Keynote Speaker on Liminal Leadership & Change
You found my “semi-illustrious professional speaker” aspect, well done. I’m Dr. Fox, a global Hall of Fame keynote speaker working with teams who quest to stay relevant in a changing world.
We are in the midst of The Great Unravelling. Climate, technology, social systems—the old paradigms aren’t holding. A storm is coming—it’s already here. This is not business as usual anymore. Now, more than ever, you’ve got to keep your wits about you.
Which is precisely why events are so important.
The mystic James Lee Byars said it well:
“To arrive at the edge of the world’s knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves.”
Nothing comes close to the generative potential of live events. Whole new value blossoms from such. Events enable us to deepen connections, experience complex ideas at depth, and finally have the conversations that just can’t happen in our day-to-day. Events catalyse meaningful progress and new becoming.
When we get the alchemy right, we can feel the palpable shift within the room; that physiological quickening that precedes epiphany.
Events are the fulcrum; the hinge of future history, and the awakening of hidden potential. Events are magic.
And that’s what we’re creating together.
Making Magic Together
You don’t want to go through all the effort of gathering folks together only to have them sit in a room and be talked at. We can do so much better than that.
I’ve produced and hosted over a hundred events; paid for speakers, managed logistics, and carried the risk. I’ve also contributed to over half a thousand events. I know, first hand, what makes a speaker easy to work with and extraordinary value.
And so a question I always ask is:
“What do you want your audience to think, feel, and do differently as a result of your event?”
Everything I bring is in service to this.
It’s Wyrd Work
I do Wyrd Work.
Wyrd is olde fae magic that pertains to the shaping of that which is to become.
To attend to such, we must first pay attention, sense-into and attune to existing pattern.* Only from there can we find the threads that lead to the adjacent-possible and the realisation of hidden potential. In this way, change is never imposed from the outside but rather: cultivated, coaxed and evoked. This is how we catalyse emergence and becoming.
* This also includes simple principles as “meet the audience where they’re at.” So, if your audience are staunchly pragmatic material realists, fret not! I am a scientist, and can cloak my magic and work wonders with them, just the same.
Dr. Fox works particularly well with smart and sceptical audiences who’ve “seen it all before”
What I Know
I am well-versed in living systems, complexity, emergence, development, and change. Themes of power, myth, and magic also wend through much of my work. I also have a PhD in motivation science.
This all informs the domains I work in: leadership, strategy and mythopoetic development.
⟠ liminal leadership
‘Leadership’ is a horrendously overused term these days, I know. And so it’s worth sensing into what people mean when they say ‘leadership.’
Leadership is the capacity to orient collective attention and action toward emergent possibility. It’s how we create the conditions in which people can see what needs doing—and choose to do it.
Liminal leadership is when this capacity is applied to the in-between. When the established ways become increasingly untenable—but the way forward is not yet clear—liminal leadership is what sees you through.
For liminal leaders know: only that which can change can continue.
⟠ emergent strategy
Strategy is how we intend to invest resources toward desired outcomes.
If you work in a stable context, you can focus on strategic planning and process optimisation. But if you suspect the world is changing—if emerging technology (artificial intelligence, say), new regulations or other factors are anticipated to cause disruption—incremental improvement won’t cut it. You need a different approach.
Emergent Strategy pairs with Liminal Leadership. It is an orientation to strategy development as living conversation, with optionality and intelligence cultivated in-house (not outsourced to consulting firms).
My book How to Lead a Quest provides a deep dive on emergent strategy. Questing is the precursor to strategy; the source of competitive advantage and differentiation. Emergent strategy is also how we navigate change deftly.
⟠ mythic mode
Mythic Mode is an elevated way of engaging with life itself. Something above and beyond the mechanical mode of living and working most settle into. Deeper, too.
Mythic Mode is also the highest level of challenge in roleplaying games—unlocked after completing the default game. Many people reach some success—and then plateau, becoming habituated to the default, working productively towards what they think they want. But the invitation and opportunity is: to step up and into a whole new game.
To enter Mythic Mode. Enlivened by challenge and drawn towards participation in an even greater story. Without Mythic Mode, you’re lost in finite games. But with Mythic Mode, you're alive to the infinite game, and attuned to what matters.
Keynote Topics
No two contributions are the same—there are no “off-the-shelf” presentations to purchase and hit play on. Every audience and context is unique, and I adapt my approach accordingly.
Having said that, here are some serving suggestions to get the conversation started.
i) A Quest Beckons
Venture—Beyond the Default
A keynote that moves audiences from default thinking toward emergent possibility. The key insight here is in the distinction between:
- Meaningful Progress: that which brings us closer to value and relevance, and
- The Delusion of Progress: where default thinking prevents meaningful progress.
Leaders must know the difference. This keynote is warm, witted, illuminating—and very effective at winning over even the most sceptical within the room.
You will learn:
- How defaults shape our thinking, motivation and behaviour
- How to distinguish between meaningful progress and the delusion of progress
- How to attune to glimmers, weak signals and the magic of emergence
- How to use quest-augmented strategy to cultivate optionality and antifragility
- How to use qualitative sense-making to orient towards enduring relevance
#curiosity #emergence #strategy #story #progress
ii) Into the Storm
Rise to the Complexity
Sometimes good leaders need a wake up call, lest complacency and hubris take root. And sometimes, after saying all the correct and expected things, an event needs to invite some trickster-energy into the mix.
Because the future is not what it used to be. We’re living in a time of exponential advancements in technology—to the backdrop of a metacrisis and ecological collapse. Now is the time to rise to the complexity of the challenges before us, so as to (quite literally) save the future from dystopia. Heed the call.
You will learn:
- Why leadership development has become domesticated—and how to break free
- How to cultivate meta-rational sensibilities (the capacity to assess which rational framework applies in which context, without being captured by any)
- How to ‘keep your wits about you’ amidst Artificial Intelligence, misinformation and relentless distraction
- How Hermetic Principles can be used to navigate the emergent and unknown
- Why Living-Systems Thinking is key to surviving ‘these times’
#leadership #development #complexity #courage #change
iii) Change the Game
Shift Behaviour, Shape Change
The true measure of the impact of your event is not just how people feel in the moment, or immediately after it concludes. It’s in what happens in the weeks, months and years that follow.
This keynote is “motivation mastery” for anyone in pursuit of complex goals. With insights from psychology and game design—and the wit of a wizard-philosopher—we can ensure your event is a thunderous success.
You will learn:
- How to recognise where our defaults are helpful—and where they hold us back
- How to attune to the subtle glimmers, inklings and hunches generated by this event—and attune to that which is most apt for you
- How to surpass your ‘immunity to change’ and unfurl into a bold new chapter of your story
- How to maintain subtly-disruptive rituals so as to ensure meaningful progress
- How to bring the best elements of role-playing games into the way you approach the infinite game of Life
#motivation #culture #progress #rituals #purpose
iv) Unlock Mythic Mode
This Isn’t Even Your Final Form
Most people persist in Machine Mode—finding new ways to optimise themselves so as to be more productive. And most eventually become trapped within the efficient patterns they forge; circling through the same motions, achieving the same successes, and wondering: surely there’s more to Life than this?
There is. So much more.
And so this keynote presentation blends developmental and mythopoetic sensibilities to awaken and enliven the greater character within us all.
You will learn:
- How to attune to the narratives that serve you—and the ones that enslave you
- The difference between ambition (what you think you should want) and vocation (what’s actually calling you)
- How to play finite games as an infinite player
- Why “do it for the plot” is good advice
- How to access Mythic Mode in any moment—and be enriched by a qualitative field of relational possibility
#mythopoetic #character #mythic #potential #aliveness
v) How to Be A Wizard in “These Times”
Arcane Wisdom in The Age of Artificial Intelligence
The Artificial Intelligence keynote.
I’ve worked with strategic innovation teams in AI for over a decade. But in recent times, swathes of folk have become drunk on the power and promise of this new technology. And whilst there is much to be excited about, the times call for Arcane Wisdom to complement the exuberance of Artificial Intelligence.
This is the domain of wizardry. To be a wizard is to be wise (or: to at least strive for such).
We now each carry a black stone tablet in our pockets. We can readily summon food and transport, easily cast our voice and project our image across time, and effortlessly open portals to new worlds. But with great power comes great responsibility—for power corrupts.
This keynote will wisen up your audience with regards to technology, power, and magic.
You will learn:
- How to avoid the cognitive atrophy that comes with instant answers
- How to ensure your imagination doesn’t become domesticated by convenience
- How to keep your wits about you in an age of ubiquitous surveillance and glazing
- How to use Arcane Intelligence to work with Artificially Intelligent entities
- How to co-create a world more curious and kind (and a future less grim)
#AI #wisdom #imagination #magic #power
Five Modes of Engagement
I’ve hosted live whisky tastings woven with poetry, facilitated on-stage D&D immersions as means to smuggle in new wisdom, led contemplative river walks through storms, woven improvisational jazz into leadership off-sites, and more.
You and the team and I—we can conjure something special.
To start the conversation, here are the five main formats in which I can contribute to your event.
For deeper work beyond catalytic events, I offer consulting and guidance.
Summon a Wizard
I am called to speak at many an event, and I would love to hear about yours.
Kim will happily provide a sense of my availability, along with a general fee guide.
Note: I am often booked a year in advance, so it’s always a good idea to check availability early. Plus this gives us more time to shape your event.
If all is aligned, Kim can tee up a “discovery call” wherein we can explore how I can best contribute to your event. Is it a keynote, an immersion—or something else entirely? Let’s find out.
If we choose to work together, we will then arrange for a comprehensive briefing call. This is where I’ll ask you plenty of questions, so as to understand the strategic intent underpinning your event. As promised, I’ll also ask what you want your audience to think, feel and do differently, as a result of your event. From there we can finesse how I best contribute, and where I can offer additional assistance before and after your event.
Then, come your event, we shall make magic together.
Not sure yet? Subscribe to The Museletter and let’s keep in touch.