Heather McGowan
- Co-author of both The Adaptation Advantage (2020) and The Empathy Advantage (2023)
- Gives audiences the courage and insight to thrive in a constantly changing business landscape
Heather McGowan Speaker Biography
Future-of-work strategist Heather E. McGowan helps leaders prepare their people and organizations for the Post Pandemic world of work. The last few years have forever changed where we work, who works, how we work and measure work, what we do for work and, most importantly, why we work. McGowan is a sense maker, a dot connector, a deep thinker, and a pattern matcher who sees things that others miss. Heather gives people the courage and insight that illuminates their path forward. She’s transforming mindsets and entire organizations around the globe with her message about how the next phase of work will focus on continuous learning, rather than simply learning once in order to work. Pulitzer Prize–winning NYT columnist Thomas Friedman frequently quotes Heather in his books and columns and describes her as “the oasis” when it comes to insights into the future of work. In 2020 Heather was recognized as one of the top 50 female futurists in the world by Forbes. Heather’s sessions help employees and leaders alike prepare for and adapt to jobs that do not yet exist.
McGowan has provided keynote addresses for audiences from start-ups to government organizations to universities to publicly traded Fortune 100 companies, including AMP Financial, SAP, Abbvie, Biogen, Fidelity, FIS, Mastercard, AT&T, Financial Times, Siemens, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Kaiser Permanente, JPMorgan Chase, Lockheed Martin, MassMutual, MetLife, Best Buy, Raytheon, The US Army, Accor Hotels, Paramount, Chevron, AARP, Zendesk, Tableau, Fidelity, de Beers, Professional Beauty Association, and The World Bank among hundreds of others. Heather addresses audiences in person from small summits for C suite executives to large events in the tens of thousands. Her virtual talks have reached hundreds of thousands. Often quoted in the media, notably in the New York Times, McGowan serves on the advisory board for Sparks & Honey, a New York–based culture-focused agency looking to the future for brands. McGowan’s academic work has included roles at Rhode Island School of Design, and Jefferson University, where she was the strategic architect of the first undergraduate college focused exclusively on innovation. In 2019 Heather was appointed as a faculty member of the Swinburne University Centre For the New Workforce in Melbourne, Australia. In 2022, McGowan was awarded an honorary doctorate from Pennsylvania College of Art and Design in addition to earning her MBA from Babson College and her BFA in Industrial Design from Rhode Island School of Design. McGowan is the co-editor and author of the book Disrupt Together: How Teams Consistently Innovate and a Forbes contributor. McGowan’s first book on the future of work, published in 2020: The Adaptation Advantage: Let Go, Learn Fast, and Thrive in the Future of Work, reached number three in business management books on Amazon and was named one of the best business books of 2021 by Soundview. McGowan’s most recent book The Empathy Advantage: Leading the Empowered Workforce published in March 2023 and is a finalist for the Next Big Idea Book Club and identified as a top ten business book to read in 2023 by Business Chief.
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Speech Topics
THE AUGMENTED IMPERATIVE
Unleashing Human Potential in the AI Era
AI isn’t replacing us—it’s amplifying us. Heather explains how tools have always reshaped human cognition, and how leaders can preserve agency while using AI to extend capability.
Think you can’t remember phone numbers like you used to? YOU’RE NOT ALONE.
As we hand off more tasks to technology, some of our more-human capabilities will naturally fade—yet while automation may lead to atrophy in some areas, augmentation opens doors to entirely new human capabilities. The key isn’t only using AI to replace what we currently do by automating it, but transforming work as we know it.
In this eye-opening presentation, Heather cuts through the AI hype to demonstrate why thriving alongside AI isn’t about having the right answers—it’s about asking better questions, framing new challenges, and enhancing what makes us uniquely human.
The audience will leave able to:
- Partner with AI to enhance—not erase—human value
- Use productive friction to know what to automate vs. augment
- Lead teams through technological transformation
LEADING IN THE AGE OF UNCERTAINTY
The Curiosity Advantage
Agility isn’t optional. Heather explains why effective leaders embrace learning and unlearning, and how to help teams regulate emotions and stay grounded when everything feels unstable.
Remember when being a leader meant having all the answers? Today’s most successful leaders are ASKING BETTER QUESTIONS.
In a world of economic volatility, AI advancement, cybersecurity challenges, and employee mental wellbeing responsibility, leadership has evolved beyond simple command-control tactics to drive productivity.
Today’s exceptional leaders acknowledge complexity as a reality and leverage curiosity over unrealistic certainty, asking better questions amid constant change.
In this talk, Heather reveals how forward-thinking leaders succeed by unlocking their teams’ natural capacity to adapt and innovate.
You’ll discover practical frameworks to transform challenges into opportunities and evidence-based strategies replacing outdated leadership models. Through compelling research and real-world examples, learn how empowering teams, nurturing curiosity, building trust, and harnessing collective intelligence creates both agile organizations and fulfilled teams that thrive amid change.
The audience will leave able to:
- Adapt with confidence instead of fear
- Build cultures where unlearning accelerates growth
- Navigate uncertainty as a core leadership ability
CLEAR ON PURPOSE
Turning Purpose into Performance Through a Shared Vision
Purpose is a performance driver. Heather shows how meaning and belonging create intrinsic motivation that outperforms perks.
In an era where success flows from meaningful connection, we thrive through deep listening, empathy that bridges divides, and dialogue that transforms conflict into shared purpose. By nurturing psychological safety and bold ideas, we unlock our collective potential through THE SPARK OF HOPE THAT ILLUMINATES THE PATH FORWARD.
The ability to bridge divides through emotional intelligence and skilled communication may be our most valuable professional competency in today’s interconnected world. When organizational purpose aligns with human potential, extraordinary things happen.
In this inspirational keynote, Heather reveals how purpose can become your organization’s most powerful performance driver. Through compelling research and real-world examples, she demonstrates how a shared vision can create the trust, belonging, and motivation needed to transform individual potential into collective impact. By getting clear on purpose, we don’t just adapt to change—we shape the future.
The audience will leave able to:
- Connect daily work to meaningful outcomes
- Align teams around a vision that moves people
- Reduce turnover through belonging
START WITH TRUST
The Lifeblood of High-Performing Teams
Trust isn’t soft—it’s infrastructure. Heather shows how high-trust systems unlock innovation, collaboration, and performance.
Despite disruptions like technology shifts and social changes, businesses today have a unique opportunity to tap into measurable advantages when it comes to engagement, innovation, and profitability—
AND IT ALL BEGINS WITH TRUST.
Just as humanity’s greatest achievements arose from collective effort, cohesive teams innovate faster, adapt more effectively, and consistently outperform when they are grounded in trust.
In this powerful presentation, Heather shares proven tools audiences can use to activate their natural collaborative strengths so they can achieve extraordinary results, gain a competitive advantage, and drive sustainable growth.
The audience will leave able to:
- Build psychological safety that accelerates performance
- Create cultures where collaboration happens naturally
SOLVE TOMORROW’S PROBLEMS TM
Harness Human Ingenuity to Navigate What’s Next
Move beyond problem-solving to problem-finding. Heather shows leaders how to ask better questions—the ones that unlock breakthrough opportunities.
Think organizations can’t change quickly? HISTORY PROVES OTHERWISE.
When naysayers said “it can’t be done,” humans accomplished the impossible—in weeks, not years. Each pivotal moment reminds us of humanity’s most underestimated asset: our ability to adapt in the face of seemingly impossible odds.
In this perspective-shifting keynote, Heather challenges the myth that we resist change using unforgettable stories about a mop, a burrito, and a hermit crab to demonstrate how we can tap into our natural curiosity and hardwired drive to collaborate to see and shape what’s next.
Drawing from her bestselling books The Adaptation Advantage and The Empathy Advantage, Heather reveals how leading organizations thrive when they place adaptability at their core, allowing them to find breakthrough opportunities where others least expect.
The audience will leave able to:
- Identify problems worth solving before competitors do
- Lead people to their next chapter, not just their next task
- Look for the person behind the problem, not just the problem itself
