Natalie Nixon

Named a Top 50 Keynote speaker in the world  •  Creativity & Future of Work Expert  •  award-winning author

I am a creativity strategist who advises leaders on achieving transformative business results by applying wonder & rigor.

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Natalie Nixon

Languages: English

Speaking Fee: starting at $25,000

BUSINESS, LEADERSHIP speaker

Natalie Nixon, PhD is "the creativity whisperer to the C-Suite".

She is a creativity strategist who advises leaders on achieving transformative business results by applying
wonder & rigor.

She is a highly sought after global keynote speaker, valued for her accessible expertise on creativity, the future of work and innovation.

Natalie was selected for Real Leaders' "Top 50 Keynote Speakers in the World for 2022" list; and has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company and INC. She is the author of the award-winning The Creativity Leap - an honoree in the creativity category of Fast Company's 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards. Her firm, Figure 8 Thinking, was named among the top 20 women-led innovation firms in 2021 by Core 77. Clients have included Microsoft, Salesforce, Comcast, Citrix, Morrison & Foerster, Living Cities, VaynerMedia and Bloomberg.

A hybrid thinker, Natalie consistently applies her background in cultural anthropology, fashion, design thinking and dance. She is an early-stage investor at two social impact ventures, valued for her ability to work at the intersection of commercial value and stakeholder equity.

Natalie is a trustee of the Smithsonian's Cooper Hewitt Design Museum; Vassar College; and Leadership+Design. She has lived in Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Israel, and Sri Lanka and is proficient in Portuguese and Spanish. She is certified as a Foresight Practitioner by the Institute for the Future. She received her BA (honors) from Vassar College, and her PhD from the University of Westminster in London.

When she's not dancing up a storm in hip-hop class, Natalie is fine-tuning her salsa, foxtrot and tango on the ballroom floor. She lives in her hometown of Philadelphia with her husband, John Nixon, and is the proud stepmother of Sydney.

View Popular Speaking Topics

Adapt or Disrupt: Creativity’s Business ROI

Creativity is the engine for innovation. This talk builds the business case for creativity and that the best leaders are creative to their core - no matter the sector. The challenge is that creativity isn’t mentioned in the corporate boardroom because people don’t really understand what creativity is. At the end of this talk, audience members will be equipped with a simple and unique method to apply creativity, as well as tips to regularly exercise creativity for strategic outcomes and business impact with their teams and clients.

It’s a Hybrid World After All: Making Innovation Stick in the Modern Office

What exactly does “working in the office” mean in a pandemic reality world? There are lots of opportunities to reframe collaboration, teaming and leadership to yield the best innovation and meaningful work. The place to start is by applying Natalie Nixon’s 3iCreativity™ framework: inquiry, improvisation and intuition. In this talk, Natalie shares examples and tactical methods to boost critical skills in our new working world of blurred boundaries.

4 Creativity Leaps You MUST Make for the Future of Work

We tend to talk about the future of work as a binary proposition - either “run for the hills, the robots are taking over” or “automation and ubiquitous cloud will make life easier and amazing for all!”. The 4th Industrial revolution is characterized by ubiquitous cloud tech, automation, and AI. This talk explores the opportunities for technology to amplify what is uniquely human vs humans getting overwhelmed by the technology. This talk takes the audience through 4 pivotal creativity leaps we must make to be prepared for the future of work.

The WonderRigor™ Organization

This talk explains how to set up your organization for more wonder AND more rigor. Companies are clamoring to innovate but they are not investing the time to design processes and systems for creativity. They spend too much time in the weeds and forget that creativity is the engine for innovation. It goes beyond only setting up an innovation lab or center. Creativity requires wonder and rigor, and it’s the catalyst for innovation

Soft Skills are Hard Core

Just as we have IQ and EQ, we also have CQ- or a creativity quotient. This talk explores the links between creativity and leadership and how leaders with a high CQ behave, interact with stakeholders, and co-create a strategic vision. Fundamental to the capability is developing the 3iCreativity™ framework: inquiry, improvisation, and intuition.

The Future of Work is Jazz

This talk explores how the most successful and flourishing companies will be the ones that are adaptive and improvisational. Attendees will learn the connections between jazz improvisation and optimal organizational design. The talk will break down what improvisation is, and how to improvise more at work. It will also explain what foresight is and how any team can build this competency for more relevant strategic planning. 

Awards & Publications

Books published

Natalie is the author of the award-winning The Creativity Leap - an honoree in the creativity category of Fast Company's 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards.

Awards Received

Natalie was selected for Real Leaders' "Top 50 Keynote Speakers in the World for 2022" list; and has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company and INC. Her firm, Figure 8 Thinking, was named among the top 20 women-led innovation firms in 2021 by Core 77.

3 Reasons to Book Natalie for Your Event

1. Inspires Creativity & future-focus

2. Engaging & innovative

3. practical tips & takeaways

Worked With:

3 Ways to Book Natalie

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Natalie Nixon can help you
                    and unlock the work you were                  

born to do.

Natalie Nixon can help you                   
and unlock the work you were                 

get unstuck

born to do.

get unstuck

Natalie helped us              on priority areas and                   by having
honest conversations about tough challenges we need to tackle. 

Natalie helped us
            on priority areas and                 
by having honest conversations about tough challenges we need to tackle. 

zero in

build trust

Natalie had us all on the
                             for her entire presentation!

Natalie had us all on the                  
         for her
entire presentation!

edge of our

edge of our seats

seats

Journey to Paid Speaking Gigs Podcast

"If you are 50% terrified and 50% exhilarated, then leap...because the terror anchors you...and the exhilaration keeps you optimistic, and buoyant, and dreaming, and hopeful." - Natalie Nixon

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