Ian Clawson Keynote Speaker

Co-Author of Brave Together & Co-Host, Lead with a Question Podcast
Leadership Coach and Culture Shaper
Co-founder of BraveCore

Ian Clawson's Biography

Ian Clawson helps leaders build cultures people love as a co-founder of BraveCore. He is co-author of Brave Together: Lead by Design, Spark Creativity, and Shape the Future with the Power of Co-Creation (McGraw-Hill) and is co-host of the Lead with a Question podcast. An advisor to startups and accelerator programs, he has contributed to culture shaping and organizational growth through leadership coaching.

Over the past decade, Clawson has led large teams and culture change initiatives in the healthcare industry. As an Administrator he oversaw a multi-million-dollar skilled nursing facility operation in Silicon Valley that helps the sick and elderly recover from challenges.

A regular contributor to Fast Company, his work has also been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, INC, The Next Big Idea Club, USA Today, The NY Post, Big Think, Influencive & Disrupt Magazine.

Ian is also co-founder of StoryCircle, a development studio focused on cocreation, world building & original storytelling acting as a lead writer and story architect. He has a past life in the field of sales and marketing with a copywriter skillset and a passion for connecting products to consumers.

Ian earned a degree at BYU-Hawaii in International Cultural Studies where he developed a high interest in World Philosophy and Communication Theory.

The Future of Work: Being Brave Together

Many people feel overwhelmed by the world’s push to achieve more, to have more and we allow fear to hold us back. Yet, we can see a collective future powered by principles. If fear is our baseline experience—the dread of the unknown, fear of missing out, and the pain of going it alone; then to move forward we must embark on a co-creative journey. Let us demonstrate the first steps it takes to develop a co-creative mindset.

How to Reimagine Meetings

Why are most meetings so terrible? Many of us experience meetings as downloads sessions, data dumps, with no real listening. They offer nothing inspiring, just a loaded or directionless agenda. Leaders and teams can inspire each other with brave conversations like they do at Pixar. To make this shift in your meetings we will discuss the importance of leading with questions to help a team feel more connected, activated, and aligned.

How to Create Brave Space

A brave space makes it possible for people to experience shared flow and selfless work. It enables us to be vulnerable and respectful as we live out our creative identity. Brave space is the skunk works for today, applicable to any domain. Co-creation isn’t exclusive to leaders; anyone can engage this way as peers or colleagues or with different departments. We will show you the key principles to help ignite a culture of collaboration.

Supercharge Culture with Co-Creation

What if we we’re brave enough to build cultures people love? Shift broken cultures into brave ones. Explore the approach it took to ignite Apple’s transformative “working different together” mantra. We offer a futuristic framework that captures the building blocks of culture. In this session, we will cover what is needed to unlock the best work of your people, helping your customers feel more connected to your brand and growing the business 10x+.

He brings hands-on authority in culture building as a co-founder of BraveCore, helping leaders design workplaces people genuinely want to be part of.
He translates the principles of co-creation from Brave Together into practical leadership behaviors that unlock trust, creativity and shared ownership across teams.
He draws on a decade of leading large teams in healthcare operations to show how culture change works under real pressure, accountability and human stakes.world.
He connects storytelling, leadership and organisational growth through his advisory work and creative leadership at StoryCircle, helping organisations align purpose with performance.
He delivers engaging, experience-driven keynotes that equip leaders to lead with better questions, build resilient cultures and drive growth through collaboration.

Videos of Ian Clawson

Bravecore Shares Their Methodology for Co-Creation in the Workplace

The Power of Co-Creation with Chris Deaver and Ian Clawson

Articles, Media & Podcasts

Dissatisfied With Your Work Results? Give Co-Creation A Try

Forbes

Co-creation in hyperdrive: Why a “brave space” should be your new skunk works

Big Think

6 Ways to Lead in Business With More Creativity and Collaboration

Inc.

Ian Clawson on the Power of Co-Creation and Creativity

The Creative Classroom with John Spencer

Books by Ian Clawson

Brave Together

Comments & Testimonials

"A vital, generous and urgent book, it will transform the way you think about teams. And then it will help you become a better leader."

Seth Godin Bestselling author of Song of Significance

"The leadership we need in the future is about inspiring hearts, unleashing human magic, and building purposeful organizations together. If, like I do, you believe this, you MUST read Brave Together as you will find that it is such a helpful guide."

Hubert Joly Former CEO of Best Buy and Harvard Business School faculty

"Brave Together challenges the status quo of leadership, work, and culture to carve out a brighter, future-oriented framework. The authors include various solutions throughout the book to help readers leave hustle culture behind and lead as co-creators."

TD Magazine

"Solid and comprehensive. Brave Together provides super clear strategies to manage the very complex stories in our lives. Stories of ambition, of loss, of struggle, of success."

Ryan Woodward Story Artist for blockbuster films including Iron Man, Spiderman, and The Avengers