Engaging your employees to think out of the box is not easy. We are all comfortable being in the routine and hence driving changes that involves innovation is very difficult.
In such cases, a corporate needs interventions and stimulations that can motivate and inspire employees around alternate thinking and creativity. Interestingly, stories well told from an alternate space all together can inspire people. It can create an open mind that starts to identify and eventually embraces the messages of belief.
Here is our list of top 7 speakers from various fields who are also great speakers when it comes to motivational speaking around topic of innovation and change management. You can refer to this list when it comes to employee engagement events or keynote speaking for engaging other stake-holders as well.
1. Sonam Wangchuk
About Sonam Wangchuk
Sonam Wangchuk is an engineer, innovator and an education reformist. He is the founder of Student’s Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), founded in 1988.
Achievements
Sonam Wangchuk was awarded Governor’s Medal for educational reform in Jammu and Kashmir, 1996 and was invited to the Asia 21 Young Leaders’ Summit in Seoul, Korea, 2006 for his contributions and achievements. He is the inspiration behind the character of ‘Phunsuk Wangdu’, played by Aamir Khan, in the award-winning Bollywood film ‘3 Idiots’.
Video: Check out the talk delivered by Sonam Wangchuk
Why Sonam Wangchuk?
An engineer, innovator, and an education reformist. Redefine failures into success.
2. Arunachalam Muruganantham
About Arunachalam Muruganantham
Arunachalam Muruganantham is the real-life superhero of India, the man on whom the Hindi film Pad Man is based. His story was also the subject of a prize-winning documentary Menstrual Man by Amit Virmani. His mission to produce low-cost sanitary pads for all the girls & women in India led him on a path-breaking journey, which eventually culminated in a successful company where he currently employs 21,000 women!
Achievements
From being a school dropout to being included in Time magazine’s list of 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2014, his journey is an inspiration to all. Despite his idiosyncratic English, he has given lectures at many institutions including IIT Bombay, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and Harvard University. He has also given a TEDx talk. For his revolutionary work, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2016.
Video: Check out the talk delivered by Arunachalam Muruganantham
Why Arunachalam Muruganantham?
Legendary man who proved nothing is impossible if through his will power. A simple man can bring about a revolution in the world.
3. Anirudh Sharma
About Anirudh Sharma
Anirudh Sharma is a tech-innovator and the Founder of Graviky Labs.His company Graviky, is addressing the air-pollution problem by treating it as a waste-management problem and developing novel materials around it. He is the co-founder of Graviky Labs Ltd (B-Corp) and is the current Head, MIT Media Lab India.
Achievements
He has been listed in MIT Technology Review 35 under 35 Innovator, Forbes 30 under 30. In 2010, Sharma invented a haptic shoe called “Lechal” to guide the blind. Lechal was the earliest wearable innovation designed for the visually challenged. Sharma also cofounded Graviky Labs to evolve his side project KAALINK, a technology which captures particulate carbon emissions and are then recycled into inks, called AIR-INK
Video: Check out the talk delivered by Anirudh Sharma
Why Anirudh Sharma?
Innovations in the waste-management problem and developing novel materials around it. Impressionable large-scale socio-economic impact. Pathbreaking tech innovations to create a change in the eco-balance.
4. Geetha Kannan
About Geetha Kannan
Geetha Kannan has spent three decades with companies such as Infosys and Wipro Systems. She now heads the India chapter of Anita Borg Institute – ABI, a not-for-profit that focuses on advancing the careers of women in technology. She has deep insight into human performance and development, stemming from hands-on experience in various functions like Marketing, E-commerce, Diversity. Sustainability, Planning and Human Resource Management.
Achievements
She was awarded the “Digital Women Awards” in the category of leadership in 2018. She is in the list of 100 mindful women by Shenomics India. Her organization, ABI conducts an annual conference every year to bring together women technologists from around the country which has given her global recognition.
Video: Check out the talk delivered by Geetha Kannan
Why Geetha Kannan?
- Impressionable innovations in the field of e-commerce, sustainability, and planning
- How to tackle unconscious bias in the workplace
- Helping women progress in careers in technology
5. Shaheen Mistri
About Shaheen Mistri
Shaheen Mistri is an Indian social activist and educator. She is the founder of Akanksha Foundation, an Indian non-profit educational initiative in Mumbai and Pune, and is also the CEO of Teach For India since 2008.
Achievements
Shaheen founded the Akanksha Foundation, a non-profit education project that provided after-school tutoring to children from low-income. Today, Akanksha reaches out to over 6500 children through its School Project Model. Teachers teach children using an innovative methodology, which has won the foundation international honors. In the summer of 2008, Shaheen founded Teach For India, with an audacious vision of providing an excellent education to all children across India through building a pipeline of leaders committed to ending educational inequity in India. She is an Ashoka Fellow, a Global Leader for Tomorrow at the World Economic Forum and an Asia Society 21 Leader.
Video: Check out the talk delivered by Shaheen Mistri
Why Shaheen Mistri?
Innovative teaching methodology for the underprivileged. Commitment to bringing change in the education system. Revolutionized the landscape for education at the grassroot level.
6. Anand Kumar
About Anand Kumar
Anand Kumar is an award-winning mathematician and the mind behind Super30, a programme in which he coaches underprivileged students for IIT-JEE. Fondly called as the messiah of entrance exams for engineering, Anand has had the privilege to be invited by few of the top universities in the world including Harvard, Stanford and University of British Columbia to speak about his Super30 programme and what keeps him motivated to continue doing this noble work.
Achievements
In just 15 years he has coached 450 students of which 396 made it to the IITs. This impressive feat got him international recognition and a documentary was made on him which was broadcasted on Discover Channel in 2009. Anand was honored with Rashtriya Bal Kalyan Award by the President of India in 2017. He was also given the top award of Bihar government, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Shiksha Puraskar, in 2010. Time magazine included Super30 in the list of Best of Asia 2010. In the subsequent year he was named by UK-based magazine Monocle among the list of 20 pioneering teachers of the world.
Video: Check out the talk delivered by Anand Kumar
Why Anand Kumar?
Know about the secret behind what keeps him motivated to continue doing this noble work. Inspire your workforce to go beyond possibilities and create history because capability lies within us.
7. Afroz Shah
About Afroz Shah
Afroz Shah is a young Indian lawyer from Mumbai whose name is synonymous with the world’s largest beach clean-up project. For more than three years, Afroz has been leading volunteers in manually picking up trash from Versova beach and teaching sustainable waste practices to villagers and people living in slums along the coastline and the creeks leading into it.
Achievements
In 2016, the UN awarded their top environmental accolade, the Champions of the Earth Award, to Afroz for his work in cleaning up Mumbai’s Versova beach.The movement has grown to see over 70,000 adults and 60,000 students come together over three years to help rid the beach of trash. The biggest pay-off for the campaign came when olive ridley turtle hatchlings were spotted on the beach. At least 80 olive ridley turtles made their way into the Arabian Sea from nests on the southern end of Versova beach. Not only has the movement brought marine litter to the attention of decision-makers, it is also starting to win back the beach, with less and less trash appearing each month.
Video: Check out the talk delivered by Afroz Shah
Why Afroz Shah?
Sheer determination and drive make the impossible possible. Action speaks louder than words. Inspiration of self-confidence to go ahead for the right cause.
