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Heather E. McGowan

Future of Work Strategist | One of Forbes' Top Female Futurists

Heather McGowan Headshot May 2023
Speaker Reel
Heather
Heather McGowan Headshot May 2023
Speaker Reel

Named one of Forbes’ top futurists, Heather E. McGowan is a globally recognized future-of-work strategist, keynote speaker, and two-time bestselling author who equips leaders and organizations to navigate relentless change by activating their most critical resource — their people. By teaching audiences to ask better questions, McGowan empowers them to adapt at the speed of possibility to solve tomorrow’s problems.

McGowan’s emergence as a global thought leader began with a viral LinkedIn series on the future of work — reaching 100,000 readers in 24 hours — which sparked speaking invitations worldwide. Her audiences have ranged from startups and government organizations to Fortune 500 companies, including Google, JPMorgan Chase, Accenture, Mastercard, FedEx, AT&T, and Kaiser Permanente. Through data-driven insights and powerful visual frameworks, she helps leaders and teams transform their distinctly human capabilities — adaptability, empathy, and curiosity — into strategic advantages.

McGowan’s approach to innovation was shaped by her early career as an industrial designer. At Safety 1st, she helped transform the company known for its “Baby on Board” sign into a comprehensive baby safety products’ leader, developing multiple top-selling products. Her success continued at Wilson Sporting Goods’, where she designed award-winning tennis footwear. McGowan was also a strategic architect at Philadelphia University (now Jefferson University), where she created an award-winning, interdisciplinary college focused on innovation. The curriculum won the Core 77 top National Design Award for Education.

This hands-on experience taught McGowan that true innovation isn’t just about finding solutions — it’s about asking better questions. After earning her MBA from Babson College, she expanded into socially responsive investing and later led Rhode Island School of Design’s (RISD) Center for Design and Business, helping organizations integrate user-centric design thinking into business strategy.

Often quoted in The New York Times, with Thomas Friedman calling her an “oasis” for her insights, McGowan’s bestselling books include The Adaptation Advantage and The Empathy Advantage, which was named a Top 10 Business Book of 2023. She holds a BFA in Industrial Design from RISD, an MBA from Babson College focused on entrepreneurship, and was recently awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Pennsylvania College of Art and Design for her contributions to innovating education.

Speaking topics

Presentations listed below include in-person and virtual keynotes, as well as workshops, fireside chats, and other presentation formats.

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