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Erik  Wahl

Erik Wahl

Artist & Motivator

Erik Wahl

Artist & Motivator

Biography

Erik Wahl is an internationally recognized artist, TED speaker, and No. 1 bestselling author. His breakthrough experience as an artist and entrepreneur has translated into making him into one of the most sought-after corporate speakers on the circuit today.

On stage, Erik’s keynote experience creates a dynamic multidimensional metaphor for how to systematically embrace innovation and risk. His message: disruption is the new normal and businesses must embrace creativity in a wholesale fashion, or risk being left behind. Erik’s presentation inspires organizations to be increasingly agile and outlines how to use disruption as a competitive advantage. Some companies will be disrupted others will choose to be the disruptor. Choose wisely.

His new book, The Spark and the Grind, activates the essential components of translating ideas into action. His breakthrough thinking has earned praise from the likes of top influencers in both art and business. Erik’s previous book, a bestseller called Unthink was hailed by Forbes Magazine as The blueprint to actionable creativity, and by Fast Company Magazine as “provocative with a purpose.”

The Warhol of Wall Street, the Renoir of ROI, The Picasso of Productivity, the Jobs of … Well, Jobs. Erik discovered an alarming truth early in his career as a partner in a corporate firm: organizations that encouraged the mental discipline of creativity did better than those that did not put innovation as a priority mission. So he set out to challenge companies to change their way of thinking.

In the meantime, inspired by street art, he became an acclaimed graffiti artist—though he has since stopped selling his works for personal gain, and instead uses his art to raise money for charities. His keynote is where his passion for business growth and art converge into a fascinating performance.

Erik’s list of clients includes AT&T, Disney, London School of Business, Microsoft, FedEx, Exxon Mobil, Ernst & Young, and XPrize.

Speaker Videos

The Future of Virtual

Virtual Demo Video

Erik Wahl - Keynote 2024

Master Complexity, Creativity, and Innovation

The Discipline of Creativity

The Spark and The Grind

Redefine Failure

The Art of Breakthrough Thinking

Knowledge vs. Creativity

Speech Topics

The Spark & the Grind: Ignite the Power of Disciplined Creativity

Only the dreamers who do and doers who dream will survive and thrive in the new world... If you are not thinking about disruption, complexity and continual innovation in your industry, then we’ve got news for you: You are ignoring a perilous gaping void, and if you don’t fill it, someone else will.

Technology and culture are in a state of continual flux, and today’s business demands an environment where innovation is not only welcomed, but required. So how can you keep up and instill a disciplined approach to innovation?

Erik Wahl, bestselling author, artist and one of the nation’s most in-demand keynote speakers. His new book and presentation, The Spark & the Grind: Ignite the Power of Disciplined Creativity presents the yin and the yang of the creative process: How to create and maintain the flow of ideas, and how to execute them. The world is filled with dreamers and doers—but the only way things happen are when dreamers muster the mental tenacity and hard work, and when doers harness their innate creativity and flexibility.

Erik’s dynamic presentation explores the process of creativity and creation. Audiences are inspired to laughter, tears and always leave with a desire to unearth more meaning in their work and their lives, and the tools to find it.

In THE SPARK AND THE GRIND keynote, Erik:

  • Deconstructs the process and discipline necessary to realize the visions of master creators such as Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison and Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Delves into the science of innovation, and how to tap it for your own purposes
  • Drives home the importance of creative culture, regardless of industry, and how to harness it for individual and collective success.

Unthink: Rediscover Your Creative Genius

Somehow we’ve come to believe that creativity is reserved for the chosen few: the poets, the painters, the writers. But the truth is that creativity is in all of us. It’s about rediscovering the keys to unlock your fullest potential.

With “Unthink,” speaker Erik Wahl will push members of your organization beyond their traditional thought patterns and habitual levels of performance and inspire them to realize they are capable of so much more than they have been led to believe.

“Unthink” helps reframe your organization’s thinking so that new creative actions become possible. Learning how to “unthink” will inject your daily grind with new passion, allowing employees to see how the organization wants and needs all of their talents and energies, not just the ones they’ve been using so far. You’ll begin the process of rethinking your life as a blank canvas of limitless opportunity on which to create your masterpiece.

Erik Wahl will allow your organization to:

  • Step outside convention to discover new and unexpected solutions to business challenges
  • Challenge preconceived notions about what’s possible
  • “Unthink” your way to increased creativity, productivity, and passion

Virtual Offerings

What happens when the world is upside down? When business is anything but usual? When we aren’t sure what the future looks like or how the next few weeks will unfold?  Innovation, creativity, and disruption happen.

Thought leader, Author, Artist and Speaker Erik Wahl is here to help harness the chaos and unlock your organization’s creativity — all to allow for once-in-a-lifetime breakthroughs during this unprecedented time. Our country is currently experiencing Dis-ease. Dis-ease politically, economically and socially. We don’t know what will happen, but we can be prepared for how to handle what ever does happen.

What your company will learn: All of Erik’s virtual topics are fully customized to your group’s specific needs, topics include:

  • Shift Happens: Constant Creativity Through Chaos
  • Disruption = Innovation
  • Building a Better Brand in the Time of Adversity
  • Unlocking Zoom

I Am Artist

For many of us, our creative potential got buried long ago because of self-doubt, criticism, and lack of use. Using a short film by the same name, the “I Am Artist” program is an innovative training experience designed to help audiences rediscover their inner artists by tapping into their childlike (not childish) “beginner’s mind.” “I Am Artist” will give members of your organization the tools they need to dig deep to uncover their unique talents, leading to breakthrough levels of success.

Businesses are most successful when they are pushing the boundaries of their industry, creating new solutions, and exceeding customer expectations. None of those things are possible if members at all levels are not working at their creative best. Experiencing speaker Erik Wahl’s “I Am Artist” program will form a tribe of artists within your organization who want to create a corporate masterpiece and refuse to settle for anything less than originality, creativity, and excellence.

This program requires:

  • A willingness to try new things
  • A desire to dig deep to find your inner artist
  • An ability to silence your inner art critic
  • A shovel—metaphorically speaking, of course

This program produces:

  • A renewed connection to your childlike ability to play and create, leading to increased productivity and innovation
  • The ability to uncover your latent talents and abilities that can skyrocket your performance, no matter your role in the organization
  • New conversations about the unifying vision of your organization’s masterpiece

The Art of Leadership

As the business landscape continues to change, leaders need to stay ahead of the game by fostering a steady stream of disruptive strategies and unexpected solutions. They must revive stagnant markets or completely reinvent the competitive dynamics of an industry. Disruptive thinking requires a culture of innovative leadership that can provide the framework and motivation to generate those strategies and execute those solutions. From small startups to global corporations, all business leaders who wish to transform organizational processes and behaviors must master these skills.

To thrive in this new era, organizations, institutions, executives, and entrepreneurs need to rethink the habits that have made them successful in the past and challenge the conventional wisdom and industry models that have defined their world. Through “The Art of Leadership,” speaker Erik Wahl will make business leaders wonder, “Why haven’t we ever thought about our business and culture this way before?

Wahl will teach your audience how leadership:

  • Creates emotional connections to drive future discretionary effort
  • Creates a culture of commitment
  • Creates innovative processes and productivity

The Art of Vision in Business

Your best sustainable edge in business is your ability to visibly differentiate yourself from your competition. “The Art of Vision” is an entertaining and highly practical program that uncovers new ways to make your organization more creative and ultimately more profitable. It is no longer enough to have good customer service and a good product. The truly great companies have altered the landscape to create a unique experience for the customer. Whether in sales, service, or leadership principles, professionals at all levels can achieve superior performance by creatively differentiating themselves from the competition.

In this informative, interactive, and motivating keynote presentation, speaker Erik Wahl covers:

Sales & Service Excellence

  • Differentiation
  • Working smarter, not harder
  • Creating a unique customer experience

Embracing Change

  • Sustaining excellence in a changing economy
  • Leveraging chaos to create opportunity
  • Discovering untapped potential

Empowering Leadership

  • Creating a culture of commitment
  • Transcending mediocrity
  • Freeing the mind to out-think the competition

The Art of Vision for Educators

Through this highly interactive and motivational keynote, speaker Erik Wahl uses his skills as an artist as a metaphor and a vehicle to inspire the educational community to build a vision in the best interests of our children. He draws his audience in through humorous and heartwarming stories as well as audience participation. His goal is to help educators at every level explore new levels of achievement and success.

Whether you are a teacher, an administrator, or a bus driver, you have the ability to profoundly and positively impact the lives of your children. “The Art of Vision for Educators” is specifically designed to be a unique and entertaining multimedia experience as much as it an educational tool.

Wahl challenges and empowers the education community to recreate their vision for their students. The principals in this uplifting and highly practical message will redefine the role of a teacher as an artist as well as an architect.

His program will touch on the following points:


Creativity in Education

  • What creativity is as it relates to vision
  • How creativity is “learned” out of us
  • What we can do to recapture our natural creativity
  • How we can use creativity to transcend mediocrity

Teamwork Through Vision

  • Why a unified vision is important to lasting success
  • We are all individual agents of change working together

Personal Motivation

  • Finding the heroism in our work as educators
  • Igniting the spark of passion to bring creativity back to the classroom
  • Thinking outside the box for greater levels of success

Profoundly impacting kids’ lives through communication

The Art of Vision in Healthcare

You must see it before you achieve it. As the landscape for healthcare continues to change, a clear vision is the key to successfully navigating tomorrow’s unchartered water. “The Art of Vision in Healthcare” is an entertaining and highly practical program that uncovers new ways to make your healthcare organization more productive and ultimately more profitable. Healthcare professionals who embrace innovation are better equipped to succeed in the future.

Whether it’s patient services, administrative issues, or leadership principles, healthcare organizations at all levels can achieve superior clinical excellence and patient safety by defining a vision of purpose and commitment.

In this presentation, speaker Erik Wahl will touch on the following:

Visionary Excellence

  • Transcending mediocrity
  • Building a lasting vision

Embracing Change

  • Sustaining Excellence in a changing economy
  • Using change to leverage performance

Empowering Leadership

  • Creating a culture of commitment
  • Finding the heroism in your work

Testimonials