Fenton Jagdeo Jr.

Most organizations don’t fail because they lack ideas—they fail because they ignore the sparks of curiosity already inside their teams.

In this powerful, story-driven keynote, innovation executive and governance leader Fenton Jagdeo introduces the Curiosity Compass: a practical, battle-tested framework designed to unlock innovation at all levels of an organization. Built from over a decade of hands-on work with Fortune 500s, billion-dollar boards, and high-growth startups—and backed by $4 million worth of mistakes (and wins)—this isn’t just another innovation theory. It’s a proven tool that works.

Fenton takes the audience on a journey through some of the most iconic cautionary tales in business—Kodak, Blockbuster, Nokia—revealing what happens when organizations cling to the familiar while the world changes around them. He then shows how leaders and employees alike can use curiosity to challenge assumptions, borrow ideas from other industries, rethink broken systems, and broaden stakeholder impact.

If you’ve ever wondered how to go from “we should innovate” to “here’s how we do it,” this keynote gives you the map—and the compass.

Sample Takeaways:

• A Repeatable Innovation Framework: Learn the Curiosity Compass—a four-direction model that helps individuals challenge assumptions, borrow ideas from other industries, fix broken systems, and consider the broader ecosystem.
• Micro-Innovation as a Strategic Advantage: Why big change often starts with small, everyday ideas—and how to surface them in your organization.
• Scenario Planning & the Burning Platform: Understand how to use curiosity to guide tough decisions in moments of risk or disruption.
• A Human-Centered Innovation Mindset: Empower your employees with tools that actually work—no jargon, no “innovation theater,” just action.
• The Courage to Leap: Leave with a clear sense of what’s at stake if we don’t innovate—and how curiosity helps leaders and teams take bold, informed action.

Fenton demystifies what it means to pursue innovation, strategic planning and radical curiosity.  He shows why it’s so important to the long term success of organizations & what happens if you don’t innovate. 

He explains why aggressive future scenario planning is important to help make better decisions today, while building a competitive moat around whatever you do.

Fenton believes the new rule for being successful is that there are no rules. The most important factor to becoming the type of dynamic worker that will define this era is the ability to be curious. His approach encourages a sense of urgency and inspires the courage in business leaders to think outside of today’s framing. 

Takeaways:

• Practical tools that staff at all levels of an organization can use to bring more success to every day innovation and decision making. 
• Future scenario planning.
• A repeatable framework to activate and execute on your curiosity to drive innovation.

In a world where EDI initiatives are being rolled back, Fenton recommends that practical allyship is the next evolution in EDI and Belonging. he firmly believes diversity is still the only logical solution to record setting returns; innovation wilts where sameness grows, and only in diversity does brilliance bloom.

Is your team fatigued and unsure what to do despite knowing that the fundamental principles of EDI are foundational to success at any company? The issue is that we get fatigue when we talk about EDI as an abstract concept — when it becomes a ideological conversation, and not one of action taking, move making. Fenton offers the path from Ideology to Action and Impact. 

His experience? Fenton was the 1% at his university. The 1% in his elite business program. The 1% at his first job. He was the 1% at Deloitte. He’s the 1% of civic leaders. He’s the 1% for venture capital raising anywhere, and the 1% for startup leaders. And when he means 1%,  he doesn’t mean wealth, he means race: 1% represents the summation of black population in a similar positions.

This conversation will raise shocking facts about our black population, and by offering up real lived experiences he’s come up against, he shows why diversity is important… and not from an emotional “do good for the people” PR way but by focusing on what he knows best: the logical, financial, and strategic arguments for why giving oxygen to a group of minorities that have been disenfranchised for hundreds of years is a competitive advantage for us all.  He considers himself to be one of the lucky ones, but there’s no reason why that should be the case.

Takeaways:

• Logical and financial arguments for why diversity is a competitive advantage.
• What may be on the minds of your black employees who are too afraid to say it.
• Practical ways to think about corporate Allyship, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion strategy.

There’s a misconception around getting involved in public service (from simple volunteering to joining public boards); people believe that the altruism you receive is the only benefit, but there are tangible benefits that help you career, your community, and your self development.

Fenton talks through his experiences in the world of civic engagement: from the first door he ever knocked on for a candidate, to joining large decision making bodies that impact your day to day like public transit and libraries,  walking through how he was able to maneuver these opportunities and what these opportunities have afforded him from a career, skill development, and networking perspective.

Sample Takeaways:

• The importance of community engagement.
• How to make the most of your public service.