Reimagine innovation and change as catalysts – don’t resist them!
Dr. Gaia Grant transforms evidence-based academic insights into powerful practical tools for innovation leadership.
Gaia is a global expert in innovation leadership and culture transformation. As a University of Sydney researcher, a co-founder and director of Tirian Consulting, and a Chair of the For Purpose Alliance, Gaia has worked with Fortune 500 companies and international not-for-profits to develop practical frameworks for managing complex change. She is also a bestselling author of several books including The Innovation Race, Purpose-Driven Innovation Leadership, and Who Killed Creativity?
In her research, Gaia explores how leaders can build cultures that support sustainable innovation and change—drawing on the extensive data she has collected from global surveys, executive interviews, and in-depth case studies. Gaia has developed the Innovative Change Leader Profile (iCLi) and Dynamic Polar Positioning (DPoP) tools from her research insights, which help leaders navigate paradoxes that can drive or derail innovation.
Gaia’s frameworks have been utilized by companies such as Google, JP Morgan, Visa, Salesforce, Boeing, Citibank, Colgate-Palmolive, and Deutsche Bank. Appointed by industry organizations like the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australian Superannuation Association Fund to examine how organisations can cultivate cultures of integrity and accountability, Gaia’s work also extends to broader social impact initiatives. She has led innovation programs for refugee organisations, agricultural development projects in Indonesia, and health education efforts in India, positively impacting millions globally.
Gaia has delivered keynote addresses at major global events including the Salesforce International Roadshow, Gartner Symposium, World President Organization Conference, Lenovo360, and Creative Innovation Conference. She has also shared her research at the prestigious Academy of Management and Organization Studies symposia. Her innovative insights have been featured in the BBC, Reuters, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and The Wall Street Journal.
Gaia’s engaging, evidence-based approach empowers leaders to embrace complexity and drive meaningful change.
Talking Points
Leading Innovation on the Edge Navigating the AI Adoption Divide (Andrew Grant &/or Dr Gaia Grant)
The rapid rise of AI is reshaping leadership, adding an unpredictable ‘X factor’ to an already complex landscape. Leading Innovation on the Edge Navigating the AI Adoption Divide (Andrew Grant &/or Dr Gaia Grant)
As businesses race to innovate, leaders must juggle competing demands—balancing urgency and caution to drive sustainable growth. This new wave of growth is reshaping leadership, forcing executives to balance tradition with transformation, speed with strategy, and agility with stability.
This session cuts through the noise, tackling the core paradoxes of AI-driven transformation and providing practical strategies. Covering areas such as decision-making, problem-solving, innovation culture development and leadership tactics, participants learn how to balance creative ingenuity with AI-powered efficiency. The topic provides a powerful introduction and/or subplot to ensure AI works for—not against—innovation, empowering organizations to thrive in an era of disruption.
The dynamic keynote also investigates the unique challenges of AI adoption: exploring how leaders can harness the potential without losing control. Through groundbreaking insights from Andrew and Gaia Grant’s book The Innovation Race and Gaia Grant’ unique research with the University of Sydney Business School, the keynote/workshop introduces powerful tools like the Innovation Climate Leadership Indicator (iCLi) and Dynamic Polar Positioning (DPoP) tool to demonstrate to leaders how to navigate digital transformation. A number of case studies are also introduced to demonstrate how the principles and tools introduced can be applied in practice.
While many futurists indulge in revealing dazzling forecasts and speculative tech marvels, Andrew Grant and Dr. Gaia Grant offer a grounded, strategic approach. This keynote doesn’t seek to predict the future. Instead, it equips leaders to confidently manage uncertainty. The messages are not focused on future fantasy, the focus is on future readiness. As a result executives and leaders are equipped with practical strategies to foster agility, resilience, and sustainable innovation, ensuring they don’t just keep up with AI but lead through the disruption.
Dr Gaia Grant &/OR Andrew Grant will not just help you keep up with AI, but lead through the tension. Participants walk away with the confidence to lead transformational change in an era where complexity, creativity and AI must coexist.
Key Takeaways & Talking Points
1) Understand the impact of AI on leadership and innovation
2) Navigate the tensions between speed and strategy in AI-driven change
3) Gain insights into effective leadership styles and how to manage the competing demands
4) Apply practical models and tools designed to executive digital transformation with confidence
Are you an Ambidextrous Leader? Managing rapid innovation and change through strategic resilience
How is it possible to survive and thrive as a leader when the landscape is constantly changing? The secret lies in becoming more resilient through an ‘ambidextrous leadership’ approach.Are you an Ambidextrous Leader? Managing rapid innovation and change through strategic resilience
This session introduces the concept of ambidextrous leadership: the ability to lead with both agility and consistency across diverse roles and contexts. The audience is introduced to effective tools for managing these competing demands and for ensuring robust resilience. It includes a consideration of how to manage the AI paradox through learning to harness emerging technologies while preserving core values. This isn’t just a tech challenge; it’s now a leadership imperative.
In the dynamic session, the audience is challenged to consider how they can develop the strategic resilience needed to thrive through times of complex change. Drawing on 30 years of consulting experience and cutting-edge research, the session delivers practical tools for building cultures of integrity, agility, and long-term impact. Through interactive exercises and insights, participants learn how to transform tension into constructive creative energy.
The Innovation Change Leadership Profile (iCLi) and Dynamic Polar Positioning Tool (DPoP), as developed from extensive original research interviews with global leaders and in-depth case studies, are introduced as groundbreaking frameworks for navigating the paradoxes of innovation. Participants discover their unique innovation orientations through the interactive activities and learn how to balance the need for Exploration (for developing breakthrough new ideas) and Preservation (for continuous improvement) to drive sustainable growth.
Through exploring their leadership mindset, uncovering hidden biases, and learning how to manage the tension of change with strategic foresight, participants learn to balance these ‘Explore’ and ‘Preserve’ perspectives and gain the tools to move beyond hype and build lasting value.
Key Takeaways & Talking Points
1. Master ambidextrous leadership: Balancing agility and consistency across diverse teams and roles.
2. Decode leadership mindsets: Identifying default biases and uncovering potential obstacles to transformation.
3. Profile for practical impact: Includes individual and team diagnostics to support targeted development.
4. Lead through competing demands: Applying practical tools to drive sustainable change.
5. Build adaptive teams: Foster resilience and responsiveness across occupational profiles.
How to Make Rapid AND Responsible Decisions about New Innovations Mastering the art of purpose-driven innovation leadership for driving sustainable change (Andrew Grant &/or Dr Gaia Grant)
The pressure is on. Complex decisions must be made about new innovations such as AI. And they must be made fast.How to Make Rapid AND Responsible Decisions about New Innovations Mastering the art of purpose-driven innovation leadership for driving sustainable change (Andrew Grant &/or Dr Gaia Grant)
This session explains how it is imperative to innovate both radically (for agile adaptation to rapid change) and responsibly (for reliable and sustainable performance). It covers how to determine key objectives, develop multidisciplinary teams, and align roles and responsibilities based on understanding these core competing demands.
The session includes an engaging interactive AI ethical dilemma, which reveals the unique competing demands when trying to innovate responsibly. The ‘Purpose-driven Innovation Scanner’ (PDIS) tool is introduced to provide practical guidance on how to measure innovation biases and activate strengths to drive purpose-driven results and sustainable change.
The fascinating approach draws on in-depth case studies from consulting work with a range of organizations from Fortune 500 companies to not-for-profit enterprises. Participants learn the striking characteristics of leaders and organizations that can drive purpose-driven and sustainable organizational change, and demonstrate practical applications of the principles with impressive results.
Key Takeaways & Talking Points
1) Balancing radical and responsible innovation through exposure to case studies that demonstrate how it can be done
2) Values prioritization strategies, for revealing how AI and emerging technologies are approached with integrity
3) Applying The Purpose-Driven Innovation Scanner (PDIS) Tool, which provides a structured approach to measuring and implementing responsible innovation
The AI Creative Challenge Do we need to learn to be creative now that AI can do it for us? (Andrew Grant / Dr Gaia Grant)
The World Economic Forum continues to emphasize creative and critical thinking as essential leadership skills—even as AI transforms industries. The AI Creative Challenge Do we need to learn to be creative now that AI can do it for us? (Andrew Grant / Dr Gaia Grant)
In the age of intelligent technology, it will be important to learn to drive efficiency without sacrificing creativity or losing the human spark. As AI redefines problem-solving and innovation, it raises crucial questions about how human creativity can remain relevant. The challenge remains: Will AI kill creativity or enhance it? How can leaders strike the right balance between AI and human contribution when tackling wicked problems in projects requiring Creative Intelligence and Design Thinking?
In this keynote and/or workshop session, participants are invited to explore the evolving relationship between AI and creative thinking, offering strategic insights on how leaders can leverage AI without losing control of ingenuity and innovation. The practical AI Creativity Utilization Dial is introduced as a tool for identifying how and when to incorporate AI in the creative thinking process.
Dr. Gaia Grant won’t just help you use AI—they’ll show you how to harness it to supercharge creative thinking and tackle wicked problems with greater precision and efficiency.
Key Takeaways & Talking Points
1) Maximize creativity without losing control – learn when to integrate AI while maintaining human ingenuity, creativity and ensuring alignment with strategic goals
2) Use AI for better results in creative & design thinking through understanding how AI can collaborate with human thought processes, tackling complex challenges and wicked problems that defy simple solutions
3) Practice using the AI Creativity Utilization Dial for identifying how to lead innovation in specific contexts
Harnessing Creative Intelligence (CQ) Skills Solving wicked problems for a competitive business advantage
In an era defined by complexity and ambiguity, traditional problem-solving approaches often fall short. Harnessing Creative Intelligence (CQ) Skills Solving wicked problems for a competitive business advantage
Wicked challenges—those messy issues with no clear solutions—demand more than technical expertise or linear thinking. They require creative intelligence (CQ): the ability to navigate uncertainty with curiosity, adaptability, and insight.
Creative intelligence is no longer a luxury, it’s a strategic imperative. CQ empowers individuals and teams to reframe problems, generate novel solutions, and respond with agility. Individuals with higher CQ are more curious, open to new experiences, and better equipped to navigate complexity. They consistently outperform their peers, demonstrating greater effectiveness, resilience, and adaptability. For organizations, cultivating CQ is not just a nice-to-have, it provides a clear advantage. It fuels innovation, unlocks hidden opportunities, and builds the resilience necessary to thrive in competitive, rapidly evolving markets.
This engaging keynote introduces the 7 essential CQ skills required for success, revealing how they can be cultivated through targeted, research-based exercises. Participants learn how to map these skills to tangible business outcomes—unlocking practical, creative solutions to real-world challenges.
Blending science with creative revelation, the session features simple magic illusions that expose the cognitive traps of ‘inside-the-box’ thinking. These moments of surprise and insight are paired with best-practice case studies from leading organizations, offering inspiration and actionable strategies for embedding CQ into everyday work. The session is designed to be interactive, energizing, and deeply practical—ideal for leaders, teams, and organizations seeking a competitive edge. By the end of the session, participants walk away empowered with greater creative confidence to enhance their creative thinking capabilities.
Whether you're leading change, solving complex problems, or building future-ready teams, this keynote offers the mindset shift and skillset upgrade needed to thrive.
Key Takeaways & Talking Points
1. Learn about the 7 key CQ attributes needed to be creative
2. Apply the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) to assess and map individual skills
3. Discuss company best practices (7 case studies) to identify how to apply CQ skills to business challenges
4. Apply the principles to your own wicked challenge(s) to generate creative insights to current challenges
The Creativity Crisis How to spot the psychological blocks that might be killing your creative thinking (Alternative heading: Who Killed Creativity?... And How Can we Get it Back?)
We are facing a creative crisis. Adults seem to lose their creative ability when they need it most. While 98% of children are classified as “geniuses” in divergent thinking tests, this drops to just 2% in adulthood. The Creativity Crisis How to spot the psychological blocks that might be killing your creative thinking (Alternative heading: Who Killed Creativity?... And How Can we Get it Back?)
Although recent research shows that creative thinking will be the most important leadership trait in the next 10 years, it has been found that adults tend to quickly lose their creative confidence and skills as they age. It has also been observed that despite an increase in IQ since the 1990s, there has been a general decline in creative thinking capabilities (CQ) – as revealed in the international bestseller "Who Killed Creativity?... And How Can We Get it Back?".
This session embarks on a creatively memorable ‘CSI’-themed journey, moving from the classroom to the boardroom to help participants understand the current crisis in creative thinking. The session provides an engaging, interactive platform for examining potential barriers to positive change. Using the latest insights from neuroscience and psychology, participants explore how to spark their creativity and overcome mental blocks that hinder innovation. It also explores workplace implications beyond design thinking tools and AI, empowering participants to develop a creative mindset and foster an innovative culture.
The outcomes ensure that participants understand both the neurological (internal) and environmental (external) forces that can hinder creative thinking, equipping them with essential skills to succeed in complex, unpredictable environments.
(Interactive keynote + optional hybrid integrated workshop.)
Key Takeaways & Talking Points
1. Diagnose the psychological blocks to understand what hinders creative thinking and how it diminishes with age
2. Identify and apply the ‘creative rescuer’ strategies to reignite creative thinking capabilities
3. Investigate culture change principles that will support a positive environment for fostering creative thinking and innovation in your organization
Video
Gaia Grant | Keynote Showreel | Saxton Speakers
Gaia Grant (Ph.D.) is the creator of the unique 'Innovator's Profile', a researcher on innovation with the University of Sydney Business School, a director of Tirian Consulting, and author of a number of books including The Innovation Race: How to change a culture to change the game, along with international bestseller Who Killed Creativity?... And How Can We Get it Back? Gaia researches how to create a culture that supports sustainable innovation and draws on data she's collected from multiple survey responses and interviews with global leaders.A phenomenal session! The feedback was excellent and many of our members gave this session a 10 out of 10. Really unique in bringing real depth and understanding to innovation. I saw a lot o ... keep reading Chief Executives Guild, USA
Gaia's presentation provided our clients with great tools to help them become a marketing success.
Superbly presented scoring a very high evaluation feedback of 6.8 out of 7. Gaia is a knowledgeable and entertaining presenter who presented an excellent session for us, really well facilitated and introduced. Really enjoyed it and liked the creative presentation through the game.
You did an amazing job to help us translate big ideas into execution.
Your contribution in so many ways turned the Optus Learning Fiesta into a smooth event with very interested participants and a great atmosphere for discussion & collaboration.
Your knowledge, professionalism, and willingness to work with us were key to the success of these digital virtual seminars. I learned a lot from you, and really enjoyed working with you.
You engaged our teams to really think through the value of creativity in business and about how to create a space that allows you to access those perspectives.
Masterful storyteller who has compiled a rich set of tools for sustainable innovation methods.
