Mike Walsh
Founder & CEO of Tomorrow and Business Consultant
Mike Walsh
Founder & CEO of Tomorrow and Business Consultant
Biography
CEO of Tomorrow, author of The Algorithmic Leader, Harvard Business Review columnist. Leading authority on technology, transformation and leadership - with a uniquely global perspective.
Mike Walsh is the CEO of Tomorrow, a global consultancy on designing companies for the 21st century. For the past twenty years, he has been a leading authority on disruptive innovation, digital transformation and new ways of thinking. A global nomad from a diverse ethnic background, futurist and author of three bestselling books, Mike advises some of the world’s biggest organizations on reinvention and change in this new era of machine intelligence.
A specialist in AI-powered transformation, Mike’s work and research was recently profiled by the Rotman School of Management. His talent is being able to bridge the two worlds of disruptive technology and business leadership, translating deep tech into pragmatic recommendations for leaders to seize new opportunities, transform their organizations, and change their own thinking.
Mike is a prolific researcher who interviews innovators, scientists, entrepreneurs and corporate revolutionaries every year. Many of these conversations feature in his popular podcast, Between Worlds. A skilled facilitator, he excels at fireside chats with CEOs, customers and other thought leaders. He brings this consultative approach to personalizing insights and recommendations for his audiences, specializing in identifying ‘mind grenades’ or provocative questions that will challenge your team and stretch their thinking.
A prolific writer and commentator, Mike’s views have appeared in a wide range of international publications including Inc. Magazine, BusinessWeek, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. Recently, LinkedIn invited Mike to publish his weekly newsletter Tomorrowist about next generation leadership. A regulator contributor to the Harvard Business Review, his articles explore a wide range of cutting edge leadership topics including data-driven decision making, agile organizations, algorithmic management and AI ethics.
Mike’s latest book, The Algorithmic Leader offers a hopeful and practical guide for reinventing leadership and organizations. The book has been a global hit and is now available in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, Polish and Russian. In 2019, The Algorithmic Leader was selected to be given to the world leaders and executive attendees of the Ambrosetti Global Forum at Villa d'Este in Cernobbio, Italy.
Futuretainment, Mike’s first book, was published by Phaidon and was the winner of the design award by the Art Director’s Club in New York. Released in 2009, it predicted how the smartphone would reshape the media and marketing industry, and the imminent rise of social media, digital influencers and streaming entertainment. In The Dictionary of Dangerous Ideas, Mike anticipated breakthroughs in micro satellite networks, cryptocurrencies, remote work, digital protest movements, self-driving cars, drones and digital biology.
A dynamic and engaging keynote speaker, Mike has given over a 1,000 talks over the last decade, from strategic briefings for the boards of companies like Verizon and Raytheon, to an employee summit for a healthcare corporation that filled a sports stadium with an audience of over 25,000 people. In addition to both in-person and virtual presentations, Mike also works with enterprise learning and development leaders to create compelling programs to up-skill teams for a world of AI-powered competition.
Mike has been a pioneer in the digital space since the 1990s, running both successful start-up ventures as well as holding senior leadership positions in established media organizations. With a background in corporate law and management consulting, he began his career at XT3, a spin out from McKinsey and one of the first digital consulting firms created to help major companies embrace the embryonic Web. During the first dotcom boom, Mike launched the technology publishing group internet.com in Australia, which went on to become the leading local technology news and events platform in the country.
He also founded and ran Jupiter Research in the Asia Pacific, one of the first research agencies to track the early adoption of e-commerce and digital business models by online consumers. During this period, he was recognized as one of Australia’s “Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30.”
After his experiences in the Webspace, Mike spent five years in senior strategy roles at News Corporation where he helped shape the digital strategy for both their Australian newspaper and Asian TV divisions. Directly engaged by the CEO of Star TV to provide the company with a digital roadmap for their operations, he began his in-depth research into the fast growth markets of Asia.
While in Hong Kong and inspired by the dramatic changes taking place in China and India, Mike founded his latest venture, Tomorrow – an innovation research lab focused on emerging technology and disruptive consumer behavior. Always in demand for his fresh insights and practical future-focused strategies, Mike has advised the CEOs and senior management teams at multinational companies including: the BBC, Fujifilm, Richemont, MSN, Star TV, Televisa, Philips, and HSBC.
In addition to his corporate profile, Mike is a published photographer and supporter of the Arts. His photographic images from his travels around the world helped his book, Futuretainment, win an Art Director’s Club award in NYC. He has also served on the Director’s Circle at the Australian Museum of Contemporary Art.
As a global nomad and consumer trend scout, Mike does live research, in the trenches, with big corporations and entrepreneurs all over the world bringing a truly global perspective to every event.
Speaker Videos
Welcome to the Age of Algorithm
The Metaverse is the Next Universe
The Algorithmic Leader
New Rules for a New World
After COVID-19, Where Do We Go From Here?
The Secret Behind Successful Digital Transformation
Leadership in a Time of Crisis
Why Leaders Need Digital Ethics
AI in Daily Life
How AI Will Change What You Do
Speech Topics
The AI Powered Organization
This keynote explores why now is the time for radical reinvention. ChatGPT and the rise of generative AI platforms are just the beginning of a much bigger algorithmic revolution that is set to reshape the future of work itself.
Rapid shifts in technology, customer needs and competitor dynamics allow companies to build resilience to changing environments and integrate not only cutting edge technologies but also embrace a new generation of talent.
Whether it be how we engage our customers, how we automate our processes or even how we make decisions as leaders - the ability to effectively transform data into value will be at the heart of 21st-century business. Building an AI powered organization is crucial to your company’s future survival.
In this keynote, attendees will learn:
- Why AI will change the dynamics of every industry and the delivery of even the most traditional products and services
- How to harness new ways of working, with the use of humans and algorithmic platforms
- How to identify and develop future needs from tomorrow’s leaders and teams
New Rules for a New World
COVID-19 is not only changing our way of life, it will hasten the arrival of a radical new future of work. While for many of us working from home has been a new and unexpected challenge - that is just the start of a much bigger transformation set to reshape the nature of business itself. In order to survive, every organization will have to virtualize.
Whether it be serving customers through digital channels or leveraging AI, algorithms and automation to ensure business continuity - we are likely to experience in the next twelve months, a decade’s worth of change. Not every business will make it, but those that do will never be the same again. And for leaders, now more than ever, is a time to upgrade their capabilities, embrace new technologies, and reimagine what they do.
Mike Walsh’s inspiring new keynote presentation will offer audiences an insight into the organizations and leaders that are successfully navigating this period of change, and how to create a playbook for their own transformation. Becoming future-proof is more than just about getting through the current crisis - it is about being ready for the new world that awaits us on the other side.
In this keynote, attendees will learn:
- Why there is no such thing as digital disruption, just digital delivery
- Why there is no remote work, just work
- Why AI is not there to destroy your jobs, but it will change them
What Leaders Need To Know About The Metaverse
The Metaverse is more than a gold rush - it will be an alchemical transformation in how the world works. Over the next few years, we will see a rapid convergence between the digital and real world driven by increasingly sophisticated devices, decentralized blockchain protocols and AI platforms capable of generating persistent, immersive and collaborative experiences indistinguishable from reality.
With a pragmatic focus and a playbook style approach, Mike Walsh's new keynote presentation will not only demystify the Metaverse technologies and concepts, but will provide personalized insights into where the commercial opportunities will lie for customer engagement, workplace collaboration and the creation of entirely new virtualized products and services.
The time for action is now. Whether a media company or retail brand, financial services or manufacturing operation - the question for leaders is no longer what is the Metaverse, but rather what is our plan for action?
Attendees will learn:
- How to position your organization for success by anticipating your future customer needs, collaborating with rivals and startups, and experimenting with new models of value exchange
- Why digital twins, distributed workplaces and autonomous organizations will be essential components of the enterprise Metaverse, and what this means for the future of your business
- How leaders can navigate the 3 challenges of privacy, power and policy as they take their first steps developing their own Metaverse strategy
The Algorithmic Leader
We live in an age of wonder - cars that drive themselves, platforms that anticipate our needs, and robots capable of everything from advanced manufacturing to complex surgery. Automation, algorithms and AI are transforming not only business but every facet of daily life. While many fear that robots will take their jobs, the rise of machine intelligence begs a more important question: what is the true potential of human intelligence in the 21st century?
In this dynamic keynote, Mike Walsh, futurist and author will present a vivid portrait of a brave new world orchestrated by machines that think, and how tomorrow's leaders can upgrade their capabilities to survive and thrive in an age of accelerating technology.
Audiences will walk away with an insight into the companies, technologies and global forces shaping the age of machine intelligence, as well as a set of tailored next actions on how to redesign their organizations, reimagine their roles and reinvent the way they make decisions.
In this keynote, attendees will learn:
- Why competing in an age of AI requires a radically new approach to delivering data-driven experiences and personalized services.
- What it takes to accelerate your journey to becoming an AI-powered organization, and how to lead a successful process of digital transformation.
- How to unlock the new skills, capabilities and mindsets that your leaders will need to survive and thrive in the future
Testimonials
Books & Media
Books
The Algorithmic Leader: How to Be Smart When Machines Are Smarter Than You
The Dictionary of Dangerous Ideas