Heidi Grant
Social Psychologist & Expert on the Science of Motivation | Chief Science Officer, NeuroLeadership Institute | Columbia Motivation Science Center | Bestselling Author of Reinforcements
Hal Gregersen
Senior Lecturer in Leadership & Innovation, MIT Sloan | Bestselling Author of Questions Are the Answer & The Innovator's DNA | Creator of Catalytic Questioning | Thinkers50-Ranked
Hal Gregersen is one of the world's foremost authorities on innovative leadership and the power of asking better questions. An MIT Sloan senior lecturer, Thinkers50-ranked thinker, and bestselling author of Questions Are the Answer and The Innovator's DNA, he created the "catalytic questioning" and "question burst" methods. On stage, he gets audiences generating breakthrough questions that unlock progress where answers had run out.
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Hal Gregersen biography
Hal Gregersen is one of the world’s foremost authorities on innovative leadership and the transformative power of asking better questions. An MIT Sloan senior lecturer, bestselling author, and executive advisor, he has spent decades studying how the most creative leaders think, and his central discovery is disarmingly simple: breakthroughs rarely come from having the right answers, but from having the courage and skill to ask the right questions.
Innovation speaker Hal Gregersen is a Senior Lecturer in Leadership and Innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management, a Digital Fellow at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, and the former Executive Director of the MIT Leadership Center. He is best known for the concept of “catalytic questioning”: questions that dissolve barriers to creative thinking and open accelerated pathways to solutions. In his Nautilus Award-winning book Questions Are the Answer, built on more than 200 interviews with creative leaders such as Jeff Bezos and Marc Benioff, he shows how leaders can uncover what they don’t know they don’t know, before it is too late.
The Power of the Right Question
Gregersen is the developer of the widely used “question burst” method, a fast, structured alternative to traditional brainstorming that generates breakthrough questions rather than premature answers, and the creator of “Leadership and the Lens,” an experience that draws on photography to teach leaders to see and inquire differently. He is a co-author of the bestseller The Innovator’s DNA, written with Clayton Christensen and Jeff Dyer, and the founder of the 4-24 Project, dedicated to rekindling the power of questions in adults and children alike. Before MIT, he taught at INSEAD, London Business School, and Dartmouth’s Tuck School, and he has worked with leading organizations including Salesforce, Patagonia, Disney/Pixar, and Genentech. Ranked among the Thinkers50 most influential management thinkers since 2015 and a winner of its Distinguished Achievement Award for Leadership, his current work explores how leaders can pair human curiosity with AI to ask even more powerful questions.
As a speaker, Hal Gregersen delivers an experience that is as practical as it is provocative, often getting entire audiences generating breakthrough questions in real time. He speaks on inquiry-driven leadership and catalytic questioning, building cultures of innovation and fearless inquiry, navigating uncertainty and change, and harnessing AI to deepen human insight. Audiences leave with a genuinely different way of approaching their hardest problems, and a toolkit of questions that unlock progress where answers had run out.
Hal Gregersen Speaking Videos
How To Ask The Right Question: Hal Gregersen at TEDxYouth@IFTA
What are you dead wrong about today?: Hal Gregersen at TEDxBYU
Hal Gregersen Keynote Topics
Drawing on his award-winning book and 200+ interviews with the world's most creative leaders, Gregersen reveals why the right question matters more than the right answer. He shows how "catalytic questions" dissolve barriers to creative thinking, and gives audiences a practical method for asking the questions that lead to breakthrough insight and change.
Gregersen leads audiences through his signature "question burst" method, a fast, structured process that generates breakthrough questions instead of premature answers. Often run live on stage, it shows leaders and teams how to reframe their most stubborn problems in minutes, and leaves them with a repeatable tool for igniting innovation.
Power and position insulate leaders from the very information they most need. Gregersen shows how the best leaders deliberately put themselves in situations where they are wrong, uncomfortable, and quiet, in order to surface the "unknown unknowns" that can make or break an organization, and how to build this discipline into how they lead.
Based on his bestseller with Clayton Christensen and Jeff Dyer, Gregersen unpacks the five discovery skills, questioning, observing, networking, experimenting, and associating, that distinguish the world's best innovators. He shows how these skills can be learned and cultivated, both individually and across an entire organization.
Speaker topics
FAQs on Booking Hal Gregersen
Why Hal Gregersen?
Booking Hal Gregersen gives audiences one of the world's most original and practical thinkers on innovation and leadership, and an experience unlike a standard keynote. An MIT Sloan senior lecturer and former executive director of the MIT Leadership Center, ranked among the Thinkers50 most influential management thinkers since 2015 and a winner of its Leadership Award, he pairs deep research with genuinely interactive delivery, often getting a whole room generating breakthrough questions in real time. His concepts, catalytic questioning, the question burst, and the discovery skills in The Innovator's DNA, have been adopted by leaders at Salesforce, Patagonia, Disney/Pixar, and beyond. Provocative, warm, and immediately useful, he is an ideal speaker for events on innovation, leadership, change, and the future of work. To bring Hal Gregersen to your next event, contact Aurum Speakers Bureau.
Who is Hal Gregersen?
Hal Gregersen is an American leadership and innovation expert, a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and the former Executive Director of the MIT Leadership Center. He is the author or co-author of ten books, including Questions Are the Answer and the bestseller The Innovator's DNA (with Clayton Christensen and Jeff Dyer), and the creator of the "catalytic questioning" and "question burst" methods. Ranked among the Thinkers50 most influential management thinkers since 2015, he is also a Digital Fellow at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and founder of the 4-24 Project.
What is catalytic questioning?
Catalytic questioning is a concept developed by Hal Gregersen describing questions that challenge false assumptions and dissolve barriers to creative thinking, channeling the search for solutions into new and accelerated pathways. His related "question burst" method involves generating as many questions as possible about a problem in a short, focused session, rather than jumping to answers, to reframe the challenge and surface breakthrough ideas. The approach helps leaders uncover their "unknown unknowns" and find new solutions to problems that once seemed stuck.
What topics does innovation speaker Hal Gregersen cover?
Hal Gregersen speaks on inquiry-driven leadership and catalytic questioning, the question burst method, building cultures of innovation, navigating uncertainty and change, the discovery skills of disruptive innovators, and pairing human curiosity with AI. His keynotes suit events on innovation, leadership, change, and the future of work, and often include interactive, hands-on elements. To book Hal Gregersen as a speaker, contact Aurum Speakers Bureau.
How to book Hal Gregersen as a keynote speaker?
Aurum Speakers Bureau can help you book Hal Gregersen as a speaker for your next event, conference, or board meeting. Simply fill out our contact form to inquire about Hal Gregersen'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 Hal Gregersen or any other top keynote speaker or celebrity of your choice.
How much is Hal Gregersen speaking fee?
Hal Gregersen 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 Hal Gregersen 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 Hal Gregersen.
How can I contact Hal Gregersen?
We only work with Hal Gregersen on paid speaking engagements. Aurum Speakers Bureau can assist you in booking Hal Gregersen and will handle all negotiations, contracts, and logistics associated with having Hal Gregersen 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 Hal Gregersen for any other reason, we will be unable to assist you as we are not authorized to provide personal contact information.
Can I book Hal Gregersen for a virtual keynote?
Yes, Hal Gregersen is available for virtual keynotes and webinars. To book Hal Gregersen for a virtual event, please complete the contact form or send us an email to inquire about the special fees for virtual engagements.
