Josh Linkner

Josh Linkner

Franklin, Michigan, United States
33K followers 500+ connections

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Josh Linkner – who started his career as a jazz guitarist - personifies creativity…

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Activity

Experience

  • Muditā Venture Partners Graphic

    Muditā Venture Partners

    Detroit, Michigan, United States

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    Detroit, Michigan, United States

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    Detroit, Michigan, United States

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    Detroit, Michigan, United States

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    Detroit, MI

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    Ann Arbor, MI

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    Pleasant Ridge, MI

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    Detroit, MI

Education

Publications

  • Big Little Breakthroughs - How Small, Everyday Innovations Drive Oversized Results

    Post Hill Press

    A surprisingly simple approach to help everyday people become everyday innovators.

    The pressure to generate big ideas can feel overwhelming. We know that bold innovations are critical in these disruptive and competitive times, but when it comes to breakthrough thinking, we often freeze up.

    Instead of shooting for a $10-billion payday or a Nobel Prize, the most prolific innovators focus on Big Little Breakthroughs - small creative acts that unlock massive rewards over time. By…

    A surprisingly simple approach to help everyday people become everyday innovators.

    The pressure to generate big ideas can feel overwhelming. We know that bold innovations are critical in these disruptive and competitive times, but when it comes to breakthrough thinking, we often freeze up.

    Instead of shooting for a $10-billion payday or a Nobel Prize, the most prolific innovators focus on Big Little Breakthroughs - small creative acts that unlock massive rewards over time. By cultivating daily micro-innovations, individuals and organizations are better equipped to tackle tough challenges and seize transformational opportunities.

    How did a convicted drug dealer launch and scale a massively successful fitness company? What core mindset drove LEGO to become the largest toy company in the world? How did a Pakistani couple challenge the global athletic shoe industry? What simple habits led Lady Gaga, Banksy, and Lin-Manuel Miranda to their remarkable success?

    Big Little Breakthroughs isn’t just for propeller-head inventors, fancy-pants CEOs, or hoodie-donning tech billionaires. Rather, it’s a surpassingly simple system to help everyday people become everyday innovators.

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  • Hacking Innovation: The New Growth Model from the Sinister World of Hackers

    FastPencil

    Hackers are a global fascination, with cybercrime representing our single biggest threat to national security. But putting their sinister motives aside, the dark, underworld of hackers contains some of the most creative minds on the planet.

    What if hacking approaches could be redirected for productive means? How can we harness the positive attributes of hacking to drive meaningful outcomes in our companies, careers, and communities?

    New York Times Bestselling Author Josh Linkner…

    Hackers are a global fascination, with cybercrime representing our single biggest threat to national security. But putting their sinister motives aside, the dark, underworld of hackers contains some of the most creative minds on the planet.

    What if hacking approaches could be redirected for productive means? How can we harness the positive attributes of hacking to drive meaningful outcomes in our companies, careers, and communities?

    New York Times Bestselling Author Josh Linkner has ‘cracked the code’ in his latest book, Hacking Innovation, providing a new framework for innovation, reinvention, and transformation. Linkner reveals the Five Core Mindsets and Ten Primary Tactics of hackers as the new model for complex problem solving, innovation, and growth. These fresh approaches enable leaders at all levels to topple their competition with stunning efficiency. Hacking Innovation translates the complex hacker philosophy into a simple, yet effective system for modern business success.

    To uncover these secrets, Linkner immersed himself into the dangerous and clandestine world of hackers. Insights from ex-cons, secretive hacking societies, the FBI, and cyber-security giants deliver drama and suspense. He also penetrates the caffeine-driven world of tech startups, revealing the stealthy practices that have launched tech founders into the rarified billionaires club. All told, Linkner delivers the definitive work to propel the next generation of leaders and innovators.

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  • The Road to Reinvention: How to Drive Disruption and Accelerate Transformation

    Wiley/Jossey-Bass

    Companies, communities, and individuals fall for many reasons, but one of the most common—and easily avoidable—is the failure to reinvent. When people and organizations rest on prior successes rather than driving purposeful transformation, they discover too late that they have lost their market position altogether to competitors and external forces.

    The most successful companies, brands, and individuals make reinvention a regular part of their business strategies. Transformation demands…

    Companies, communities, and individuals fall for many reasons, but one of the most common—and easily avoidable—is the failure to reinvent. When people and organizations rest on prior successes rather than driving purposeful transformation, they discover too late that they have lost their market position altogether to competitors and external forces.

    The most successful companies, brands, and individuals make reinvention a regular part of their business strategies. Transformation demands an ongoing process of discovery and imagination, and The Road to Reinvention lays out a systematic approach for continually challenging and reinventing yourself and your business. Venture capitalist and serial entrepreneur Josh Linkner identifies six elements in any business that are ripe for reinvention and shares examples, methods, and step-by-step techniques for creating deliberate, productive disruption.

    Throughout The Road to Reinvention, Linkner also explores the history—the great rise, unprecedented fall, and now rebirth—of his beloved hometown, Detroit. First rising to greatness as the result of breathtaking innovation, Detroit had generations of booming growth before succumbing to apathy, atrophy, and finally bankruptcy. Now, the city is rising from the ashes and driving sustainable success through an intense focus on reinvention. Linkner brings an insider's view of this incredible story of grit, determination, and creativity, sharing his perspective on Detroit's successes and setbacks as a profound example of large-scale organizational and personal transformation.

    Change is inevitable. You need to decide: Will you drive that change, or be driven away by it? Will you disrupt or be disrupted? By choosing to deliberately reimagine your own status quo, you can secure a strong future for both your company and your career.

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  • NY Times Best Seller: Disciplined Dreaming - A Proven System To Drive Breakthough Creativity

    Wiley/Jossey-Bass

    • “In today’s fiercely competitive global marketplace the most important resource any business has is the creative thinking of its people. In Disciplined Dreaming, Josh Linkner lays out a road map that will guide individuals, teams, and companies to higher levels of creativity. It is a journey that will lead to better ideas and breakthrough thinking—and those who take it will also have a lot of fun along the way.”
    —Bill Ford, executive chairman, Ford Motor Company

    • “The creativity…

    • “In today’s fiercely competitive global marketplace the most important resource any business has is the creative thinking of its people. In Disciplined Dreaming, Josh Linkner lays out a road map that will guide individuals, teams, and companies to higher levels of creativity. It is a journey that will lead to better ideas and breakthrough thinking—and those who take it will also have a lot of fun along the way.”
    —Bill Ford, executive chairman, Ford Motor Company

    • “The creativity gap is real and it’s getting worse. Josh Linkner challenges you to become a disruptive force for change, and I hope you will.”
    —Seth Godin, author, Linchpin and Purple Cow

    • “Josh Linkner is a tremendous business leader who has established a successful and sustainable company, as well as a culture that nurtures employees to help them maximize their potential.”
    —Hon. Jennifer M. Granholm, governor, State of Michigan

    • “At Zappos, one of our core values is to be adventurous, creative, and open-minded. Disciplined Dreaming can help spark your creative potential.”
    —Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com and author, Delivering Happiness

    • “The world has changed dramatically, and we have now entered a new era of creativity. Disciplined Dreaming is a roadmap to new ideas, and helps business leaders at all levels unleash their creativity in order to reach their full potential. This important and thoughtful book is a must-read to compete in the next era of business, and life.”
    —Charlene Li, founder, Altimiter Group and author, Groundswell and Open Leadership

    See publication

Honors & Awards

  • Top 50 Keynote Speakers in World

    Real Leaders

  • EY Entrepreneur of the Year

    Ernst & Young

    The Entrepreneur Of The Year® program, founded by EY, has recognized the endeavors of exceptional men and women who create the products and services that keep our worldwide economy moving forward. Since its inception, Entrepreneur Of The Year has grown dramatically and now includes programs in more than 140 cities and more than 60 countries worldwide. The Entrepreneur Of The Year US Awards gala is the culminating event of the Strategic Growth Forum™, the largest gathering of entrepreneurs in…

    The Entrepreneur Of The Year® program, founded by EY, has recognized the endeavors of exceptional men and women who create the products and services that keep our worldwide economy moving forward. Since its inception, Entrepreneur Of The Year has grown dramatically and now includes programs in more than 140 cities and more than 60 countries worldwide. The Entrepreneur Of The Year US Awards gala is the culminating event of the Strategic Growth Forum™, the largest gathering of entrepreneurs in America.

  • President Barack Obama Champion of Change

    The White House

  • EY Entrepreneur of the Year

    Ernst & Young

    The Entrepreneur Of The Year® program, founded by EY, has recognized the endeavors of exceptional men and women who create the products and services that keep our worldwide economy moving forward. Since its inception, Entrepreneur Of The Year has grown dramatically and now includes programs in more than 140 cities and more than 60 countries worldwide. The Entrepreneur Of The Year US Awards gala is the culminating event of the Strategic Growth Forum™, the largest gathering of entrepreneurs in…

    The Entrepreneur Of The Year® program, founded by EY, has recognized the endeavors of exceptional men and women who create the products and services that keep our worldwide economy moving forward. Since its inception, Entrepreneur Of The Year has grown dramatically and now includes programs in more than 140 cities and more than 60 countries worldwide. The Entrepreneur Of The Year US Awards gala is the culminating event of the Strategic Growth Forum™, the largest gathering of entrepreneurs in America.

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