User:Futurethinktank/sandbox

Lisa Bodell (born September 11, 1968) is the CEO of futurethink, an innovation-training firm that helps businesses embrace change and become world-class innovators. She is best known as a globally-recognized futurist and expert on the topic of driving change in simple but highly effective ways. Much of her approach comes from her award-winning first book Kill The Company: End the Status Quo, Start an Innovation Revolution. Bodell serves as a member of the Global Agenda Council for the World Economic Forum; an adviser on the boards of the Association of Professional Futurists; and Novartis’ Diversity and Inclusion Board in Basel, Switzerland.

Early life
Bodell was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, and lived in Bloomfield Hills until the age of 12. A child of two entrepreneurial parents, her creative and entrepreneurial aspirations began to show at an early age. Bodell’s love of writing emerged when she wrote her first book in 4th grade and won the elementary school creative writing competition in 5th grade. Shaping her creativity were her fond memories of playing sports and games with neighborhood kids. Together, they loved playing (and inventing) sports games, board games and puzzles.

A child of the 70’s, Bodell was inspired by the massive Sears catalogs, which she would look at with her mother and be amazed by all the things you could buy, especially the toys. For a Social Studies project in 4th grade, her class was asked to create an ad for a favorite toy. She instead decided to create her own catalog, complete with original toys that she invented. It included: Limited edition bicentennial bicycles with real firecrackers, tanks of sea monkeys, and though she has no political aspirations of her own, it also included Nixon silly putty, and an exploding Jimmy Carter Jack-in-the-box. Her teacher gave her an A+; not because of the drawings, but because of Lisa’s confidence that ‘all of the items would sell out immediately’.

She later moved with her family to Lake Forest, IL where she completed middle school and high school before going to the University of Michigan. Building on her entrepreneurial aspirations, in high school she started a tennis coaching business to help save money in high school and for college.

While at the University of Michigan, she took a Marketing and Communications class that would become a major influence in her life. It was in this class that Bodell gave her first public speech as part of an assignment. The teacher gave her an A+ and was so compelled that after class she asked her to teach a few full-length classes to further hone what she felt was a natural talent.

At this time, she began to volunteer extensively, making her consider going into social work in urban and poverty-stricken areas. She volunteered at soup kitchens and helping disadvantaged youth, developing a passion for helping the underprivileged. After graduating with a BBA from University of Michigan Business School (UMBS) (1990), Bodell went to Chicago to live and work. To feed her need for creativity and writing, she took a job in advertising at Leo Burnett. However, she continued her volunteer work in children’s pediatric ward in hospitals, providing support at homeless shelters, and as an active volunteer at Cabrini Alive!, where each week volunteers were escorted into the Cabrini housing projects with armed police, to renovate gang-ridden apartments and help homeless women and children get off the streets.

These creative, social, and entrepreneurial aspects of Bodell’s background helped drive her need to seek out a variety of interesting experiences in life, and shaped her ability to think differently about the world. After leaving Chicago to move to New York, she soon left advertising to become an entrepreneur and never looked back. She honed her creative, writing and speaking skills at her first marketing agency, which grew quickly. But it was the offbeat suggestion from one of her employees that she meet with a futurist that changed her life significantly. She was profoundly influenced by this new field of study (‘Foresight’) and began to study and pursue a vast network of futurists to learn from. Many of these people would go on to dramatically shape her thinking, business, and speaking career.

Career
Before founding futurethink in 2003, Bodell started her career of developing innovative approaches and creative solutions for complex business problems in the advertising industry. Her first agency roles were as an Account Executive for Leo Burnett in 1990 – 1993, and Account Supervisor for BBDO in 1993 – 1995. The ad agency projects Bodell led, developing complex campaign strategies for client from Allstate Life Insurance to P&G, would prepare her for creating her own company focused on helping large corporations often in highly regulated sectors achieve innovation in their own industry.

Bodell is the CEO of futurethink, a company she founded in 2003 after nearly a decade of experience running Harvest Consulting Group, a marketing and innovation consulting firm she founded in 1997. As CEO of futurethink, she helps thousands of senior leaders ignite innovation by giving them simple tools and techniques for driving change.

A globally recognized futurist and expert on innovation, Bodell speaks in over 30 countries and to nearly 100,000 people each year about her experience in the innovation space. Organizations impacted by her insights include Bloomberg, Pfizer, Lockheed Martin, Google, and many more.

Bodell is an award-winning writer, known as the author of the best-selling book Kill the Company: End the Status Quo, Start an Innovation Revolution (2012). She has appeared on NPR, FOX News, Fast Company, The New York Times, and WIRED. She is also a monthly columnist for strategy+business, and frequent contributor to Forbes and Harvard Business Review.

Currently, Bodell serves as a global council member of the World Economic Forum. She is an advisor on the boards of the Association of Professional Futurists, and Novartis’ Diversity and Inclusion Board in Basel Switzerland. Among her many academic activities, Bodell has taught innovation and creativity at both American and Fordham Universities.

Personal life
Bodell lives in Bronxville, New York with her husband and two children. Beginning in 1987, she volunteered for several poverty alleviation and children’s organizations including various homeless shelters, Cabrini Alive!, and Children’s Memorial Hospital Chicago. Economic empowerment, children’s education, and social services are causes Bodell has continued to champion throughout her career through pro bono work with numerous nonprofits.

Bodell finds creative outlets in her love of gourmet cooking, and is an avid runner, having completed two marathons.

Honors and awards

 * 2014 Highest rated speaker at Google client events
 * 2014 Top 5 Speaker Award in Innovation Creativity by Speaking.com
 * 2014 Axiom Best Business Book Award: Silver in Business Theory
 * 2013 USA Book News Book Award in Business: Management & Leadership
 * 2012 Booz & Co Best Business Book of the Year
 * 2012 CLO Chief Learning Officer Award
 * 2012 Training Industry.com Leadership Training Company to Watch
 * 2011 NYC Women’s Entrepreneur Award