid.
Shawn shows leaders which ones, and what it takes to actually make them.
Two decades on one question
Shawn Kanungo has spent two decades on a single question: why capable organisations, full of intelligent people,
keep losing to smaller and stranger competitors.
His answer became The Bold Ones, ranked #5 on McKinsey & Company's Top Books on Decision Making, and it is the spine of his innovation keynotes.
The argument is uncomfortable on purpose: most innovation programmes are designed to avoid exactly the risk that innovation requires.
He spent 12 years at Deloitte Consulting as Senior Manager, Strategy & Innovation before moving to the stage, and the material still comes out of that work. Audiences leave with named ideas they can use in a meeting on Monday, not a mood that fades by Tuesday.
THREE KEYNOTES
Three talks under this topic
The Bold Ones
How to innovate and disrupt ourselves. The DNA of disruptors, from Hatshepsut to Bill Simmons to Cardi B, and how to borrow their tactics from wherever you currently sit.
FULL DESRIPTION →Strategy is Energy
Four questions that decide whether a strategy moves an organisation or sits in a deck: our bold ambition, where the world is going, how we are remarkably different, and how we make it personal.
FULL DESRIPTION →Fearless Government
Written for public sector organisations navigating modernisation, AI adoption and the gap between mandate and momentum.
FULL DESRIPTION →If your event theme is specifically artificial intelligence, start with the AI keynote instead.
WHO IT'S FOR
Rooms that need shared language before a plan
Annual conferences and leadership summits where the theme is change, growth or reinvention. Associations bringing an outside voice to their membership. Organisations after a merger, a restructure or a strategy reset, where the leadership team needs shared language before it needs a plan.
Public sector bodies too. Fearless Government exists for exactly that audience. Every keynote is customised after a pre-event briefing call,
and formats run from a 20-minute opener to a full workshop.
WATCH
See him work
A full innovation keynote segment.
The current speaker reel.
PROOF
Why organisations book him
#5 on McKinsey's list
The Bold Ones, ranked fifth on McKinsey & Company's Top Books on Decision Making. Published by McGraw-Hill in 2022.
SEE THE BOOK →A streaming special
The first innovation expert to have one. The Bold Ones was released on Apple TV and Prime Video in August 2023.
WATCH THE SPECIAL →Named by Forbes
The best virtual keynote speaker I've ever seen.” Also recognised as one of Edify's Top 40 Under 40.
READ THE FORBES PIECE →TESTIMONIALS
“Shawn was great. Very engaging and energetic.”
CLIENTS
Trusted by
RELETED READING
Go deeper before you book
QUESTIONS
Before you book
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No. A motivational speaker sets out to change how an audience feels; this session sets out to change how they think about a specific problem. It is high energy, but the takeaway is a framework and a set of named ideas, not a mood.
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Yes. AI is the most common example set at the moment, but the underlying material is about how organisations make bold decisions under uncertainty, and it works with examples from any period or sector. Say so on the briefing call and the balance is adjusted.
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Yes, and it is a large share of the work. Fearless Government was written specifically for public sector organisations, and association audiences get a version built around what their members are facing rather than around a single employer's strategy.
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Yes. The Bold Ones can be arranged in bulk for event attendees, and signed copies can sometimes be organised depending on logistics. Ask when you get in touch.
Let's make your event unmissable
Tell us the date, the audience and the outcome you want. You'll get availability, a full
speaker kit and next steps within one business day.