LinkedIn Speaker Series

In partnership with our Black Inclusion Group and Veterans at LinkedIn, we are thrilled to welcome Doug Melville, an Army veteran turned creative powerhouse, to our next Speaker Series event. Our own Ty Heath, director for The B2B Institute at LinkedIn, will have the opportunity to sit down with Doug and discuss themes from his new book, Invisible Generals: Rediscovering Family Legacy, and a Quest to Honor America's First Black Generals.  They will discuss the significance of diverse perspectives in driving innovation and problem-solving, strategies for overcoming adversity and turning obstacles into opportunities, the importance of inclusive leadership in creating environments where every voice is heard and valued, and how to cultivate resilience and adaptability in the face of change and uncertainty. You will gain practical insights and actionable strategies that you can apply both personally and professionally from this powerful session.

Trying to say the exact right thing can feel overwhelming at times, and it may even cause us to feel stuck when it comes to moving from having good intentions to taking concrete action. That’s what this Speaker Series event is all about—giving us the tools to have constructive, compassionate conversations across differences. Our own Blake Lawit, SVP and general counsel, will sit down with Kenji Yoshino, Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU School of Law, to discuss the nuanced subject of his new book (co-authored with David Glasgow), Say The Right Thing: How to Talk About Identity, Diversity, and Justice. Together, they will explore how we can move from potentially unconsciously hurting people when we communicate, to consciously helping them.   

Leah Smart, LinkedIn editor and host of the “In the Arena” podcast, sits down with Yung Pueblo—author, meditator, and one of social media’s leading voices on the topics of healthy relationships and knowing ourselves. They explore self-awareness practices that can help us experience the world around us in crisp and newly vibrant ways.

In partnership with our Black Inclusion Group, we’re thrilled to welcome trailblazer and change agent, Bozoma “Boz” Saint John—one of the world’s most dynamic, influential, and accomplished marketers—to our next Speaker Series. This special Black Heritage Month event will be a live streamed conversation in our NY editorial studio followed by a book signing. Boz brings unparalleled energy, transformative thinking, and innovative ideas to everything she touches, and we’ll experience this ourselves when she sits down with Ty Heath, market engagement director for The B2B Institute at LinkedIn, to discuss themes from her new book, The Urgent Life: My Story of Love, Loss and Survival. They’ll delve into the lessons Boz has learned throughout her extraordinary career, and her exciting new role as ambassador for the African diaspora and special envoy to the president of Ghana. Get ready for some inspirational gems! The Urgent Life draws from Boz’s own experiences of tragedy and grief to lay out a roadmap for those of us who are navigating our own battles. Through her stories and insights, Boz lets us know that we are not alone, that we can make it through, and that there is light and peace, and even inspiration, waiting for us when we do.

Restaurateur Will Guidara was 26 when he took over as manager of Eleven Madison Park (EMP), a struggling NYC brasserie that had never quite lived up to its majestic location. Within a decade, EMP was named the best restaurant in the world. How did Will pull off this unprecedented transformation, and what did he learn about business leadership along the way? As it turns out, every business can choose to be a hospitality business—and we can all transform ordinary transactions into extraordinary experiences and lasting relationships, within teams and with our clients.  Jann Schwarz, head of LinkedIn's B2B Institute and one of Will Guidara's frequent collaborators, will lead a conversation with Will about his new book, Unreasonable Hospitality: Giving People More Than They Expect, and uncover Will’s secrets on how to become a better relationship builder and charismatic convener of any group of people.

On Learning InDay, we have an epic opportunity to hear from Seth Godin, blogger, author, entrepreneur, author, and founder of The Carbon Almanac, a global movement to educate and lead urgent action on the climate crisis.  This group, a collaboration between hundreds of writers, researchers, thinkers, and illustrators has published a powerful tool by the same name that focuses on what we know, what has come before, and what might happen next with our global climate. It’s a remarkably readable and impactful exploration of climate science to help ensure we all know the facts about this complex subject. In our live session, we’ll discuss the biggest lessons from The Carbon Almanac and why it isn’t too late for us to make a positive impact on climate change—if we act now. And we’ll gain insight from Seth on leadership and group dynamics to improve the way we work on a daily basis.

Join us as LinkedIn's Vice President of Global Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, Rosanna Durruthy sits down with Susan Cain to discuss her new book, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, the power of a bittersweet, melancholic outlook on life, and why our culture has been so blind to its value.  Her previous bestseller, Quiet, urged our society to cultivate space for the undervalued, indispensable introverts among us, revealing an untapped power hidden in plain sight. Now, she uses the same mix of research, storytelling, and memoir to explore why we experience sorrow and longing, and the surprising lessons these states of mind teach us about creativity, compassion, leadership, spirituality, mortality and love.

-- Do you feel like you’re running faster but not moving closer to your goals? -- Or that you want to make a greater contribution, but lack the energy?  -- Are you feeling like everything is so much harder than it used to be?-- Maybe you even feel like you are teetering right on the edge of burnout? 
If any of this resonates with you, you won’t want to miss our Speaker Series event featuring Greg McKeown, author of two New York Times bestsellers, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most, and Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. Our own Dr. Chrissy Roth-Francis hosted a conversation and delved into Greg’s actionable advice for making the most essential activities the easiest ones—so you can achieve the results you want, without burning out. The effortless way isn't the lazy way. It's the smart way. It may even be the only way.    

"The secret of life,” Diane Von Furstenberg says, is to “own our imperfections. Own our vulnerability; it becomes our strength. Whatever the challenge is, own it. Owning it is the first step to everything.”  Up next in our Speaker Series, LinkedIn's  Catherine Fisher sits down with iconic luxury fashion founder and dedicated advocate for empowering women, Diane von Furstenberg. Together with Gabby Hirata, the current president of Diane’s namesake company, DVF, they share lessons from life, leadership, and their experiences with mentorship and supporting emerging women leaders.  Discover the basis of Diane’s empowering philosophy in her new book, Own It: The Secret to Life, an A-to-Z dictionary of life-enhancing ideas. It’s a manifesto that will guide you to turn problems into assets and enjoy personal growth at any age.

Are you ready to hear the secrets behind the most extraordinary industry success stories of our times? In our next Speaker Series on September 9, you’ll have that chance. Please join us for a discussion between LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock partner, Reid Hoffman, and our very own Leah Smart. In Reid’s critically acclaimed podcast, Masters of Scale, he sits down with visionary founders and leaders from iconic companies such as Apple, Nike, Netflix, Spotify, Starbucks, Google, Instagram, and Microsoft, as well as bold, disruptive startups, such as 23andMe, TaskRabbit, Black List, and Walker & Co.—and digs into the surprising strategies that have powered these companies' growth. Our host Leah is behind the also-wildly-successful podcast In The Arena, so this event will be one amazing podcaster interviewing another. You won’t want to miss it.

As we at LinkedIn know very well, relationships matter! They’re crucial to being effective at work and to living a full life. So for our next Speaker Series event, we’re thrilled to be hosting Carole Robin to discuss her new book, Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends and Colleagues, that she co-authored with David Bradford.  Carole and David co-taught interpersonal skills to Stanford MBA candidates for over 37 years in the legendary course, “Interpersonal Dynamics”—affectionately known to generations of students as “Touchy-Feely.” On May 13, it’s reunion time, when Tomer Cohen, our Chief Product Officer, and Stanford MBA who has actually taken the course, will talk with Carole about how to take our relationships from shallow to exceptional by cultivating authenticity, vulnerability, and honesty, while being willing to ask for and offer help, share a commitment to growth, and deal productively with conflict. 

Join Nina McQueen, Vice President, Global Talent - Benefits, Mobility & Employee Experience, as she hosts Academy-award winning actor and producer, Matthew McConaughey, for a discussion about his book, Greenlights, his memoir about how to approach life’s challenges, get more satisfaction and “catch greenlights”. This energizing conversation will be a great start to the year as we learn to catch more greenlights in 2021 and realize that the yellow and the reds eventually turn green too! 

Join our VP of Global Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, Rosanna Durruthy as she hosts a LinkedIn Live Speaker Series with Shellye Archambeau, Former CEO of MetricStream and Fortune 500 board member, to discuss her new book, Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers and Create Success on Your Own Terms. Full of empowering wisdom from one of Silicon Valley's first female Black CEOs, her inspiring book offers a blueprint for how to achieve your personal and professional goals. Shellye asserts that ambition alone is not enough to achieve success as she shares practical tools and approaches to employ right now, including concrete steps to: capitalize on the power of planning, develop financial literacy, build your network and integrate work, marriage, parenthood and self-care.  

Join LinkedIn’s Head of Social Impact, Meg Garlinghouse as she hosts a LinkedIn Live Speaker Series with New York Times bestselling author, Kelly Corrigan on her latest book, Tell Me More - a deeply personal, honest and often hilarious examination of the essential phrases that help foster connection in our lives. Together they’ll discuss the significance of phrases such as, “I don’t know” and “Tell me more” - and how we can use Kelly’s lessons to cultivate deeper connections and understanding with our colleagues, friends and loved ones today. This chat will lift your spirits with Kelly’s light-hearted sense of humor and meaningful insights.   Hot-off-the-press: PBS NewsHour is launching a special and intimate interview series: Tell Me More with Kelly Corrigan. Her first episode is launching the same day as this event with former guest speaker, Bryan Stevenson. You’ll also have an opportunity to hear more from Kelly on her podcast and radio show, Kelly Corrigan Wonders.

Join LinkedIn’s Chief Marketing & Communications Officer and Executive Co-Sponsor of EnableIn, Mel Selcher, as she hosts our first-ever LinkedIn Live virtual Speaker Series with Dr. Vivek Murthy, the 19th Surgeon General of the United States and author of Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World. Mel and Dr. Murthy will discuss the importance of human connection, the hidden impact of loneliness on our health, and the social power of community.  This discussion couldn’t come at a better time—as COVID-19 continues to evolve, the public health imperative is clear: to save lives, we need to radically increase the physical space between us. But will these practices condemn us to loneliness and lead to a “social recession”? Dr. Murthy strongly believes healthy relationships are as essential to our overall health as vaccines and ventilators, and that we have a great opportunity to strengthen our connections and communities during this time. He’ll share four key strategies to help us not only weather this storm, but heal our social world far into the future. This is a Speaker Series you won’t want to miss! 

Join LinkedIn's Vice President of Global Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, Rosanna Durruthy, and Zainab Salbi, author, humanitarian, activist, and TV personality to discuss Zainab’s latest book, Freedom is an Inside Job: Owning Our Darkness and Our Light to Heal Ourselves and the World. Her book explores the meaning of living authentically in the world while being true to ourselves and our values.   Through her own stories and experiences, Zainab will take us through a process of self-discovery. We will learn to uncover our hidden motives and desires so we can live in alignment with our authentic values. “As long as we are conflicted within, we will continue to live in conflict without,” writes Zainab. 

When Charles (“Chuck”) R. Schwab founded The Charles Schwab Corporation, he made stock investing, once expensive and clubby reserved for the few, accessible to ordinary Americans. In his new personal memoir, ‘Invested: Changing Forever the Way Americans Invest,’ Schwab describes the ups and downs he had along the way as he fulfilled his passion to have Main Street participate in the growing economy as investors and owners, not only earners.  Join LinkedIn CFO Steve Sordello as he hosts an illuminating discussion about the personal challenges Schwab faced, how he overcame them, the life-lessons learned over his lifetime-- and how he turned a democratizing idea into an industry-changing reality that helped make investing and saving for retirement easier for millions.

We’re thrilled to learn from leadership guru and business strategist, Simon Sinek! Best known for popularizing the concept of Why, Sinek’s TED Talk is one of the most watched TED talks of all-time, hitting 37+ million views. Sinek is also the author of multiple NYT best-selling books, “Start with Why” and “Leaders Eat Last” -- acclaimed for helping organizations around the world inspire their leaders to reach new heights. Join LinkedIn Editor in Chief, Dan Roth as he chats with Sinek about the themes of his latest and greatest, The Infinite Game, that largely focuses on how adopting an infinite mindset is necessary for leaders who want to build stronger, more innovative and more inspiring organizations.

Join us as LinkedIn General Counsel Blake Lawit sits down with Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, to discuss Smith’s new book, Tools and Weapons, a narrative from his past 25 years at Microsoft, as the company navigated some of the thorniest issues of our time.  Smith operates by a simple core belief: When your technology changes the world, you bear a responsibility to help address the world you have helped create. Challenges have been created that come with no preexisting playbook, including privacy, cybercrime and cyberwar, social media, the moral conundrums of artificial intelligence, big tech's relationship to inequality, and the challenges for democracy, far and near.  Come and learn about some of Microsoft’s most crucial recent decision points, as it strives to protect the hope technology offers against the very real threats it also presents.

Unconscious bias can be at work without our realizing it, and even when we genuinely wish to treat all people equally, ingrained stereotypes can affect our visual perception, attention, memory, and behavior. This has an impact on education, employment, housing, and criminal justice. In Biased, with a perspective that is scientific, investigative, and informed by personal experience, Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt offers us insights into the dilemma and a path forward. Come ready to learn and be inspired as Eberhardt presents a hopeful framework for discussion and action by connecting racial bias with the scientific study of the brain. The good news is that we are not hopelessly doomed by our innate prejudices -- Eberhardt reminds us that racial bias is a human problem -- one all people can play a role in solving.