Gary A. Bolles keynote speaker

Gary A. Bolles is an internationally-recognized expert on the future of work, learning, and the organization. His focus is on strategies for helping individuals, organizations, communities and countries to thrive in a post-pandemic world fueled by exponential technologies. He is the author of The Next Rules of Work: The mindset, skillset, and toolset to lead your organization through uncertainty, widely acknowledged as the roadmap for the future of work.

The Next Rules of Work is the culmination of years of research and consulting focused on the seismic changes in work, learning, and the organization. In his book, Bolles explores the mindset, skillset, and toolset that organizations, teams, and workers need to thrive in a world of exponential change. His popular column, Gary Bolles’ Next Newsletter, can be found on LinkedIn.

A globally-renowned  expert on the future of work, he delivers over 100 lectures and interviews a year. He is well known for his C-suite “firestarter” talks, inspiring those who lead organizations to embrace entirely new ways of thinking about the future of work, learning, and the organization. He frequently lectures and consults around the world to organizations such as Google, Carrefour, Novartis, The World Bank, and the U.N. and is a frequent lecturer for Singularity University, Gartner and Unreasonable Group.

As adjunct Chair for the Future of Work for Singularity University, he leads the organization’s efforts to empower a global community with the mindset, skillset, and network to create an abundant future of work and learning. In the seismic transition to what Bolles calls the digital work economy, individuals, organizations, communities and countries all need to develop a shared understanding of the dynamics of disruptive change, collaborate on the development of effective strategies, and ensure that all people have access to meaningful work and lifelong learning opportunities.

As a partner in the boutique consulting agency Charrette LLC, he helps clients to identify and understand trends affecting organizations and markets, through strategic conferences, innovation consulting, strategy design charrettes, and collaborative initiatives. Bolles was co-founder of the US Broadband Coalition, which brought together 137 organizations to develop a draft broadband strategy for America. Through Charrette, he has served as strategic consultant and visiting lecturer for clients such as Google, Intel, the New Zealand Government, the World Bank, and the United Nations.

As co-founder of eParachute.com, Bolles helps job-hunters & career changers, from youth to 50+, with online and in-person programs. Trained as a career counselor at the age of 19, he is an expert on world’s most effective methods for helping job-hunters and career changers, from “What Color Is Your Parachute?”, the best-selling career book of all time, authored by his father, Richard N. Bolles.

More than 1.3 million learners have taken his popular LinkedIn Learning courses, including Developing A Learning Mindset, Learning Agility, and Strategic Agility. His new course on Skills for the Leading the Future of Work debuted in March 2023.

He is the former Chief Operating Officer for Evolve Software, the former VP Marketing for Network Products Corporation, a former strategic innovation advisor for Nokia, and has advised dozens of startups. He currently serves as an adviser for a dozen early-stage companies.

Bolles is the former editorial director for five technology publications, including Interactive Week (“the Internet’s first newspaper”), Yahoo! Internet Life, and Network Computing, as well as Contributing Editor to CIO Insight, with a deep background in networking and telecommunications. He also served as the on-screen host of TechTV’s “Working the Web.”

Bolles co-founded a variety of conferences and strategic initiatives, including:

• SoCap, SocialCapitalMarkets.net, the premier gathering for impact entrepreneurs and investors.
• Fulcrum, the conference on solutions for the future of work, first held in November 2019 in Detroit, Michigan.
• Closing The Gap, a 2015 conference in Palm Beach, Florida, focused on strategies for an inclusive economy, with speakers such as Tony Blair, Tom Friedman, and Robert Reich
• DGREE, a 2010 conference focused on the future of higher education
• Silicon Valley Meets the UN, bringing hi-tech leaders in 2005 and 2006 to the international development community
• Global Skills Day, a worldwide virtual event in July 2021.

Bolles has also served as a consulting producer for strategic events for clients such as Google (Zeitgeist, Innovation for the Nation, ThinkCloud), Singularity University (Global Summit, Exponential Manufacturing, Exponential Finance), TED (TED@MotorCity, TED@Allianz, TEDGlobal Pre-conference), Nokia (IdeasCamp), Yahoo (Bonfire), and National Australia Bank and London Business School (Silicon Valley Innovation Days).