Natalie Nixon

  • Strategy, Foresight and Innovation Expert
  • CEO, Founder & Creativity Strategist at Figure 8 Thinking
  • Award-Winning Author and Keynote Speaker
  • Creative Consultant for IBM, NBCUniversal, Bank of America, Salesforce, Microsoft, Google, and Deloittle,

Executive leadership strategist Dr. Natalie Nixon is "the creativity whisperer for the C-Suite." She's considered by many to be the foremost authority on unlocking the creativity within teams, at every level. Be it mid-level management, in-person or remote teams, C-suite executives, or board room, Dr. Nixon's pioneering work in creativity and results have reshaped how companies like IBM, NBCUniversal by Comcast, Bank of America, Salesforce, Microsoft, Google, Deloittle, and many others have approached their biggest business obstacles and resulted in unprecedented results.

With contemporaries like Seth Godin, Simon Sinek, Adam Grant, and Scott Galloway, coupled with her unique outlook and experience, Dr. Natalie Nixon stands above almost all other speakers for our event. Dr. Nixon's life in creativity, research, and results-based innovative process has trade associations, corporations, and NGOs from around the world raving about her talks. As a keynote speaker, audiences value her accessible expertise on creativity, the future of work, and innovation. She advises leaders on transformation--by applying necessary tools of wonder and rigor to amplify profit, growth, and overall business value. She brings an innovative and unique perspective to every keynote, strategic advisory engagement, and leadership coaching session. 

Her experience living in 5 countries and her background in the social sciences (anthropology), academia (business and innovation management), and the arts (fashion and dance) distinguish her as a one-of-a-kind creativity expert. Because of the value she brings to each event, Natalie has been named among the top 50 keynote speakers in the world. Dr. Nixon has been featured in all of the business leadership staples, such as ForbesFast CompanyINC., and many others. 

Dr. Natalie Nixon, her book The Creativity Leap: Unleash Curiosity, Improvisation and Intuition at Work, and firm Figure 8 Thinking, have garnered a trifecta of praises. Core77 recognized her firm as one of the top women-led firms of 2022. "[Natalie] helps you get unstuck and unlock the work you were born to do!" (Seth Godin, Marketing guru); "[Natalie] is a personal trainer for your creativity muscle" (Jessi Hempel, host of LinkedIn's "Hello Monday" podcast). 

Natalie received her BA (honors) from Vassar College, and her PhD from the University of Westminster in London.

 


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Talks & Conversations with Natalie Nixon
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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 ...

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 3i CreativityTM framework: inquiry, improvi ...

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 3i CreativityTM 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 ta ...

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 take to be prepared for the future of work.

The Wonder Rigor TM 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 ...

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 a 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 3iCreativityTM f ...

Just as we have IQ and EQ, we also have a 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 3iCreativityTM framework: inquiry, improvisation, and intuition.

The Future of Work is Jazz

This talk explores how the most successful and flourishing companies will be 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 wor ...

This talk explores how the most successful and flourishing companies will be 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.

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Biography

Natalie Nixon, PhD is "the creativity whisperer for 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.