Ross Dawson

Ross Dawson is a futurist, strategy advisor and educator. He has been named as one of the most influential people in the world on topics including the future of work, fintech, crowdfunding, and Enterprise 2.0, and by Digital Media magazine as one of the 40 biggest players in Australia’s digital age.

Ross’ global reputation and extensive experience in the realities of corporate innovation and leadership across many industries make him a favourite keynote speaker for client conferences and strategy meetings for boards, executives and management teams, as well as major public conferences.

Highly engaging, yet always practical, his keynotes highlight the enormous opportunities available due to accelerating world change. Recognising that constant change and massive information overload can also place a toll on our wellbeing, he draws on his role as a world-leading futurist, his background living in a Zen centre in Japan, and his study of cognitive psychology to share a range of ‘human technologies’ that can help us to live fully in the present while being highly productive and effective.

Ross has delivered keynotes and strategy workshops in over 30 countries for leading organisations such as American Express, Coca-Cola, Commonwealth Bank, Dubai Ministry of Finance, Gartner, Google, IBM, KPMG, Macquarie Bank, Oracle, Procter & Gamble, PwC, Roche, Telstra and Visa.

Ross also works as an MC, host and panel facilitator for events targeted at senior executives and professionals. He has facilitated client and media-facing events for a wide variety of leading organisations including Factiva, IBM, Oracle, Telstra and Toyota.

More about Ross Dawson:

Ross Dawson is the founding chairman of the Advanced Human Technologies group of companies, which includes the ventures and publishing firm Advanced Human Technologies, futures consultancy Future Exploration Network and Fraxios, a stealth technology startup focused on developing strategic collective intelligence.

Prior to founding his first company Ross worked for NCR, Merrill Lynch and Thomson Financial in Sydney, Tokyo and London, and as Global Director, Capital Markets for Thomson, leading its worldwide division focusing on debt capital markets.

The leader of the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ (AICD) Directing Innovation program, he frequently works with boards and executive teams of major organisations on innovation and dealing with disruption.

One of the most prominent futurists globally, Ross’ work has been featured by The New York Times, The Times, BBC, Le Monde, Die Welt, El País, Australian Financial Review and many other major media outlets in over 40 countries. He is author of four prescient books including the bestselling Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships, now out in its second edition, and the acclaimed Living Networks, which the New York Times credited as predicting the social networking revolution.

Ross Dawson speaks:

Keeping Ahead of Accelerating Change – Understand accelerating technological capabilities and how to build new capabilities and highly dynamic organisations to keep ahead of change and competitors, and literally create the future of your industries.

Leadership for the Future – The future does not happen, it is created. Transformative leaders can design companies and ventures for positive impact, exponential growth and extraordinary value creation today and tomorrow.

The World in 2030 – Peek into the future with a thrilling ride through the manifold possibilities and opportunities ahead during the most rapid shifts in human history. The future is ours to create.

Creating the High-Performance Organisation of Tomorrow – The gap between the best-performing and least-performing organisations is increasing: those that are staying the same in a changing world are being left behind, while those that are adapting to change and seizing emerging opportunities are racing ahead.

Success in the Network Economy: Driving Exponential Value in a Connected World – Strategy in a networked world requires shifting mindset and organisational capabilities to focus on creating value with customers, suppliers and partners. This provides a foundation for exponential growth, building global scale and transforming industries.

Humans + Machines: Creating the Future of Work – Rather than looking to replace jobs with AI, leaders must envisage how machines and humans will collaborate in their future organisations, each doing what they do best, and plan the necessary transition.

Innovation Leadership – In a global economy driven by speed, intensifying competition and industry disruption, the only remaining sustainable advantage lies in consistent innovation. Networks, both inside and outside the organization, are the keys to successful innovation in products, business processes, and strategy.

Zen and Technology: Being Happy and Productive in an Accelerating World – Neuroscience has shown that how we use technology literally changes our minds. If we are conscious and deliberate in our use of technology we can make ourselves more productive, healthier, happier and better equipped for a rapidly changing world of work.

Creating the Future of Financial Services – Financial services industries are in the midst of dramatic disruption, driven by changing customer behaviours, the evaporation of trust, open banking, the rapid development of fintech, blockchain and digital currencies, competition from peer-to-peer models, regulatory shifts and industry consolidation. These shifts provide real challenges but also massive opportunities.

This keynote can be adapted to a variety of financial services sectors, including banking, broking, financial markets, investment banking, wealth management, financial planning, insurance, reinsurance, private equity and others.