NSB Logo Natalie Nixon Natalie Nixon

Natalie Nixon

Speaker

Pennsylvania, USA

Business Creativity Guru & Award-winning author of The Creativity Leap and forthcoming Move. Think. Rest.

Creativity strategist Natalie Nixon helps leaders achieve transformational business results by applying wonder & rigor. The “creativity whisperer to the C-Suite” is a highly sought after speaker, valued for her accessible expertise on creativity, the future of work and innovation. Natalie brings an innovative and unique perspective to every keynote and strategic advisory engagement.

Her experience living in 5 countries combined with her background in anthropology, fashion, academia, and dance distinguish her as a one-of-a-kind creativity expert and strategist on innovation, foresight and strategy for today’s leading organizations.

Keynote Speeches

Virtual Keynotes & Webinars
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Burnout to Breakthrough: Why Traditional Productivity Is Failing Your Organization

In a world where your team is drowning in notifications, back-to-back meetings, and endless to-do lists, the relentless pursuit of “doing more” is backfiring spectacularly. Burnout rates are skyrocketing, innovation is stalling, and your most talented people are quietly updating their résumés. Traditional productivity models – built for factories, not knowledge work – are actively sabotaging your organization’s ability to thrive amid constant disruption.

This keynote challenges the outdated “hustle culture” paradigm that’s exhausting your workforce and introduces the revolutionary cultivation model from “Move. Think. Rest.” At this critical inflection point where AI is reshaping every industry, the competitive advantage isn’t working harder—it’s working human. Discover how the MTR framework serves as an operating system that integrates intentional movement, deep thought, and purposeful rest to drive sustainable performance.

Learn why organizations that shift focus from output to impact are seeing remarkable ROI through increased innovation, reduced turnover, and enhanced decision-making. Walk away with actionable strategies to move beyond “productivity theater” and create a workplace where people don’t just survive change—they lead it. Future-proof your organization by cultivating what AI can’t replicate: your team’s uniquely human capacity for imagination, creativity, and connection.

The New I in AI: Unleashing Human Creativity as Your Competitive Advantage in the Imagination Era

While your competitors rush to implement AI solutions, a sobering reality is emerging: organizations are investing millions in technology while neglecting the distinctly human capabilities that truly drive innovation. Your teams are caught in a paralyzing contradiction—frantically adopting AI tools while simultaneously fearing these same technologies will make their skills obsolete. Leadership struggles to articulate a clear vision for how humans and machines will collaborate, leaving your workforce anxious about their future and uncertain about where to focus their development.

This paradigm-shifting keynote, grounded in the Move. Think. Rest. philosophy reveals why the organizations thriving in the AI revolution aren’t those with the most advanced algorithms—they’re the ones systematically cultivating human capacities that machines cannot replicate: imagination, inquiry, and intuition. Through the MTR framework, discover how these uniquely human “3 I’s” become your sustainable competitive advantage in an increasingly automated world.

Learn why traditional work environments actively suppress these critical capabilities and how simple MTR interventions can transform your organization’s creative capacity. Through evidence-based case studies, see how intentional movement shifts perspective, deep thought cultivates imaginative possibilities, and strategic rest activates the intuitive connections that AI simply cannot make.

Renowned creativity strategist Natalie Nixon demonstrates why creativity isn’t an innate talent limited to a select few but a trainable capability that thrives when properly nurtured. Gain practical strategies for all roles in your organization—from executives to frontline workers—that make these “3 I’s” accessible regardless of job description or workstyle.

Walk away with a concrete implementation plan for redesigning work to leverage AI as an amplifier of human creativity rather than a replacement for it. In the Imagination Era, your sustainable advantage isn’t just implementing AI—it’s unleashing the infinite creative potential of your people through a science-backed approach that amplifies what makes us uniquely human while harnessing the power of technology as a partner, not a replacement.

The Trust Deficit: Why Your Change Initiatives Keep Failing (And How to Fix It)

Your organization is investing millions in transformation initiatives, yet 70% will fail. The culprit? A workplace culture characterized by mistrust, micromanagement, and a pervasive fear that technology will make human contributions irrelevant. Every new change effort is met with resistance, skepticism, and change fatigue that’s eroding morale and hampering execution.

This keynote, grounded in the “Move. Think. Rest.” philosophy, reveals why traditional change management approaches fall short and presents a human-centered alternative. Learn how unprecedented rates of burnout are sabotaging your most strategic initiatives and why leaders must urgently redesign work to foster resilience before launching the next change program.

Discover why integrating Move. Think. Rest. (MTR) isn’t a wellness nice-to-have, but a business imperative driving measurable ROI. The evidence is clear: MTR activity predicts organizational success because it activates your most valuable intangible assets—human creativity, collaboration, and adaptability. Leaders will learn practical approaches to model MTR practices that build change capacity and create psychological safety amid uncertainty.

Leave with a blueprint for shifting from exhausting your people to energizing them, from resistant cultures to resilient ones, and from faltering change efforts to sustainable transformation. In a business environment where change is the only constant, your competitive edge lies in cultivating a workforce that’s energized, engaged, and equipped to navigate complexity with confidence.

Adapt and Disrupt: Building Creativity's Business ROI

Your organization is trapped in a dangerous cycle: quarterly pressures drive short-term thinking, innovation initiatives keep failing to gain traction, and attempts at “design thinking” have produced more Post-it notes than actual results. Meanwhile, industry disruptors with seemingly limitless creative capacity are capturing market share and top talent. The harsh reality? Without a systematic approach to building creative capacity, your business faces obsolescence in an economy that increasingly rewards imagination over execution.

In this paradigm-shifting keynote, creativity expert Natalie Nixon dismantles the myth that creativity is a “nice-to-have” soft skill and reveals the hard business case for imagination as your primary competitive advantage. Through rigorous research and compelling case studies, discover why organizations that systematically cultivate creativity outperform peers by 20% in revenue growth and 15% in market valuation.

Learn how pioneering leaders across industries have transformed creativity from an abstract concept into a measurable business capability with concrete ROI. Gain access to Nixon’s proprietary frameworks that allow you to assess your organization’s current creative capacity, identify critical gaps, and implement targeted interventions that yield measurable results. From reimagining meeting structures to redesigning physical and digital workspaces, discover practical approaches that have helped organizations triple their innovation pipeline and dramatically improve solution quality.

Leave with a roadmap for building creativity as an organizational muscle—complete with metrics to track progress, methods to overcome resistance, and strategies to embed creative practices into everyday operations. In a business landscape where adaptation is table stakes and disruption is the goal, your ability to systematically harness imagination isn’t just a competitive advantage—it’s your organization’s survival plan.

Curiosity Is the Currency of the Future

Your teams are drowning in answers but starving for breakthrough questions. In meetings across your organization, people rush to solutions before understanding problems, executives mistake certainty for leadership, and the pressure to appear knowledgeable suppresses the curiosity that drives genuine innovation. As a result, your business faces the same challenges repeatedly, strategic blind spots are growing, and opportunities for transformation go unrecognized.

This keynote confronts an uncomfortable truth: in an era where factual information is instantly accessible through AI, the real differentiator isn’t what you know—it’s what you ask. Natalie Nixon reveals why organizations with robust “question cultures” are outperforming those fixated on quick answers, experiencing 37% higher innovation success rates and 28% better adaptability during market shifts.

Beyond the increasingly basic ways we query AI tools like ChatGPT, discover why developing sophisticated questioning practices is essential for executing compelling strategy and fostering breakthrough thinking. Through interactive examples, learn to distinguish between different question typologies—from divergent questions that open possibilities to convergent questions that drive decisions, and from factual inquiries to the transformational questions that reframe entire industries.

Walk away with practical frameworks to revolutionize how your organization approaches challenges—including techniques for overcoming “expertise bias” that blocks curiosity, and strategies to normalize a culture where not knowing is valued as a starting point for discovery. In a business environment where yesterday’s solutions create tomorrow’s problems, your organization’s questioning capacity isn’t just a skill—it’s the currency that will fund your future success.

Audience reviews:

  • Natalie's presentation on creativity was engaging, inspiring, and practical!
    Her framework and practical suggestions for creativity were incredibly valuable. - EVP & COO of Technology
  • Natalie's positive energy, expertise, and practiced facilitation helped
    zero in on priority areas and build trust by having honest conversations about
    tough challenges we need to tackle. - CEO, Coursera
  • Natalie had us all on the edge of our seats for her entire presentation! My
    attendees loved her set of insights and anecdotes punctuated with references to her
    research & to hyper-relevant themes. - Global Head of Accessibility, IBM
  • The design sprint process Natalie curated was transformative on both the
    individual and institutional levels. None of the outcomes would have been
    possible without Natalie's stewardship. - Partner, Morrison Foerster
  • Natalie facilitated a learning session with the Affirm legal and compliance teams.
    She was stimulating and engaging. The entire team found her concepts
    easy to implement. Rave reviews! - Chief Legal Officer, Affirm
  • Natalie is amazing! Her energy is absolutely infectious! Her 3i framework
    resonates in a practical way, giving leaders straightforward suggestions on how to
    build their creativity competence and create a culture of inquiry. - VP of American Enterprise Services - Microsoft
  • In a world of cookie cutter motivational speakers, Natalie stands out as a
    breath of smart, creative fresh air. If you want your team to step back from using
    the same approaches every day and instead embrace fresh and creative thinking, turn
    to Natalie. - Board Chair, Pediatrix Medical Group

Speaker Biography

You’re not unmotivated — You’re blocked.

Natalie Nixon, PhD, is an ideas artist. She democratizes creativity—showing that while artists are masters at navigating ambiguity, creativity is equally inherent to the work of engineers, scientists, lawyers, and project managers who are ready to think differently, lead with intention, and shape the future.

Natalie built her career by connecting dots others didn’t see — working in global apparel sourcing for The Limited Brands in Sri Lanka and Portugal, earning a PhD in design management while working full time, leading executive education programs, and spending 16 years as a professor at Thomas Jefferson University. Her experience living and working across five countries shaped her global perspective and sharpened her approach to helping teams adapt, innovate, and thrive in ambiguity.

Years ago, Natalie sat at her kitchen table, weighing a leap of faith. After years in academia, she realized she was ready for something more audacious. She created her own path — becoming a creativity strategist before the role even had a name. It was her first real test of WonderRigor™: balancing audacity with discipline to reimagine her future.

Natalie’s lifelong passions, from modern, ballroom, and hip-hop dance to open-water swimming, continue to fuel her insights into leadership, adaptability, and innovation.

Today, Natalie is recognized among the top keynote speakers by Real Leaders, named to the Thinkers50 Radar List, and honored by Core77 as a leader in women-driven innovation. She’s the award-winning author of The Creativity Leap and the forthcoming Move. Think. Rest.