Marissa Orr

With female-dominant strengths such as empathy and consensus-building being the future of business, headlines forecast women will dominate future generations of corporate leaders. But that won’t happen until prescriptions for success stop requiring women to act more like men, mistaking traits such as empathy as signals of weakness.

Google and Facebook veteran, Marissa Orr offers a fresh new perspective on the question few dare to ask: What have we’ve gotten wrong about women at work?

Based on in-depth research and personal experiences, Marissa shares her journey as a single mom of three trying to find success in her 15-year career at the world’s top tech giants. In an eye-opening personal account, she exposes the systemic dysfunction at the heart of today’s corporations and how efforts to close the gender gap have come at the expense of female well-being.

She doesn’t simply present a counterargument to modern feminist rhetoric but provides a revolutionary path forward to change the trajectory of the lives of women (and men) in the corporate world and beyond.

Why do most organizations fail to innovate? Why do the most capable and experienced business leaders continue floundering when it comes to adapting their organizations in the face of today’s challenges to reach and retain market leadership. In this revealing and thoughtful talk, Marissa explains why even those most progressive methods of fostering creativity and innovation have failed to create the products, cultures, and workplaces they are meant to inspire.

Weaving the latest, cutting edge research with humorous and engaging stories from her time at Google and Facebook, Orr overturns conventional wisdom on innovation, explains why common but empty platitudes like ‘fail harder’ actually fail to help companies be more innovative, and explores what most people get wrong about the best way to inspire collaboration, creativity, and higher performance.

 The compelling narrative offers a brand new, eye opening perspective on what it truly takes for companies to grow and adapt, and provides specific techniques and practical steps they can use to succeed in today’s rapidly changing business environment