Dan
Gregory

Speaker Profile
Daniel Gregory is the founder and CEO of The Impossible Institute, an innovation and engagement organisation that advises management and sales departments on what truly drives their customers and employees, builds highly-functioning, multidisciplinary teams with collaborative intelligence, applies discipline to creativity, removing the randomness and imitation from innovation and strategic planning, and advises the C-suite and Boards on how to lead with the power of a purposeful and compelling identity in a rapidly changing world.
The strategic and creative lead behind the most successful new product launch in Australian history, the most extraordinary brand resurrection achieved anywhere in the world as well as the most successful magazine and financial services launches of the past two decades; Dan has developed new product lines for corporations such as Coca-Cola and Unilever, invented new media formats for Murdoch Magazines, created interaction systems for categories as diverse as fast food chains and government departments and launched internal and external engagement campaigns for companies and brands as varied as Aussie Home Loans, the National Rugby League, New Ltd, Vodafone and MTV in the US and Russia.
A passionate educator and mentor, he has worked as a director and lecturer at Australia's premier creative school, AWARD, taught post-graduate students at Macquarie and Sydney Universities as well as privately mentoring CEOs and non-executive board members.
In a 20 year history as a thought leader in marketing, NPD and communications, he has won countless awards around the world for creativity, effectiveness and ROI, including the coveted Agency of the Year only three years after founding the groundbreaking advertising agency VCD with partners George Betsis and Kieran Flanagan.
A strong believer in hands on knowledge and experience over a reliance on untested and speculative academic theory, Dan created the What I Wish I Knew at 18 book series to research the wisdom of hindsight before co-authoring Shift with his business partner Kieran, an insightful look into the future of our markets, the media, our culture and our values.
Dan is a captivating speaker whose business acumen is matched by a rapier wit and rare human insight gained during a three year sabbatical working on the UK and US stand-up comedy circuits - skills put to great use in front of 1.5 million Australians as a regular on ABC TV's Gruen Planet (formerly The Gruen Transfer) and morning news programs.
He also sits as the Creative Chair for New Republique, the most innovative digital content company in Australia, and is a rare evangelist for truth in a world of spin who helps his clients build brands and ideas on purpose.
Dan Gregory helps business create engagement at every level and customer touchpoint, identifies the things that pull our strings, builds team and departmental collaboration into a productive KPI, and helps organisations innovate and lead with intention and meaning. In doing so, Dan hopes to turn Impossible Thinking into an epidemic.
Travels from New South Wales
Client Comments
Client Comments
- We recently held a conference in Sydney for 350 attendees and Dan Gregory was one of our main speakers. His presentation was full of informative and original content. It was extremely funny and had our audience in stitches. He used a lot of great examples and stories which enabled his message to really stick. The best part for me though was all the wonderful feedback that we got at the end of the event plus I'm still receiving comments to this day regarding Dan's presentation. I would definitely recommend Dan in the future to anyone looking for a fantastic speaker.
Secrets Exposed - Seeking counsel of experts is the best way to do things right, the first time. A real estate agency consulting company, we needed an expert in marketing, social media, and advertising to advise our group of 170+ agents. We chose Dan Gregory because our reputation was on the line. The result: over one hundred leaders left our convention buzzing with possibilities after just over an hour with Dan. If you need an advertising, marketing, social media consultant - or an excellent convention speaker - if you don't engage Dan Gregory, in my opinion you have rocks in your head. We WILL be doing much more work with Dan and recommend that you do the same.
Pittard Training Group - On numerous occasions I have had the pleasure of listening to Dan Gregory present his ideas and thoughts on advertising, marketing and social issues. Rarely I have heard anybody articulate their thoughts with such clarity and vision. His intelligence and insight provides a much greater understanding of his work and the benefits it provides to customers, consumers and the community. I would whole heartedly recommend anyone use Dan as a speaker - you will never be disappointed.
HAL - Dan has a remarkable talent for communicating important topics in a very entertaining and memorable way. He has played a critical role in not only explaining our marketing campaign but in getting all of the stakeholders on board. Half an hour with Dan and my apple growers were raving about the benefits of marketing! No one else could have achieved this!
HAL - Dan is an engaging and entertaining speaker and always insightful. Dan enjoys lifting the lid on the subject and in an entertaining way gets his audience to reflect and see things differently. He's also just bloody funny.
NAKED - Dan's presentation was very impressive and we greatly enjoyed both the content as well Dan's natural and enthusiastic presentation style. Dan has a tremendous background in the advertising industry, and is very generously willing to share his insights. Both students and staff commented very positively about his presentation, and the university online magazine Globe featured his guest lecture. Anybody who can attend Dan's presentations should consider themselves very privileged.
Macquarie University - Dan spoke at our Australian TAFE Marketing Association (ATMA) Conference in October 2009 and was an engaging keynote speaker; many delegates commented that Dan's insight into marketing was the conference highlight. 'Charming', 'witty' and 'entertaining' were the adjectives used to describe Dan's presentation and the industry knowledge that Dan holds is second to none. Recommended listening.
TAFE NSW
Topics
Speaker Topics
- Drive: What makes us buy and buy in?
- We-Q: Working with collaborative intelligence
- Innovation on Purpose: What you make is who you are
- Shift: How to shift perceptions, people and products
- Gravity: How to lead with engagement, alignment and attraction
- The Way We Shift Perceptions, People and Products... Is Shifting
- How Small Business Can Punch Above Its Weight
- How to Lead with Engagement, Alignment and Attraction
- How to Engage Both Sides of Your Creativity
- The Limits of Our Thinking are the Limits of Our Lives
Related Categories
Topic Synopses
Drive: What makes us buy and buy in?In a challenging business environment where our capacity to persuade and engage determines our results, drives successful sales and marketing and is a measure of modern leadership, organisations and individuals must understand the hidden driver that motivates human beings at their core. This goes far beyond logic based reasoning and even emotional manipulation. In this insightful and motivating presentation, Dan will:
- Identify the key driver to all human behaviour
- Provide clarity around why one size doesn’t fit all
- Establish a process for overcoming objection through four simple motivations
- Give your organisation the tools it needs to have customers buying and employees buying in
We-Q: Working with collaborative intelligence
The hyper-specialisation and interconnectedness of the modern workforce make the capacity for intelligent collaboration a must have, not some touchy, feely nice to have. However few orgnisations can generate inter-departmental cooperation, let alone coordinating multiple organisational cultures. In this interactive presentation, Dan and his business partner Kieran Flanagan will facilitate:
- How “I can’t” but “we can”
- Why conflict is critical to collaboration
- A process for unleashing the multiple skill sets within your organisation
- The tools managers need to activate every member of their team
Innovation on Purpose: What you make is who you are
In a world of change it is our capacity to innovate that keeps us competitive, yet too often the process of innovation is left to random invention, or worse still, trend watching and late adoption. So it should come as no surprise that the majority of corporate innovative processes meet with market place failure. In this business critical presentation, Dan will demonstrate:
- The the next big thing is already in your organisations’ dna
- How to turn your people into a creatively competitive machine
- Why innovation must be congruent with the vision of the companies leadership
- That ideas are impotent without action
Shift: How to shift perceptions, people and products
The rate of change in our society, our values, the media, the market place and our businesses is unprecedented in history. It is our capacity to understand the implications and uses of these shifts, rather than falling victim to them, that determines our success. In this challenging and exciting presentation, Dan will reveal:
- The possibilities these shifts offer us as individuals and organisations
- The fundamental shifts that are changing our culture, communications and companies
- Where those shifts are taking us from and to (and the threats if we don’t keep up)
- The latent possibilities that are just waiting for us when we get in front of the game
Gravity: How to lead with engagement, alignment and attraction
There has been a fundamental change in the way we engage people as leaders, employers and businesses taking us from an era of push and ushering in an age of pull. This understanding is critical to the success of any leader, movement or manager. In this compelling presentation, Dan will cover.
- The elements of gravity and how to create it
- The traits common to successful leaders, products and movements
- How to create alignment within organisations, teams and markets
- The actions required to attract volunteers and create followers
The Way We Shift Perceptions, People and Products... Is Shifting
This presentation looks at how changes in technology, communications, culture and the marketplace have created huge shifts in how we engage people with our ideas, products and services. It replaces outdated marketing theory with new opportunities and practices that these changes have made possible. The media landscape has democratised, the individual can now have the global impact of a corporation and mediocrity is dying. This is the most exciting time in history to be engaged in business and communications... that is, if you know how to follow the shifts. Specifically, this presentation covers:
- The four shifts in market, media, culture and values
- Where those shifts are taking us from and to
- What the implications are for marketing and communications strategy
How Small Business Can Punch Above Its Weight
The story of David and Goliath is often interpreted as a lesson about pride preceding the ultimate downfall of the big guy. We believe it's actually got a lot more to do with the ingenuity of the little guy, David. Small business is often strong in its product or service offering but lacks sophistication and effectiveness in it's marketing. This presentation demonstrates the secrets of the Goliath brands and how a little of this knowledge can help small businesses market above their weight. Specifically, this presentation covers:
- What big brands do that small brands should
- The 12 critical components to giving a small business scale and visibility
- How to make your marketing budget look bigger than it actually is
How to Lead with Engagement, Alignment and Attraction
Critical to the success of any leader, movement or idea is the concept of gravity. Gravity has the ability to generate 'pull', to attract, engage and align followers, employees and customers to our greater purpose. An idea is only as powerful as your capacity to engage people, make the idea popular and ultimately, sell it. Specifically, this presentation covers:
- The elements of gravity and how to generate them
- The common traits in successful leaders, products and ideas
- How to create alignment and engagement within organisations, teams and markets
How to Engage Both Sides of Your Creativity
Edward DeBono, in his book Lateral Thinking, stated that lateral thinking was creative thinking. We believe he made a critical error and in fact denied the creativity of a style of thinking dominant in at least 50% of the population. We need to stop thinking in terms of linera and lateral thinkers and instead think in terms of leapers and linkers. This presentation looks at:
- How to identify your dominant creative thinking style
- Tools to increase your idea generation
- How to configure problem solving and innovation focused teams
The Limits of Our Thinking are the Limits of Our Lives
All progress and innovation is the result of an impossible thought, the ability to imagine solutions beyond what currently exists. In a world that is rapidly changing, it is our ability to adapt and innovate that will determine our success, an ability that relies on our capacity to think in new ways, unencumbered by past practice. Specifically, this presentation covers:
- The belief systems that keep us trapped in 'what's possible' thinking
- The practices used by the most innovative companies on the planet
- How to have ideas on purpose, both deliberately and in line with your higher goals
"Fantastic staff, all very friendly and helpful."
Sunbury College
"Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it."
Henry Ford