As an award-winning author and creator of ‘The Windmill Theory,’ Jonathan MacDonald helps businesses achieve lasting success through adaptable strategies.
5.00 of 5
Top rated!5 of 5
Your speech was very well received ! Provoking for sure but this is what you wanted and you achieved beautifully well. Thank you so much for such high energy, passion and flexibility on location and timing. Was inspiring and fun.
Helene Bellamy
Ketchum
Jonathan MacDonald is a world-renowned change strategist with over 30 years of experience helping 400+ companies thrive. Trusted by global giants like Google and Microsoft, he equips organizations with powerful strategies to turn disruption into opportunity, drive innovation, and achieve lasting success in an ever-evolving business landscape.
Jonathan MacDonald is a globally recognized expert in change, innovation, and digital transformation. With over 30 years of experience, he has advised 400+ global brands, including Nestlé, Lego, Sony, and Heineken, helping organizations embrace change and unlock sustainable growth. His powerful insights provide leaders with practical strategies to thrive in uncertain markets.
He is the bestselling author of Powered By Change, which won the 2019 Business Book Awards and became a Sunday Times Bestseller. In this book, he introduces The Windmill Theory, a proven framework designed to help businesses adapt, innovate, and maintain long-term success. His insights equip leaders with actionable tools to navigate uncertainty and achieve measurable results.
Jonathan is also the founder of SELF AI, a pioneering platform that leverages ethical, adaptive technology to help businesses create personalized digital experiences while maintaining trust and responsibility. His focus on responsible innovation ensures organizations can leverage emerging technologies while maintaining trust and integrity.
Jonathan’s expertise is further strengthened by his background in Neuroeconomics, where he combines behavioral science with business strategy to enhance decision-making and leadership performance. His diverse career also includes transforming Ministry of Sound into a global digital powerhouse and serving as the youngest-ever Chairman of the British Music Industries Association.
In addition to his business achievements, Jonathan is a former British Sports Jiu-Jitsu Heavyweight Champion and a black belt martial artist, demonstrating his commitment to focus, resilience, and discipline — qualities that resonate deeply in his keynote presentations.
Book Jonathan MacDonald for your event to inspire your leadership team with proven strategies that foster innovation, embrace change, and drive long-term success in today’s fast-evolving business landscape.
5 of 5
Your speech was very well received ! Provoking for sure but this is what you wanted and you achieved beautifully well. Thank you so much for such high energy, passion and flexibility on location and timing. Was inspiring and fun.
Helene Bellamy Ketchum
5 of 5
Jonathan MacDonald gave a very inspiring and energetic key note speech. Our leadership team were very impressed by him and how he made his speech relevant to our business context.<br><br>Jonathan was incredibly pleasant to work with before and during our event.
Mette Büchert Novozymes A/S
5 of 5
Very Engaging and Audience enjoyed the content and relaxed delivery.
Jo Scanlon Box
5 of 5
Great speaker, perfect delivery and content.
Chris Owen Gemalto
5 of 5
You made a great impression on us. You have an absolute world class, unique talent, combining vision, strategy and challenge which, based on your lovely sense of humour, is incredibly effective to open minds. Thank you.
Jesper Brodin, CEO IKEA
5 of 5
You were simply outstanding in terms of content and delivery of your talk, and the way that you tailored the session specifically for us certainly engaged and entertained the audience. Thank you very much, your professionalism is unsurpassed and we are truly delighted that you were able to join us.
Jon Clacy, Chairman IOD
5 of 5
We brought Jonathan in to help our senior team understand how we were going to achieve more relevance in our customers’ lives going forward. I would absolutely recommend Jonathan to any company in any industry. His insight is invaluable.
Jonathan Earle, CMO O2 Telefónica
5 of 5
Rarely will a guest speaker dedicate so much research and insight into a client and a topic. I found Jonathan’s willingness to engage pre-event to learn about the client, and tailor his content to suit, to be very refreshing and this attention to detail really paid off onsite. Despite a red-eye flight from Canada to make our morning event, Jonathan was fresh and energetic and made a real effort to mix with the client, adapting his content on the move to relate to the other speakers and he even helped out the production team by keeping ahead of time to balance the agenda!
Ben Atherton WRG
5 of 5
We challenged Jonathan to be the final speaker at our conference on digitising the construction industry, a sector that is not known for its rapid adoption of technology. As well as reinforcing and driving home the underlying theme of the day, he thoroughly entertained and educated the audience on digital and disruption and gave us a number of ‘laugh out loud’ moments. His messaging was clear and unambiguous, and was delivered in a challenging but non-threatening way. A great way to end the day.
Richard Waterhouse, CEO NBS
Jonathan MacDonald - video
Watch Jonathan MacDonald in action
Is your organisation in need of a major makeover to cope with the disruptions that are sweeping through your sector? Where to start? Is there a fail-safe model? What are the key success factors? And what are the common pitfalls or roadblocks ? What to do when things are not going to plan?
In this speech, Jonathan translates his extensive business transformation and development experience into a tried and tested framework that helps you tackle organisational transformation with growth and success in mind, with a side order of trouble-shooting.
Peppered with humorous war-stories and astonishing insights, this speech equips your audience with practical advice as well as an infectious readiness to make things happen.
Would you like to be able to gaze into the crystal ball and see what the future holds for you and your company? Are we really going to be visiting the moon during our annual leaves soon? Are robots going to run our lives in due course?
An early adopter of blockchain, an entrepreneur and an investor, Jonathan moonlights as an advisor, and is on first-name terms with senior executives at Google, Apple, Nestle and IKEA, to name but a few. Drawing on the intelligence he has gathered from the business trenches, he provides an up-to-the-minute report on the key trends and thinking that will help shape the world we live in in the not-to-distant future, how they impact your organisation, and what you can do to stay ahead of the curve.
Are you frustrated by the lack of urgency in the implementation of change initiatives in your business? Are you baffled by your colleagues’ lack of enthusiasm for the new processes you have installed to improve productivity? Or are you the one who struggles with the winds of change that are constantly coursing through the business landscape these days?
As the saying goes, ‘it’s all in your head.’ In this speech, Jonathan dissects the human resistance to change from a neuro-economical perspective. Did you know that we think around 70,000 thoughts a day, 90% of which are repeated thoughts from before? Jonathan will detail a road map that will enable the most stubborn brains to retrain themselves, to be ready for fresh challenges, and to make top-quality strategic decisions that allow organisations to survive and thrive.
