Having propelled successful transformations of Spotify, Microsoft, Instagram, Chobani, and more using design thinking, Leland Maschmeyer is revered for his success on driving transformative growth through the design of creative systems and strategies.
As organizations move from a “steady hand at the wheel” model of growth to an “adapt and innovate” one, Leland is a visionary speaker for these disruptive times.
Business disruption has moved from being an occasional happenstance to a regular occurrence. Consequently, life and business feel like a chaotic soup of out-of-context information and dizzying perspective shifts. To adapt, leaders are now forced to confront questions that textbooks cannot answer: “Where is it all going?”; “Where do we build?”; “How do I move forward?” More than familiar with these questions, Leland Maschmeyer has spent twenty plus years mastering these questions as he successfully led companies through cycles of disruption and propelled them forward. How? By infusing the principles and practices of design into every part of these companies.
In the last decade, these and other design-driven companies have outperformed the S&P 500 by 228%. Leland shows how any company can achieve this greatness by discarding the tired notion that “design is decoration” and embracing a new one: Design is the discipline for mastering change. Design enables leaders at all levels to build teams and companies renowned for their creativity, speed, flexibility, and profound effectiveness in the face of change and difficulty.
Leland has been part of leading transformational change at some of the world’s leading companies, such as:
- Microsoft
- Spotify
- Twitch
- Chobani
- Dropbox
He has built organizations honored as the most creative in the world:
- “In-House Agency of the Year” (Ad Age)
- “Most Innovative Companies in the World” (Fast Co) – four times
- “Design Company of the Year” Finalist (Fast Co)
- “Company of the Year” (Food Dive)
- “Brands Changing the World” (Forbes)
- “Design Agency of the Year” (Ad Age) – two times
- “Agency Creatives Would Kill to Work At” (WNW Magazine)
Leland Maschmeyer’s Speech Topics:
THE MODEL OF LEADERSHIP IN THE 21ST-CENTURY: “LEADER AS DESIGNER”
Over the past decade, design-driven companies have outperformed the S&P 500 by 228%. Envy of them is well deserved. However, all companies can achieve this greatness. To do so, they must break through old models of leadership to embrace the modern one: “Leader as Designer.” The same discipline that connects companies to its customers can superpower leaders at all levels to build teams and companies envied for their creativity, speed, flexibility, and profound effectiveness.
This keynote may be customized to focus on:
- A practical guide to practicing design-driven leadership
- Supercharging growth by creating value, extracting value, and aligning value
- A “big think” guide for finding opportunities hidden inside complexity
- Designing narratives that inspire and unite diverse audiences
- Cultivating entrepreneurial teams
- Building your brand to become a growth multiplier
“IT’S INCREDIBLY HARD TO IMPRESS A ROOM OF CEOS. BUT LELAND MADE IT LOOK EASY.”
USE YOUR PAST TO TRANSFORM YOUR FUTURE
Contrary to popular belief, business transformation does not require a company to overhaul who it is and what it does. The best transformations use an organization’s past to fuel its future. The goal isn’t to reinvent the company, it’s to bring the truest and most authentic parts of its ethos to the forefront, and a smarter version of itself.
Whether your company is struggling with new economic dynamics, has slipped into irrelevance with consumers, or has fallen from leadership, Leland offers a playbook for tapping into your organization’s past to drive authentic change.
This keynote may be customized to focus on:
- Finding your future in your past
- Defining your vision of a purpose-led, authentic future.
- Translating a vision of the future into action today
- Mastering brand, organizational, or culture transformation leadership
“HIS TALK HAS BECOME A POINT OF REFERENCE FOR MANY INTERNAL DEBATES WE’VE HAD SINCE.”
DESIGN IS HOW YOU MAKE AMBITION REAL
Our uncontrollable world leaves many of us feeling powerless. Rather than resign ourselves to this weakness, we can find strength in design. Just as science is the best discipline for finding truth, design is the most powerful discipline for creating and catalyzing change we seek. Anyone dissatisfied with the present can wield design to unlock tomorrow’s potential today.
This keynote may be customized to focus on:
- The fundamentals of design thinking
- Using design for personal and career growth
- Shifting your mindset for avoiding change to embracing it
- Skills for turning unexpected and unwanted change to your advantage
“IF I HAD BEEN INTRODUCED TO LELAND’S THINKING AS A YOUNG PERSON – I WONDER WHAT MY LIFE WOULD BE LIKE NOW. HIS TALKS ARE MIND BLOWING, PURE AND SIMPLE.”
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Leland Maschmeyer’s Bio:
Leland Maschmeyer is an American designer working at the convergence of creativity and business transformation. During his twenty-year career of leading companies to become industry powerhouses, he has developed battle-proven principles for accelerating growth with design thinking.
He has built organizations honored as the most creative in the world: “Design Firm of the Year” (AdAge) “In-house Agency of the Year” (AdAge), “Most Innovative Company in the World” (Fast Company), “30 Most Important Design Companies in the World” (Fast Company), “Agency Creatives Would Kill to Work At” (WNW Magazine), “Agency Inventing the Future of Brand Building” (Forbes), “Brand that Matters” (Fortune), “Brands Changing the World” (Forbes). These organizations have produced “the future of music videos” (Forbes), twice influenced federal legislation, and won every major global creative award with enviable financial results in tow. For these reasons, Leland earned recognition as a “Global 30 under 30” (Campaign), “Young Influencer” (AdAge), “Most Influential” (HOW Magazine), and a World Economic Forum “Young Global Leader”.
At 35, Leland became the Chief Creative Officer of Chobani—a multi-billion-dollar international Greek yogurt manufacturer. Overseeing a progressive scope of growth strategy, brand, consumer marketing and media, innovation, and new ventures, he has redefined the role of a creative leader. In doing so, he has helped expand the company from a single-product manufacturer into a design-driven nutrition company offering a portfolio of purpose-driven products. Fast Company ranked the company as one of the “30 Most Important Design Companies in the World” as well as among “The Most Innovative”. Bloomberg praised Leland’s re-imagination of the yogurt brand as a seminal moment in branding history. AIGA Eye on Design echoed that sentiment: “[the redesign] created a significant shift in the aesthetic landscape.” Today, this rebrand is considered one of the best of the last decade and a case study in brand reinvention excellence.
Leland was previously the co-founder of COLLINS, a global brand and design consultancy. Forbes praised it as “an agency inventing the future.” Working not Working magazine ranked it as the 16th most sought after company for creative professionals, ranking it higher than Disney, Instagram, Tesla, The New York Times, and Google. COLLINS worked with United States Vice President Al Gore to launch WE, a climate change campaign that shaped US federal climate policy. Working with the founders of Instagram, he wrote the company’s vision and purpose. Fast Company heralded his subsequent redesign of the social platform’s brand as the year’s best. This also happened with Spotify in 2014 with Fast Company and Wired awarding it as “Best of the Year.” His body of work, which also includes clients such as Target, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and ALDO has earned every major global marketing and creative honor from Cannes, AICP, Effies, and Communication Arts, among others. Leland also worked with the global chairman and CEO of Ace Insurance Group to integrate his company’s culture with Chubb’s during a $20 billion merger. Finally, he partnered with Circle of Blue to launch “Designing Water’s” — an initiative at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, which successfully put the crisis of clean water onto the Forum’s annual agenda the following year.
