Robert Stephens

Featured Video

New technologies disrupt through innovation, and no one is better equipped to prepare audiences with lessons learned on disruptive innovation than Robert Stephens. As founder of Geek Squad and former CTO of Best Buy, he has seen the whole spectrum of technological change and innovation since the Internet boom. Robert, who’s changing the game again with his AI-powered chatbot service Assist, shares key strategies from his entrepreneurial career for fostering and leading innovation within organizations of all sizes, as well as insights on what you need to know about how new and disruptive trends and technologies like blockchain and artificial intelligence will impact the market and redefine business in the future. Billion-dollar R&D budgets are no longer a necessity for innovation—all you need is a change in mindset, Robert says. He also explains how leaders can develop a vision for spotting future trends, linear and non-linear, and use them to ignite curiosity, improve processes, explore new possibilities, or pivot your business.

Tech visionary Robert Stephens has built and run companies both big and small – he founded Geek Squad in 1994 and later sold it to Best Buy, where he worked for 10 years as CTO. His latest venture is the AI-powered chatbot service Assist, which is already changing the game for business, much like Geek Squad did more than 20 years ago. Now, he’s providing an exclusive behind-the-scenes look on his rise to becoming one of America’s most innovative and successful entrepreneurs and businessmen. Drawing on his expansive perspective as a startup founder to c-suite Fortune 500 executive and back again, he shares forward-thinking lessons that others can use to grow business, leverage disruptive trends like blockchain and artificial intelligence, and spark innovation. He also discusses the importance of thoughtful brand management to differentiating yourself in the marketplace among customers and employees, and ways to create a culture of risk-taking and creativity within established companies. Robert delves into Geek Squad’s legacy in helping companies everywhere realize that everyone is in the business of service—or should be—with the power to listen and solve problems with readily accessible technology, and a startup’s thirst to succeed.