Dr. Simone Ahuja

A Keynote on Focus, Innovation & Leading in the Age of AI

Ideas were never in short supply. AI just made them the cheapest thing in the building. Teams can now generate more options, plans, and prototypes in an afternoon than they once could in a quarter. The hard part now is choosing which ideas deserve our time, talent, and energy. Even harder is following through on them.

For years, Dr. Simone Ahuja has studied how people and organizations solve hard problems with limited resources. In this high energy, interactive keynote, she applies that work to a new reality. When ideas were expensive to build, time and cost did a lot of the filtering for us. As AI removes those traditional limits, the most effective leaders and teams build their own. Simone shows how teams can use a few bold limits to turn a firehose of promising ideas into the handful that earn their place and get them done.

With research backed insights, real world case studies, and compelling, often humorous stories, Simone helps audiences trade AI overload for focus. It's the human side of leading with impact in an age of AI abundance.

After this keynote, you'll know how to:

• Separate high-value opportunities from the "good ideas" that don't deserve your time or energy.
• Set limits on time, budget, and scope that amplify impact.
• Combine simple tools with human discernment to decide where to focus.
• Create a roadmap for testing your best idea before investing more.

A Keynote on Intrapreneurship, Innovation Culture & Leading in the Age of AI

AI has put powerful tools in everyone's hands. Almost anyone can now turn an idea into a prototype in an afternoon. But the hardest parts of problem solving still come down to human judgment: deciding where to focus, influencing others, and seeing ideas through. And even in the most innovative organizations, approvals, silos, and fear of failure still slow good ideas down or stop them cold.

Drawing on her groundbreaking work in intrapreneurship and frugal innovation, Dr. Simone Ahuja shows people at every level how to think like intrapreneurs (internal entrepreneurs) and become full-stack, resourceful problem solvers: finding problems worth solving, making the most of resources they already have, and moving ideas forward without waiting for a big budget or a perfect plan. And she shows leaders how to clear the path, so good ideas don't die in a queue.

With research-backed insights, real-world case studies, and compelling stories, this high-energy, interactive keynote helps audiences turn their ideas into real impact, without adding more to everyone's already overflowing plates.

After this keynote, you'll know how to:

• Uncover the problems worth solving with a proven, practical tool.
• Prioritize ideas and decide where to put your energy, using a low-friction tool that works for individuals or large teams.
• Make big problems small and act on them with a practical roadmap.
• Remove the friction (approvals, silos, and fear of failure) that stalls good ideas.

Takeaways: Participants leave with three practical tools from Simone's Disrupt-It-Yourself work:

• A quick, proven way to uncover problems worth solving
• The Impact, Ease, and Interest (IEI) tool, a simple, low-friction way to prioritize ideas as an individual or a team
• A practical roadmap for making big problems small and acting on them