I have long advocated for customer surprise, and now here comes Soren Kaplan advocating for strategic surprise. It is a concept every executive should harness, and Kaplan demonstrates that true breakthroughs in innovation should be surprises. And the most surprising thing of all: by following the approach outlined in Leapfrogging you will be assured of leading your organizations into creating such breakthroughs, and thereby transform your business.

B. Joseph Pine IICo-author, The Experience Economy and Infinite Possibility

I work with hundreds of CEOs and their ability to respond to “surprises” is one of today’s most critical factors for business success. Soren gets what it takes to help leaders shift their thinking to create breakthroughs and proactively drive change.

Paul WitkayFounder & CEO Alliance of Chief Executives

Soren was engaging, knowledgeable, thought-provoking — and fun. Our attendees, who are highly experienced talent strategists, are a hard group to please, and they gave Soren uniformly excellent ratings.

Kay Kennedy

Soren delivered our kickoff keynote where he set the tone for our conference. The feedback from our attendees has been fantastic and Soren exceed my expectations with his engaging style and thought provoking presentation.

Kristin Petrovich KennedyPresident & Founder, Createasphere

Thank you for your brilliant remarks during the winter faculty conferences in Savannah and Atlanta. The assembled faculty and staff will embark upon the academic quarter buoyed by your inspired and witty words on the nature of innovations, which are sure to favor those who embrace surprise and eschew predictability.

Paula WallacePresident, Savannah College of Art & Design

As a professional conference organizer, we initially asked Soren to deliver a top level, executive education workshop to kickoff an event with over 300 C-Suite executives from the healthcare industry. The feedback was so outstanding we invited him back to lead a similar discussion at another event. Soren’s unique ability to tailor his message, facilitate collaboration, and push the thinking of senior executives, puts him in the top tier of speakers we work with.

Meredith AnastasioManaging Director, Lincoln Healthcare Group

Soren’s presentation was unique, timely and relevant to our business challenges without a re-hash of common platitudes. He especially engaged with our entire leadership team, whether present in the room or attending remotely.

Scott MunnVice President & Security Product Management, Cisco

Soren understood our audience and he made the topic of disruptive innovation accessible and inspirational. People are still buzzing about his presentation.

Mary Beth RoblesVice President, Colgate-Palmolive

Soren’s talk inspired our organization while providing both strategic and practical approaches for driving breakthroughs in the business and for our leadership.

Teppo PaavolaVice President & Head of Global Business Development, PayPal

Soren’s new spin on the popular topic of innovation kept the entire audience on the edge of their seats. His talk was amazing.

Tatyana KanzaveliOrganizer, TEDx Bay Area / Silicon Valley