Biography

Often referred to as the “Digital Dale Carnegie” and the “Tony Robbins of Tech,” Erik Qualman is a five-time bestselling author and motivational keynote speaker who has spoken in 55 countries and reached more than 50 million people. He’s also a TEDx speaker

His Socialnomics work has been featured on 60 Minutes and in the Wall Street Journal, and has been used by organizations ranging from the National Guard to NASA. His book Digital Leader propelled him to be voted the “2nd Most Likeable Author in the World” behind Harry Potter’s J.K. Rowling.

Formerly a sitting professor at Harvard and MIT’s edX labs, Qualman was awarded an honorary doctorate by NYU School of Business for his groundbreaking work on his Pulitzer Prize nominated book, What Happens in Vegas Stays on YouTube. The university signified that “Qualman is to digital leadership what Deming is to quality and Drucker is to management.”

Qualman is also the founder of Equalman Studios which has produced film and animation projects for the likes of Disney, Cartier, CompuCom, Chase, Hearts on Fire, IBM, and many other global brands.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
 
Digital Leadership + AI: The Future of Innovation & Growth
 
We don’t have a choice on whether we team-up with AI, the choice is how well we do it. As a leading futurist, practitioner, author, and speaker, Erik Qualman is at the forefront of the AI revolution and the impact it’s having across all sectors: business, education, healthcare, government, and beyond. 
 
In entertaining fashion, Qualman will cover these 3 critical organizational outcomes:
  1. How AI is revolutionizing the way we live and work and how your organization can harness AI to drive innovation, enhance customer experiences, and streamline operations. 
  2. Overcoming the challenges these new technologies present including: successfully navigating ethical implications, job adjustments, algorithmic bias, privacy, security, and more.
  3. Striking the right balance between AI and Eye-to-Eye (Jetsons + Flintstones).
This entertaining, educating, and empowering experience will provide you with the tools and knowledge needed today, and tomorrow, to harness the power of AI to drive growth and innovation. Your audience will learn how to stay a year ahead of your competition but never a year ahead of your market. 

OTHER SPEAKING TOPICS:

  • Digital Leadership: The 5 Simple Habits of Digital Leaders
  • Focus: How and What to Focus On in a World of Change
  • Innovation by Design: Becoming the Disruptor vs. the Disrupted
  • Socialnomics: Winning Customers’ Hearts and Minds at Scale
  • Digital Transformation: We Don’t Have a Choice On Whether We Digitally Transform, The Choice Is On How Well We Do It
Read More

Videos

Request Availability

Speech TopicsExpand each topic to learn more

Digital Leadership + AI: The Future of Innovation & Growth

We don't have a choice on whether we team-up with AI, the choice is how well we do it. As a leading futurist, practitioner, professor, author, and speaker, Erik Qualman is at the forefront of the AI revolution and the impact it’s having across all sectors: business, education, healthcare, government, and beyond.
In entertaining fashion, Qualman will cover these 3 critical organizational outcomes:
- How AI is revolutionizing the way we live and work and how your organization can harness AI to drive innovation, enhance customer experiences, and streamline operations.
- Overcoming the challenges these new technologies present including: successfully navigating ethical implications, job adjustments, algorithmic bias, privacy, security, and more.
- Striking the right balance between AI and Eye-to-Eye (Jetsons + Flintstones).

This entertaining, educating, and empowering experience will provide you with the tools and knowledge needed today, and tomorrow, to harness the power of AI to drive growth and innovation. Your audience will learn how to stay a year ahead of your competition but never a year ahead of your market.

Designing Your Future

The best way to ensure you are relevant in the future is to create it. Leaders in this digital decade are made—not born. The key is not only understanding the latest in social media, IoT, mobile, AI, Blockchain and beyond, but, most importantly, understanding how they work together. This session will give you tips and tricks on how to take advantage of current and future trends to maximize your organization’s impact on the world—not only today but in the digital decades ahead. Future forward!

Innovation by Design

Ensure you are the disruptor versus the disrupted by designing and instilling a culture of creativity. This entertaining, educating, and empowering session provides the roadmap for your organization’s innovation enlightenment. Leap over the quicksand and traps of incremental change and land on a foundation of progressive & practical innovation principles. Qualman helps unlock the keys to staying a year ahead of your competion while avoiding being too far ahead of your customer.

The Power of Focus

The difference between winners and losers in this digitally distracted is ... Focus. Winners are constantly focusing on the important versus the immediate. While it sounds simple, it’s not easy. The #1 killer of promising careers, teams and businesses is a lack of focus. We either try to do too much, or we put our 9me, treasures and trust into the wrong buckets. Qualman shares his two-year focus project—providing prac9cal focus techniques used by the world’s most successful people and organiza9ons. Learn the power of focusing in an unfocused world.

Socialnomics: Winning Customers Hearts & Wallets

Based on his #1 Bestseller, Qualman dives into the powerful concept of Socialnomics. Word-of-Mouth is on digital steroids and has transformed into World-of-Mouth. Organizations must learn the new rules of social, mobile, video, and beyond, or risk missing this generational opportunity to earn customers’ loyalty and drive long-term success. Socialnomics is the key to winning customers’ hearts, minds, and wallets.

Testimonials

His depth of insight and breadth of examples have prompted us to shift our thinking on leadership.
– Starbucks
Qualman is to Digital Leadership what Deming is to quality and Drucker is to management.
– Scott Galloway, NYU Professor
Equalman raised the bar to a new high that few will be able to match. His presentation delivered a perfect mix of thought leadership, trends, and the building blocks required to thrive in this digital era.
– Sony PlayStation
Qualman was dynamic and inspiring. We appreciated that he tailored his presentation to suit our agency and audience.
– FBI
Qualman is to digital leadership what Deming is to quality and Drucker is to management.
– NYU Stern
Equalman's presentation was the most important business presentation — in terms of immediate impact in how I approach my job in sales — that I have sat through in 10 years!
– SVP of Sales, ADP
In an hour, Erik took us through the fast and immediate world of digital communication while delivering an inspirational message on how to get noticed professionally, improve personal brand image and how to be “FLAWSOME!” through the new rules of reputation. Thank you for your time and personally interacting after your presentation with each of our customers. Your time spent with us was inspirational and valuable.
– Global VP Sales | Hyatt
You've made such a difference for us — it's hard to articulate the different types of positive impact your virtual messages have had.
– Disney

Booksby Erik Qualman

The Focus Project

What Happens on Campus Stays on YouTube

DIGITAL LEADER

How To Sell In On Linkedin

SOCIALNOMICS

What Happens In Vegas Stays On youtube

Blog Posts

Top Female Speakers: Impactful Voices Redefining Leadership, Resilience, and Innovation

Why are top female speakers some of the most transformative voices on stage? Because leadership today isn’t about titles. It’s about impact.

Read More

Olympian Apolo Ohno Insights on Resilience, Health & Well-Being

Olympian Apolo Ohno shares actionable strategies to cultivate resilience, boost health, and master pivots in business and life on The Keynote Curators Podcast.

Read More

Celebrating Disability Pride Month with Stories That Transform

Celebrate Disability Pride Month by harnessing resilience, inclusive storytelling, and actionable frameworks to redefine possibility and inspire transformation.

Read More

Embrace the Risk: How Creativity Thrives on Experiments

Learn from marketing provocateur Seth Godin why true creativity demands risk-taking, failed experiments, and new systems to drive innovation.

Read More

Voices That Ignite Change: Sustainability and Climate Change Speakers Who Inspire Action

Why These Voices Matter Right Now Why are sustainability and climate change speakers so important right now? Well, picture this: you're sitting at an event, sipping your coffee, when someone steps on stage and starts...

Read More

Unlocking Trust and Loyalty & Build Better Relationships with Barb Betts

Discover Barb Betts’ proven frameworks for turning transactions into trust, loyalty, and driving business growth through authentic relationships.

Read More

Related Speakers