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Ross Dawson

Leading Futurist | Entrepreneur | Keynote Speaker, and Bestselling Author

You Create the Future

World-renowned futurist and keynote speaker Ross Dawson inspires audiences with powerful, practical insights into the future and how to seize today’s opportunities.

Ross is globally recognized as a leading keynote speaker and futurist with deep expertise in financial services. Dawson was formerly Global Director – Capital Markets at Thomson Financial and worked in financial markets for Merrill Lynch. He has worked with many leading financial institutions on exploring and creating the future of financial services.

He is Founding Chairman of the Advanced Human Technologies group of companies, which includes international consulting and ventures firm Advanced Human Technologies, futures think-tank Future Exploration Network, leading events company The Insight Exchange, and three more companies being developed in stealth mode.

Strong demand for Ross’s expertise has seen him deliver keynote speeches and executive workshops in 27 countries across six continents and consult to leading organizations worldwide such as Ernst & Young, Macquarie Bank, News Limited, Procter & Gamble and many others.

He is author of the Amazon.com bestseller Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships, now out in its second edition, the acclaimed book Living Networks, which foresaw the social networking revolution, and the highly successful Implementing Enterprise 2.0. He also writes the highly influential Trends in the Living Networks blog, has written White Papers for organizations including SAP and Microsoft, and has published over 100 articles in leading publications worldwide.

Ross’s frequent media appearances include CNN, Bloomberg TV, SkyNews, European Business Network, Channel News Asia, ABC TV, Today and Sunrise shows, New York Times, The Guardian and many others. Ross has been named as one of the top 30 most influential people in the world in crowdfunding, one of the top 6 most influential people in the world in Enterprise 2.0, and by Digital Media magazine as one of the 40 biggest players in Australia’s digital age.

  • Creating the Future of Financial Services
  • Business in the Age of AI
  • Thriving on Overload
  • Virtual Excellence: Leadership and success in a virtual world
  • Creating the Future of Work and Organizations
  • Profiting from Technology Trends

“Ross gave a presentation that was smack bang on brief. Absolutely perfect for our event requirements.”
— Danielle Bamford, National Marketing Projects Manager, Colonial First State Global Asset Management

Ross Dawson is an engaging speaker with the ability to get people thinking beyond tomorrow. He spells out what it will take for businesses to succeed in the knowledge-based economy of the future, providing a practical framework that audiences from any services industry can understand.”
— Charis Palmer, Managing Editor, Online Banking Review

Ross is in strong demand globally, having delivered keynote speeches and strategy workshops in over 30 countries across six continents for companies such as American Express, Boston Consulting Group, Citibank, Coca-Cola, Google, Interpublic Group, Microsoft, News Limited, Oracle, Procter & Gamble, PwC, Star Alliance, Visa, Walmart and many other leading organizations.

Ross has deep expertise in financial services. Dawson was formerly Global Director – Capital Markets at Thomson Financial and worked in financial markets for Merrill Lynch. He has worked with many leading financial institutions on exploring and creating the future of financial services.

Travels From:  Alabama
City:
$5,000 and Under

Biography

Ross Dawson is globally recognized as a leading futurist, keynote speaker, strategy advisor, bestselling author, and entrepreneur.

Ross is in strong demand globally, having delivered keynote speeches and strategy workshops in over 30 countries across six continents for companies such as American Express, Boston Consulting Group, Citibank, Coca-Cola, Google, Interpublic Group, Microsoft, News Limited, Oracle, Procter & Gamble, PwC, Star Alliance, Visa, Walmart and many other leading organizations.

He is Founding Chairman of the Advanced Human Technologies Group of companies and Founder of Bondi Innovation.

His latest book is the rave-reviewed Thriving on Overload: The 5 Powers for Success in a World of Exponential Information. Previous books include the acclaimed book Living Networks, which The New York Times credits with predicting the social networking revolution, the Amazon.com bestseller Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships, now out in its second edition, the highly successful Implementing Enterprise 2.0, and Getting Results From Crowds.

Ross’s frequent media appearances include CNN, Bloomberg TV, SkyNews, ABC TV, Today and Sunrise shows, The New York Times, USA Today, The Guardian, The Times, BBC, Le Monde, Die Welt, El País and many others.

Ross has been named as one of the most influential people in the world in the future of work, fintech, crowdfunding, and Enterprise 2.0, and by Digital Media magazine as one of the 40 biggest players in Australia’s digital age.

Ross has run executive education programs and lectured at numerous academic institutions around the world, including the University of Virginia, Australian Graduate School of Management, Singapore Institute of Management, Institute of Banking and Finance, Institute of Company Directors Malaysia, and Singularity University in Silicon Valley, and is faculty for the innovation programs of Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Previously Ross worked in senior positions in London, Tokyo and Sydney, most recently at Thomson Financial as Global Director – Capital Markets as well as for Merrill Lynch and NCR. He has worked at senior levels in many countries and cultures, and speaks five languages.

Presentations

Financial services industries are in the midst of dramatic disruption, driven by changing customer attitudes, the rapid development of fintech, blockchain and digital currencies, competition from peer-to-peer models, regulatory shifts, industry consolidation, and the dramatic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer behavior and national economies. There are real challenges but also massive opportunities for the sector as these shifts come through. Those finance professionals that embrace new approaches will thrive as the sector adjusts to a dramatically different world.

This keynote can be adapted to a variety of financial services sectors, including banking, broking, financial markets, investment banking, wealth management, financial planning, insurance, reinsurance, private equity and others.

Examples

A small representative selection from the many financial services keynotes Ross Dawson has delivered:

  • Keynote on Disruptive Innovation in Financial Services to major financial industry association
  • Presentation and mini-workshop on the future of the industry for the board of a major US credit union
  • Keynote to the top 40 executives of a major financial institution at their annual strategy offsite
  • Presentation and compact workshop for the leadership development program of a major bank
  • Keynote and workshop at the Richmond Financial Industry Forum in Interlaken, Switzerland
  • Keynote at the Life Insurance Conference of the Financial Services Council
  • Keynote for annual conference of major financial planning group
  • Presentation and discussion for the board of a diversified financial services company with AUM of over $100bn
  • Keynote on Future of Global Financial Services at major conference in Mumbai, India
  • Presentation and workshop on 10 year outlook for major funds manager at their investment strategy offsite
  • Keynote for an internal and client group for a major insurer on the future of financial customer experience

Taking one specific example, below are the slides from futurist Ross Dawson’s keynote on Creating the Future of Financial Services at a strategy offsite for the top executive team of a leading financial institution. The keynote slides are designed to accompany the presentation and are not intended to be useful on their own. However, they have been provided for illustrative purposes.

During this keynote, futurist Ross Dawson highlighted the latest trends, insights and driving forces in the world of financial services pertinent to the client institution. He then delved into the array of strategic issues and opportunities the organization needed to assess. An extended Q&A after the keynote allowed executives to dig into and discuss particular challenges around generational change, customer behaviours, new competition and responses to changes in trust in financial institutions and systems.

We are just at the beginning of a long phase of Artificial Intelligence transforming many aspects of business and society. Learn how AI is already creating value, the new markets and opportunities it is creating, paths to implementation, the organizational changes it requires, and strategies to successfully tap its potential.

Massive information overload is the defining feature of our age. The incessant deluge threatens to drown us, yet within its excess lies almost everything of value today. The capacity to thrive on limitless information is now the single most important capability for success, yielding not just powerful insight, world-leading expertise, and better decisions, but also improved wellbeing.

Author of the acclaimed new book Thriving on Overload, world-leading management thinker and futurist Ross Dawson shares powerful, actionable prescriptions on how to flourish in an accelerating world, showing individuals and organizations how to achieve superior outcomes in their ventures, careers, investments, and lives

The coronavirus pandemic has vastly accelerated the long-standing shift to remote work and increasingly virtual organizations. Individuals, organizations, and leaders need to learn and implement the practices and approaches that drive success in a virtual world. Ross Dawson, renowned futurist and keynote speaker and the producer of The Virtual Excellence Show, shares the principles that he has uncovered through two decades of running virtual organizations and working with some of the world’s most successful virtual companies. Learn how to lead and prosper in a world of virtual work.

This session can be run as a keynote, a board or executive briefing, or a strategy workshop for executives seeking to design the most effective virtual and hybrid work environment possible for their organizations.

The world of work is changing at an extraordinary pace, driven by the rise of automation, connectivity, and data analytics, deep social and demographic shifts, acclerated by the powerful impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we hurtle into a dramatically different future of work, there remain deep uncertainties on key issues including the shape of the workplace post-pandemic, how swiftly machine capabilities will progress, social and regulatory responses to change, and the ability of organizations to adapt fast enough. An increasing divide will inevitably emerge between those companies flexible enough to tap the potential of an exceptionally fluid and dynamic workforce, and those stuck in old ways of working. Dawson offers guiding principles for leaders to forge a path forward for their organizations to prosper as the landscape of work is transformed.

Information technologies are creating extraordinary new possibilities for organizations and their customers. Connectivity, automation and a new wave of intelligent technologies are reshaping the business landscape, from how consumers build relationships with companies, to the structure of the supply chain and the nature of global competition.

However, it is often difficult to keep up with the pace of change. Technology futurist Ross Dawson can help by pointing organizations to current and future trends in technology and clarifying how these innovations can create business value. Notable trends include the implications of mobile, wearables, cloud, augmented reality, virtual reality, voice interfaces, chatbots, robotics, blockchain, crypto-currencies, artificial intelligence, Internet and Things or the specific technologies that are relevant to your audience.

Dawson also examines how online technologies can build more efficient organizations, including internal social media, employee analytics, network analysis, AI-human work design, and far more.

Areas of expertise

  • Futurist
  • Banking
  • Financial Services
  • AI
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