Jim Carroll

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Innovating Through Uncertainty

When Do You Innovate?

Highlight Reel - Come Explore My Mind!

Futurist Jim Carroll On Stage

The Era of Acceleration

Speech Topics

World Class Innovators Focus on Growth Despite Economic Uncertainty and Volatility

Jim Carroll knows from experience that organizations that focus on staying ahead of fast-paced economic trends in an era of volatility are best positioned for long-term success. He’s been sharing this critical insight with leadership teams since the dot.com collapse-induced recession of 2001!

In 2025, it’s pretty volatile out there and uncertainty rules our future. In the context of that, it’s important to focus on the long-term goal, not the short-term volatility.

Jim’s keynote focuses on how to lead through uncertainty. He shares powerful insight gathered during previous economic downturns and periods of volatility and uncertainty.

Here’s the key message – long-term winners are those who chose not to participate in the downturn, but instead focus on growth, opportunity, and the future.

It’s powerful insight for your corporate leadership meeting or offsite event.

When are you going to start to move forward?

You’re frozen in fear with tariffs. The economy is volatile. The market isn’t fun. What do you do?

Lead your team forward – get them out of their fear.

In 2009, Yum! Brands had Futurist Jim Carroll on stage for an audience of thousands in Las Vegas. Fear was in the room. He spoke about the ‘7 Stages of Economic Grief,’ and why history has taught us that those who moved to the Acceptance phase were the ones who win. Watch the clip.

At this very moment, leadership teams are looking for critical insight. For 3 major economic downturns, I’ve helped to lead them out of the wilderness. I’ll do so again with this one. I’ve spent time on the topic with organizations like Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, Microsoft, IBM, Nestle, and dozens more. CEO-level events and corporate offsite leadership meetings.

Right now, deep leadership insight for teams on how to get through the volatility is a precious resource. Experienced insight matters.

How AI Will Redefine your Industry, Profession, Company, and Career—and What You Need to Do About It!

There are several ways to understand the impact of AI on your company, industry, association, or profession. As the saying goes – it’s pretty certain you won’t find your job being replaced by AI, but it might be replaced by someone using AI!

That’s why strategic clarity on the impact of AI is necessary, and Jim Carroll can provide you with a highly customized keynote presentation that will examine several issues.

Jim will help you understand:

the AI Megatrends that are already underway, and those that are yet to come
the disruptive and transformative context of these trends in your industry, profession, or association, based on up-to-the-minute detailed research specific to your requirements
why the ‘era of acceleration’ with AI will now challenge all your assumptions about your future
the strategic opportunities that exist with AI within your industry and organization, on a near, medium, and long-term basis
the significant challenges and risks that exist for the same time frame
what leading innovators and competitors are doing to align with these fast-moving trends
what actionable steps you can pursue so you can prepare a concise strategic plan for your organization and team

We live in a time of massive challenge, and yet one of massive opportunity. We’re faced with deep and complex issues involving the environment, health care, water and food. At the same time, every industry is faced with upheaval and disruption.

In this context, every industry is being redefined at blinding speed by technology, globalization, the rapid emergence of new competitors, new forms of collaborative global R&D, and countless other challenges! The speed with which these changes occur are now running up against the traditional culture, organizational structure and leadership methodologies that once worked well in the past – but don’t align to today’s fast moving realities.

In this keynote, Jim outlines his simple but transformative structure with deep insight on what it takes to master the new, complex volatile world, by embracing the chaos, thinking transformation not innovation, mastering the timing of trends, and accelerating forward oriented growth opportunities. The new model for going forward in the era of accelerating change: Think big, start small and scale fast!

The future demands that you think BIG, be bold, and pursue opportunities.

The only way to do this is to understand the “megatrends” that are defining our future, the disruptive opportunities they present, and the industry, skills, and business model opportunities they provide.

Are you ready to pursue a BIG future? Do you understand what comes next and what you need to do about it? Based on his BIG Trends series featured on his Web site, Jim takes you into a dramatic new future involving accelerating scientific discovery, rapid knowledge sharing, accelerated methodologies, and dramatic industry transformations.

You will come away with new strategic leadership insight that will help you see disruptive trends, focus on opportunities, unlock creativity, enhance your speed, accelerate innovation and deliver on growth opportunities!

We will see more change in every industry in the next 10 years than we have seen in the last 100 as transformation and disruption sweeps the world.

Every company is faced with the rapid emergence of new competitors, significant new business models, more challenging consumers, the acceleration of science, and a transition to the speed of innovation that will define their future.

How do you manage this complex new world and get ahead?

In this keynote, futurist and innovation expert Jim Carroll shares the innovation and creativity insight that he has gained through three decades of a relentless focus on what turns organizations into high-velocity innovation and creativity heroes. None other than NASA has invited Jim in – twice – to share his insight on innovation strategies. Disney – a creativity superhero – invited him in for a keynote on the opportunities that come from rethinking creativity. The World Bank engaged him for a talk that linked fast- moving future trends to the need for accelerated innovation and fast thinking.

CEO/CxO’s are managing multiple priorities: business model disruption; the rapid emergence of new competitors; products that are almost out of date by the time they are brought to market; the digitization of everything; and the acceleration of industries. The transformation of everything is around them.

All of these trends — and more — require that organizations pick up the pace when it comes to their strategies, actions, and innovation efforts. Many CEO/CxO’s are finding it necessary to bring their leadership teams together for a corporate offsite event in order to discuss, strategize and align to a faster, transformative future.

In an increasing number of these events, the CEO/CxO or other senior executive has selected Jim Carroll to open or participate in such a meeting with an in-depth, customized leadership-oriented keynote that sets the tone from the start. They have selected Jim for his proven global track record of providing a keynote that is based on extensive consultation, customized research, and very detailed, specific insight. Keynotes have included looking at the big future, disruption and transformation, accelerating creativity, the fast future, and many more topics. Clients who have arranged for Jim at these sessions have included Disney, Chemours, Dupont, Rich Foods, NASA, Mercedes Benz, New York Life, Volvo, Nestle, Black & Veach, and many more.

Learn why Jim is your valuable, trusted partner in aligning your organization to a faster, transformative future!

Mindshare matters. In a complex and fast competitive landscape, positioning your product or service offerings to your customer or client has become more of a challenge than ever before.

That’s why organizations continue to invest in large scale or intimate customer client events. It’s an opportunity to tell your story, position your products, put in perspective your value proposition, and build relationships.

Countless numbers of organization, including hi-tech firms, professional services firms including financial and legal organizations, telecom companies, and manufacturing organization have engaged Jim to provide an opening keynote message for their event that is carefully aligned to their key message.

Companies like Microsoft, SAP, Cisco, Oracle, Toshiba and many more have had Jim provide his insight on the future and disruption with a highly customized keynote that aligns to their overall customer event message. Professional service firms like KPMG, Ernst Young and Baker McKenzie have arranged for Jim to speak at critical client events on topics ranging for the acceleration of business to the emergence of new legal risk issues. Zurich Insurance recently arranged for Jim to share his thoughts on the future of risk at a global risk management summit in Switzerland. Schneider Electric engaged Jim to open a user group conference, with a message focused on the future of manufacturing including the impact of the Industrial Internet of Things.

Whatever your message and however specific your topics, Futurist Jim Carroll has proven to be a reliable event partner with a keynote message that is based on customized research, extensive consultation, and detailed trends insight backed by a compelling stage presence.

Biography

Jim Carroll is a world-renowned futurist with over 30 years of experience helping organizations navigate the complex challenges of a rapidly changing world. Known for his actionable insights and powerful leadership keynotes, Jim has guided CEOs, senior executives, and association leaders from some of the world’s largest organizations, including NASA, Pfizer, The World Bank, Mercedes-Benz, the PGA, BlackRock, and Disney.

Drawing on a deep well of industry-specific knowledge, Jim delivers customized, forward-looking strategies designed to align organizations with disruptive trends and emerging technologies. His keynote presentations are characterized by fast-paced, motivational delivery, grounded in real-world data and extensive research across industries like healthcare, finance, manufacturing, energy, sports, and more.

Jim’s unique perspective is shaped by his background as a Canadian Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), giving him a rare combination of business acumen and future-focused insight. Before becoming a full-time futurist in the 1990s, he spent a decade working in audit, taxation, and financial analysis, gaining a firsthand understanding of the challenges business leaders face.

As an author, columnist, and media commentator, Jim has written 39 books on topics ranging from innovation and entrepreneurship to the impact of disruptive technologies. His insights have been featured in over 600 articles and 3,000 interviews across major outlets like ABC News, BusinessWeek, INC, Fast Company, CNBC, and the South China Morning Post.

Jim is also known for his collaborative approach, offering extensive pre-event consultations to ensure his insights are perfectly tailored to the unique needs of each audience. Whether speaking to small executive teams or thousands at global conferences, his presentations deliver clear, concise insights that inspire leaders to take action in a faster, more complex world.

With a client list that spans the globe and a proven track record of success, Jim Carroll is one of the most sought-after futurists in the world today.

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