Jim Carroll

Jim is one of the world’s leading global futurists, trends and innovation experts, with a massive global blue chip client list. Over the last 25 years, more than 2 million people have shared his insight at his events.

Jim’s global client list gives him a front row seat to the high velocity change that is occurring as disruption comes to take hold of every industry and every organization.

With that insight, and the customized research that he undertakes for every engagement, he helps to transform growth-oriented organizations into high-velocity innovation heroes!

Organizations worldwide are working hard to determine what to do in the era of acceleration and disruption – and in large numbers, turn to Jim for the high level strategic guidance into the trends they must align to and the strategies they need to adopt.

Jim shares this insight at the top tier of global events, with events that have included Leonard Nimoy (“Spock” of Star Trek), President George W. Bush, the late Carrie Fisher (“Princess Leia” of Star Wars), Terry Bradshaw of the NFL, Biz Stone (Founder of Twitter), Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia, Astronauts Scott Kelly (last pilot of the Space Shuttle), Buzz Aldrin of Apollo 11 and ISS Commander Chris Hadfield, business leaders Jack Welch of GE and Roger Goodall, the Commissioner of the NFL, actors Robert deNiro, Goldie Hawn & Forest Whittaker, and Lee Trevino and Bubba Watson of golf, among others.

Our World in 2030: The Post-Pandemic Trends That Redefine Your Future

Years from now, we will look back and realize that many industries, technologies, concepts and disruptive ideas accelerated throughout the crisis of 2020 – because they played a major role in the rebuilding of our dramatically different future. We will also know that by carefully analyzing the trends of yesterday in the context of fast moving events that we were best able to understand these new trends of tomorrow.

Futurist Jim Carroll examines your world and industry in the microscope of a new lens, providing critical insight to the trends that matter – and that redefine our future. The acceleration of trends like 3D printing and biomaterial science, robots & cobots, genetic medicine and virtualized community care, resiliency-oriented supply chains and last mile logistics technology, delivery drones and personal space heat tracking – all of which are playing a role in our eventual post-pandemic, recovery oriented world. In this new future, business models continue to evolve but at a faster pace; new revenue opportunities are emerging at hyper-speed as entirely new products are invented and new industries are born to deal with the crisis; entire industries are forever changed as the new era of “personal space” and “economic distancing” came to define all forms of human interaction going forward.

It’s in this context that the big ideas are being explored, the bold are defining their future, and the fast are aligning to acceleration. Covid-19 and the economic downturn of 2020 have redefined our future – but it’s by understanding this new future and aligning to the opportunities that it presents that breakthrough performers discover their opportunities!

Accelerating Creativity: How to Rethink, Redo, Realign and Rethink your Future!

We will see more change in every industry in the next 10 years than we have seen in the last 100 as transformation and disruption sweeps the world.

Every company is faced with the rapid emergence of new competitors, significant new business models, more challenging consumers, the acceleration of science a race to the pricing bottom, and a transition to the speed of innovation that will define their future. How do you get ahead? By turning on your innovation engine, firing your creativity thrusters, and strapping in for a rocket ride into your faster future.

In this keynote, futurist and innovation expert Jim Carroll shares the insight that he has gained by spending the last 25 years with a relentless focus on what turns organizations into high-velocity innovation heroes. None other than NASA has invited Jim in – twice – to share his insight on innovation strategies.

Innovative organization accelerate their creativity by turning their innovation engines upside down, focusing on customer oriented innovation and other unique models. They excel at sourcing ideas from the outside, turning that unique insight into fuel for their internal innovation factories. They challenge themselves on speed by getting into an iterative process of constantly rethinking, adjusting and redoing in order to discover the next best thing. They challenge themselves on business cycles, time to market and more.

In accelerated organizations, partnership is a key focus, collaboration is critical, agility is oxygen and imagination is relentless.

Launch yourself into the faster future with this unique, high energy keynote for global futurist, trends & innovation expert Jim Carroll!

Think Big, Start Small, Scale Fast: Aligning Yourself for the Era of Acceleration

We live in a time of massive challenge, and yet one of massive opportunity. We’re faced with deep and complex issues involving the environment, health care, water and food. At the same time, every industry is faced with upheaval and disruption. In this context, every industry is being redefined at blinding speed by technology, globalization, the rapid emergence of new competitors, new forms of collaborative global R&D, and countless other challenges! The speed with which these changes occur are now being increasingly driven by the arrival of a younger, more entrepreneurial generation; a group that seems determined to change the world to reflect their ideas and concept of opportunity. They’ve grown up networked, wired, and are collaborative in ways that no previous generation seems to be.

And therein lies the challenge.

Most organizations are bound up in tradition, process, certain defined ways of doing things — rules — that have helped them succeed in the past. Over time, they have developed a corporate culture which might have worked at the slower paced world of the past — but now has them on the sick-bed, suffering from an organizational sclerosis that clogs up their ability to try to do anything new. Those very things which worked for them in the past might be the anchors that could now hold them back as the future rushes at them with ever increasing speed. They are being challenged in a fundamental way by those who think big, and by some really big, transformative trends.

How to cope with accelerating change? In this keynote, Jim outlines his simple but transformative structure : Think big, start small and scale fast! The new model for going forward in the era of accelerating change involves aligning yourself to the big opportunities of today through bold, transformative thinking; the small scale steps that you can take today to align yourself to this future, and focusing on a culture of speed and agility that can help you to get there at the right time!

In this riveting keynote, Jim Carroll covers the major trends and opportunities that come from “thinking big, starting small, and scaling fast,” by addressing some of the fundamental changes that are underway. It’s based on his forthcoming book of the same name.

The Lessons of Powerful Optimism: Rethinking the Future Right Now

We have seen more change in the last 5 years than we have seen in the last 100 – and yet there is so much more to come. But with economic, political, career and business model volatility all around us, it’s all too easy to fall prey to a swirl of negative thinking — with the result that you lose sight of the fascinating opportunities from what comes next.

The best antidote? An uplifting, hopeful and motivational view into the future with futurist Jim Carroll. In this engaging, humorous and yet powerfully refreshing keynote, he takes you on a tour of the trends which are reshaping our world in a great way. A renaissance in thinking and imagination, enabled by 3D printing, advanced robotics and self-driving cars, space tourism, and concepts involving asteroid mining, vertical farming, and other fascinating trends. An era that provides opportunities for the transformation of entire industries such as healthcare, retail, agriculture, sports and transportation through big bold thinking. The acceleration of ideas with scientific advancements that are allowing us to solve some of the biggest challenges of our time having to do with education, the environment, energy and water. A generation of millennials who know that it is a great time to think big ideas and do great things with their boundless enthusiasm and global awareness!

It’s time to turn your mind to the future once again, restore a sense of hope and optimism, and link yourself to the fast paced trends which energize your outlook on opportunity!

In this keynote, Jim takes you on a voyage to the future, and promises to leave you with a boundless sense of optimism and passion for what comes next!

Driving the Future – Linking the Acceleration of Golf to The Speed of Business

Is your corporate leadership meeting at a resort, with a little bit of networking on the side? As part of the event, do you need some unique business insight that will align with your overall theme? In Jim Carroll, you’ve found the perfect playing partner! He can provide you with a fascinating leadership keynote that will help your team or clients understand the accelerated future of disruption, challenge and opportunity! And as a 17 handicap with a passion for the game, he can share his thoughts with you during your networking time!

The PGA of America, one of the largest working professional sports organizations in the world, has engaged Futurist Jim Carroll twice to help them align and adjust their focus to a fast paced future. A world that involves the 3D printing of customized golf clubs perfectly matched to a players stance. Course tee time yield management systems that now rival in sophistication those of leading hotels and airlines. An industry in which GPS golf analysis technology such as GameGolf, fast-moving golf entertainment complexes such as TopGolf, and smart clothing technologies are leading the game to new opportunities for growth. One in social media posts involving Instagram stars and Youtube clips are leading to accelerated interest in the game. Forget the idea of golf being a slow moving, traditional game — it is being disrupted to its core and is being positioned for growth through a relentless drive for innovation and high velocity trends.

In this fascinating presentation, Jim Carroll takes you on a fast paced cart-ride of a voyage into the new realities of business, by carefully linking the accelerated trends impacting the traditionally slow game of golf to the new world of business. One that is driven by the acceleration of business cycles, chipped away by the constant arrival of new technologies and competitors, and carefully stroked to success through perfectly aimed strategies. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear this fascinating presentation, carefully customized for those attending your corporate leadership meeting.

What Do World Class Innovators Do That Others Don’t Do?

Business model disruption. The rapid emergence of new competitors. The challenging impact of social media. Rapid prototyping and the global idea machine. The digitization of everything and the impact of hyper connectivity. Rapid technological change. All of these trends — and more — require that organizations pick up the pace when it comes to their innovation efforts.

They can do so by learning what the world’s leaders are doing with their innovations efforts. For over 20 years, Jim Carroll has had the opportunity to study what makes some organizations excel at the concept of innovation while others do not. He has carefully catalogued their approaches, attitudes, leadership styles and strategies into a concise overview that is the secret-sauce of innovative thinking.

World class innovators possess a relentless focus on growth, continually transitioning their revenue source, and solving customer problems before the customer knows it’s a problem. They focus on upside down innovation by sourcing innovation ideas through their customers. They concentrate on ingesting fast ideas; checking their speed and focusing on corporate agility; and focusing on long term wins through constant incremental improvements. They know that skills partnerships are a key success factor. Most importantly, world class innovators aren’t afraid to back away from big ideas. They know that right now is a great time to made bold decisions, and to take decisive advantage to forge aggressive new paths against their competitors.

While everyone else wallows in aggressive indecision and organizational sclerosis, world class innovators know that it is a great time to do great things!

Business model disruption. The rapid emergence of new competitors. The challenging impact of social media. Rapid prototyping and the global idea machine. The digitization of everything and the impact of hyper connectivity. Rapid technological change. All of these trends — and more — require that organizations pick up the pace when it comes to their innovation efforts.

They can do so by learning what the world’s leaders are doing with their innovations efforts. For over 20 years, Jim Carroll has had the opportunity to study what makes some organizations excel at the concept of innovation while others do not. He has carefully catalogued their approaches, attitudes, leadership styles and strategies into a concise overview that is the secret-sauce of innovative thinking.

World class innovators possess a relentless focus on growth, continually transitioning their revenue source, and solving customer problems before the customer knows it’s a problem. They focus on upside down innovation by sourcing innovation ideas through their customers. They concentrate on ingesting fast ideas; checking their speed and focusing on corporate agility; and focusing on long term wins through constant incremental improvements. They know that skills partnerships are a key success factor. Most importantly, world class innovators aren’t afraid to back away from big ideas. They know that right now is a great time to made bold decisions, and to take decisive advantage to forge aggressive new paths against their competitors.

While everyone else wallows in aggressive indecision and organizational sclerosis, world class innovators know that it is a great time to do great things!

In this keynote, Jim Carroll will provide you with unique insight into what these world-class organizations and high-caliber leaders are doing, to position themselves for a future in which the velocity of change is the new normal, acceleration is the reality, agility is the core, and adaptation is the necessity!

The Masters in Business Imagination: Motivational Guidance for the Era ofFast!

In an era of dramatic and relentless change, people and organizations are scrambling to align themselves for a new, topsy-turvy world. Jim Carroll comes to the rescue with his keynote, The Masters in Business Imagination which will inspire your team to adopt relentless creativity and innovation as core virtues. Once you ‘graduate’ from his MBI class, you’ll possess the skills common to this critical degree of the 21st century economy, by linking your initiatives to a carefully calibrated curriculum of change-oriented thinking.

MBI’s see things differently – they don’t look at things like most people. MBI’s spur creativity in other people – they inspire others to develop similar levels of imaginative thinking. They focus on opportunity – not threat, and realize that action, not inaction, is the driving force for the future. They refuse to accept the status quo and are prepared to eliminate habit. MBI’s bring big ideas to life – and paint pictures of where the organization is going to go, rather than focusing on where it has been in the past. They learn and unlearn, forgoing the dangerous assumption that what they know today will carry them into tomorrow. Most important of all, they refuse to say the word CAN’T. They know that barriers, perceived or otherwise, are simply temporary roadblocks that they can get around with fresh insight, imaginative analysis, and creative thinking!

Fire up your enthusiasm, energy and innovation spirt with a unique motivational keynote by futurist Jim Carroll, as he inspires your team to align themselves to the only degree they will need for the future – The Masters in Business Imagination!