NSB Logo Lisa Bodell Lisa Bodell

Lisa Bodell

Speaker

New York, New York, USA

Innovation & Simplicity Expert, Founder & CEO of Futurethink

Lisa Bodell enables organizations to kill complexity, create space for innovation, and get to the work that matters. She was named one of the Top 50 keynote speakers in the world by Real Leaders and she motivates over 100,000 people a year across organizations like Google, Citi, and Novartis. She’s the bestselling author of Kill the Company and Why Simple Wins, who inspires leaders to transform work to unlock true potential and find deeper fulfillment. With her bold, no-nonsense approach to simplification, Lisa delivers radical insights and actionable tools to fuel extraordinary success.

Keynote Speeches

Virtual Keynotes & Webinars
Contact us for more information about this speaker & their virtual presentations. Click here for some of the most popular formats for virtual events.
Unleash the Power of Simplification

People are drowning in the work of doing work and it’s sabotaging organizations. Our days are continually hijacked by the unplanned and unnecessary – unproductive meetings, outdated rules, irrelevant reports, and endless emails that dampen morale, creates feelings of futility, and can be detrimental to mental health. In this presentation, Lisa Bodell shows audiences a new way to unleash energy, collaboration, and innovation by embracing a mindset of simplification. This is not about getting organized or efficient – it’s about how small changes to make things simple can have a profound impact. Lisa’s insights, storytelling and interactive exercises make the case: adopting simplicity as an operating principle is the surest path to organizational transformation.

“Our systems are designed for a world that’s manageable and predictable. That world is gone. It’s time to look with fresh eyes at how we work. When we simplify, we unleash energy and creativity that is being lost by adhering to the status quo.”

You will learn:

  • Why simplification is not just a method but a mindset and a habit – a key to resilience and adaptability and improved mental capacity and focus
  • How to spot and eliminate organizational and individual busywork that’s outlived its time.
  • Phone-based interactive polling and dynamic interactivity helps audiences discover surprising insights about what keeps them from doing their best work.
  • Why subtraction is more important than addition. There’s only so much time
  • How killing stupid rules enables organizations and teams move faster and with more focus
Leading Simplicity – A Roadmap

Embracing simplicity as an operational mindset will unleash the power of people and create a sustainable competitive advantage. But building a culture of simplicity requires advocates and leaders who send a message that simplicity is a strategic priority and that it’s OK to challenge the status quo. In this presentation, Lisa Bodell delivers real-world insights leaders can use to inspire their teams, ignite disruptive thinking, build speed and agility, and turn problems into possibilities. With energy, humor, and revealing interactive exercises, Lisa shows how simplicity is the catalyst that accelerates innovation, collaboration, engagement, and growth. Building simplicity into organizational DNA creates a sustainable competitive advantage because it’s the absolute foundation of resilience in the face of never-ending change.

“We’ve got to give people permission to challenge how they work. People know what’s driving them crazy. Simplification changes everything and unleashes them to focus on transformative work.”

You will learn:

  • Why culture comes down to the work people do every day. If you get the work right, you get the culture right.
  • How to make it normal to challenge the norm, creating space for change and true innovation to happen.
  • Drive an agenda that makes simplification a seamless part of your operating system; placing equal importance on eliminating work as adding it.
  • When people aren’t drowning in the work of doing work there’s more engagement, less frustration, increased well-being, and improved retention.
  • Set the groundwork for enduring change and improved problem-solving by reducing stress and giving teams the space to think and do the “work of work,” not just busy work.
Unleashing Innovation

In most organizations, the very structures put in place to help them grow all too often hold them back. As structures languish unchecked, people become overwhelmed with outdated processes, policies, reports, committees and meetings that frustrate them and hijack their workdays. Is it any wonder innovation becomes a challenge? In this presentation, simplicity expert Lisa Bodell shows how to increase the capacity for innovation by banishing unnecessary complexity. Making work simpler is the key to unshackling people to spend time and energy on their most important work. Lisa helps shift the organizational mindset – engaging everyone in the process of questioning the status quo. The tools and insights she provides help solve problems that stand in the way of breakthrough innovation.

“Getting the work right liberates people to apply their time and imagination in ways that drive performance and innovation.”

You will learn:

  • How to make work simpler and reignite critical aptitudes such as curiosity, inquiry, and creative problem-solving.
  • How companies are killing stupid rules to eliminate hurdles and focus people on work that leads to breakthrough innovation.
  • Practical yet provocative techniques for reinvention and innovation with current products and services.
  • Real-life examples of how even the smallest changes can have big impact.
  • Discover what is hijacking people’s time through Lisa’s interactive audience polling.

Platform Plus Presentations

Unique formats and ways to connect with audiences.
Fireside Chat with Senior Leadership
After the keynote, keep the energy and focus alive with a powerful 30-minute fireside chat featuring Lisa Bodell and a senior leader from your organization. This session creates a platform for leadership to engage in an honest discussion about what holds the organization back and what must change—culturally, behaviorally, or structurally. Lisa facilitates a provocative, no-fluff discussion that bridges keynote insights with your company’s real challenges. The second half of the session opens up to the audience for live Q&A—giving people the opportunity to ask bold questions, surface concerns, and hear candid reflections from the top. It’s equal parts inspirational and actionable—and a dynamic way to model change from the top down.
Simplification Tactics Workshop
Ready to make simplification stick? This highly engaging 45–60 minute workshop is the perfect way to activate Lisa Bodell’s keynote content with immediate, tangible next steps. Each participant receives a personal deck of 50+ simplification tactics—proven approaches that remove daily friction, streamline work, and accelerate decision-making. Lisa facilitates a rapid-fire “tactic swap” across tables, encouraging people to share favorites, discover new ideas, and commit to the first action they’ll take. After the exchange, Lisa guides a high-energy, full-room discussion to uncover the most frequently chosen tactics and clusters them into key themes—whether it’s killing unnecessary meetings, shifting approval processes, or cutting low-value reports. From there, she dives deep with real examples and activation strategies tailored to your audience. Participants leave with new ideas, a customized plan, and a renewed commitment to doing work that actually matters.
Kill a Stupid Rule Workshop
If you want to spark bold thinking and real results fast, this session delivers. Based on one of Lisa’s most iconic tools, Kill a Stupid Rule is a fast-paced, interactive workshop where teams identify and challenge the outdated rules, bloated processes, and unnecessary work holding them back. In small groups, participants brainstorm all the “stupid rules” they’d love to eliminate—then plot them by ease of elimination and potential impact. With Lisa’s expert facilitation, groups vote on the top candidates, share insights across teams, and leave with a clear path to act. The session can be customized from 45 to 75 minutes depending on group size and time available. Whether used as a breakout or full-room experience, this session generates immediate ideas, energy, and action—and gives leaders a replicable tool to drive change long after the event ends.

Audience reviews:

  • Over the years, I’ve tried many ‘gurus’ to educate our leaders. Lisa is the real thing – she’s inspiring, motivating, practical, and memorable. She ignites the possibility with the audience. She was the top-rated speaker at our executive events.

    - AT&T
  • Lisa’s presentation was the absolute favorite of our 3– day offsite! I now have a totally new way of looking at simplification and innovation. I would recommend her and her team to anyone planning an event in a heartbeat.

    - Delta Airlines
  • Lisa is everything you look for in a keynote speaker – she’s insightful, engaging, and energetic. She was the top-rated speaker at our Google events and inspired the entire audience to start a simplification revolution.

    - Google
  • Thought-provoking, challenging, and inspiring. She has the uncanny ability to relate high–level, dense subject matter to the everyday.

    - Kraft
  • LISA IS THE BEST SPEAKER EVER. High energy, FUNNY, and super engaging with a hybrid audience in person and online. We loved her message.

    - Dell
  • Over the years, I’ve tried many ‘gurus’ to educate our leaders. Lisa is the real thing – she’s inspiring, motivating, practical, and memorable. She ignites the possibility with the audience. She was the top-rated speaker at our executive events.

    - AT&T
  • Lisa’s presentation was the absolute favorite of our 3– day offsite! I now have a totally new way of looking at simplification and innovation. I would recommend her and her team to anyone planning an event in a heartbeat.

    - Delta Airlines
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Speaker Biography

FutureThink CEO Lisa Bodell ranks among the Top 50 Speakers Worldwide and is the best-selling author of Kill the Company and Why Simple Wins. She’s a global expert on simplification and innovation, who inspires audiences to stop their old ways of working so they can do more work that truly matters.

A thought leader and serial entrepreneur, Bodell’s transformational message has inspired executives at top-ranked organizations such as Google, Novartis, Citigroup, LinkedIn, and CVS/Aetna.  Her provocative yet practical approach enables leaders and their teams to eliminate the unnecessary complexity and time-sucks that hold them back and make simplicity their competitive advantage.

She’s a 2020 AI Business Excellence Winner and Bodell is a monthly contributor to Forbes and has frequently appeared in Fast Company, WIRED, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, and more. She’s been featured in many major books such as Warren Berger’s A More Beautiful Question, Adam Grant’s Originals, and After Shock, the 50-year celebration of futurist Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock

Bodell has taught at both American University and Fordham University and has a TED talk on the topic of simplification. She’s served on the board of advisors of several organizations, including the Global Agenda Council for the World Economic Forum, the United States National Security Agency, the Association of Professional Futurists, and the Novartis board of Culture, Diversity & Inclusion