TECHNOLOGY MOVES FAST. PEOPLE MOVE COMPANIES.

Keynotes, workshops and leadership sessions for teams facing big change. Practical, a little funny, and always useful the next morning.

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ABOUT

Curiosity led me to unexpected places.

I've spent my career in the rooms where big companies decide what to bet on. At Google, where I'm Chief Strategist, I've worked with some of the world's best-known brands on how to find, keep, and grow their most valuable customers.

In my talks, I draw on that experience across strategy, digital transformation, decision-making, and behavioral science. I keep things light and free of jargon, and focused on what AI can do for your business right now: which bets your rivals are placing, what to test first, and how to hold your own when the boardroom conversation turns to data. And because technology alone has never created growth, I always bring the conversation back to what does: the strength of a company's strategy and the people trusted to carry it out.

I wrote Converted: The Data-Driven Way to Win Customers' Hearts (Penguin Random House), and my second book, Tournaments: Competing for a Meaningful Life, arrives in 2027. My writing and interviews have appeared in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Adweek, and McKinsey's Author Talks series.

I have degrees from Purdue University and UCLA. I was a Senior Fellow at the Wharton School and am still on the faculty of Wharton Executive Education, and in 2026 I joined UCLA as an Executive in Residence. I serve on the Purdue University Global Board of Trustees, advise companies including Prialto and Favikon, and previously advised CapitalG, Google's investment fund.

READING

Aristotle's Poetics. It's possible that the rules for a good story haven't changed in a couple thousand years.

WRITING

The last couple of chapters of my new book, Tournaments. Then back to page one to see what I've changed my mind on.

TRAVELING

Dublin and London up next.

SPEAKING (2027 SELECTIONS)

Talks for people who'd rather move than wait.

"Neil is the best keynote I've ever seen. A storytelling master."

THE FUTURE OF MARKETING CONFERENCE

"One of the most interesting conversations we've ever had about AI. Absolutely brilliant."

LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL

"Polished, professional, and down to earth."

Subscription Trade Association

Every company is under pressure to “do something” with AI. Far fewer can say what, exactly, it’s supposed to help them do. Neil Hoyne has watched company after company launch pilots that stall and buy tools that go unused, with AI strategies written to impress the board rather than move the numbers. He has also seen the exceptions, and pays close attention to what sets them apart.

In this talk, Neil skips the hype and shows how the companies getting real returns from AI decide where to start, what to measure, and when to walk away. Audiences leave with a sharper sense of what AI should and shouldn’t be doing for their business, and a way to tell the difference before the budget is spent.

Neil Hoyne has had a front-row seat to hundreds of corporate transformations: digital, data, and now AI. Few failed for lack of budget or vision. The trouble usually started with something most leadership teams never saw coming. Neil shows what the organizations that actually change do differently, including how they choose their bets and what they do with the skeptics once the launch excitement fades. Leaders leave knowing where their own transformation is most at risk, and what the best companies do when they get there.

The most expensive decision a leader can make today is waiting for one more data point. Neil Hoyne has spent his career watching the best leaders act on incomplete information, taking smart risks without being reckless and moving while their competitors are still forming committees.

Candid and often very funny, this talk pairs spectacular wins with cautionary tales that rarely make the press, and gives leaders at every level the confidence to act on what they already know.

AI keeps getting better at finding customers. But it can’t tell you which ones are worth keeping. Built on the ideas of his bestselling book, Converted, this session makes the case for the one advantage automation can’t replicate: knowing who your best customers are and what they’ll want next.

Neil shows why 80% of revenue comes from cultivating 20% of your customers, and how shifting from a transactional mindset to a relationship-based one changes everything about how you grow. Non-technical and immediately usable, this presentation offers a growth strategy built to outlast any single tool, one where AI works in service of customer relationships.

MY BOOK

Stop chasing every customer. Just keep the right ones.

Converted is about using data to find the customers who matter most and building your business around them, not around whoever clicked last. It's been translated into Chinese, Portuguese, Korean and Hebrew, which still surprises me a little. Peter Fader at Wharton called it "a wonderful guidebook on building profitable customer relationships."

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CONTACT

Pull up a chair.

Planning a conference, an offsite, or a leadership session? I’d love to hear who’ll be in the room and what’s in their way. My friends at The Lavin Agency keep my calendar in one piece, but every note sent here lands with me, and I read them all.