Diana Kander revolutionizes the way businesses look at innovation and curiosity. A New York Times best-selling author, innovation consultant and keynote speaker, she asks some big questions. What kind of culture needs to exist in an organization to ensure innovative ideas and practices? How has Snoop Dogg continued to innovate decade after decade to stay relevant to the next generation? What causes name brands to lose relevance with their customers and go out of business? Can organizational decline be prevented?
Diana has spent her career challenging assumptions and asking thought-provoking questions. A serial entrepreneur who entered the United States as a refugee at the age of 8, she has launched and sold millions of dollars worth of products and services. She outlined her biggest lessons learned for launching new products in her first book, All In Startup, which has been used by over 100 universities in their innovation courses and countless large organizations to help their employees think more like entrepreneurs. A former MBA professor at Mizzou, she has served as an entrepreneur in residence at H&R Block, Commerce Bank and several government agencies.
Diana’s second book, The Curiosity Muscle explains why it’s harder to stay at the top than it was to get there. The book documents Diana’s consulting experience with large organizations and demonstrates why most companies who experience significant success can so easily get comfortable, lose their curiosity and crash into irrelevance. The book walks readers through a methodology to keep curiosity alive and thriving inside of an organization, ultimately, future-proofing the business.
Fun fact about Diana: She likes to use her curiosity methodology to push herself out of her own comfort zone and achieve big personal challenges each year. Despite having never completed a pull-up prior to 2021, she raised over $26,000 for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kansas City by doing 5,000 pull-ups that year.
Diana lives in Kansas City, Missouri with Jason, her high-school sweetheart and husband, their son, True and daughter, Bella Brave.
Want an incredible opening keynote that makes participants more engaged in every session? Then teach them how to harness their curiosity!
Based on her book, The Curiosity Muscle, Diana’s high-energy keynote shows us how we can level up our simple questions to get significantly better results and drive innovation. That includes the questions attendees are reflecting on throughout your event!
She helps participants understand that the longer they’ve been doing something, the more likely it is that their expertise has also created some blind spots. Blind spots that could be huge opportunities for growth. She demonstrates how we struggle with additive bias (looking to add more things to our plate to solve a problem), when taking something away would be the much more optimal solution. And she helps attendees understand how our natural desire to be right gets in the way of our learning and improvement.
Through hilarious case studies and interactive exercises, Diana will leave your audience excited to learn and open to changing how they see the world.
ROI & Key Outcomes:
You’ve challenged us to ask bigger questions; reframing questions that yield disproportionately bigger results and career growth.
We cannot thank you enough for kicking off the month with your keynote which energized, inspired and helped set the tone for our Red Hatters to actively engage in live and on-demand career development opportunities. Your sessions were engaging and your humor was well received. You’ve challenged us to ask bigger questions; reframing questions that yield disproportionately bigger results and career growth.
“We very quickly adopted many of her practices to address old ways of doing things and used her methodology to bring new ideas to life.
Shortly before the pandemic, Diana spoke to our organization. I think one of the profound things she encouraged us to do was eradicate the zombies. We very quickly adopted many of her practices to address old ways of doing things and used her methodology to bring new ideas to life. Her concepts and tools allowed our health system to stay ahead of the pandemic and have one of the best responses in the nation. I would strongly recommend Diana for any keynote or leadership engagement you are thinking about.”
“Obviously Diana is an expert in the field.
The Partnership was extremely happy with Diana Kander’s presentation at our annual breakfast. We received a significant number of positive comments from a cross section of the community; economic development investors, elected officials and entrepreneurs. Diana’s presentation was thought provoking and left attendees with an understanding of how they can become involved and assist growing startup companies in our community. Diana was very engaging, entertaining and gave timely advice.”
“Diana Kander is an energetic, engaging speaker who makes her audience really think. (and laugh!) When I looked around the room, I noticed attendees were not only listening but also taking notes and very eager to ask questions. From discussing blind spots to “killing zombies” (believe me, this is worth hearing), her presentation was the perfect blend of education and entertainment, and I would not hesitate to recommend her for anyone looking to create a memorable event.”
“Diana does a superior job of speaking to a wide variety of audiences. She engaged students, faculty and business owners all with ease. And, Diana’s message isn’t all roses – she challenges her audiences to think differently, act strategically, and create critical conversations among founders, businesses and collaborators. The dialog she spurred continues to shape our thinking today.”
