Rick Smith
- Highly sought-after entrepreneur who specializes in leadership and technology-driven disruption
- Founder and CEO of five successful companies, each disrupting their respective industry
- Inspires audiences to embrace disruption and shares how leaders and organizations can position themselves for success
Travels From
Georgia
Rick Smith Speaker Biography
Rick Smith is a successful serial entrepreneur, highly sought-after leadership strategist, and an inspirational TED speaker. He is the co-founder and CEO of Fast Radius, a revolutionary industrial 3D printing company partnered with UPS to fulfill the promise of global on demand production. He is also the founder of World 50, the world’s premier senior executive networking organization, bringing thousands of the world’s top executives together to collaborate on strategy, leadership, and the disruptions impacting global business. Rick is the best-selling author of the books, The Great Disruption, The Leap, and The Five Patterns of Extraordinary Careers, and the founder of three other successful companies. He consults with organizations around the world on innovation, growth, and disruptive technologies.
In his book, The Great Disruption, Smith lays out a compelling framework to explain the predictable patterns of technology disruption impacting every industry. He reveals what leaders can and should be doing right now to turn disruption and change into strategic advantage. In exploring this radical but predictable future with audiences, Smith answers two questions that strike at the heart of every leader in every organization: How might the future unfold in front of us? And how can we position ourselves and our organizations to successfully navigate change to our greatest benefit?
World Renowned Entrepreneur. Prior to Fast Radius, Smith founded World 50, the world’s premier global senior executive networking organization, with more than 1,300 CEO/CXO members from over 600 companies with an average market capitalization of $23 billion. World 50 contributors have included Robert Redford, Bono, Sir Richard Branson, President George W. Bush, and more than 100 other iconic leaders. Rick was the founder and CEO of Next Generation Leadership (NGL), the leading training and development organization for public company CEOs, with faculty that includes the world’s most respected CEOs such as A.G. Lafley, Jim Kilts, Anne Mulcahy, Carlos Gutierrez, and Jack Welch. NGL program alumni include more than 60 current Fortune 1000 Chief Executives. Rick was the co-founder of Bionic Solutions, helping top global companies launch new growth businesses.
Best-Selling Author & Inspirational Thought Leader. In additional to The Great Disruption, Smith is the author of two Wall Street Journal nationally best-selling books, The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers and The Leap—both of which reached No. 1 on the Amazon business best-seller list. He is a featured contributor for Forbes, and his work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, The Financial Times, ABC, CNN, Bloomberg, and dozens of other media outlets. He is a singer songwriter whose band has opened for Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Zac Brown Band.
To book Rick Smith call Executive Speakers Bureau at 901-754-9404.
Leadership in Disruption
Drawing from the lessons of his latest book, The Great Disruption, Rick Smith lays out a compelling framework to explain the predictable patterns of technology disruption impacting every industry. He explores the dramatic shifts required to stay competitive; from static to dynamic decision environments, from assets to information advantages, and from management hierarchy to the network’s edge. Interweaving history, insight and humor, he reveals what leaders can and should be doing right now to turn disruption and change into a strategic advantage. In exploring this radical but predictable future with audiences, Smith answers two questions that strike at the heart of every leader in every organization: How might the future unfold in front of us? And how can we position ourselves and our organizations to successfully navigate change to our greatest benefit?
Our 3D Printed Future: How to Position Yourself and Your Organization to Successfully Navigate this Historic Shift
3D printing production will change the world more in this century then the industrial revolution has over the last 300 years. So says author and entrepreneur Rick Smith in this provocative and entertaining talk based on his new book, The Great Disruption. Smith lays out a compelling framework to explain the growth and inevitability of 3D printing as it permanently displaces conventional manufacturing. He reveals a brave new future where objects are 3D printed using plastics and steel, skin and stem cells, chocolate, and Kevlar, where pipes are printed that can automatically repair themselves and batteries are printed the size of a grain of sand, where global supply chains collapse and the wealth of nations is flipped on its head.
As the founder and CEO of one of the 3D printing industry’s hottest companies, Fast Radius, Smith reveals first hand the changes that advanced manufacturing is now ushering in, while also moving back in history to the fascinating cast of characters who shaped other great technological shifts. This talk answers two questions that strike at the heart of every leader in every organization: How will the future unfold in front of us? And how can we position ourselves and our organizations to successfully navigate this historic shift to our greatest benefit?
The Leadership Leap: Three Steps to a Breakthrough Performance
Inside every individual, there is untapped potential. Rick Smith shows the simple steps that can help anyone unlock it. In this talk, adapted from the national best-selling books, The Leap and The Five Patterns of Extraordinary Careers, Smith shows that guiding yourself toward roles that fully leverage your strengths and passions – not fixing your weaknesses – will increase engagement and performance and accelerate individual development. He reveals how anyone can be true to themselves and lead authentically while leveraging the powerful leadership platform utilized by the most successful iconic leaders of the last several centuries. Finally, he shows how you can open numerous new doors in your life while simultaneously mitigating risk, not increasing it.
