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Innovation strategist empowering people to make change

Caleb Gardner

travels from USA

An insatiably curious innovation strategist and change management expert with unique experience: from startups to nonprofits; from Fortune 100 clients to presidents of the United States.

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In his two decades of experience in digital leadership, entrepreneurship, and social impact, Caleb has worked for a variety of organizations in the public and private sectors, including at prestigious professional service firms like Bain & Company and Edelman. Caleb Gardner’s career has been driven by curiosity and focused on change.

Reasons to book Caleb Gardner

  • Caleb is passionate about helping organizations understand how to adapt to a world in which technology, communications, and media define our reality.
  • He turns his unique experience and everyday consulting work leading strategy firm 18 Coffees—into actionable insights that reframe how leaders think about transformational leadership, ethical innovation, and effective change management.
  • Caleb’s keynote presentations have inspired audiences around the world to understand their capacity to make change.

For more than three years, he was the lead digital strategist for OFA, Barack Obama’s political advocacy group. Caleb led one of the largest digital programs in existence, including the most followed Twitter account in the world, @BarackObama.

But his decades of experience in digital leadership, entrepreneurship, and social impact don’t just include work in government and politics: He’s built content strategies and developed operational frameworks for a variety of organizations in the public and private sectors, including at prestigious professional service firms like Bain & Company and Edelman.

Now as the cofounder and managing partner of 18 Coffees, an innovation consulting firm, Caleb helps businesses with a mission to change the world get a foothold in the future, using his professional experience to solve impossible problems and bring new ideas to life, for global clients such as United Way Worldwide, Bose Corporation, Comcast, and others.

Caleb has also written columns for Forbes and other online publications, and is frequently asked for quotes for publications like NBC News, Crain’s Chicago Business, WIRED magazine, BBC Radio 4, and Entrepreneur magazine, among others. Caleb Gardner can speak, train, and lead workshops around the world on topics related to change, including strategy in a mission economy, technology and innovation for a better world, and change management at the speed of digital.

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Keynote by speaker Caleb Gardner

No Point B: How Great Leaders Innovate When Change Never Stops Coming

A global pandemic. Massive digital disruption. Social upheaval. Every day it seems like the news cycle tells us about how the world around us is changing. If we can just get to the end of it all, we’ll be OK. (Right?) How should we as business leaders respond? How do you lead your people through a transformation when we have new emergent data about how the world is changing every day?

Leaning on his extensive experience in leadership, digital transformation, and political activism—including leading digital strategy for Barack Obama, the “Change” President— Caleb Gardner explores key themes from his new book, No Point B, to make a compelling case for understanding change as a core competency in a digital world that is evolving every day, and why transformational leadership as a competitive advantage in the post-COVID economy.

Key takeaways:

  • Our media environment means we no longer share the same data, the same truth—and that includes employees sharing the same truths about your company.
  • Change management can’t be a linear process, moving your organization from Point A to Point B. Point B doesn’t exist. Transformation has to become a core competency, because those who stop changing are going to lose to those who are more nimble and adaptive.
  • Companies must put a big focus on internal communications and employee engagement, so employees are bought into the change direction and are proactively part of making all change initiatives a success.
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Keynote by speaker Caleb Gardner

How to Build an Ethical Company—Without Losing Your Soul

“Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)”, “Conscious Capitalism”, “triple bottom line”—the dizzying ways the business community has attempted corporate social responsibility in the past two decades are almost as plentiful as the case studies about the negative impacts of public pressure on business perception. The 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer claimed “Societal leadership is now a core function of business.” How are leaders supposed to navigate the increasing social pressure to do business better?

In this talk, Caleb explores key themes from his new book, No Point B, to show how becoming a more ethical and inclusive company depends on our ability to navigate a hyperpoliticized business environment, adapt quickly—and never rest on our assumptions about our moral impact on the world.

Key takeaways:

  • A lack of shared definitions and philosophies around most corporate social responsibility creates dispersed attention—and hurts progress.
  • The hyper-politicized internet environment our (increasingly remote and isolated) employees operate in affects their perception of our company’s social impact. Internal company communications has to be more than an afterthought—they are one of the most important tools in our toolkit for making change.
  • It takes moral imagination to operate a business in a complex world. Doing business well while minimizing harm is incredibly difficult, and takes a focus on constant adaptation.
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Keynote by speaker Caleb Gardner

What Barack Obama's Trolls Taught Me About Online Civility

The internet has become, in internet language, a garbage fire of political opinions, conspiracies, and resentment between friends and family members. People have lost faith in the tech industry, even as the biggest tech companies have even more power over our everyday lives. How did we get here? What can be done about it? And what are the implications for business leaders, who increasingly have to navigate this toxic environment?

In this talk, Caleb leans on his experience running one of the largest digital programs in existence—engaging with tens of millions of people every day via the Barack Obama social media accounts and email list, including the number one most followed Twitter account in the world—to talk about why the internet is so broken, and why we all have a role in fixing it.

Key takeaways:

  • The persuasive effects of algorithms on our news consumption means that we no longer share the same realities. We have to prioritize digital media literacy in education, and critical thinking for ourselves every day about what we share.
  • Social media is like a biomass: every amplification of a negative message reinforces that message and encourages its creator. Personal responsibility matters to the system as a whole.
  • From the perspective of history, we are all like Peter Parker: we’ve been given the power of Spider-Man practically overnight by carrying around the world’s most powerful information and communication devices in our pockets every day. But we haven’t had our Uncle Ben, withgreat-power-comes-responsibility moment yet.
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Caleb Gardner | Innovation & Change Management Speaker | Speaking Reel

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Caleb stood out as the speaker that could push the audience beyond their comfort zone, getting the to think big about purpose and movement building online.

Founder/CEO

CMX Media

Caleb is a phenomenal speaker. He is down to earth, and extremely intelligent. He really connected with the audience and took time to answer questions.

Rotimi Kehinde

Founder, PurposeFest

It’s a treat to work with Caleb. He’s a thought partner who has infused 18 Coffees with a collaborative spirit that defines how we work together.

Melissa Rodgers

Director of Programs at Immigrant Legal Resource Center & New Americans Campaign

Every day we're confronted with the challenges of civic participation in the age of internet culture, when so many of us tune out, unplug, or disengage. We need new rules for understanding what's broken in digital democracy and how to fix it. Caleb's ideas are urgent, but we'll also be revisiting them for years to come.

David Simas

Former White House Director of the Office of Political Strategy and Outreach for the Obama Administration

Every day we hear about new ways our democracy seems to be failing us in the digital realm, but we can't wait for tech companies or the government to fix it. We've got to do it ourselves. Caleb's ideas for how to do that aren't just theoretical—they're urgent. And Caleb's been there, he's walked the walk. We should listen to him.

Ethan Todras-Whitehill

Co-Founder & Executive Director, Swing Left
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