Tim Sanders
CEO of Net Minds, Internal and External Relationships Expert and Best-selling Author
Tim Sanders is more than a keynote speaker; his real world experience, research savvy and deep understanding of the human condition make him an indispensable consultant to some of the biggest brands in the world. His Los Angeles based company, Deeper Media, conducts research on business trends, new media and human behavior.
Upwork’s Vice President of Client Strategy, Fellow @ D3 Institute at Harvard Business School and NY Times Best Selling Author.
Tim leads client strategy at Upwork where he helps businesses implement better ways of working through the adoption of on demand talent solutions. He has more than 25 years of experience working with companies on innovation and change management. In 2024, he was appointed Executive Fellow at the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard Business School. In that role, his focus is on delivering insights on the “Return on AI” for business leaders.
Tim began his career as an early-stage member of Mark Cuban's broadcast.com and, once acquired, he became the Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo!. He is also the author of five books, including the New York Times bestseller, Love is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends.
This Business Of AI: How to Convert the Hype into Business Growth
Join us for an enlightening session with Tim Sanders, an authority on driving business growth through Artificial Intelligence. In a landscape inundated with technology enthusiasts, Tim stands out as a pragmatic expert, dedicated to translating AI's potential into tangible returns on investment.
With a global reputation for guiding executives through the complexities of AI strategy, Tim's insights are invaluable for any organization seeking to leverage exponential growth to create value. As an executive fellow at Harvard Business School's Digital Data Design Institute, he spearheads insight development, aimed at democratizing AI for business leaders worldwide.
Tim's approach is not just about adopting AI for the sake of innovation; it's about strategically reframing business challenges as "prediction problems" to ensure maximum return on AI investments. Through engaging dialogue and real-world case studies, he will demystify AI for you and empower you to put it to work in your business.
Drawing from his extensive experience, Tim also sheds light on the often-overlooked pitfalls of AI implementation and shares actionable strategies to mitigate risks and optimize investments. By collaborating closely with meeting stakeholders, Tim tailors his remarks to address specific business challenges and event objectives, leaving attendees equipped with practical insights to drive transformative change within their organizations.
Key Learning Objectives:
- Gain a strategic framework for ensuring Return on AI by reframing business challenges as prediction problems.
- Explore the booming landscape of GenAI and identify high impact use cases for delivering ROI.
- Navigate the hidden costs of AI implementation and learn how to avoid common pitfalls.
- Discover proven strategies to de-risk AI programs, enabling more “swings at the plate.”
- Reveal how managers and leaders can measure the value of AI investments.
Virtual TOPIC: The Art Of Leading Remotely
Tim Sanders, Upwork's Vice President of Customer Insights, has deep experience in digital transformation, remote work management and agility-through-change. No one has collected more insights on how to manage 'work from home teams' than Tim and his associates at Upwork. An expert at meeting teams where they are at, Tim will customize your session providing action items that not only help, but also inspire.
NEW PRESENTATION: Getting Ahead of Burnout
Many of your best people are on the verge of suffering professional burnout. They’ve stepped up the number of working hours, partially due to the new work-from-home environment, but mostly because they need to get more done with less.
Researchers declare that burnout is a threat to companies in 2021—the pandemic’s new world of work is showing collateral damage including turnover, loss of productivity and a lack of creative energy.
The good news is that burnout can be prevented and alleviated in the early stages through designed workstreams and personally managed through the development of boundaries and wellness habits.
In this presentation, Tim provides insights on what it takes to restore work-life integration in 2021. He’ll share the latest research as well as best practices from companies and wellness advisors.
You’ll learn how to:
- Spot the early warning signs of burnout in individuals and groups.
- Design workstreams to ensure load-management of key talents.
- Leverage resources such as the work marketplace to offload tactical burdens.
- Coach others to reduce stress and recharge energies while they work from home.
Tim was research-backed, tactical and relevant to today’s landscape. Attendees commented it was one of the best sessions they’ve ever attended.”
Christina Nanfelt, Portfolio Engagement, Insight Partners
Innovating Faster - Why Collaboration Changes Everything
Leaders in every industry prioritize innovation but are frustrated with how long it takes to bring breakthroughs to market. According to bestselling author and consultant Tim Sanders, the best way to speed up the innovation process is to promote a culture of collaboration across your organization and externally with partners, customers and competimates.
Over his career, Tim has studied leaders that practice what he terms ‘disruptive collaboration,’ a problem-solving style that leverages surprising alliances along the fault-lines of a company or its market. He’ll reveal how the biggest leaps and turnarounds in history came from collisions of thought, not safe work in our silos of excellence. Tim’s eye-opening keynote will deliver actionable insights and tools that will accelerate the rate of innovation, drive agility and quickly produce breakthrough business outcomes.
Learning Objectives:
- Why Companies That Practice Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration Outperform Rivals
- How to Leverage the Power of Multiple Perspectives to Solve Problems 3X Faster
- How to Bring Multiple Stakeholder Needs From “Me-to-We” in a Collaborative Project
- Why Innovation Requires a Focus on Building a Collaborative Web of Relationships
- How to Connect the Silos, One Collaboration Project at a Time
"Tim Sanders is a great follow-on for clients who have booked me previously. Where I speak around innovation mindsets, Tim compliments this message with the idea of innovation through collaboration. He's great on stage, great to work with and does an incredible amount of customization for each client. I highly recommend him!"
Josh Linkner - Global Keynote Speaker
The Art of Leading Remote Talent
You’ve likely worked with remote talent before, be they freelancers or full-time employees who have a flexible work arrangement with your company. But today, many of your talents are working remotely from home due to the Covid-19 crisis. More than ever, you need a solid skillset when it comes to managing those who you won’t see face to face in your offices.
That’s why Upwork Vice President of Customer Insights, Tim Sanders, has produced a 45-minute virtual session to give you the best practices in leading remote talents of all types. He’s scoured academic and industrial research as well as interviewed enterprise leaders experienced in remote talent management to create this insightful and actionable program.
The session will reveal helpful and surprising best practices in remote communications focused on platforms, cadences, nuance, and service level agreements on responsiveness.
You’ll also learn how to remotely manage:
- Positive Mental Outlook (the key to engagement)
- Engagement (the key to productivity)
- Collaboration (the key to innovation and problem solving)
Long after your employees return to on-premise work, you’ll be able to put this session to use as you manage remote workers and/or independent contractors. It is the key to developing an agile workforce that can drive key initiatives from business growth to digital transformation.
"Tim knocked it out of the park on “The Art of Leading Remote Talent.” Feedback was off the charts from our 100+ Supplier members. I had several companies comment on timeliness and importance of the content."