Scott Berkun

Author and Speaker Berkun Consulting

  • Seattle WA

Now that's a perspective! Best-selling author and speaker will provocativelly, yet delightfully, challenge you to think outside the box

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Biography

Scott Berkun is the best selling author of The Myths of Innovation, Making Things Happen and Confessions of a Public Speaker. His work as a writer and public speaker have appeared in the The Washington Post, The New York Times, Wired Magazine, Fast Company, Forbes Magazine, The Economist, The Huffington Post, and other media.

He has taught creative thinking at the University of Washington and has been a regular commentator on CNBC, MSNBC and National Public Radio. His many popular essays and entertaining lectures can be found for free on his blog at Scott Berkun.

Since Aug 2010, Scott also works for Automattic on WordPress.com. He worked at Microsoft from 1994 to 2003, mostly on Internet Explorer 1.0 to 5.0 (not 6).

As a best-selling author and speaker, Scott lectures at Fortune 500 companies & top universities on creativity, management and a fun mix of everything.

Industry Expertise

IT Services/Consulting
Public Relations and Communications
Corporate Training
Management Consulting
Publishing
Writing and Editing
Computer Software

Areas of Expertise

Leading Breakthrough Projects
How to Manage Innovation
Mistakes Managers Make
Advanced Topics in Project Management
Integrating Design and Software Development

Accomplishments

Author - Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds

This definitive best-of collection of one of the web's best young writers is packed with big ideas and fun, guaranteed to make you think and smile. You'll learn to find passion, think free, manage time, pay attention and more.

Author - Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management

In this critically acclaimed and bestselling book, Microsoft project veteran Scott Berkun offers a collection of essays on field-tested philosophies and strategies for defining, leading, and managing projects. Each essay distills complex concepts and challenges into practical nuggets of useful advice, and the new edition now adds more value for leaders and managers of projects everywhere.

Author - The Myths of Innovation

Since its initial publication, this classic bestseller has been discussed on NPR, MSNBC, CNBC, and at Yale University, MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, Microsoft, Apple, Intel, Google, Amazon.com, and other major media, corporations, and universities around the world. It has changed the way thousands of leaders and creators understand the world.

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Event Appearances

KEYNOTE SPEECH

From Business to Buttons: Designing for Effect  Malmo, Sweden

2009-06-12

Teaching Seattle How To Drive

Ignite Seattle 15  Seattle, Washington

2011-08-20

KEYNOTE SPEECH

WordCamp Portland  Portland, Oregon

2011-09-17

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Sample Talks

The Five Most Dangerous Ideas

There are truths about how the world works that creatives don’t like to talk about. We get angry and frustrated when we’re not granted the power we think we deserve, but there are often good reasons the world works ‘against us.’ This session takes these ideas head on, from how power truly works, to our unavoidable dependence on salesmanship skills, so we can convert them from frustrations into practical behaviors for empowerment and achieving our dreams at work.

The top ten mistakes UX people make

UX professionals worry about the wrong things: methods and techniques, despite how little of our impact hinges on extending our already well developed expertise. This fun, entertaining and interactive talk will share a fresh, entertaining, yet tough perspective on why we succeed or fail, and what we can do differently to make the changes we want to happen, to happen now.

How Progress Happens: Leading the Human Side of Change

Talking about change is easy – making change happen in most organizations is ridiculously hard. But there are things we can learn from the history of technology, political revolution and change, and there is a playbook we can reuse to help us avoid easy mistakes and seemingly popular, but actually self-defeating approaches. This fun, interactive and entertaining talk will prime you for leading change, enhancing your skills for motivating, and making change happen in your world.

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Availability

  • Keynote
  • Moderator
  • Workshop Leader
  • Host/MC
  • Author Appearance
  • Corporate Training