Safi Bahcall

Physicist, former public company CEO, biotech entrepreneur and bestselling author of Loonshots: Nurture the Crazy Ideas that Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries, chosen as a Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coach

Safi Bahcall is a second-generation physicist, a biotech entrepreneur, and former CEO. He advises CEOs and leadership teams on strategy and innovation and has delivered keynote presentations at industry conferences, leadership retreats, medical meetings, and leading academic institutions around the world. Safi’s first book, Loonshots, has been selected as a best business book of the year by Amazon, Forbes, Inc., Bloomberg, the Washington Post, and more.

  • Safi Bahcall Keynote Speaker Fee Fee range is for U.S. events, depending on location and organization type

    Please Inquire

  • Languages Spoken

    English

  • Travels From

    Washington DC, USA

  • Safi Bahcall Keynote Speaker Fee Fee range is for U.S. events, depending on location and organization type

    Please Inquire

  • Languages Spoken

    English

  • Travels From

    Washington DC, USA

Suggested Keynote Speaker Programs

Five Rules for Innovating in Turbulent Times:

Many companies struggle to adapt to rapidly changing markets: the core dominates the new, projects linger too long, and innovation theater proliferates. The apex innovators who avoid these traps and dominate their industry focus on structure not just culture. They build a ...

Many companies struggle to adapt to rapidly changing markets: the core dominates the new, projects linger too long, and innovation theater proliferates. The apex innovators who avoid these traps and dominate their industry focus on structure not just culture. They build a system to run experiments at pace and scale without sacrificing excellence in their core franchise. Using surprising and entertaining examples from Apple, Amazon, Best Buy, Harley?Davidson, Lego, and the US military, Safi describes five rules you can use to build this system and become the initiator rather than the victim of innovative surprise.

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The Three Zones of Leadership:

Learn how Amazon beat Google, why one retailer thrived while others collapsed, and how the music industry escaped death. See how these examples illustrate the need for leaders to navigate the three zones of leadership. Learn how key leadership skills differ across the three ...

Learn how Amazon beat Google, why one retailer thrived while others collapsed, and how the music industry escaped death. See how these examples illustrate the need for leaders to navigate the three zones of leadership. Learn how key leadership skills differ across the three zones, what you can never delegate as a leader, and why failing to understand these principles has caused the collapse of once great companies. Safi offers practical rules for both new and experienced leaders, with detailed examples drawn from his research and work with some of the most innovative organizations in the world.

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Chasing Anomalies in Science, Business, and Medicine: The secret to breakthroughs

About Keynote Speaker Safi Bahcall

Safi is a former public-company CEO, physicist, award-winning biotechnology entrepreneur, author of the international bestseller Loonshots, and widely regarded speaker and advisor on innovation and strategy.

Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas that Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries – which combines physics, business, and history – has been translated into 21 languages. It was the #1 most recommended book of the year in Bloomberg’s annual survey of CEOs and entrepreneurs; was selected as a best business book of the year by Financial Times, Forbes, Inc., Newsweek, the Washington Post, and others; and has been recommended by Bill Gates, Daniel Kahneman, Malcolm Gladwell, Tim Ferriss, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and more.

Safi received his BA from Harvard summa cum laude, completed his PhD in physics at Stanford, and served for three years as a consultant at McKinsey and Company. In 2001, he founded a biotechnology company developing new drugs for cancer. He led the company’s IPO and served as its CEO for 13 years. In 2008, he was named E&Y New England Biotechnology Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2011, he worked with President Obama’s council of science advisors (PCAST) on the future of national research.

Safi is a member of the MG100 group of senior executive coaches. In addition to speaking and leading executive team workshops, Safi works 1-1 with a small number of CEOs as well as leaders of government agencies.

Testimonials

“The best content, best delivered of all the sessions – the only one where totally immersed engagement was the default rather than something that took effort”

Gartner

 

“Safi set the conference alight with his talk … one of the most captivating speakers I have ever heard … gripping style! … Pitch perfect”

Applied Materials

 

“One of the smartest, most innovative, actionable talks I have heard in a long time. The book is also a breakthrough intertwined with some wonderful story telling.”

Verizon

 

“A perfect example of how an opening keynote should impact a meeting and set the tone. Having a message that will resonate with those who came to the event is always key … As a keynote speaker myself, I am hyper critical of events that are not focused on the need of audience. Too often conference keynote slots are just a box check. This session was meaty and worth the price of admission … [I took] 5 pages of notes”

American Society of Association Executives

 

“This is the best GTM [talk] we’ve ever had … Everything Safi said resonated with me … I was taking notes the whole time!”

US Navy

 

“One of the best keynote speeches I have ever heard … the positive feedback we have received has been overwhelming”

Fortune 500 Insurance Company

 

“I can honestly say you were the best speaker I have listened to in my time at Kraft Heinz

Kraft Heinz

 

“Just back from our 2-day exec offsite. Amazing to see how much your words and ideas inspired folks …  [our COO] is enamored by your innovation OS concepts, [our CEO] loved ‘business experiments’, and overall the concepts of the inflection point, embracing duality, and artists/soldiers landed so well with all of us … Truly you inspired so many of our executives, and beyond.”

Chief People Officer, publicly-traded tech company

 

“Safi seamlessly merged best practices in engineering with successful business strategies … I’ve listened to it three times and am still picking up new things … I already hear Safi’s themes echoing in meetings!”

Applied Materials

 

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