Jonathan Brill

#1 Ranked Futurist in the World by Forbes, Futurist in Residence at Amazon and the world’s leading transformation architect according to Harvard Business Review.

Speaks about:
AI | Business Transformation | Change Management | Emerging Markets | Future Trends | Global Issues | Innovation | Leadership | The Future of Work
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Meet Jonathan

Jonathan Brill helps audiences and executives take advantage of the collision of AI, geopolitical, economic, and societal trends to transform their businesses, mindsets, and turn ideas into action to win the next five years.

As a strategic advisor, inventor, intelligence executive, bestselling author, and renowned keynote speaker, Jonathan draws on his unique experiences as Head of Invention at DeepInvent, Executive Chairman of the Center for Radical Change, and former Global Futurist and Research Director at HP to guide multinational corporations, frontier tech firms, and governments. Tapping into decades of business innovation and AI expertise across transportation, food, consumer electronics, cybersecurity, finance, and defense, he has become the go-to advisor for executives who want to move beyond prediction to transformation.

Jonathan has created a proven methodology for embracing organizational transformation in the AI age. His approach drives a cultural shift—from hierarchy to network, from rigidity to fluidity, from product-centric to data-driven. His most recent book, AI and the Octopus Organization: Building the Superintelligent Firm, explains how organizations that distribute authority, embed AI intelligence at the edges, and reward rapid learning and adaptation will become the undisputed leaders of tomorrow.

He shares his insights on global stages, in boardrooms, and through leading media platforms such as ABC, CNBC, CNN, and Forbes. His talks have been featured at SXSW, TED, Harvard, and Stanford, and his client list includes Amgen, SAP, Singularity University, JP Morgan, and Microsoft, KPMG and Troutman Pepper Locke.

Jonathan Brill headshot

A keynote speaker who has actually built the future

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Futurist in Residence

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Global Futurist and AI Researcher

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Board Member

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Executive Chairman

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Senior Fellow, China New Growth Institute

Books & Media

AI and the Octopus Organization by Jonathan Brill and Steve Wunker
Rogue Waves by Jonathan Brill
The Octopus Organization Podcast with Jonathan Brill

Podcast by Jonathan Brill

CIO Magazine interviews Jonathan Brill

Articles by Jonathan Brill

Psychology Today

Keynote Descriptions

AI & the Octopus Organization™

The gap between firms that adopt AI holistically and those that dabble at the edges will be the gap between survival and extinction.

Outcomes & Experiences

By the end of this transformative keynote, you’ll know exactly how to:

  • Understand how to redesign your organizations around adaptability, not control.
  • Learn how to use AI to create autonomous SuperTeams that push creative boundaries, and make better, faster decisions.
  • Cultivate the vision, values, and goals your org & team needs to leverage AI effectively.

The age of AI is upon us. How can your business use it to grow?

Over the next five years, the gap between companies that integrate AI and those that merely experiment with it will spell the difference between survival and extinction. The companies who are willing to embrace change, fundamentally shift mindsets, and adapt at lightning speed will dominate.

In a world of constant change, resilience is no longer enough. Organizations must evolve beyond endurance to agility—developing the capacity to sense market changes early, respond intelligently to customer needs, and adapt faster than competitors. Agility is not about moving faster; it’s about thinking faster—through decentralized intelligence, AI-augmented decisions, and empowered teams at every level.

This means rethinking the traditional hierarchical model and imagining an organization structured like an octopus. While it has a central brain for strategy and oversight, each arm has its own mini-brain—autonomous, responsive, and deeply aware of its market surroundings. A neural ring coordinates these nodes in real time, allowing the institution to make rapid, informed decisions across its entire system—often faster than the central brain could alone.

This isn't theory.  Brill has studied organizations already moving in this direction, guided dozens of transformations, and drawn on over a million workforce surveys. What he found is clear: success comes not from simply automating tasks, but from reimagining how organizations function at every level.

Strategic Luck: The Science of Thriving in Uncertainty

Luck isn’t chance. It’s a choice.

Outcomes & Experiences

You and your team will be given an eye-opening look into:

  • The reality of what luck is and how to create it for yourself.
  • Why luck is a must for organizations looking to survive disruptions.
  • Science-backed strategies for creating lucky opportunities, even out of thin air.

Luck isn’t chance. It’s a science-based skill that you can enhance today.

Most people think luck is a coincidence, a twist of fate, or a gift that some are simply born with. Most people are wrong.

Instead, luck is a science-based skill that your audience can get dramatically better at it — in less than an hour.

As an international best-selling author, scholar on decision-making, and principal investigator of the largest study on luck, Jonathan Brill persuasively argues that luck isn’t an option; it’s perhaps the most impactful factor of success. It’s strategic in your business and in your life.

Merging an impactful blend of heart-felt personal experiences and hard data, this keynote experience takes audiences on a journey through the four science-based methods that transform uncertainty into opportunity in nearly everything you do. By the end of your time together, Jonathan Brill will show you how to find rainbows, dodge riptides, survive meteors, and make gold, one lucky move at a time.

Win the Next Five Years: Spot, Lead, Win

Outcomes & Experiences

By the end of this transformative keynote, you’ll know exactly:

  • Why your future is changing: How AI, economics, social and geopolitical trends drive the next five years.
  • What you can do about it: The science-based frameworks that will create the best outcomes for your business, your family and your life.
  • How to start: The small actions you can take today, this year and in the next three to win the next five years.

The future might be crazy but your business doesn’t have to be.

Jonathan Brill helps you spot the societal, geopolitical, economic, and technological trends colliding and impacting your business. He will show you how to lead through the chaos and take action today to win the next five years.

Right now, geopolitics, economics, and AI are all colliding with social change to create chaos, and the reality is, by the time something makes news, it’s history. But this isn’t a threat—it’s an opportunity. This is your moment to spot, to lead, and to win your five year future.

Why five? One year is too short. Ten is science fiction. We can action the five-year future. It’s close enough to know a lot about AI, society, geopolitics and economics, yet it’s far enough to be able to pivot and reinvent.

It’s fine to plan just for this year, or year three—but when you get there it sure helps to have prepared. The decisions you make now will determine how well you can adapt to the changes AI will bring in the next five years.

We can already spot the outlines of tomorrow in what’s happening today. Jonathan Brill will show you why your future is changing, what you can do about it, and the small actions you can take today to win the next five years.

Architect Your Future

Disruption isn’t an edge case. It’s the main case. Use it to your advantage.

Outcomes & Experiences

By the end of this transformative keynote, you’ll know exactly how to:

  • Navigate unprecedented times with the top 10 trends you need to know about.
  • Invent your future with the transformative power of AI.
  • Learn the three actionable tools to Architect Your Future.

Why try to predict the future when you can architect it?

In this awe-inspiring journey to the frontlines of tomorrow, Jonathan Brill shows you and your team how to leverage changing societal, political, and cultural landscapes to create new avenues for opportunity. In other words, he gives you the tools you need to reshape your industry, one innovation at a time.

As the HP’s Business Futurist, bestselling author, and celebrated inventor, Jonathan Brill is no stranger to disruptions. Today, he’s using his repeated ability to spot disruptions and turn them into opportunities to empower the next wave of industry powerhouses.

Touted as “the world’s foremost transformation architect,” by Harvard Business Review, Jonathan Brill has lived and worked on the cutting edge of both business innovation and AI for decades.

Through his hard-earned expertise and insight, he’s created a proven methodology of leveraging the AI in to leadership roles, empowering organizations with the tools they need to create results instead of resistance.

Videos of Jonathan

2025 Speaker Reel

AI & the Octopus Organization Keynote Preview

Strategic Luck Keynote Preview

Win the Next Five Years Keynote Preview

Architect Your Future Keynote Preview

Jonathan Brill on YouTube

Visit Jonathan's YouTube Channel for More

Featured Press

AWS: Beyond the technology: Workforce changes for AI

AWS: Beyond the technology: Workforce changes for AI

An excerpt from the AWS blog post by Taimur Rashid highlighting Jonathan Brill's whitepaper The AI-First Enterprise: The New Rules of Jobs and Organizational Design. Workplaces are increasingly integrating AI tools into daily operations, with AI assistants supporting...

CIO Magazine Interviews Jonathan Brill

CIO Magazine Interviews Jonathan Brill

An excerpt from the CIO Magazine interview "Building the Superintelligent Organization" wherein Jonathan explains why many AI projects fail not because of technology, but because they’re implemented in rigid, outdated systems. Brill outlines how leaders can transform...

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