TRUSTED BY ORGANIZATIONS EMPLOYING 1M+ PEOPLE
YOU ALREADY KNOW...
THE WAY YOU'VE DONE IT
CAN'T BE THE WAY YOU DO IT.
The world is changing. Technology is changing. What people expect from work is changing. But our organizations are still operating according to assumptions and practices designed for a different world.
The answer isn’t to push harder, move faster, or ask more from people.
IT'S TIME TO LOOK UP.
See the systems we’ve inherited. Question the assumptions we’ve accepted. And imagine what we could build instead.
KEYNOTES
A NEW PERSPECTIVE
CHANGES WHAT'S POSSIBLE
Four distinct keynotes challenging yesterday’s assumptions. One invitation: LOOK UP!
Every talk customized to your audience, industry, and goals.
CHANGE
If You Want Change, Stop Changing People
Most change efforts focus on getting people to behave differently. Josh shows why lasting change starts by looking beyond behavior and into systems.
LEADERSHIP
The Work Of Leaders Is Systems
Great leaders don’t “manage” people. Josh shows how leaders can redesign the conditions around work to help people decide faster and adapt better.
FUTURE
Hello Tomorrow: A Season Of Innovation
Challenging times of disruption can become seasons of extraordinary innovation. Josh shows how to move beyond fear and build what comes next.
A.I.
Leading With Wisdom In the Age of A.I.
A.I. makes intelligence abundant — but intelligence isn’t wisdom. Josh shows you where humans matter most and how to redesign work around that edge.
“Our audience was riveted by Josh's topic and engaged by his style, but mostly we were inspired to make real changes in the way we are doing work.”
Carrie Kish
CEO, CultureSync
AS SEEN IN...
WHAT GOT US HERE
WON'T GET US THERE.
| From | To |
|---|---|
| Fixing people | Redesigning conditions |
| Managing resistance | Understanding what’s producing it |
| Demanding resilience | Building non-fragile systems |
| Adding A.I. to existing work | Redesigning the work itself |
| Heroic managers | Better decision systems |
| Optimizing what exists | Imagining what we could build |
I'VE SPENT
TWENTY YEARS
LEARNING TO LOOK UP.
My career started by looking at people. What makes work meaningful? Why do some people thrive while others burn out?
Then I looked at leaders. Then teams. Then organizations.
Eventually, I built a technology company around a radically different way of working — autonomy, trust, and human energy. And it worked. The product worked. The way we worked worked. The company failed.
Bankruptcy forced me to look higher. What if the problems inside organizations were being shaped by systems larger than the organizations themselves?
I kept following the question upstream. It eventually became my new book, Work Will Kill Us All. And somewhere along the way, I realized something: we spend so much of our lives accepting systems we never chose, following rules we never questioned, and working toward outcomes we may not even want.
But these systems aren’t inevitable. We made them. We can remake them.
That’s why I do what I do. Not to help people become more successful inside yesterday’s Story.
To inspire us all to help write a better one.
FORMER
Classically-trained pianist
Rockstar
Small-town guy
Midwesterner
Barista
Genius (@ Apple, ahem)
Tech founder
CURRENT
Girl dad
Keynote speaker
Big city guy
Philosopher
Author
Multi-instrumentalist
Startup mentor
HOW FAR UP DOES THE
PROBLEM GO?
AN OPTIMIST'S GUIDE TO A FUTURE THAT WORKS FOR EVERYONE.
Work Will Kill Us All challenges the economic story we’ve inherited, and imagines what becomes possible when we stop organizing our lives around systems that no longer serve us.
Josh's New Book
ARRIVES NOVEMBER 11
“A.I. Anxiety. Layoffs. Burnout. Josh Allan Dykstra makes a compelling case that these aren’t separate fires but symptoms of the same design flaw. Sharp, funny, and surprisingly hopeful, Work Will Kill Us All is the rare book about collapse that leaves you wanting to build something better.”
— Dr. David Burkus
Author of Best Team Ever
Economic uncertainty. Anxiety about A.I. Fears about the future of their job.
Your people are not leaving big questions about work at the door of your office.
The leaders who help their teams understand what’s changing — and give them a meaningful role in building what comes next — will have an enormous advantage.
PRE-ORDER ON AMAZON
FOR EVENT PLANNERS
EASY TO BOOK.
MADE FOR YOUR AUDIENCE.
CUSTOMIZED
Josh works with your team to understand the audience, context, and outcomes that matter to you.
EASY
Clear communication, simple logistics, no surprises.
MORE THAN A KEYNOTE
Every keynote includes one Keynote+ experience at no additional charge:
1) Extended Q&A
60 minutes for your audience to ask questions, interact, and go deeper.
2) Leadership Debrief
Private 60 minute session with your leadership team to process and plan.
3) Panel Participation
Josh joins a panel to bring the systems lens into a broader conversation.
CHOOSE ONE. INCLUDED WITH EVERY KEYNOTE.
PODCAST + WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
THE FUTURE ISN’T SOMETHING TO PREDICT. IT’S SOMETHING WE BUILD.
Every week, Josh explores the ideas and systems shaping what’s next — from A.I. and the future of work to economics, technology, leadership, and how we build a future worth wanting. No doom. No hype. Just provocative ideas for people who believe tomorrow is still ours to make.
Join 12,000+ executives, leaders, and optimistic rebels building what’s next.
LATEST THINKING
WEEKLY ARTICLES
YOUR PEOPLE ARE READY
FOR A BETTER WAY FORWARD.
Give your group a new way to see what’s possible.