Jeremiah Gardner
Jeremiah Gardner helps people catch a misread before it becomes a mistake. A former Chief Innovation Officer, technical cave diver, and author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller The Lean Brand, he gives audiences a practical way to see what’s actually happening before they act.
The step that comes first
We act on our read of a situation. Most of the time, it’s right. When it isn’t, we usually find out late. The plan was built on the wrong assumption. The team spent months on the wrong problem. Everyone left the meeting having heard something different.
Most leadership development focuses on what to do next: coaching, feedback, resolving conflict. Gardner focuses on the step that comes first. Get the read wrong, and even a skilled response solves the wrong problem.
He came to this work from two directions. Over two decades of leading innovation and advising organizations including Nike, Disney, GE, Roche, and ING, he watched capable leaders commit to confident diagnoses that turned out to be wrong. As a technical cave diver and instructor, he works where a wrong read can cost you the way out, and where divers train to catch one before they act on it.
His keynotes give everyone in the room the same three questions: What do I see? What is driving it? What does this moment need? Audiences leave with a shared practice they can use with their own teams the next day.
His next book, The Read (February 2027), introduces Diagnostic Leadership. He is co-founder of DeadReckon, which helps leaders and teams put it into practice, and has delivered more than 100 keynotes in over 20 countries.
Jeremiah has a way of shifting your perspective. By helping us see through our customers’ eyes, he guided us through a process that was both enlightening and incredibly valuable.
For event professionals
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