Ori Brafman
Authority on Organizational Culture, Leadership & Business Transformation, Best-Selling Author
SPEAKER FEE RANGE: $10,000–$30,000 [FEE NOTE]
TRAVELS FROM: California
A specialist in navigating change and achieving sustainable performance, Ori Brafman shares insight from his best-selling books and experiences working with Fortune 500 companies and the U.S. military on organizational dynamics, agile and adaptive leadership, accountability, and inclusion.
Ori Brafman is a multiple New York Times bestselling author. He specializes in organizational culture, leadership, change, accountability, conflict resolution, and non-kinetic strategy.
Brafman’s recent bestselling book, Radical Inclusion: What the Post–9/11 World Should Have Taught Us About Leadership, co-authored with 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Martin Dempsey, argues that inclusion is no longer a “nice-to-have”, but a strategic imperative in today’s rapidly changing world. His seminal work, The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, is cited by the U.S. military as the foundation for a successful campaign to counter Al Qaeda. Its concepts formed the basis of blockchain technologies and have been utilized by Amazon, Google, Netflix, Facebook, Cisco Systems, the Association for Financial Professionals, and the Family Business Network.
Brafman has advised Fortune 500 companies, all branches of the U.S. military, the Obama White House, the National Academy of Sciences, NATO, and YPO, among others. His media appearances include the New York Times, the Washington Post, Bloomberg TV, CBS, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC News, BBC, National Public Radio, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, and C-SPAN.
Brafman is founder and president of Starfish Leadership and co-founder of the Fully Charged Institute, which combines his work with that of Tom Rath. He is a Distinguished Teaching Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business focusing on improvisational leadership and the ethical use of artificial intelligence. Brafman is co-founder of Vegan.org which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2019.
Brafman’s recent bestselling book, Radical Inclusion: What the Post–9/11 World Should Have Taught Us About Leadership, co-authored with 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Martin Dempsey, argues that inclusion is no longer a “nice-to-have”, but a strategic imperative in today’s rapidly changing world. His seminal work, The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, is cited by the U.S. military as the foundation for a successful campaign to counter Al Qaeda. Its concepts formed the basis of blockchain technologies and have been utilized by Amazon, Google, Netflix, Facebook, Cisco Systems, the Association for Financial Professionals, and the Family Business Network.
Brafman has advised Fortune 500 companies, all branches of the U.S. military, the Obama White House, the National Academy of Sciences, NATO, and YPO, among others. His media appearances include the New York Times, the Washington Post, Bloomberg TV, CBS, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC News, BBC, National Public Radio, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, and C-SPAN.
Brafman is founder and president of Starfish Leadership and co-founder of the Fully Charged Institute, which combines his work with that of Tom Rath. He is a Distinguished Teaching Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business focusing on improvisational leadership and the ethical use of artificial intelligence. Brafman is co-founder of Vegan.org which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2019.
- From The Starfish and the Spider to Radical Inclusion: How Inclusive Networks Determine Agility, Adaptability, Power, and Success
When organizations embrace decentralization and inclusion as a strategic imperatives, they hold the power to change the face of industry. Drawing on research from his best-selling books and examples from Big Tech to Fortune 500 companies and the U.S. military, Ori shows how organizations that embrace decentralization and inclusion function more effectively, with the agility and adaptability necessary in today’s rapidly changing world. He demonstrates how even the largest, most hierarchical organizations utilize Starfish principles to harness the power of distributed networks, and argues that leaders should develop an instinct for inclusion in order to build and maintain trust and power. Ori leaves the audience with practical takeaways for leveraging inclusive networks toward sustainable organizational success. - Decentralized Networks
When you cut off the head of a spider, it dies. But when you cut off the arm of a starfish, it grows one
back. In this classic presentation, Ori leads the audience back in time to demonstrate how throughout
history, organizations operating without a central head win out over centralized ones.
Drawing on examples from the U.S. military to the Tea Party to Fortune 500 companies, Ori will show:
▪ How decentralized organizations act and make decisions with greater agility and adaptability
▪ How today’s business world is utilizing decentralization to increase effectiveness
▪ What proven, simple methods can be adopted to introduce decentralized networks within topdown structures
▪ How to create ongoing processes to ensure decentralization efforts continue over time and
throughout the organization
Ori provides audiences with an understanding of how even the most hierarchical organizations can
introduce pockets of decentralization for better business results. Audiences leave with the practical tools
and takeaways necessary for creating decentralized networks within their organizations. - Inclusive Leadership and Teams
Inclusion is no longer a “nice-to-have”; it’s a strategic imperative. In this presentation, Ori shares stories
from his new best-selling book and beyond that bring to life the insightful and often amusing evidence
that he and his Radical Inclusion co-author, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen.(R) Martin
Dempsey, have nearly nothing in common—except a deep and unwavering belief that the hard problems
we face in our businesses, at the national level, and internationally can be solved with better leadership.
Drawing on examples from business, academia, government, and the military, Ori will show:
▪ How the speed and accessibility of information create digital echoes that make facts vulnerable
▪ How the fear of losing control is pushing us toward exclusion and why leaders should develop an
instinct for inclusion
▪ How to create networks of inclusion within the organization
▪ How to leverage inclusion to improve communication and gain better knowledge from all edges
of the organization
▪ How to create ongoing processes to ensure inclusion continues to be leveraged toward
organizational success
Ori provides audiences with engaging stories, practical takeaways, and the leadership tools necessary to
address today’s real leadership challenges.
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