Futurist Jim Carroll
KEYNOTE:
Leading Through Uncertainty:
Aligning to Opportunity When Volatility is the New Normal
Innovative organizations succeed by mastering bthe pace of the new high-velocity economy. In an era of economic challenge, they develop a relentless focus on chasing opportunity!For more than two decades, Futurist JIm Carroll has shared worldwide key strateegies for moving forward through uncertainty
Futurist Jim Carroll
Author & Keynote Speaker
Trends And Innovation Expert
Futurist Jim Carroll is on a mission to help organizations
understand how to align to tomorrow, today.He has been booked by CEOs of dozens of manufacturing organizations, worldwide, for his thought leadership on the future of the manufacturing industry.“I help CEOs, senior executives, and association leaders achieve their strategic objectives by aligning them with a disruptive, accelerating future. It’s actionable, powerful leadership insight based on detailed, specific industry trends – delivered within a fast-paced keynote with a compelling motivational style!”
– Jim Carroll
Keynote Overview
Critical Growth Oriented Insight for Your Leadership Team or Corporate Meeting
World Class Innovators Focus on Growth Despite Economic Uncertainty and VolatilityJim Carroll knows from experience that organizations that focus on staying ahead of fast-paced economic trends in an era of volatility are best positioned for long-term success. He’s been sharing this critical insight with leadership teams since the dot.com collapse-induced recession of 2001!In 2025, it’s pretty volatile out there and uncertainty rules our future. In the context of that, it’s important to focus on the long-term goal, not the short-term volatility.Jim’s keynote focuses on how to lead through uncertainty. He shares powerful insight gathered during previous economic downturns and periods of volatility and uncertainty.Here’s the key message – long-term winners are those who chose not to participate in the downturn, but instead focus on growth, opportunity, and the future.It's powerful insight for your corporate leadership meeting or offsite event.
Post 2008 Downturn:
Innovators Saw 3x Growth
The Growth Was Sustained
Doubling Down on Opportunity
The Lessons of History
Jim’s keynote focuses on how to lead through uncertainty.He shares powerful insight gathered during and after the 2001 and 2008 economic downturns, as well as subsequent periods of volatility and uncertainty.Here’s the key message – long-term winners are those who chose not to participate in the downturn! It seems simple but is pretty critical – when uncertainty stares you in the face, double down on innovation and transformation, and refocus on the long-term view!Some sample data? Here are two key things we learned from the 2008-09 global economic meltdown. First, ‘winners’ grew at a 17% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during the downturn compared to 0% among the ‘losers.’Second, those ‘winners’ locked in gains of 13% CAGR in the years after the downturn compared to the ‘losers’ stalling at 1%.But wait - there's more!
Keynote Overview
Critical Growth Oriented Insight for Your Leadership Team or Corporate Meeting
Powerful lessons were learned after the 2001 and 2008 downturns.This insight impacted what growth-oriented organizations focused on through the next decade.Consider this Grant Thornton survey from 2022, when uncertainty was once again ruling our world: 50% of major organizations planned to double down on innovation in a downturn.
Here's what was said:“They don't intend to just retrench and try to ride it out. Most are counting on continued investment in technology and innovation to push them through.Most companies believe a recession is coming, and the key is to plan now - then invest in, innovate, and execute the core business during the downturn, which will position companies that dominate the recovery.Companies that approach a recession with the discipline to control expenses and manage cash, but with a matching vision to align ongoing investment with strategy and opportunity, can win the downturn rather than merely survive it."What is it these organizations do to keep moving forward? Read on!
Economic Winners
Doubling Down on Opportunity Despite Uncertainty
Bottom line: if you've got volatility and uncertainty now staring you in the face it's a pretty brutal time to think about the future.But you need to be relentless on opportunity.Here are the lessons Jim shares.Those who chased the common narrative of falling into recessionary thinking? They do exactly what you would expect of them.
they undertake heavy cost-cutting
they scale back of R&D
they see a lot of quality talent lost due to cutbacks
they stray out of their core business to try to find a path forward
they take a wait-and-see approach
On the other hand, those who achieve significant CAGR despite a downturn do these things:
played on the offensive but selectively
they accelerated R&D spend
they focused sales efforts on top customers
they maintained or boosted marketing while others cut back
they focused on digital customer experience
The lesson should be clear.
Read on.
Innovating Through Uncertainty
Innovating Through Volatility
Agility is the New Leadership
Opting Out
Moving Forward!
If you’ve got volatility and uncertainty now staring you in the face it’s a pretty brutal time to be thinking about the future.But you need to be relentless on opportunity - because history has taught us that it is those who win in the long run! That's the insight that Jim Carroll shares.In his keynote, Jim Carroll builds on insight captured during periods of economic uncertainty to provide a concrete foundation on which to move forward despite relentless economic volatility.It’s proven, battle-tested insight and time-tested strategies on aligning to the future despite uncertainty.In this leadership-oriented talk, Jim covers the trends that will provide for major growth opportunities through the next five to ten years.He will also share powerful insight on how growth oriented organizations achieved stunning success despite the economic headwinds all around them through a series of deliberate decisions.
From Board Meetings to Corporate Offsite Leadership Meetings & Events
Extensive Thought Leadership Insight
Jim shares his insight with small intimate groups of 15-20 (Boards, senior leadership teams) to large-scale corporate leadership meetings of several hundred people. He adapts his style to the audience - from highly interactive small group discussions to keynote presentations.He has several Websites which detail his 30-year track record in providing high level guidance to organizations worldwide.
A Globally Recognized Leadership Expert
Why Jim Carroll?
For 30+ years, Futurist Jim Carroll has been on a mission to help organizations understand how to align to tomorrow, today.Jim Carroll is the futurist that CEOs trust. His global client list demonstrates that they seek his accumulated 30 years of experience, wisdom, and insight, developed by the time he has spent with some of the leading organizations in the world.Jim’s leadership keynote will align you to your disruptive, accelerating future by providing detailed, specific industry trends. It’s powerful leadership insight delivered in a compelling and motivational style!You know you need to align to a world that is faster, more complex, and that demands resilience. You need deep insight into the trends that will impact you and the strategies that you can pursue to align with them. You need to inspire your leadership team and members to get moving. That’s how Jim Carroll will help you.Don’t just take Jim’s word for it. Join other leading organizations like NASA, Pfizer, The World Bank, Mercedes Benz, the PGA, Blackrock, the Wall Street Journal, and even Disney, all of whom arranged for Jim’s insight for a global leadership event or customer meeting – and came away empowered with new insight to take on our faster, more complex world.
30+ YEARS OF CEO-LEVEL LEADERSHIP INSIGHT
Your issues are critical; your leadership meeting is important; your success with your event is mandatory.You need a battle-tested proven expert who can deliver concise trends-oriented leadership insight.
he has 30+ years of well-honed stage presence and style
he has an established reputation as a thought leader with very detailed, extensive, industry-specific insight
he has been booked by CEOs worldwide, based on his reputation for delivering insight that is well-researched, fact-oriented, and forward-oriented.
Don’t trust your critical leadership to inexperience – because experience matters!
