FUTURIST · KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Graeme
Codrington
Keynote speaker on the future of work, strategy foresight and AI
Graeme Codrington is a futurist who helps leadership teams make sense of what's changing in their industry, and decide what to do about it. Based in Johannesburg, he co-founded TomorrowToday Global, has written six books on the future of work, and has presented in more than 150 countries.
Topics Future of Work · AI in Organisation · Adaptive Leadership · Strategic Foresight · Future Trends
Based in Johannesburg, South Africa
Speaks in More than 150 countries, including South Africa, the rest of Africa, the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Asia
Recognition #17, Global Gurus World's Top 30 Futurist Professionals 2026 · TEDx Global Top Pick
Formats Keynote, half-day workshop, strategy sessions, leadership development programmes, virtual
When Graeme is the right call
1. Your leadership team keeps reaching for tools that worked five years ago, and they've stopped working.
2. Your offsite needs to look further ahead than next year's budget.
3. You've run AI pilots and nobody can say what they delivered.
4. Your people are tired of change, and you need them with you for the next round.
Graeme does his best work at leadership retreats, executive offsites and conferences on change, innovation or transformation, especially in sectors moving fast, such as tech, finance, health and executive education.
Graeme's current keynotes
Thinking like a Futurist
The question it answers
How do we spot what's changing in our industry early enough to act on it?
For: Strategy offsites, boards, executive conferences on disruption or growth, and leadership programmes.
Day-to-day pressure crowds out long-range thinking. This keynote gives leaders five foresight skills so they spot change earlier and make better calls about what comes next.
Your audience leaves with:
How to scan beyond their own industry for early signals
How to connect patterns across technology, society, economics and politics
How to build several credible scenarios, so they're not betting on one forecast
How to turn foresight into questions that shape this year's decisions
Keynote · Executive briefing · Interactive session · Workshop · Scenario-planning session · Virtual
Beyond the AI Hype
The question it answers
How do we turn our AI spend into measurable business value?
For: Middle and senior leaders responsible for getting value from AI: line managers, function heads and programme sponsors.
Plenty of organisations have AI pilots. Fewer can say what those pilots delivered. Graeme uses TomorrowToday's 5T AI Impact Model to show teams where their AI effort is going, where the value is, and what to do next.
Your audience leaves able to:
A shared vocabulary for AI across the team
An honest audit of their current AI activity against the model
Next steps line managers can take without technical expertise
90-minute masterclass, tailored to your organisation, in person or virtual, for groups of up to 500+
Leading in a Changing World
The question it answers
How do we prepare our leaders for challenges our current playbook wasn't built for?
For: Senior leaders and leadership teams who sense their current approach isn't enough.
Most leadership tools were built for problems with known answers. Graeme shows leaders how to tell those technical problems apart from adaptive challenges, which need new thinking, and how to lead their teams through the second kind.
Your audience leaves with:
A way to tell technical problems from adaptive challenges in their own work
Practical tools for building adaptive intelligence, personally and across the organisation.
Ways to keep their teams confident through rough periods, which Graeme calls being a "broker of hope"
Next steps they can apply in their current role
Keynote · Executive briefing · Interactive session · Workshop · Virtual
Every keynote is tailored to the audience and the event's theme.
Watch Graeme speak
Watch Graeme Codrington in action with audiences across six continents, working with executive teams, boards, and conferences who want clear thinking instead of more noise about disruption.
Read the transcript
When the rate of change outside of your organisation is faster than the rate of change inside your organisation, you are on a path to extinction. We need to keep up with this change.
If we jumped into the future and imagined what could the speaking industry look like in the future, how well would we be able to do that? How good would we be at imagining that?
So maybe we have to change the game here. Maybe we shouldn't be talking about productivity and efficiency.
A leading futurist, he empowers global leaders to navigate disruptive forces. With six best-selling books, having spoken in 100-plus countries and lectured at top business schools, showcasing his unparalleled expertise.
Today, he will share with us an important topic to set the tone for the day.
I think that above all else, the thing that is going to help us most is imagination. Not crazy imagination, but the ability to imagine a world that doesn't yet exist.
The ability to see that we've got to go beyond merely improving what we already do. There's no magic wand that can give it to you.
We live at a crossroads, a sharp transformation in human history.
We can't predict the future because where we are at the moment is at an era shift in human history.
This is not the future anymore. We're in it.
The greatest danger that we face is not the turbulence of the age that we live in. It's not the craziness of this decade we're part of.
The greatest danger we face right now is to use yesterday's logic for tomorrow's world.
The 2020s is an invitation to reimagine.
We're lucky enough to have with us today a gentleman called Graeme Codrington. Our resident futurist, Graeme Codrington.
I was most impressed, Madame Speaker, by an approach by someone who's called Mr Codrington.
Graeme, thank you so much for your time. It's always great to chat to you.
I just wonder how difficult your job has been in the last year. How do you plan scenarios and look to the future?
When COVID-19 happens, it throws everything we know up in the air.
But we have been tracking. We've been in business for 20 years, and we've been trying to understand disruptive forces.
If we want this supercharged, superhuman effort in the future, that's not going to come from our machines.
Our machines can summarise what we already know, but they're not coming up with new ideas.
We've got to up our game.
We cannot just respond to what the business asks us for because all they want is faster horses. All they want is more juice out of the lemons.
What you've got to deliver is a revolution.
Organisations Graeme has worked with
"One of the most thought-provoking speakers we have had."
Graeme was one of the most thought-provoking speakers we have had, and so interesting. His take on how construction needs to be built for the world of tomorrow was fascinating. Our members still talk about how his presentation shifted the way they and their boards make decisions. Highly recommended!
Suzannah Nichol OBE, Chief Executive, Build UK
"The best virtual presenter we have seen."
Graeme is the best virtual presenter we have seen. He was as effective as if he were in the room. His use of digital tools and his conversational style brought his messages to life. We also valued the chance to reflect on what is happening now and how it may shape our future, both personally and professionally. Long after the session, we were still talking about it.
Leanne Geale, Executive Vice President, Nestlé International
"His work dazzles, not with spectacle but with realism, intelligence and nuance.”
Graeme stands out in the crowded field of futurists by grounding his insights in a deep, present-day understanding of innovation. He avoids hype and headline-chasing predictions. Instead he offers a thoughtful, clear-eyed analysis of where the world might be heading. I’ve seen audiences captivated by the clarity of his thinking and the quiet authority with which he explores the futures ahead.”
Bruce Whitfield, Financial Journalist | Speaker
"He doesn’t just talk about the future. He invites people into it."
Graeme helps leaders unlearn old patterns and rethink what’s possible in the most grounded and inspiring way. He makes complex ideas feel accessible and deeply relevant. Whether co-designing a session or leading bold conversations about disruption and change, he brings clarity, humility and presence. If you want to stretch minds, open hearts and build future-ready leaders, Graeme is someone you want alongside you
Joyce Halloun, Entrepreneur | Business Advisor
About Graeme
Graeme Codrington is a futurist and co-founder of TomorrowToday Global. He has spent more than twenty years studying how disruption changes work, and turning that research into frameworks leaders can use.
He has written six books on the future of work, including Mind the Gap and Leading in a Changing World. He is guest faculty at London Business School, Duke Corporate Education, Cornell, Vlerick and GIBS, and a TEDx Global Top Pick.
Global Gurus ranks him #17 in its World's Top 30 Futurist Professionals for 2026. He holds the Global Certified Speaking Professional designation and has been inducted into three speaker halls of fame. He's based in Johannesburg, presents in person around the world, and runs virtual events from his own broadcast studio.
Booking Graeme Codrington
What does Graeme Codrington speak about?
Adaptive leadership, strategic foresight, AI in organisations and the future of work. His current keynotes are Leading in a Changing World, Thinking Like a Futurist and the 5T AI Impact Masterclass.
Does Graeme Codrington speak outside South Africa?
Yes. He has worked with organisations in more than 150 countries and speaks regularly in the UK, Europe and the Middle East.
Can Graeme speak at a virtual event?
Yes. He presents from his own broadcast studio, as a keynote or a workshop.
Will Graeme tailor the session to our organisation?
Yes. He works with you before the event so the content fits your people and your industry.
How long is a Graeme Codrington keynote?
A conference keynote runs 45 to 75 minutes. Executive briefings, interactive sessions and half-day or full-day workshops are also available.
How do we book Graeme Codrington?
Send us the date, the city and what's going on for your people. We'll confirm whether he's available and will connect with you to find out how best he can serve your event.
Thinking about Graeme for your event?
Send us the date, the city and what's going on for your people. We'll confirm whether he's available and will connect with you to find out how best he can serve your event.
Profile last updated: Oct 2026
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