Dr Gaia Grant (PhD) - Hire Keynote and Guest Speaker

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Key Points for Dr Gaia Grant (PhD)

Dr Gaia Grant blends rigorous research with practical application, giving leaders tools they can immediately apply to build innovation-ready cultures.
Her Innovator’s Profile and PoP model help decode the tensions that impact innovation and sustainable growth.
From Google to JP Morgan, Gaia’s clients span sectors and continents, reflecting her global expertise and cultural fluency.
She explores the intersection of purpose, ethics, and creativity, helping leaders build cultures of integrity that fuel future success.

Topics for Dr Gaia Grant (PhD)

Innovate; Future-proofing innovation leadership in the digital age
Embracing the AI paradox: Balancing speed, strategy & sustainable innovation to win the innovation race.
AI is transforming creativity and innovation, but how do leaders harness its potential without losing the human spark? This session cuts through the noise, tackling the paradox of AI-driven transformation with practical strategies for integrating AI into decision-making, problem-solving, innovation and leadership. Learn how to balance creative ingenuity with AI-powered efficiency while maintaining strategic control. This topic provides a powerful introduction and/or subplot to ensure AI works for—not against—innovation, empowering organisations to thrive in an era of disruption. Learn to lead in an era where creativity, complexity, and AI must coexist. The rapid rise of AI is reshaping leadership, adding an unpredictable X factor to an already complex landscape. As businesses race to innovate, leaders must juggle competing demands—balancing urgency and caution to drive sustainable, strategic growth. This new wave of growth is reshaping leadership, forcing executives to balance tradition with transformation, speed with strategy, and innovation with stability. This keynote explores the paradox of AI adoption—how leaders can harness its potential without losing control, disrupting teams, derailing innovation, and fracturing organizations. Through groundbreaking insights from The Innovation Race, this keynote/workshop introduces powerful tools like the Innovation Climate Leadership Indicator (iCLi) and Dynamic Polar Positioning (DPoP) to help leaders navigate digital transformation. This interactive session equips executives & leaders with practical strategies to foster agility, resilience, and sustainable innovation—ensuring they don’t just keep up with AI but lead through the disruption. Key Takeaways:
- Understand the impact of AI on leadership, innovation, transformation and change
- Effectivity master & lead through the tension between speed and strategy in AI-driven change
- Gain insights into leadership styles and how to manage competing demands
- Learn practical ways to navigate digital transformation with confidence
  Based on their best-selling book "The Innovation Race", Dr Gaia Grant &/OR Andrew Grant will not just help you keep up with AI, but lead through the tension. A hybrid keynote / workshop allows for the participants and all stakeholders to walk away with actionable data from the collective intelligence of the group’s contributions to real live workplace challenges and solutions. (rec up to 2 hours.) Covers: Team alignment. Leading ambidextrous, agile & aligned teams. How to manage innovation orientations in teams. Includes individual and team profiling. Discuss how top management teams experience paradoxical demands in strategizing & how to navigate change. Includes individual & team assessments/graphs (iCLi), Leading Ambidextrous, Agile & Aligned Teams, Plus the option to integrate case studies illustrating how competing demands were or can be effectively addressed within your organisation.
Remaining competitive in the innovation race
Who will win and who will lose as we face the future digital divide?
Many of us are astounded by the speed of innovation, but only a few truly know how to engage with it. While we all eagerly anticipate insights from industry leaders, hoping to discern the latest innovation trends and maintain an edge, it can be hard to get practical guidance on how to stay ahead in the innovation race. What has made the current landscape especially challenging is that while organization growth has typically followed a relatively linear path with gradual developments, the pace of technological progress through AI is forcing us to adapt to seismic exponential shifts. This fast-paced ‘futurist keynote’ is a global journey that uncovers how various cultures, companies, and even countries have successfully managed rapid change AND innovation. Drawing from case studies in their book ‘The Innovation Race’, it provides tangible strategies to stay ahead by seizing opportunities rather than succumbing to potentially disruptive and threatening challenges. It explores how, although companies like Google, Microsoft and OpenAI may appear to be leading in the ‘innovation race’, they might not have all the answers – and how most companies today have only half the story right when it comes to innovation and growth. The session explores the critical underlying factors that are under-recognised, but that will ultimately shape the future of innovation: leadership styles, team culture and organisation’s readiness. It provides tools to show how leaders can successfully navigate core paradoxical innovation tensions to become more resilient, agile and adaptive. The unique research presented in the session offers a realistic perspective on what it will take to remain in the innovation race over the long term. Key takeaways & talking points:
- To Remain Competitive in the innovation race
- Exploring the global landscape to master exponential change
- Navigating innovation paradoxes from global best practices
- Applying global insights & tools
The AI creative intelligence challenge
Staying Human and Creative in an Age of Intelligent Technology
In today’s high-tech world, leaders face a paradox: harness the efficiency of AI or safeguard the unpredictable brilliance of human creativity. But what if the real power lies in blending both? In this thought-provoking keynote or dynamic hybrid workshop, Andrew Grant &/or Dr. Gaia Grant dive into the evolving intersection of artificial intelligence and Creative Intelligence (CQ)—revealing how forward-thinking leaders can elevate innovation, solve wicked problems, and maintain the essential human spark. Drawing on their best-selling book Who Killed Creativity and How Can We Get It Back?, this session challenges outdated paradigms and provides actionable strategies to thrive in a world where creativity is both critically needed and increasingly at risk. Key outcomes:
- Maximie creativity without losing control
- Learn when and how to integrate AI to boost innovation without compromising human ingenuity or strategic alignment.
- Map and Apply CQ for Competitive Advantage. Discover the 7 CQ skills essential for creative, critical and design thinking—and see how they can drive measurable business outcomes and combat creative decline.
- Lead Innovation in the AI Era. Explore how AI can be a creative collaborator when tackling complex challenges and wicked problems through design thinking.
- Assess and Activate Collective Intelligence (Hybrid Workshop Add-On). Participants collaborate to solve real workplace challenges using Padlet-based data collection, gap analysis, and goal mapping—capturing actionable insights to implement long after the session.
- Align CQ Skills with KPIs and Organisational Goals. Learn to connect creativity with performance metrics, bridging the gap between inspired thinking and tangible results.
  Extension hybrid workshop options: Implications and applications. A hybrid keynote / workshop allows for the participants and all stakeholders to walk away with actionable data from the collective intelligence of the group’s contributions to real live workplace challenges and solutions. This can include gathering and supplying data collection using an online Padlet board to use and keep during and post the session. This comes complete with audience solutions, follow-up action planning, goal setting and gap analysis. (rec up to 2 hours.)
- Map the 7 CQ skills needed to implement creative thinking, critical thinking & design thinking strategies.
- Connect KPIs to CQ skills, and harness CQ skills as a competitive business advantage
- Conduct a gap analysis to assess current and needed CQ skills in a work context
- Learn how CQ skills can counteract creative blockers
- Use the CQ skills to introduce each step of a Design Thinking process and solve a real workplace challenge
How to make responsible decisions about new innovations
Mastering the art of purpose-driven innovation leadership for driving sustainable change
How is it possible to make rapid and responsible decisions about new innovations when the landscape is changing so fast? In this fascinating session, Dr. Gaia Grant shares fresh research insights from her interviews with global innovation leaders and in-depth case studies with a range of organisations, from Fortune 500 companies to not-for-profit enterprises. She reveals how she has identified the striking characteristics of leaders and organisations that are able to drive purpose-driven and sustainable organisational change, and demonstrates how she has applied the principles in her consulting work with impressive results. Dr Grant explains how it is imperative to innovate both radically (for agile adaptation to rapid change) and responsibly (for reliable and sustainable performance) – and covers how to determine key objectives, develop multidisciplinary teams, and align roles and responsibilities based on understanding the core competing demands. Through the session, along with sharing her profound and powerful experiences, Dr Grant also provides models and actionable strategies for purposeful and sustainable success. The session includes an interactive AI ethical dilemma, which reveals the unique competing demands when trying to innovate responsibly. Through introducing the ‘Purpose-driven Innovation Scanner’ (PDIS) tool Dr Grant has developed from her research, she also provides practical guidance on how to measure innovation biases and activate strengths to drive purpose-driven results and sustainable change. This keynote is based on Dr Gaia Grant's academically acclaimed book "Purpose Driven Innovation for Sustainable Development". Key takeaways & talking points:
- Balancing radical and responsible innovation
- Navigating competing demands
- Applying ethical and strategic tools – The Purpose-driven Innovation Scanner (PDIS) provides a structured approach to measuring and implementing responsible innovation, ensuring AI and emerging technologies are used with integrity.

Testimonials for Dr Gaia Grant (PhD)

You did an amazing job to help us translate big ideas into execution.
Head of Portfolio Governance & Change
AMP BANK

A phenomenal session! The feedback was excellent and many members gave this session a 10 out of 10. Really unique in bringing real depth and understanding to innovation. This will help our CEOs to be more effective in innovating.
President & CEO
Chief Executives Guild USA

Superbly presented – scoring a very high evaluation feedback of 6.8 out of 7. Gaia is a knowledgeable and entertaining presenter who presented an excellent session for us, really well facilitated and introduced. Really enjoyed it and liked the creative presentation through the game.
AIM
Australian Institute of Management

Your contribution in so many ways turned the Optus Learning Fiesta into a smooth event with very interested participants and a great atmosphere for discussion & collaboration.
Optus

Gaia's presentation provided our clients with great tools to help them become a marketing success.
SALESFORCE

Your knowledge, professionalism, and willingness to work with us were key to the success of these digital virtual seminars. I learned a lot from you, and really enjoyed working with you.
Global Strategic Initiatives
BOEING USA

An extremely well facilitated, engaging and well organized digital program
Associate Director Business Management
S&P GLOBAL RATINGS

Masterful story tellers who have compiled a rich set of tools for sustainable innovation methods.
Head of Product Marketing Asia Pacific
Salesforce