Non-binding request for Afdhel Aziz
Afdhel Aziz
In a post-AI world, storytelling expert Afdhel Aziz helps leaders use storytelling to restore trust, deepen engagement, and drive results.
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5.00 of 5
Top rated!
Why book you should Afdhel Aziz for your next event
- He founded Conspiracy of Love, a B Corp consultancy working with Fortune 500 companies like Adidas, Gap Inc., Sephora, and PepsiCo.
- His speaking experience includes Cannes Lions Festival, Fast Company Innovation Festival, and SXSW.
- Book Afdhel Aziz to show your audience why hopeful storytelling is the leadership skill AI cannot replace driving engagement, retention, and performance.
Non-binding request for Afdhel Aziz
Start With Hope™: Turning Strategy Into Belief
Afdhel argues that in the age of AI, the leaders who win aren't the ones with the best strategy deck — they're the ones who can turn that strategy into a story their people actually believe. Drawing on Gallup research showing hope accounts for 56% of every positive leadership attribute named across 52 countries, he shows leaders how to close the Hope Gap: the space between what a strategy says and what people actually believe about where they're headed.
From Corporate Leader to Chief Purpose Officer
Afdhel Aziz helps organizations increase engagement, retention and performance - using his Start with Hope™ Playbook pioneered at Fortune 500 companies like Disney, Adidas, The Gap, and Sephora.
He is the Chief Purpose Officer of Conspiracy of Love, a strategic consultancy that helps build cultures where people believe, belong, and perform. He founded it in 2017, leaving a two-decade corporate career after witnessing the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami in his native Sri Lanka.
He has inspired audiences globally at companies like Coca Cola, Walmart, and Microsoft, as well as leadership, HR and innovation conferences like the Fast Company Innovation Festival, Cannes Lions, SXSW and many more.
He is the bestselling author of The Purpose Trilogy, a Forbes contributor with over 500 interviews with global business leaders, and co-founder of Good is the New Cool, a creative studio which produces content like ‘The Solutionaries’ with TIME Magazine.
What Hope-Driven Leaders Do Differently
As a Forbes contributor, Afdhel has interviewed more than 500 CEOs and entrepreneurs. The pattern he keeps finding: the fastest-scaling leaders aren't the ones optimizing hardest — they're the ones giving their people a story worth believing in.
Believe, Belong, Perform™: Turning Stories Into Culture
Through Good is the New Cool — his creative studio, where he served as Executive Producer of The Solutionaries with TIME Magazine — Afdhel translates this thinking into culture and brand work. He is also an award-winning poet, novelist, and documentary filmmaker.
Book Afdhel Aziz to Fill the Hope Gap at Your Event
Afdhel has keynoted in 30+ countries for organizations including Disney, Google, Microsoft, Walmart, JPMorgan Chase, and the United Nations. His three keynotes are built for C-suite leadership audiences, HR and people leaders, and marketing/innovation teams respectively.
Customer Reviews
5 of 5
His storytelling ability coupled with unique engagement with the audience, tempo, charisma, and tone will surely open eyes, make you smile, and question your entire approach to doing business.
Quique RianchYPO Euro-LATAM
5 of 5
Afdhel's presentation radiates passion and authenticity and it struck a chord with participants.
Jay-Ann GilfoyCEO, Meridian CU
5 of 5
Afdhel's talk received a standing ovation from a packed room of 1,200 and was among the highest-rated speeches ever at IEG.
Lesa UkmanIEG
5 of 5
Afhdel is a passionate leader who has led very complex teams across multiple projects across mutliple continents & timezones. His ability to inspire a team and execute flawlessly is impeccable. I worked with Afdhel on the Nokia global marketing team and was quite impressed with his strong work ethic, attention to detail and incredible knowlege of all things entertainment, technology, & marketing. It would be a pleasure to work with Afhdel again and I would highly reccomend him for any senior executive role.
Paul BurnsCEO, Skip
5 of 5
I had the pleasure of working with Afdhel in Nokia Marketing in London during 2005-2007. We set up a new marketing services team in London and Afdhel was hired to the company as the Youth and Music marketing manager for Nokia Europe. He proved to be brilliant in the job setting up new standards and ambition level to the organisation. He is very driven, creative, engaging and extremely good in networking and influencing various stakeholder. He also proved to be very strong in large scale project management and was able to manage and motivate a diverse team of internal players and agencies with a succesfull outcome. He has a stong competence in youth, music and brand marketing. I can highly recommend Af as a professional and as a person.
Anne NenonenMarketing and project manager
5 of 5
I've had the great opportunity to work with Afdhel on a number of initiatives over the last several years while he's been at Heineken. Afdhel is a very creative, forward thinking marketer with deep expertise in technology, digital/social media, music and entertainment. He has the unique capability to think both high-level strategy and at a tactical level to develop a plan to execute. His an ideal client because he values new and creative ideas and is willing to push the organization to adapt to the rapidly changing consumer landscape. Afdhel is aces in my book.
Malcolm GillianPresident & COO @ Cogent I Chair & President @ MCCE
5 of 5
Afdhel has constantly stood out as seeking to challenge the boundaries for what a beer brand could mean in the lives of its consumers. While I was working at a non-traditional marketing agency, he was always receptive to strategies that would disrupt traditional marketing principles. It was clear that he sought out with a goal to build on Heineken’s extreme success in music, by organically making Heineken part of the other lifestyle verticals (art, fashion, etc.). He has developed a great marketing instinct, but more importantly has grown to be a friend.
Atlas Berryearly-stage VC | backing founders in energy, industrial resilience, and frontier tech | hybrid endurance athlete
5 of 5
I have the pleasure of working with Afdhel on the iconic Absolut Vodka brand in the USA and it's rare to work with clients that have true creative vision as well as strategic rigor. Afdhel has an amazing eye for innovation and great work, and is not adverse to taking risk. Afdhel understands true partnership delivers great work.
Lukas DerksenCo-Founder at SQUARED CIRCLES | Angel Investor | Health & Wellness Entrepreneur
5 of 5
Afdhel is writing and doing some vital work to illuminate the next era of cause marketing. Good is the new cool is required thinking and reading for a new generation of marketers. Highly recommended.
Paul WoolmingtonCEO at Canvas Worldwide
5 of 5
Afdhel is one of the most innovative, intelligent, and inspiring people that I've had the pleasure of working with.
Sheila SenhouseEntrepreneurial Marketing Executive delivering breakthrough results
5 of 5
Afdhel is one of the most thoughtful and brilliant people I know. His approach to brand strategy and marketing is lead by intention, passion, and innovation. Not only is he ahead of the trend, he creates them.
Anthony DembyFounder @ Humbleriot
5 of 5
Afdhel is an immensely thoughtful professional who exercises and imparts his unique and sharply informed perspective on the audiences he impacts. He joined our Business Transformation team at adidas for a one-day workshop in Brooklyn, and many of the lessons in social purpose he demonstrated still stick with me and guide my work today. His voice is powerful and resonant and comes from a wonderful place; I can't recommend him strongly enough.
Charlie KautzPracticing the courage to unlearn bureaucracy and unlock potential
Rated 5.00/5 based on 12 customer reviews
Keynotes
Keynote by Afdhel Aziz:
Start With Hope™ — To Drive Engagement, Retention & Performance
Too many organizations are trying to solve an engagement crisis with the wrong tools — strategy, technology, incentives — while people quietly stop believing the future is worth fighting for.
This keynote introduces Afdhel's Start With Hope™ Playbook, giving leaders the data and frameworks to diagnose and close the Hope Gap at every level of the organization, building cultures where people believe in the direction, belong to the mission, and perform with the full force of who they are.
Keynote by Afdhel Aziz:
Believe, Belong, Perform™ — Reconnecting People to the Purpose That Makes Their Work Irreplaceable
Built on the groundbreaking GPS to Purpose™ framework, this keynote helps every person in the room find the intersection of their Gifts, Passions, and Service — reconnecting to the purpose that makes their contribution irreplaceable and turning disengagement into committed, energized performance.
Keynote by Afdhel Aziz:
Strategy to Story™ — A Values-Driven Storytelling Playbook for Brands in a Divided World
Most brands have gone quiet on their values, afraid of backlash either way. This keynote introduces Afdhel's three-step Strategy to Story™ Playbook, developed through Good is the New Cool and proven with Disney, Gap Inc., and Sephora — a practical way to tell values-driven stories that build broad, durable trust instead of stories built to win one side of an argument.
Afdhel Aziz Speaker Reel | Inspiring AAPI Keynote Speaker | Visit afdhelaziz.com
Watch Afdhel Aziz in action!
Leading with Purpose: How to Supercharge Your Career With Meaning and Impact
Watch Afdhel Aziz in action!
