Chris Riddell
Driven by the real world, by humanity, and by ‘the now’, Chris makes sense of the uncomfortable and challenging world of ‘the future’ and makes the case for excitement, motivation and optimism.
And there’s never been a more critical time for optimism—but moreover, optimism with rigour. Chris’ obsession with data, detail and insights—making unique connections and unlocking new perspectives—forms a compelling case for a future that will be better than today.
This obsession with the future—and ‘the now’ that shapes it—has powered Chris’ thinking, and his career, for 15 years. Having lived across the globe and working for some of the largest and influential businesses and brands on the planet, Chris has honed his ability to spot and track global patterns and unlocking opportunities in the increasingly disrupted digital world we live in.
Speaking topics
- Business Beyond 2030
It’s never too soon to prepare your business for the world of tomorrow. The speed of change we’re experiencing is altering every facet of our lives—and this dramatically different world requires a shift in thinking and a fresh perspective on business, on leadership and on our global community.
So, let’s prepare ourselves today for this new world by immersing our businesses and our teams in the critical factors that have the power to affect how we do business today and how we evolve and thrive towards the future.
- THE NEW CUSTOMER: What does the customer of 2030 look like, think like, behave like?
And can we predict their needs?
The ‘future of customer’ is a story of data, real-time information and radical experience transformation. And in a post-pandemic era it is more important than ever to deeply understand the genetic construct of your customer and their continually evolving needs.
Generation Alpha—the “children of the millennials”—are already guiding many of the purchasing decisions within their families. They are expected to be the longest-living and the wealthiest generation to have ever lived. This will be the most diverse, demanding and tech saturated generation we’ve ever seen, and we need to understand who they are—and what’s important to them—right now.
- REINVENTED BUSINESS: When Business as Usual isn't.
How do you continue to Grow, Thrive and Innovate?
COVID-19 has been the biggest stress test for business and the global economy in living memory. But while it is undoubtedly challenging many businesses to find different, smarter, more connected ways of operating, surviving and connecting with their audiences—it’s also revealing pockets of startling ingenuity and resilience—sometimes in the most unlikely places.
Let’s discover and uncover the diversifications, innovations and strategies that some of the world’s most exciting businesses have employed to ensure that they’re riding the wave of reinvention—while not being drowned in the process.
- RESILIENT LEADERSHIP
The need for leadership invigoration has never been more urgent. Leaders are navigating a dynamic, fast-paced digital age, and working within this environment demands leaders make decisions more quickly, agilely and across virtual landscapes.
The global community is shrinking, and reliance on high-performing, collaborative teams is more critical than ever. And in turn, leaders will need to evolve their understanding of human behaviour and the human brain through neuroleadership which will help create more effective leadership, better change management and drive positive behaviours.
- FUTURE TRUST
Trust, in its simplest form has been the cornerstone of our civilisation for 10,000 years. It’s the glue that holds everything together—it’s what makes people feel safe, feel connected and feel like they belong.
But what role does trust play in our digital lives? With recent events contributing to the decline in levels of trust in major public and private institutions across much of the world, we need to invest in—and understand—the increasing human need for digital trust.
And with the proliferation of new trust-enabling technologies—transforming how trust is built, facilitated and maintained in our digital age—the transformation and instruct importance of trust in our world has never been more important.
- RADICAL INNOVATION
Welcome to the new wave of innovation. With the pace of change hitting peak levels, we’ll see more fundamental human problems being solved in the next two decades than have been solved in the last two centuries.
Radical innovators will need to think and behave like technologists. More importantly, they will need to refresh their skills routinely to stay ahead of rapidly evolving technology.
- HYPER DISRUPTION: What are the Key Trends
- Our world is in a state of flux. Recent events such as COVID-19, Brexit, the United States Presidential race, and demonstrations in Hong Kong have shown us that nothing is straight forward when it comes to politics, government and society.
The ever-increasing power that technology giants have gained over the last decade—combined with trade wars between regions and countries—have seen major shifts in power in both the business and government sectors.
Businesses of the future will without doubt require a deeper understanding and tolerance to the volatility that these new shifts have created.
Speaker testimonials
A hearty thank you from NAFA! Chris was fantastic! I knew he would be but my CEO actually said – “best keynote we have ever had!”. So thanks for making the whole process so easy. I am glad we booked him. And as a side note, his baby girl is so cute my CEO now demands all Keynotes must come with a cute baby or it’s no deal! So again, thank you, and Chris, for being so easy to work with.
It was a pleasure working with you at our Summit today. Many of our attendees told us how much they enjoyed your talk and loved your energy. A few came up to me to tell me they felt your talk was their favorite of the day. Safe travels back home.
We are continually seeking new and innovative ways to help educate our partners and clients. We engaged the services of Chris as a futurist keynote speaker for one of our important senior industry events.
Chris has a very unique and engaging style of presenting, with extraordinary content that is highly tailored and importantly it resonated well with our audience. Chris left our attendees feeling inspired and informed about what lies around the corner, with some excellent insights into industry innovation and movements.
I recommend Chris to anyone who is looking for a speaker on future trends for their event.