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Watts Wacker

Lecturer, best-selling author, political commentator and social critic and one of the world’s most respected futurists.

Watts Wacker is one of the most celebrated and influential minds in modern business. His uncommon versatility and vision has allowed him to help the world’s top corporations and organizations navigate the sea of change that is taking hold in the new millennium. He has been the futurist at SRI International, the legendary Menlo Park think tank, and spent ten years as the resident futurist at the preeminent social research organization, Yankelovich Partners.

As founder and director of FirstMatter LLC, Mr. Wacker has focused his attention on creating a new kind of think tank and he describes himself as a twenty-first century alchemist as well as… "a cross between James Brown and the unknown comic, (the hardest working nobody in the business.)" His speaking style has created many references to Mr. Wacker as being one of the best storytellers alive today.

His book, The 500 Year Delta was an international bestseller having been translated into ten languages and was an "editors choice" top five selection on the Amazon.com book list for 1997. "The Delta" was also selected for the NASA library. Watts' second book, The Visionary's Handbook is required reading at many of the world's finest business schools and received outstanding reviews. Both books were coauthored with Jim Taylor.

Recent work has included contributing, editing and ghost writing numerous books, broadcast commentary as well as magazine and journal articles. His third book, The Deviant’s Advantage received a tremendous reviewer response including from Time Magazine, Fortune, The N.Y. Times, and The Harvard Business Review. His fourth book, What’s Your Story? Storytelling to move markets, audiences, people and brands, was released in August 2007. What's Your Story? was a finalist for advertising/marketing book of the year. Both books are co-authored with Ryan Mathews. Mr. Wacker and his "wizardry practice" has been featured in the media the world over. He has been labeled a "must quote" by the Associated Press.

Mr. Wacker was the original consulting pollster to the Fox News Division and directed the Time Magazine Poll, while at Yankelovich Partners he also managed the preeminent trends prediction service in the United States, for ten years. Mr. Wacker’s additional previous experience also includes management positions in the health, beauty, toy and food industries, and ownership and operation of two radio stations outside Corpus Christi, Texas.

Mr. Wacker’s matriculative background includes degrees from both Tulane University and the University of Texas in Austin as well as a research fellowship at The Institute for Constructive Capitalism. He has lectured at many colleges and universities around the world. When asked to state his most memorable professional accomplishments, Watts responds... "The most memorable work accomplishments? ... the two humbling events in my life... the renowned speaking series I've been privileged to speak at, and, having been selected as a 'Significant Sig' by the national Sigma Chi Fraternity." Watts Wacker resides in Westport, Connecticut with his wife and partner of 29 years and one of their two children.


The consumer agenda

Economics agenda

Technology agenda

Governance agenda

The social agenda

Business subjects




"On our list of the 50 most influential business thinkers in the world"
Financial Times

"One of 21 socially important people we selected to make a prediction for the 21st century."
The Science Channel




Travels from USA

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