Mike Walsh

Mike Walsh Speaker Biography

Futurist, Best-Selling Author, and CEO of Tomorrow

Mike Walsh is the CEO of Tomorrow, a global consultancy on designing companies for the 21st century. For the past twenty years, he has been a leading authority on disruptive innovation, digital transformation and new ways of thinking. A global nomad from a diverse ethnic background, futurist and author of three bestselling books, Mike advises some of the world’s biggest organizations on reinvention and change in this new era of machine intelligence.

Artificial Intelligence

A specialist in AI-powered transformation, Mike’s work and research was recently profiled by the Rotman School of Management. His talent is being able to bridge the two worlds of disruptive technology and business leadership, translating deep tech into pragmatic recommendations for leaders to seize new opportunities, transform their organizations, and change their own thinking.

Researcher

Mike is a prolific researcher who interviews innovators, scientists, entrepreneurs and corporate revolutionaries every year. Many of these conversations feature in his popular podcast, Between Worlds. A skilled facilitator, he excels at fireside chats with CEOs, customers and other thought leaders. He brings this consultative approach to personalizing insights and recommendations for his audiences, specializing in identifying ‘mind grenades’ or provocative questions that will challenge your team and stretch their thinking.

Publications

A prolific writer and commentator, Mike’s views have appeared in a wide range of international publications including Inc. Magazine, BusinessWeek, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. Recently, LinkedIn invited Mike to publish his weekly newsletter Tomorrowist about next generation leadership. A regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review, his articles explore a wide range of cutting-edge leadership topics including data-driven decision making, agile organizations, algorithmic management and AI ethics.

The Algorithmic Leader

Mike’s latest book, The Algorithmic Leader, offers a hopeful and practical guide for reinventing leadership and organizations. The book has been a global hit and is now available in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, Polish and Russian. In 2019, The Algorithmic Leader was selected to be given to the world leaders and executive attendees of the Ambrosetti Global Forum at Villa d’Este in Cernobbio, Italy.

Other Books

Futuretainment, Mike’s first book, was published by Phaidon and was the winner of the design award by the Art Director’s Club in New York. Released in 2009, it predicted how the smartphone would reshape the media and marketing industry, and the imminent rise of social media, digital influencers and streaming entertainment. In The Dictionary of Dangerous Ideas, Mike anticipated breakthroughs in micro satellite networks, cryptocurrencies, remote work, digital protest movements, self-driving cars, drones and digital biology.

Futurist Keynote Speaker

A dynamic and engaging keynote speaker, Mike has given more than 1,000 talks over the last decade, from strategic briefings for the boards of companies like Verizon and Raytheon, to an employee summit for a healthcare corporation that filled a sports stadium with an audience of over 25,000 people. In addition to both in-person and virtual presentations, Mike also works with enterprise learning and development leaders to create compelling programs to up-skill teams for a world of AI-powered competition.

Corporate Experience

Mike has been a pioneer in the digital space since the 1990s, running both successful start-up ventures as well as holding senior leadership positions in established media organizations. With a background in corporate law and management consulting, he began his career at XT3, a spin-out from McKinsey and one of the first digital consulting firms created to help major companies embrace the embryonic Web. During the first dotcom boom, Mike launched the technology publishing group internet.com in Australia, which went on to become the leading local technology news and events platform in the country.

Entrepreneur

He also founded and ran Jupiter Research in the Asia Pacific, one of the first research agencies to track the early adoption of e-commerce and digital business models by online consumers. During this period, he was recognized as one of Australia’s “Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30.” After his experiences in the Webspace, Mike spent five years in senior strategy roles at News Corporation where he helped shape the digital strategy for both their Australian newspaper and Asian TV divisions. Directly engaged by the CEO of Star TV to provide the company with a digital roadmap for their operations, he began his in-depth research into the fast growth markets of Asia. While in Hong Kong and inspired by the dramatic changes taking place in China and India, Mike founded his latest venture, Tomorrow – an innovation research lab focused on emerging technology and disruptive consumer behavior. Always in demand for his fresh insights and practical future-focused strategies, Mike has advised the CEOs and senior management teams at multinational companies including the BBC, Fujiﬁlm, Richemont, MSN, Star TV, Televisa, Philips, and HSBC.

Photographer

In addition to his corporate profile, Mike is a published photographer and supporter of the Arts. His photographic images from his travels around the world helped his book, FUTURETAINMENT, win an Art Director’s Club award in NYC. He has also served on the Director’s Circle at the Australian Museum of Contemporary Art.

As a global nomad and consumer trend scout, Mike does live research, in the trenches, with big corporations and entrepreneurs all over the world bringing a truly global perspective to every event.

Mike Walsh Speaking Topics

The AI Powered Organization

This keynote explores why now is the time for radical reinvention. ChatGPT and the rise of generative AI platforms are just the beginning of a much bigger algorithmic revolution that is set to reshape the future of work itself. Rapid shifts in technology, customer needs and competitor dynamics allow companies to build resilience to changing environments and integrate not only cutting edge technologies but also embrace a new generation of talent. Whether it be how we engage our customers, how we automate our processes or even how we make decisions as leaders - the ability to effectively transform data into value will be at the heart of 21st-century business. Building an AI powered organization is crucial to your company’s future survival.

New Rules For A New World

The pandemic not only changed our way of life, it accelerated the arrival of a radical new future of work. While for many of us hybrid work is a new and unexpected challenge - it is just the start of a much bigger transformation set to reshape the nature of organizations themselves. Whether it be engaging customers through digital channels or leveraging AI, algorithms and automation to reinvent how we deliver value - we are likely to experience in the next decade, a century’s worth of change. Not every organization will make it, but those that do will never be the same again. And for leaders, now more than ever, it is a time to upgrade their capabilities, embrace new technologies, and reimagine what they do. Mike Walsh's inspiring new keynote presentation will offer audiences an insight into the organizations and leaders that are successfully navigating this period of change, and how to create a playbook for their own transformation. Becoming future-proof is more than just about getting through a crisis - it is about being ready for the new world that awaits us on the other side.

What Leaders Need To Know About the Metaverse

The Metaverse is more than a gold rush; it will be an alchemical transformation in the way the world works. Over the next few years, we will see a rapid convergence between the digital and real world driven by increasingly sophisticated devices, decentralized blockchain technologies and AI platforms capable of generating persistent, immersive and collaborative experiences indistinguishable from reality. Mike Walsh's new keynote presentation will demystify core Metaverse technologies and concepts like NFTs, DAOs, DeFi, XR, DeSO, GameFi and Web3. In addition, with a playbook style approach, he will provide insights into what it will take to pioneer Metaverse applications, experiment with new ways of working, and attract and develop the right kind of talent to help you achieve your goals. The time for action is now. Every organization and industry will be impacted by the next iteration of the Web and its radical interfaces, infrastructure and investment models. The question for leaders is no longer what is the Metaverse, but rather - what is our plan for it?

What Leaders Need To Know About the Metaverse

The Algorithmic Leader

We live in an age of wonder - cars that drive themselves, platforms that anticipate our needs, and robots capable of everything from advanced manufacturing to complex surgery. Automation, algorithms and AI are transforming not only business, but every facet of daily life. While many fear that robots will take their jobs, the rise of machine intelligence begs a more important question: what is the true potential of human intelligence in the 21st century? Based on his bestselling book, Mike Walsh will present a vivid portrait of a brave new world orchestrated by machines that think, and how tomorrow's leaders can upgrade their capabilities to survive and thrive in an age of accelerating technology. Audiences will walk away with an insight into the companies, technologies and global forces shaping the age of machine intelligence, as well as a set of tailored next actions on how to redesign their organizations, reimagine their roles and reinvent the way they make decisions.

Mike Walsh Books

The Algorithmic Leader: How to Be Smart When Machines Are Smarter Than You

Purchase Book

Mike Walsh Videos

Mike Walsh Speaker Testimonials

"Mike is highly inquisitive and original, not only in his thinking but also in his presentation, taking complex issues and turning them into simple and digestible themes. Mike is very valuable at helping challenge whatever your conventional wisdom is and in setting out a clear set of views on how things might shape in months and years to come. I recommend him highly."

- | NINEMSN

"Mike was a pleasure to work with. His presentation was perfectly pitched reflecting his research prior to the event to tailor his presentation to our audience and he also took the time to meet with some of them prior to the presentation. We would highly recommend Mike to anyone interested and would love to work with him again."

- | ROCHE PRODUCTS PTY LIMITED

"Mike Walsh can observe today’s consumers as if they are already living in tomorrow’s world. He understands the changing dynamics of media – fundamental changes in content creation, distribution and consumption and in the economic realities that underpin both traditional and new media businesses. He understands the structural shift that is occurring."

- | FAIRFAX MEDIA