Wondrously heretical keynotes to inspire meaningful progress

Catalyse new thinking
and ensure your people are
questing towards future relevance

Dr. Fox brings about the conversations that matter most.

Dr. Fox is “a breath of fresh air”.
Hear what his many happy clients say. ❤︎

Dr. Fox is an introverted wizard-philosopher who works particularly well with smart and sceptical audiences who’ve “seen it all before”. (~˘▾˘)~

Crowned as Australia’s Keynote Speaker of the Year, Dr. Fox is amongst the Professional Speakers Hall of Fame.

Keynote Presentations

As an independent researcher and rogue scholar I am constantly abreast of emerging trends.

I overthink the future of leadership, motivation and work, and share the distillation of this thinking in insightful keynotes presentations and provocative fireside conversations.

Note: I am equally deft in both corporeal and virtual realms.

Keynote presentations are insightful, warm, crisp and compelling—most apt for larger audiences and ‘high stakes’ affairs. They range from 30–75 minutes in duration. More time allows for deeper Q&A.

#1 // A QUEST BECKONS🏮
··· beyond the default

The artist-philosopher and mystic James Lee Byars once said: “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.”

This keynote will move your audience to the edge of knowledge. 
(And perhaps a smidge beyond.)

As your event’s wizard, I manifest to evoke the right questions in your audience. I also provide the counter-conventional frameworks that enable folks to quest amidst emerging domains.

Exquisitely honed to open minds and inspire curiosity, courage and collaboration—this keynote will have your audience actively engaged with each other and bring about the you-had-to-be-there magic of your event. Even your most sceptical people will find themselves enthusiastically engaged; leaning in, warmed to the opportunity at hand.

  • Are your people “too busy” for meaningful progress? Are you so swept up in the demands of the operational and the immediate that you have not had the time to lift your gaze to the horizon and ask: what is emerging?

    Over time, it’s natural for our efforts to gravitate to safe and familiar patterns. A comfort zone that consists of activities that are predictable and easy to measure. Patterns that feel productive.

    But could it be that these default patterns are contributing to a rich delusion of progress? It takes a pattern-disrupting event like this to find out.

    In this session, the wizard Dr. Fox will take us on the beginnings of a quest. Together we shall venture beyond the default to ask: what does meaningful progress look like? Where might we be succumbing to rich delusions of progress? And how might we ensure we stay relevant into the future?

    Come, let’s venture—beyond the default.

Have your people ready to
quest beyond the default

#curiosity #future #strategy #innovation #progress

“Wow. What can I say? Jason Fox. Given the immense pace of change we face as a business in the world today, I wanted a senior leadership forum that would challenge complacent, hum-drum, default thinking. I wanted us to venture beyond the default—and Jason Fox leading our quest worked a treat. Jason is thoughtful, challenging, motivating, funny, always entertaining, and incredibly insightful. He seemed to ‘get’ Arup quickly and won the crowd over within minutes. He was just what we were looking for. Jason has the ability to just knock you over with undeniable home truths; incredibly, right there in the moment, and with a laugh. Not just in a challenging keynote, but by linking together new learning across all sessions. His impact in the room was tangible, and any default thinking that emerged was quickly exposed! The feedback on Jason was overwhelmingly positive and I felt strongly that we had moved our senior leadership forward a long way at our best forum ever. Thanks Jason!” Peter Bailey CEO & Chair ARUP Australasia

“Wow. What can I say? Jason Fox. Given the immense pace of change we face as a business in the world today, I wanted a senior leadership forum that would challenge complacent, hum-drum, default thinking. I wanted us to venture beyond the default—and Jason Fox leading our quest worked a treat. Jason is thoughtful, challenging, motivating, funny, always entertaining, and incredibly insightful. He seemed to ‘get’ Arup quickly and won the crowd over within minutes. He was just what we were looking for. Jason has the ability to just knock you over with undeniable home truths; incredibly, right there in the moment, and with a laugh. Not just in a challenging keynote, but by linking together new learning across all sessions. His impact in the room was tangible, and any default thinking that emerged was quickly exposed! The feedback on Jason was overwhelmingly positive and I felt strongly that we had moved our senior leadership forward a long way at our best forum ever. Thanks Jason!” Peter Bailey CEO & Chair ARUP Australasia

#2 // INTO THE STORM ⛈️
··· the future of leadership

The future is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous and full of doubt. Many think that the way to handle this is to artificially impose stability, certainty, simplicity, clarity and conviction. This is the domestication of leadership; something that only serves in stable, unchanging domains.

But true leadership lives in the wild. We must learn to thrive amidst change.

This keynote unpacks key emerging trends in this time of accelerated change, and showcases the sensibilities that allow for coordination amidst complexity at scale. Your people will be both vexed and inspired to lead (without permission).

Note: this is Dr. Fox in his trickster form. Expect thoughtful provocations rather than familiar platitudes. Dr. Fox will give your leaders the intellectual spanking they deserve (with cheek)—so that they might rise to the true leadership challenges ahead.

  • A storm is coming (it’s already here).

    Complexity, ambiguity, paradox and doubt—this is the storm within which we must lead. There be no safe harbour. No stability, certainty, simplicity, nor clarity to cling to. This storm won’t blow over—it's here to stay. The tall will topple, the slow will sunder, and the stolid will sink.

    To survive, we need to adapt.
    But to thrive, we need to pioneer
    —deeper, into the storm.

    And in this session, we do just that—unpacking the vital questions most leadership teams don’t get time to ponder. We look at the confluence of emerging trends—from artificial intelligence to blockchain technology and more. Such changes behoove a refreshed leadership philosophy and practice. One that’s fit for the storm, and a world less predictable.

Have your leaders lead
amidst the uncharted

#leadership #development #complexity #change #courage

“Once every 2 years we run a very important event that brings together our most senior leaders from 23 different countries. These guys are all very switched on, and have seen a lot of the conventional ‘change leadership’ stuff before—but Jason provided something that was incredibly fresh, clever and practical. This provoked new thinking, and stimulated very constructive discussions amongst our leaders. Jason contributed greatly to the success of our event.” Steve Wilson Director of Talent Pepsico

“Once every 2 years we run a very important event that brings together our most senior leaders from 23 different countries. These guys are all very switched on, and have seen a lot of the conventional ‘change leadership’ stuff before—but Jason provided something that was incredibly fresh, clever and practical. This provoked new thinking, and stimulated very constructive discussions amongst our leaders. Jason contributed greatly to the success of our event.” Steve Wilson Director of Talent Pepsico

#3 // CHANGE THE GAME ✨
··· make clever happen

The true measure of the impact of your event is not just in how people feel in the moment, or immediately after. It’s in what happens in the weeks, months and years that follow. In this interactive and engaging keynote, we will have your audience mindfully distill the inklings, hunches, realisations, connections and insights generated by your event into the steps conducive to meaningful progress.

With insights from motivation science and game design, and the wit of a wizard-philosopher, we can ensure your event is a resounding success.

  • Achieving clear and easy-to-measure goals is relatively easy—it’s when your goals are complex that things get challenging. Especially if they require you to navigate unprecedented work through uncharted domains towards an uncertain future. And let’s not forget: we live and work within an attention economy now—there are distractions aplenty. Your fledging ideas have no chance.

    Until now! Huzzah. Tremble, world! For in this session, you’ll be equipped with the wit, skills and savvy to translate your inspired, intuitive reckoning into real and meaningful progress.

Have your event be a catalyst for meaningful progress

#motivation #behaviour #culture #productivity #teamwork

“We made two great decisions when we were choosing keynote speakers for our annual Australasian Research Administrators Association Conference this year. The first was to have Jason Fox open the conference, and the second was for him to close it! Jason’s relevant, engaging, and (occasionally) irreverent presentation incorporated pop culture, motivation science, mixed media and had our delegates engaged and keen to hear more from the outset. Most importantly, his closing keynote provided a visual summary of key ideas from our meeting, and his illustrations continue to be a memorable and humorous keepsake for delegates well after the event. Jason offered our delegates unique insights into our profession, a mirror to assess our motivations, tools for reflection on our professional practices, and easy strategies for making things happen after the event … not to mention being seriously funny. Highly recommended for conference organisers who want to keep delegates engaged and finish their event with a hilarious bang!” Karen Burke Conference Convenor Australasian Research Administrators Association

“We made two great decisions when we were choosing keynote speakers for our annual Australasian Research Administrators Association Conference this year. The first was to have Jason Fox open the conference, and the second was for him to close it! Jason’s relevant, engaging, and (occasionally) irreverent presentation incorporated pop culture, motivation science, mixed media and had our delegates engaged and keen to hear more from the outset. Most importantly, his closing keynote provided a visual summary of key ideas from our meeting, and his illustrations continue to be a memorable and humorous keepsake for delegates well after the event. Jason offered our delegates unique insights into our profession, a mirror to assess our motivations, tools for reflection on our professional practices, and easy strategies for making things happen after the event … not to mention being seriously funny. Highly recommended for conference organisers who want to keep delegates engaged and finish their event with a hilarious bang!” Karen Burke Conference Convenor Australasian Research Administrators Association

Fireside Provocations

Some events allow for more intimate contexts, wherein we explore the questions that are alive in us, fruitfully think-in-draft, and pursue insights beyond the edge of knowledge.

I am often asked to share my thoughts on a wide array of topics—though I primarily offer insight from the following domains:

  • artificial intelligence, web3 + the future of work

  • the delicate taboo of leadership development

  • regenerative sensibilities for the collapse-aware

  • wisdom beyond rationality; meaning, myth + magic

There are many ways in which we can go about this. In the past, I have:

  • engaged in deep on-stage podcast interviews with key leaders

  • deftly facilitated emergent mini-workshops on thorny topics

  • hosted conspiratorial luncheons and dinners

  • weaved coffee and whisky tastings into intellectual speakeasy salons

  • facilitated incredibly frank panel sessions with captains of industry

Fireside conversations are by their nature emergent and thus only appropriate for folks willing to hold space for generative ambiguity. In many ways, this makes them the most alive part of an event experience. Rather than polished and predictably performative presentations, we instead get the kind of event experience where you had to be there.

Fireside provocations take the form of a short presentation followed by emergent conversation and deep Q&A.

They range from 30–90 minutes in duration and are perfect for leadership offsites, boardroom briefings, intimate gatherings, on-stage podcasts, virtual events, interactive panels, and more.

Not sure yet? That’s okay! Hear what Dr. Fox’s many happy clients have to say.

Booking Dr. Fox

If you suspect we might have cause to make some magic together, please email my partner and business manager kim@drjasonfox.com and let’s see what we can conjure. ❤︎

Or—if you prefer—feel free to use this contact form.

The Museletter of Dr. Fox ·*:･ﾟ✧

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