Ozan Varol
#Empower2022 Keynote Speaker
Ozan Varol is a rocket scientist turned award-winning professor and #1 bestselling author of Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life. He is one of the world’s foremost experts in creativity, innovation, and critical thinking, helping industry-leading organizations reimagine the status quo with moonshot thinking.
Ozan is consistently ranked one of the top speakers at conferences and private events. Audiences love his blend of big ideas, witty stories, and down-to-earth humor. He’s a master at simplifying complex topics and delivering numerous “aha!” moments. Ozan has the rare ability to get people to drop their phones and leave them with practical insights they can implement right away to level up in work and life.
A native of Istanbul, Turkey, Ozan grew up in a family of no English speakers. He learned English as a second language and moved to the United States by himself at 17 to attend Cornell University and major in astrophysics.
While there, he served on the operations team for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers project that sent two rovers–Spirit and Opportunity–to Mars. He built stuff that went to the red planet and wrote code that snaps photos of the Martian surface.
Ozan’s diverse personal background (as a former rocket scientist turned lawyer turned university professor and popular author) allows him to connect with wide-ranging audiences. He’s delivered keynote speeches to small and large crowds at conferences, start-ups, and Fortune 500 companies across numerous industries. He’s trusted by institutions like Microsoft, Intel, adidas, General Electric, Google X, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Navy.
#Empower2022 Keynote Session by Ozan
Reimagine the Status Quo with Moonshot Thinking
Recommended for: All Audiences
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EST
A child who was 6 years old when the Wright brothers took their first flight would have been 72 when flight became powerful enough to put a man on the Moon. This giant leap, taken within a human lifespan, is the triumph of moonshot thinking.
Moonshot thinking is a way to imagine the unimaginable and solve the unsolvable. It’s the marriage of idealism and pragmatism, a mindset that combines extraordinary thinking with a practical, proven moonshot process for achieving extraordinary results. In this time of unrelenting change and uncertainty, it’s moonshot thinking that sets apart industry-leading businesses from the rest.
In this keynote, Ozan will reveal his 4-step moonshot process to help businesses launch their own moonshot, spot opportunities they couldn’t see before, and create an extraordinary advantage to shape the future of their industry. You’ll learn:
- The single principle Elon Musk used to revolutionize the aerospace industry (and how you can use the same principle to transform your business)
- What sets apart top performers when it comes to solving complex problems
- How invisible rules constrain your business (and what to do about it)
- How to reframe questions to generate better answers
- What George Costanza and rocket scientists have in common, and what you can learn from both in starting your next project
- How to nail your next product launch using an unstoppable astronaut training strategy
When you learn how to apply moonshot thinking, you won’t just change the way you view the world. You’ll be empowered to change the world itself.