Keynote speaking topics

I live for entertaining while challenging assumptions. Even if you don’t agree with me, you will laugh. As a data-driven author with deep expertise in behavioral science, I know about the impact of numbers—and where our reliance on them falls short.

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Bulletproofing Your Future: Embracing the Beautiful Mess of Being Human

How can we build resilience in the age of technological advancements and increasing volatility? Why am I not worried that ChatGPT and AI will replace me as a writer?

When everything runs on automation, algorithms, and feels like it’s been market-tested to death, we appreciate human touches, imperfections, real experiences, and genuine connections even more.

Building a bulletproof future for yourself and your organization means leaning into the very things that make us human. Since AI models run on what’s statistically most probable, let’s embrace true creativity of the unexpected. Instead of automating emails, let’s build real relationships and connections.

I debuted this presentation to a standing ovation the Financial Planning Association annual retreat in May.

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Everything You Know About Behavioral Economics is Wrong

What’s the best way to use numbers and data to inspire others to take action? You might think about those famous Kahneman and Tversky studies—words like anchoring, recency bias—that show just how illogical human beings are.

But guess what? They’re all incomplete, and they’re wrong. The scientific method can’t capture the complexity of human behavior and explain why we do what we do. To really understand what makes people tick—and what can move the scale—you have to zoom out and look at behavioral holistically.

How to Be Perfect: The Self-Help Industrial Complex

We’re drowning in messages from thought leaders who claim to know exactly how to optimize ourselves—and they all have the data from psychology studies to prove it.

Why are we miserable when the answers seem so simple? Why are these life hacks more “hack” than “life-changing”? Part of it stems from the all-too-human hope for a quick fix. But we also need to look at the politics behind social science data: biased studies and privileged self-help authors.

I got a standing ovation as a closing keynote at the last-ever World Domination Summit, which you can see here.

Preparing for an Unknown Future: Lessons from Evolution

How can we prepare for an uncertain future? We don’t have to guess. Organizations and people have billions of years of data on which species thrive during extreme, unpredictable change. What can we learn from the species that thrive and go extinct during sudden, random shifts?

In this talk, I synthesize extensive research on how to successfully navigate rapid change, inspired by my first book, Can You Learn to Be Lucky?

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