Josh Linkner

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Innovation Expert, 2x Entrepreneur of the Year & NYT Bestselling Author

    Bestselling Authors
    Business Leaders
    Disruptors
    Entrepreneurs
    Founders / CEOs
    Keynote Speakers
    Thought Leaders
    Business
    Business Books
    Corporate Consulting
    Creativity
    Innovation
    Artificial Intelligence

    Josh Linkner: Biography at a Glance

    • As the founder and CEO of five tech companies that generated over $200 million in exits, Josh has firsthand experience in turning visionary ideas into thriving businesses, making him a trusted voice on innovation and disruptive technologies.
    • As Managing Partner of Muditā Venture Partners, Josh has played a pivotal role in scaling over 100 startups, driving over $1 billion in investor returns. His expertise in cutting-edge technologies, including AI, makes him a go-to authority on future-forward innovation strategies.
    • Twice named EY Entrepreneur of the Year and honored with the U.S. Presidential Champion of Change Award, Josh is celebrated for his ability to lead companies to unprecedented levels of success through bold, creative thinking.
    • As co-founder of Platypus Labs, Josh helps top organizations tap into their creative potential, fostering inventive solutions and breakthrough thinking that solve today’s toughest business challenges—skills essential in the AI-driven world.
    • With over 1,000 live jazz performances and deep roots in music, Josh blends artistry with business acumen, offering corporate audiences a fresh perspective on innovation, creativity, and how to thrive in uncertainty.
    • A New York Times bestselling author and engaging speaker, Josh captivates audiences with compelling stories and actionable strategies, empowering leaders to harness AI, creativity, and innovation to drive growth, adaptability, and competitive advantage.

    Videos

    Biography

    Josh Linkner— a New York Times bestselling author — is a rare blend of business, art, and science. On the business front, he’s been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which created over 10,000 jobs and sold for a combined value of over $200 million.

    He’s the co-founder and Managing Partner of Muditā (moo-DEE-tah) Venture Partners - an early-stage venture capital firm investing in groundbreaking technologies. Over the last 30 years, he’s helped over 100 startups launch and scale, creating over $1 billion in investor returns. He’s twice been named the EY Entrepreneur of The Year and is the recipient of the United States Presidential Champion of Change Award. While proud of his business success, his roots are in the dangerous world of jazz music. He’s been playing guitar in smoky jazz clubs for 40 years, studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, and has performed over 1000 concerts around the world. His experiences in both business and music led him to become one of the world’s foremost experts on innovation.

    Josh is the co-founder and Chairman of Platypus Labs, a global research, training, and consulting firm. Today, he’s on a mission to help leaders Find A Way through creative problem-solving, inventive thinking, and ingenuity.

    Topics

    Find A Way: Creative Problem Solving to Tackle Today's Business Challengesarrow-down

    As we enter a new era of business, 50% of leaders in the United States have lost confidence in their ability to make decisions in the face of uncertainty. The level of disruption, technology threats, and uncertainty can be paralyzing. We are in a leadership crisis and must embrace a new model to meet the day's challenges.

    Prolific entrepreneur, venture capital investor, and innovation expert Josh Linkner helps you Find A Way™ through his proven 5-step framework for cultivating full-organization ingenuity. Whatever outcomes you crave the most— from sales growth to competitive advantage to employee engagement— you'll walk away with specific tools to drive sustainable success.

    The Find a Way™ framework prioritizes agility over brute force, creativity over hustle, and improvisation over perfect planning. Leaders who embrace the model are inspired and better equipped. They feel confident to move forward into the darkness and have a newfound capacity to win consistently, no matter the circumstances.

    The Audience Will Leave With:

    • A proven model for harnessing ingenuity to solve any problem and seize any opportunity
    • Innovative strategies to drive better results every day
    • The confidence to walk into the unknown
    Innovation in the Age of AI: Unlocking Sustained Profitable Growtharrow-down

    In an era where artificial intelligence is not just a tool but a transformative force, Josh Linkner invites you on a thought-provoking journey into unlocking the synergies between AI and human potential for next-gen engagement, growth, and profitability.

    Josh Linkner, a prolific tech CEO, venture capital investor, and innovation expert, has been a technology pioneer for over 30 years. He founded, launched, and sold five groundbreaking tech businesses that leveraged cutting-edge innovation to gain a competitive advantage. Today, Josh remains at the forefront of tech transformation, running a venture capital firm and innovation studio focusing on the next generation of AI disruption.

    In this mind-opening keynote, Josh shows leaders a new model where human creativity and AI fuse together to win during relentless waves of disruption and change. Through groundbreaking research, compelling stories, and unexpected insights, this keynote illuminates the path forward as AI reshapes nearly every dimension of business and life.

    The Audience Will Leave With:

    • An elevated understanding of the changes AI will bring and what to do right now to adapt and prepare. 
    • A leadership model to embrace the AI revolution instead of fearing it.
    • Strategies to fuse human creativity with AI to gain competitive advantage and drive profitable growth.
    • Mindsets and tactics to boost relevance, agility, and adaptability.
    Big Little Breakthroughs: Everyday Innovations Drive Oversized Resultsarrow-down

    The pressure to generate big ideas can feel overwhelming. We know that bold innovations are critical in these disruptive and competitive times, but when it comes to breakthrough thinking, we often freeze up.

    Instead of shooting for a $10 billion IPO or a Nobel Prize, the most prolific innovators focus on Big Little Breakthroughs – small, creative acts that unlock massive rewards over time.

    The Big Little Breakthroughs framework provides a specific and practical approach to unlocking dormant creative capacity. Instead of wild, risky, and expensive moonshots, participants learn to unleash small, daily creative acts to drive gigantic results over time.

    In this inspiring, timely, and high-impact keynote, New York Times bestselling author and globally recognized innovation expert Josh Linkner shows us how to de-risk the creative process, build the capacity to unlock breakthrough transformations and gain the creative confidence to take responsible risks. 

    The Audience Will Leave With:

    • A proven framework to cultivate a high volume of innovations without the typical risk.
    • Inspiring and memorable stories that show how ingenuity, creative problem-solving, and inventive thinking can lead to breakthrough results.
    • The mindsets, habits, and tactics of the world’s most prolific artists, business titans, and entrepreneurs.
    Disciplined Dreaming: Driving Breakthrough Creativityarrow-down

    In our modern AI-driven world, creativity has become the currency of success. It’s the one thing that can’t be outsourced or automated; the indisputable competitive advantage. We are all hard-wired to be creative, yet most of us have underdeveloped creative skills. And today, more than ever before, creative problem-solving and inventive thinking are crucial to overcoming obstacles and seizing opportunities.

    Based on the breakaway New York Times bestselling book published in 19 languages and globally recognized by over 2 million readers as the definitive work on applied creativity, author and creativity expert Josh Linkner takes the audience on a journey to unlock their dormant creative capacity. Inspiring stories, surprising truths, and instantly applicable solutions make this keynote both energizing and actionable.

    The Audience Will Leave With:

    • A proven model for harnessing and applying human creativity.
    • An understanding of how the most innovative and disruptive leaders think and act.
    • Practical techniques to generate more high-quality ideas at any time and for any challenge.
    The Innovative Leader: Leading With Confidence In The Face Of Uncertainty And Changearrow-down

    The business you're running today isn't the business you'll be running next year. In this moment of volatility and uncertainty, we are being called to lead in a radically different way… more decisive, creative, and adaptable. So how can we use this defining moment to ensure relevancy, sustainability, and success in the future?

    In this inspiring and practical keynote, battle-tested CEO, venture capital investor, and leadership expert Josh Linkner delivers a modern and accessible framework to help leaders thrive in the face of uncertainty and leverage their skills to move into uncharted territory with confidence.

    You’ll learn how to unlock inventive thinking, creative problem-solving, and ingenuity in every box of the org chart. The most successful leaders today help everyday people become "everyday innovators." They make sure that innovation is an everyday business.

    This can’t-miss session goes way beyond the future of work. This is the future of growth, the future of relevancy, the future of leadership, and the future of success.

    The Audience Will Leave With:

    • A modern framework for innovative leadership.
    • Insights from some of the world’s most prolific leaders.
    • A behind-the-scenes view of legendary business disruption.
    • Strategies to drive growth, engagement, and success amid change and uncertainty.
    Rethink. Reboot. Reinvent.: Driving Disruption and Accelerating Transformationarrow-down

    We’re living in a rate of change like none other in history. The hard truth is that we can no longer rely on the models of the past and expect the same results.

    In this energizing and actionable keynote, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of rapid change and how to respond confidently and intentionally. New York Times bestselling author and lifetime disruptor Josh Linkner shares a proven model for you to take control and reinvent your own future.

    The Audience Will Leave With:

    • A proven framework to lead reinvention efforts of all shapes and sizes.
    • The confidence to walk into the unknown and realize they can now navigate whatever challenges or opportunities emerge.
    • Mindsets and tactics to ensure relevance, adaptability, and sustainable success.
    • The ability to rethink old approaches and discover new ones.
    The Music of Business: Collaboration, Creativity, and Performance Under Pressurearrow-down

    The mysterious and dangerous world of jazz is a cauldron of spontaneous creativity. And in times of radical change and uncertainty, it serves as the perfect model for modern leadership.

    Professional jazz guitarist and prolific entrepreneur Josh Linkner connects the dots between jazz and business, helping to unlock the secrets of some of the world’s most creative geniuses. Using live jazz as a metaphor for collaborative innovation, this session is entertaining, inspiring, and directly applicable to the daily challenges we face in business.

    A fusion of live musical performance and keynote presentation, the session’s finale includes audience members “joining the band” to compose and perform a song in real-time to the delight of the audience. Cameras will flash as the entire group is dazzled by their colleagues' improvisation and spontaneous invention.

    The Audience Will Leave With:

    • The mindset and perspective of a jazz musician serve as a creative new model for business growth and results.
    • A deeper understanding of collaborative creativity and specific tools to harness inventive thinking and artistic expression.
    • A memorable and inspiring sense of what’s possible and how to push boundaries and barriers to achieve remarkable outcomes.
    • The creative confidence to pursue our highest calling and never let the music inside us die.
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    Josh nailed it with the presentation yesterday and it was spot on for our team! You sparked so many follow-on discussions yesterday and were a continued theme throughout our meeting—people are already brainstorming great new ideas about how to implement small innovations and use your tips to break down barriers on our teams.

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