Top rated!

David Schonthal

David Schonthal is an award-winning Professor of Strategy, Innovation & Entrepreneurship and a thought leader in entrepreneurship and innovation.

Request price and availability Request price and availability

USA

Non-binding request for David Schonthal

Call us

+1 347 223 5128 +44 20 3744 5675

David’s presentation and message were a great capstone for this year’s theme of establishing an innovation mindset throughout our company.

Jon Zasiebida

Global User Marketing Director, Robert Bosch Tool Corporation

Read all reviews

Why you should book David Schonthal for your next event

Expertise in Innovation & Entrepreneurship: David specializes in entrepreneurship, innovation, design thinking, healthcare innovation, and venture capital. Gain valuable guidance for driving innovation and achieving entrepreneurial success.
Groundbreaking Methodology: David is a pioneer of Friction Theory, explaining why innovations and change initiatives struggle to gain traction and offering solutions. His bestseller, "The Human Element: Overcoming the Resistance That Awaits New Ideas" (Wiley), introduces this methodology, helping individuals and organizations overcome barriers to innovation and change.
Engaging Speaker: Known for his electrifying speaking style, David captivates audiences with insights on entrepreneurship, innovation, and change.

David Schonthal is an award-winning Professor of Strategy, Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the Kellogg School of Management. He is a thought leader in entrepreneurship, innovation, and design thinking, and has extensive experience in healthcare innovation and venture capital.

Read the full profile

Non-binding request for David Schonthal

Keynotes

Keynote by David Schonthal: THE POWER OF WHY

Truly innovative products and technologies start by focusing on the consumers’ problems to be solved. What do consumers really want to accomplish? What are the tradeoffs they are willing to make to achieve better outcomes? Why do they make the choices and decisions that they do?

The key to all of this is finding the right struggle to address. In this session David unpacks the most powerful tools and techniques for discovering the hidden needs of consumers, and translating them into compelling new products, services and ventures.

Request a quote

Keynote by David Schonthal: “FUEL AND FRICTION” - MASTERING THE FORCES THAT DRIVE (OR STIFLE) INNOVATION

How do you get people to say yes to a new idea or innovation? In this interactive session, David Schonthal highlights the Frictions that operate against new ideas and innovation and the Fuels that can help supercharge them; describes the unexpected reasons why the ideas and initiatives people are most passionate about get rejected, and the right types of “fuel” that can propel a good idea forward; and explains how to transform those frictions and fuels into powerful catalysts for change.

Request a quote

Keynote by David Schonthal: SOLVING THE MYSTERY OF CUSTOMER ACTIVATION AND RETENTION

Why do people show interest in a product or service, but never buy? It’s probably not due to the product’s lack of appeal but rather because of the frictions companies inadvertently create as they try to help get, keep and grow customers. In this talk, David explains that the things you think will get customers to sign on are probably making things worse, and offers specific case studies for what to do to make sure your customers don’t disappear.

Request a quote

Keynote by David Schonthal: “THE ULTIMATE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE” - HOW TO LEARN THINGS ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMERS THAT YOUR COMPETITORS HAVE NOT FIGURED OUT

The most successful companies in the world are the ones that know things about their customers that competitors haven’t figured out, and know how to use this knowledge to maintain their competitive edge. In this session, David walks participants through novel research techniques to better understand customers and their needs, and other steps to unlock this competitive advantage.

Request a quote

Customer Reviews

David’s presentation and message were a great capstone for this year’s theme of establishing an innovation mindset throughout our company.

Jon Zasiebida Global User Marketing Director, Robert Bosch Tool Corporation

Engaging talk. Practical, easy to understand. David had great examples that brought Friction Theory to life.

Carole Silvestre Global Head of Communications, VTEX

David was quite masterful with the group. The session got one of our highest ratings. He did an outstanding job of unpacking the content in a way that was truly engaging.

Kaihan Krippendorf Founder, Outthinker Strategy Network

David Schonthal

Unlocking the secrets of innovation & entrepreneurship

David Schonthal electrifies audiences with actionable tips for how to be a change-maker in today’s rapidly evolving world.

He is an award-winning Professor of Strategy, Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the Kellogg School of Management where he teaches courses on new venture creation, design thinking, healthcare innovation, venture capital and creativity.

Along with his colleague Loran Nordgren, David is one of the originators of Friction Theory – a ground-breaking methodology that explains why even the most promising innovations and change initiatives struggle to gain traction with their intended audiences – and more importantly, what to do about it.

This work is popularized in David’s Wall Street Journal and National Bestselling book, The Human Element: Overcoming the Resistance That Awaits New Ideas (Wiley). Outside of Kellogg David has been a practitioner of entrepreneurship, design, and innovation for over 20 years. He has spent a decade working at world-renowned design firm, IDEO, and currently serves as an Operating Partner at 7Wire Ventures, a healthcare technology- focused venture capital firm and a Venture Partner at Pritzker Group Venture Capital, a consumer and enterprise-focused fund. David is also a Global Advisor at Design for Ventures (D4V ), a Tokyo-based early-stage venture capital fund that invests in designed Japanese startups.

He is a contributing writer to Forbes, Inc., Fortune and Harvard Business Review magazines,
authoring articles on entrepreneurship, innovation, change and business design. David was honored as a Distinguished Achievement Award Finalist and one of “30 Global Thinkers to Watch in 2022 by Thinkers50, an international organization that identifies, ranks, and shares the leading management ideas of our age. He has won Kellogg’s Executive MBA Outstanding Professor award 7 times and has received the school’s Faculty Impact Award for excellence in teaching.

Blog posts by David Schonthal

Need to Spark Ideas and Inspiration?

Pack Your Suitcase for Some Time Away. A new place could inspire a novel idea.Expert opinion by David Schonthal, director of entrepreneurship, Kellogg School of Management.Here's good news for entrepreneurs, innovators, and anyone else seeking to get their creative juices flowing: Japan and Korea ju

Read blogpost