Leslie
Grandy
Author, Lead Executive in Residence at University of Washington Foster School of Business Executive Education
"Future Proofing Your Business Success in the Age of Generative AI"
"Future Proofing Your Business Success in the Age of Generative AI"
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Session: Future Proofing Your Business Success in the Age of Generative AI
In this provocative keynote, innovation leader and author Leslie Grandy challenges executives to move beyond efficiency thinking and embrace a new kind of leadership, one that treats AI as a creative ally and imagination as a strategic advantage. Generative AI is not just transforming how work gets done; it’s expanding what’s possible. But only if leaders are willing to use it not to automate what already exists, but to co-create what doesn’t yet.Drawing inspiration from the Stoic idea of Premeditation of Evils and introducing the What If Method, Leslie shows that envisioning the challenges ahead isn’t about fear —it’s about foresight. By practicing the discipline of imagining both the risks and the remarkable possibilities, leaders can design organizations that are more resilient, more human, and more inventive.
This talk redefines what it means to “future-proof” a business. It’s not about reacting to today’s dynamic; it’s about building a culture that can imagine beyond it and a resilient business that can weather change. Because in the age of intelligent machines, the most powerful technology a company has is still the human imagination.
Key Takeaways
- Build resilient plans by imagining how they may fail.
- Create a culture of innovation to shape the future by breaking habitual patterns of thinking across the enterprise
- Reframe AI as a Creative Partner, Not a Productivity Tool
Bio
Leslie Grandy is a global, first-to-market product executive, author and board advisor with a 25+ year career delivering game-changing products for top brands — Best Buy, T-Mobile, Apple and Amazon. Leslie co-created and serves as the Lead Executive in Residence for the Product Management Leadership Accelerator at the University of Washington Foster School of Business. Leslie founded The Product Guild, a company through which she has advised early-stage ventures and numerous publicly traded companies on innovation and new product development. Leslie’s book, Creative Velocity: Propelling Breakthrough Ideas in the Age of Generative AI, was released by Wiley in May 2025.