Keynotes · Team assessment · Masterclasses
Creativity is
a habit,
not a gift.
At Disney's internal think tank, Sura helped shift the culture toward happy, collaborative innovation. Now she teaches the same tools on stage, with teams, and online.
Book a keynote
Sura Al-NaimiInnovation catalyst
- Over 20 years
- At the forefront of innovation and creativity since 2001
- Disney
- Former Global Innovation Officer, internal think tank
- Singularity U
- Adjunct at Ray Kurzweil & Peter Diamandis' university
- Challenger
- Strategist at What If, Synectics and eatbigfish
Ways to work with Sura
The innovation problem
Give you a pen, and you'll write with your dominant hand.Give you a complex challenge, and you'll solve it with your dominant thinking.
That's how same-thinking teams get stuck — and why breakthrough ideas never reach the market.
Innovation needs four distinct kinds of thinking. Most teams have at least one blind spot.
Find your team's blind spotKeynote speaking
Talks that get the whole room thinking.
Given at conferences, companies and associations around the world, in person or virtually.
Signature keynote
Think Differently Together
- Ever wonder why your best ideas come to you when you're on the royal throne?
- How do you get everyone to collaborate with each other?
- How did Disney, Elon Musk and Einstein create breakthrough solutions?
Sura immerses the audience in a hands-on set of tools, techniques and behaviors that everyone can use to tap into their creative genius.
What people say
Sura is a tour de force speaker and rare combination of the quick humor of a Disney film, the suspense of a page-turner, and the clarity of a really good teacher.
Learn on your own
Make creativity a habit.
Unleash
Your
Creativity
The six-week program built from the sessions Sura led at Disney, Barilla and Hyperloop.
12
Bites
Podcast
The HHS Show
Tune in if you…
- have an entrepreneurial mindset
- want to express your creative potential
- want to think differently, together
The Creativity Cards
Sura's toolkit for thinking differently.
Every tool, technique and behavior Sura teaches in Unleash Your Creativity, one per card. The FourSight cards are marked in colour.
See the courseDefining Creativity
What creativity is, and how it works at work.
Kid Versus Adult Mindset
Why kids find the ideas adults talk themselves out of.
Barriers & Enablers to Creativity
What blocks creativity, and what helps it.
Death by Brainstorm & Plussing
Better brainstorms, and building on each other's ideas.
Playfulness
Using play to find new solutions.
Signaling
Communicating ideas to different audiences.
Vision
Setting a clear vision for a project.
Defining Innovation
What innovation is, and how to apply it.
Unpacking with Lauren
Breaking a complex problem into parts.
Ladder Test
Testing and scaling ideas before you commit budget.
Sandboxing with Client
Safe spaces to experiment with clients.
WordSmith
Sharpening ideas through the words you use.
Introduction to Explore
The basics of exploring a problem.
Exploring & Creating Insights
Turning research into insights.
Where to Look for Insights
Where to find insights.
Intuition & Curiosity
Using intuition and curiosity to solve problems.
Brain Science
How the brain creates and decides.
Lateral Thinking
Approaching a problem from a new angle.
Freshness
Keeping ideas original.
Break It
Taking a problem or idea apart to find new options.
Borrow It
Adapting existing ideas into new ones.
Forced Connection
Connect seemingly unrelated ideas to create something new.
Re-Express It
Restating an idea in new ways.
Realness
Keeping bold ideas realistic.
Momentum
Three ways to maintain momentum in innovation projects: focus, hot housing, and lighting a fire.
Maker Introduction
An introduction to the maker mindset.
Passion Meter
Measuring the passion behind a project.
Stagizing
Planning a project in stages.
Power of Agreements & Poke & Patch
Ground rules for sessions, and improving ideas step by step.
Bravery
Taking calculated risks.
Clarifier
Clarifying the problem first.
Ideator
Generating lots of ideas.
Developer
Refining ideas into workable solutions.
Implementer
Putting ideas into action.
FourSight Introduction
An introduction to the FourSight framework.
Climate Setters
Creating an environment where creativity works.
- FourSight cards:
- Clarifier
- Ideator
- Developer
- Implementer
Origin story
11moves by
age eleven.
Sura learned early to walk into new rooms, read new rules and see a situation from every angle. Since settling in the States from London in 2006, she has brought that to startups and Fortune 100 organizations alike.
Read her storyThe hihellosura show
Decoding the secrets of trailblazers who challenge the status quo.
Who Sura has worked with
From startups to
the Fortune 100.
From theme parks to pasta to hyperloops, good problem-solving has no boundaries.
- Entertainment
- Walt Disney Parks · Walt Disney Imagineering · Pixar · ESPN · ABC · Sony
- Retail
- Gap Inc. · Neiman Marcus · Levi's
- Consumer Goods
- P&G · Barilla
- Healthcare
- GSK · Kaiser · Ascension Health
- Innovation & Tech
- Hyperloop · Singularity University · Facebook
- Food Service
- Chick-fil-A
- Automotive
- Jaguar
- Non-Profit
- AARP
- Advertising
- Havas
- Hospitality
- Disney Vacation Club
Book Sura
Say
hello.
Book an event, a team session or a one-on-one. Send Sura a message and she'll get back to you.