Charlene Li
Helping leaders see the future and transform through disruption.
Why book Charlene Li for your next event
- Gain a clear roadmap for leading transformation, AI strategy, and bold growth in times of disruption.
- Trusted advisor to executives and boards at global brands and 14 Dow Jones Industrial 30 companies.
- New York Times bestselling author delivering sharp, actionable insights for real-world impact.
Non-binding request for Charlene Li
Disruptive transformation expert and bestselling author
For more than three decades, Charlene Li has helped leaders see what’s coming next—and act on it. She challenges executives and boards to face a vital truth: innovation alone is not enough to stay competitive. Real advantage comes from transformation. Drawing on deep research, global advisory work, and hands-on leadership experience, Charlene equips organizations with the mindset, strategy, and courage required to seize opportunities others hesitate to pursue.
Charlene Li – A Voice on Disruptive Transformation
Charlene Li has spent the past thirty years at the forefront of disruption, guiding leaders through uncertainty and into positions of strength. Her work centers on a simple but powerful idea: companies cannot innovate their way out of disruption. They must transform.
As a sought-after expert on disruptive transformation, leadership, customer experience, and the future of work, Charlene has advised hundreds of organizations across industries. Her client experience spans global brands such as Adobe and Southwest Airlines, as well as 14 of the Dow Jones Industrial 30 companies. Executives and boards rely on her to help them build strategies for disruptive growth and craft plans to identify and seize opportunities others lack the audacity or confidence to pursue.
Her approach combines sharp analysis with practical execution. Leaders leave with clarity on where to play, how to win, and how to align their organization around bold change.
At the Edge of Disruption
Charlene’s career has consistently unfolded at moments of major technological and societal shifts. In the early 1990s, she worked in the newspaper industry, helping organizations navigate the move from print to online. She witnessed firsthand how digital transformation reshaped entire business models.
As a Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, she covered interactive advertising, search marketing, and the rise of social media, long before these areas became standard boardroom topics. Her insights helped executives understand how digital engagement would fundamentally change customer relationships.
In 2008, Charlene founded Altimeter Group, a disruptive competitor to established analyst firms such as Gartner, Forrester, and IDC. Under her leadership, Altimeter challenged industry incumbents with a fresh perspective on leadership and digital transformation. The firm was later acquired by Prophet, validating its impact and influence.
She went on to serve as Chief Research Officer at PA Consulting, where she led the company’s thought leadership program, shaping research and insights at the highest level. Today, Charlene leads her own firm, Quantum Networks Group, continuing to advise organizations on how to compete in a rapidly shifting landscape.
Bestselling Author and AI Strategist
Charlene is a New York Times bestselling author of six books. Her titles include The Disruption Mindset, Open Leadership, and the critically acclaimed Groundswell, which explored how social technologies transform relationships between organizations and their customers.
Her latest book, Winning with AI: The 90-Day Blueprint for Success, delivers a practical master plan for building and executing an AI strategy. In it, she outlines how leaders can move beyond experimentation and create measurable impact within 90 days. The book reflects her long-standing ability to translate emerging technology into actionable strategy.
Across her writing, one theme remains constant: disruption is not a threat to survive but an opportunity to shape.
Book Charlene Li for Your Event
Charlene Li is an experienced keynote speaker who has inspired audiences in intimate executive forums and large conference halls alike. She delivers presentations that combine data, stories from the front lines, and direct challenges to conventional thinking.
She has spoken at the World Economic Forum, TED, and South by Southwest, addressing leaders who shape industries and policy. Her talks are known for their clarity, energy, and strategic depth.
Audiences gain:
A clear understanding of how disruption reshapes industries
Concrete steps to drive transformation instead of incremental change
A practical framework for building and executing an AI strategy
Insight into leadership and customer experience in a digital world
Charlene’s expertise is frequently featured in leading media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Reuters, and The Associated Press. She has also shared her insights on 60 Minutes, The McNeil NewsHour, ABC News, CNN, and CNBC, bringing complex topics to life for broad audiences.
Academic Excellence and Personal Drive
Charlene earned her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and an A.B. degree magna cum laude from Harvard College. Her academic foundation supports the rigorous research and strategic thinking that define her work.
Beyond the boardroom and the stage, Charlene brings curiosity and playfulness to life, she even spends her spare time teaching her beloved cat new tricks. It’s a small detail that reflects a larger truth: transformation starts with curiosity, courage, and a willingness to try something new.
Why Charlene Li
Organizations that book Charlene Li gain more than a keynote. They gain a perspective shaped by decades at the center of digital and technological change. She helps leaders look beyond incremental innovation and commit to true transformation.
In a world defined by disruption, Charlene Li equips audiences with the mindset and strategy to win.
Keynotes
Keynote by Charlene Li:
WINNING WITH AI
For Large Conference Audiences:
Winning With AI: Crafting a Future-Ready Strategy
Explore the transformative world of AI in this keynote, tailored to introduce its strategic implications. Learn how to integrate AI with your organization's core mission, enhancing competitive advantage and driving long-term growth. This session offers insights into prioritizing transformative initiatives, understanding workforce implications, and mitigating risks while maximizing opportunities. Gain foundational knowledge to develop a robust AI strategy that aligns with your strategic goals and prepares your organization for the future.
In-Company Executive Session:
Creating a Unified AI Strategy: An Executive Roadmap
Delve into the strategic integration of AI, specifically crafted for executive leadership. This session focuses on aligning AI with the company's overarching objectives, identifying key initiatives for substantial impact, and addressing workforce evolution. Discussions will also cover risk management and the importance of a cohesive, actionable plan that commands executive alignment. Emerge with a unified vision and a clear strategy for leveraging AI to enhance organizational excellence.
For AI Leaders:
Strategizing AI: Vision, Alignment, and Execution
This session is designed for AI leaders, focusing on the intricacies of formulating and executing a comprehensive strategy. Create a compelling vision for AI that aligns with long-term organizational goals, ensuring stakeholder buy-in and executive support. Explore the balance between innovation and risk, the impact on the workforce, and the steps needed to maintain a competitive edge. This discussion aims to equip leaders with advanced strategies for leading their organizations in the AI space, fostering innovation and sustainable growth.
Audience takeaways:
- Ground the AI strategy in the company’s purpose, values, and business strategy
- Identify the top ways AI can strengthen and defend your competitive advantage
- Understand the workforce, leadership, and culture implications of AI adoption
- Create a robust AI strategy amid a fast-changing and uncertain technology landscape
Keynote by Charlene Li:
DISRUPTIVE TRANSFORMATION
“Disrupt or die” has been the rallying cry for decades, but what does it actually mean to be disruptive, to make it the center of your strategy? Many established companies set a goal to develop “disruptive” innovations, believing innovation will disrupt their market and drive growth. But that’s not how it works: Disruption doesn’t create growth. Growth creates disruption.
In this speech, Charlene acknowledges that transformations are never easy, and the unrelenting pace of technological change makes it doubly difficult. But there’s hope and a way forward, starting with reframing your strategy, leadership, and culture so that disruptive growth is at the top of your agenda.
Audience takeaways:
- Define what disruption is and isn’t and how it can drive disruptive growth
- Identify and prioritize the right disruptive growth moves and align the organization around them
- Understand how leaders must show up differently when pursuing a disruption strategy
- Instill disruption into a status-quo culture
Keynote by Charlene Li:
THE FUTURE OF WORK
New technologies pop up daily that allow us to connect and communicate with employees in real time. Yet organizations are wired for a bygone era when there was the luxury of time and proximity. Most organizations measure employee engagement in yearly surveys, hardly the way to truly engage employees in the digital era.
In this speech, Charlene makes the case to develop a new mindset, one that’s centered on creating a long-term relationship with employees that melds holistically with creating great experiences for customers. From creating belonging among hybrid workers to the adoption of AI, we'll dig deep into how technology is changing the nature of work and our relationship with employees.
Audience takeaways:
- Understand how employee expectations in the workplace are being influenced by their personal use of technology , especially AI
- Prepare for the long-term implications for employee engagement
- Identify the experiences that employees value the most
- Create rich collaboration experiences that support a different way of work
Keynote by Charlene Li:
LEADERSHIP IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Digital technologies have revolutionized relationships, and leadership is no exception. To be truly engaged, effective leaders must harness and master the power of digital communications and branding, especially with the challenges of leading a distributed team.
In this speech, Charlene explains that the key is understanding how your personal leadership style can be extended and scaled through digital techniques to achieve your most important goals. You’ll learn the art and science of how to listen, share, and engage with employees and customers in the digital era. We’ll also discuss common objections and concerns of leaders and how to address them.
Audience takeaways:
- Master a new way of developing relationships, which begins by stepping out of traditional hierarchies
- Listen at scale, share to shape, and engage to transform
- Shift to a digital mindset
- Apply the right digital tools to meet strategic goals
Keynote by Charlene Li:
LEADING WITH WISDOM
What does it mean to be wise? Wisdom is not just a matter of intelligence, knowledge, or character. Smart people make foolish decisions all the time. But what if we could improve our decision-making even a little bit and make consistently wiser choices? Imagine the exponential impact if we could intentionally support the people in our organizations to be wiser, regardless of their experience levels.
In this speech, Charlene takes audiences on a journey of discovery toward experiencing the true power of wisdom. With the right tools and guidance, you, too, can learn to make the right decisions and create a life and organization filled with meaning, purpose, and happiness.
Audience takeaways:
- Define wisdom in the context of leading an organization
- Develop wisdom in themselves and others
- Create a wise organization capable of consistently making great decisions
Charlene Li - Speaker Demo Reel
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Charlene Li: Efficient leadership in the digital era
Watch speaker Charlene Li talking about leadership:
