Paul Moya
Business Strategy Expert & Futurist | CEO, Millennial Labs | "The Harvard Cowboy" | Gen Z & Future of Work Authority
Frans Johansson
Bestselling Author of The Medici Effect | Founder & CEO of The Medici Group | World-Renowned Authority on Innovation at the Intersection of Ideas & Cultures
Frans Johansson is a world-renowned innovation expert and the bestselling author of The Medici Effect, the book that gave a name to a powerful idea: that breakthrough innovation happens at the intersection, where ideas from different fields, industries, and cultures collide. Founder and CEO of The Medici Group, he has advised nearly a third of the Fortune 100. On stage, he shows how any organization can engineer the intersections that spark them.
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Frans Johansson biography
Innovation speaker Frans Johansson is one of the world’s most influential voices on where breakthrough ideas actually come from. His central insight, drawn from a lifetime spent “at the intersection,” is that the most powerful innovation happens not through specialization but through collision: when ideas, disciplines, and cultures that don’t normally meet are brought together. His bestselling book The Medici Effect gave this phenomenon its name and became the definitive text on how diversity drives innovation.
Raised in Sweden by his African-American and Cherokee mother and his Swedish father, Johansson has lived his whole life between worlds, a perspective that shaped his life’s work. A serial entrepreneur who has founded a software company, an international healthcare firm, and a hedge fund, he holds a degree from Brown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Today he is the founder and CEO of The Medici Group, a firm that helps organizations, including nearly a third of the Fortune 100, turn diversity and cross-disciplinary thinking into breakthrough growth.
Innovation at the Intersection
In The Medici Effect, translated into more than twenty languages and hailed by Clayton Christensen as one of the most insightful books on innovation ever written, Johansson shows how combining insights from unrelated fields (ant hills and architecture, pit crews and emergency rooms) produces astonishing breakthroughs. His second book, The Click Moment, a Fast Company top-ten business book, argues that serendipity and bold action matter more than planning in an unpredictable world. More recently, he has extended these frameworks into AI-enabled innovation programs for global enterprises.
As a speaker, Frans Johansson is dynamic, funny, and genuinely inspiring, combining vivid storytelling with a practical, research-backed framework audiences can use right away. He speaks on innovation at the intersection, how diversity and inclusion fuel breakthrough thinking, seizing unexpected opportunities, and leading through accelerating change. Having spoken for Nike, PepsiCo, IBM, JP Morgan, and the World Bank, he leaves audiences energized, and equipped to engineer the intersections where game-changing ideas are born.
Frans Johansson Speaking Videos
TEDxNASA - Frans Johansson - The Future is Diverse and Unexpected
Frans Johansson of The Medici Group on Diverse and Inclusive Teams: The New Engines of Growth (2019)
Frans Johansson Keynote Topics
In his signature keynote, Frans Johansson takes audiences to "the Intersection", the place where ideas from different fields, industries, and cultures collide, and where the world's most surprising breakthroughs are born. With vivid, unforgettable stories (what goat milk, spiders, and fishing lines have in common; how a hospital learned from a race-car pit crew), he reveals why innovation today is less about expertise and more about combining disparate ideas, and gives every audience a practical framework for engineering more of these breakthrough moments.
Johansson wrote the definitive book on the link between diversity and innovation, and in this keynote he makes the business case with rigor and energy. Drawing on his research and his own life "at the intersection," he shows why diverse teams, of background, discipline, and perspective, consistently generate more and better ideas, and how leaders can build the cultures and conditions that turn difference into a genuine competitive advantage rather than a slogan.
Success, we're told, comes from careful planning and strategy. Johansson argues the opposite: in a fast-changing world, serendipity and bold action matter more than formulas. Drawing on his acclaimed book, he shows how to spot and create "click moments", the rare, often unexpected opportunities that change everything, how to place many high-potential bets, and how to harness luck and complexity to your advantage. A liberating, energizing talk for anyone navigating uncertainty.
How do you innovate, and stand apart, when the pace of change in business, technology, and society keeps accelerating? Johansson gives leaders a clear-eyed, practical playbook for thriving amid disruption: building teams and cultures that generate breakthrough ideas, staying open to insights from unexpected places, and, increasingly, using AI to multiply the power of human creativity. A forward-looking keynote for organizations determined to lead rather than follow.
Speaker topics
FAQs on Booking Frans Johansson
Why Frans Johansson?
Booking Frans Johansson brings audiences one of the most original and energizing voices on innovation in the world, the man who literally named the phenomenon of breakthrough thinking at the intersection of ideas. He combines the credibility of a Harvard-trained entrepreneur and adviser to a third of the Fortune 100 with a rare gift for storytelling that makes complex ideas vivid, fun, and immediately useful. His message, that diversity and cross-disciplinary thinking are the real engines of innovation, is both timeless and urgently relevant. Audiences leave inspired and equipped with a practical framework. He is ideal for events on innovation, diversity and inclusion, leadership, entrepreneurship, and navigating change. To bring Frans Johansson to your next event, contact Aurum Speakers Bureau.
Who is Frans Johansson?
Frans Johansson is a Swedish-American author, entrepreneur, and internationally acclaimed speaker on innovation and diversity. He is the bestselling author of The Medici Effect, which introduced the influential idea that breakthrough innovation happens at the "intersection" of different fields, disciplines, and cultures, and of The Click Moment, on the role of serendipity in success. He is the founder and CEO of The Medici Group, a consultancy that helps organizations use diversity and cross-disciplinary thinking to innovate, and has advised nearly a third of the Fortune 100. Raised in Sweden by his African-American and Cherokee mother and Swedish father, he holds a degree from Brown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
What is The Medici Effect?
The Medici Effect is the idea, introduced in Frans Johansson's 2004 book of the same name, that the most powerful innovation happens at the "intersection", where ideas, disciplines, industries, and cultures meet and combine. The name comes from the Medici family of Renaissance Florence, whose patronage brought together sculptors, scientists, poets, philosophers, and financiers, breaking down barriers between fields and sparking an explosion of creativity. Johansson argues that we have the best chance of finding game-changing ideas when we deliberately combine concepts from diverse fields and assemble diverse teams, rather than relying on narrow expertise. Now translated into more than twenty languages, the book became the definitive text on how diversity drives innovation and made "the Medici Effect" a widely used term across industries.
What topics does innovation speaker Frans Johansson cover?
Frans Johansson speaks on innovation at the intersection, how diversity and inclusion drive breakthrough thinking, seizing unexpected opportunities (the "click moment"), and leading innovation through accelerating change, including with AI. His keynotes suit events on innovation, diversity and inclusion, leadership, entrepreneurship, and business transformation. To book Frans Johansson as a speaker, contact Aurum Speakers Bureau.
How to book Frans Johansson as a keynote speaker?
Aurum Speakers Bureau can help you book Frans Johansson as a speaker for your next event, conference, or board meeting. Simply fill out our contact form to inquire about Frans Johansson's availability for a speaking engagement. One of our booking agents will respond to your request immediately and contact the speaker to let them know you want to hire them. We will assist you with obtaining speaking fees, booking information, and confirming availability for Frans Johansson or any other top keynote speaker or celebrity of your choice.
How much is Frans Johansson speaking fee?
Frans Johansson speaking fees are determined by several factors, including the event's date, whether it's a virtual or in-person event, the duration, format, preparation required for their speech, and more. The same applies to the cost to hire any other top expert speakers and celebrities. The Speaker Fee Range listed on our website is simply a guideline and is subject to change without notice. If you would like to hire Frans Johansson to deliver a keynote speech for your event, please fill out the contact form or email us at info@aurumbureau.com with as much detail as possible. One of our experienced agents will get in touch with you and let you know exactly how much it will cost to book Frans Johansson.
How can I contact Frans Johansson?
We only work with Frans Johansson on paid speaking engagements. Aurum Speakers Bureau can assist you in booking Frans Johansson and will handle all negotiations, contracts, and logistics associated with having Frans Johansson speak at your event. We will be your sole point of contact throughout the process. Get in touch with Aurum Speakers Bureau today, and we will reach out to any motivational speaker or celebrity you want to enquire about speaking at your event. If you wish to contact Frans Johansson for any other reason, we will be unable to assist you as we are not authorized to provide personal contact information.
Can I book Frans Johansson for a virtual keynote?
Yes, Frans Johansson is available for virtual keynotes and webinars. To book Frans Johansson for a virtual event, please complete the contact form or send us an email to inquire about the special fees for virtual engagements.
