Richard Watson Keynote Speaker

Best-selling author on mega-trends and the future
Founder of What’s next online magazine
Co-founder of Thinking Allowed strategy retreat

Richard Watson's Biography

Richard Watson is a futurist speaker, author and scenario thinker who helps organisations to think further ahead, especially about emerging growth opportunities and risks. However, he is probably best known as a maker of highly provocative maps and other data visualisations intended to stimulate debate. The Financial Times called these “Brave” while Business Insider said they might “Blow your mind”.

Richard has worked with the Tech Foresight Practice at Imperial College London and London Business School and is co-founder, along with philosopher Professor Roger Steare and strategist Nick Turner, of Thinking Allowed, a 24-hour retreat from the non-stop nature of working life. Richard is the author of five best-selling books, including Digital Vs. Human, and is the founder of nowandnext.com. His sixth book, Beyond Busy: How Extreme Busyness is Killing Creativity, Kindness and Joy, and How We’d All Be More Productive, Healthier and Happier If We All Did Less (2025), examines our preoccupation with work and what might happen to our minds if we deleted some easy conveniences or occupied ourselves with a few things that were desirably difficult.

From 2020 to 2023, he was Futurist-in-Residence at the Entrepreneurship Centre at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.

He helps leaders think further ahead as a futurist and scenario thinker, translating mega-trends into clear choices about growth, risk and long-term strategy.
He is known for provocative maps and data visualisations that challenge assumptions, sparking the debate organisations need to see what is coming next.
He brings credible foresight experience through work with Imperial College and London Business School, grounding future thinking in rigorous strategic practice.
He equips audiences to rethink the culture of relentless busyness, showing how focus, creativity and better decisions emerge when organisations do less but do it better.