Speakers

Whether we need to make better business decisions, find innovative solutions to big challenges, or transform our lives, collective intelligence is the key to making quicker, wiser, more objective decisions. And when it comes to collective intelligence, Dr. Lior Zoref is the authority to turn to. Dr. Zoref is a researcher, advisor, TED speaker, and author of the best-selling book, Mindsharing: The Art of Crowdsourcing Everything. His speech at the TED 2012 Conference in Long Beach, California, was widely-recognized as a conference favorite. Dr. Zoref received a standing ovation for the out-of-the-box, insightful, and hilarious presentation, which The New Yorker dubbed “delightful.” In addition to bringing an ox live on stage, Zoref used stories of crowdsourcing in action—including a poll of the audience—to illustrate its power. Originally from Israel and having previously spent 14 years as a vice president in marketing at Microsoft, he is currently a researcher and advisor whose work has been featured in Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, NPR, The Huffington Post, and more.

In his fascinating and highly-engaging talks, Dr. Zoref looks at the ways organizations and individuals can draw on wisdom of crowds to create a greater output with less effort. He shares techniques major corporations are using now to innovate and problem-solve in record time—all by using the power of “we.” A passionate speaker, Zoref inspires a new look at the ways we think and make decisions in the era of social networks. He helps clients shed outdated methods and protocol to leapfrog the competition, and shares ways to “supercharge” thinking and making dreams come true by drawing on resources that already exist.

After the success of Dr. Zoref’s TED talk, his book, Mindsharing, further emphasized the power of collective intelligence, exploring how to benefit from the power of fifty, five hundred, or five thousand brains. Translated into many languages, the book was listed by Inc. magazine as one of the “best books for entrepreneurs” alongside books from business legends including Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and Tony Hsieh. It looks at why few of us come close to using the full potential of our online networks, and how to use “mind sharing” in practical and proven ways—including looking at how a manager used LinkedIn to create a year’s worth of market research in less than a day.

Celebrated as “a genius who is also an ordinary guy,” Dr. Zoref has been invited to speak at some of the world’s most innovative organizations including Google, MIT Media Lab, Columbia University, The White House, Nike, Microsoft, and LinkedIn. Dr. Zoref has also been invited to speak and keynote at world-renowned technology summits including TED, TEDMED, Biomed, and TechEd where he shared the stage with figures like Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jeff Bezos, and more.