April Rinne

There’s an epidemic of change exhaustion, yet more change and uncertainty are ahead. When – and how – will this ever improve? Being adaptable and flexible have always been hallmarks of effective leadership, well-being, and a fulfilling life. But in a world of ever-more change, an ever-faster pace of change, and relentless uncertainty, flexibility and resilience can be stretched to their breaking points. The quest becomes how to find calm and lasting meaning in the midst of enduring chaos.

A world in flux calls for a new mindset, one that treats constant change and uncertainty as a feature, not a bug. In this talk, April Rinne helps you open this mindset — a Flux Mindset — and develop eight “flux superpowers” that flip conventional ideas about leadership, success, and well-being on their heads. You’ll learn to see change in new ways, craft new responses, and ultimately reshape your relationship to uncertainty from the inside out.
Whether you’re leading a team, strengthening your culture, inspiring engagement, sizing up your own career, reassessing your priorities, or simply want to show up more fully in the world, opening a flux mindset and activating your flux superpowers will keep you grounded even when everything around you is shifting. You’ll learn to see that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel… and it’s not an oncoming train.

Key Takeaways

• Learn how to open a Flux Mindset, cultivate the 8 Flux Superpowers, and boost your “fluxiness”
• Improve your relationship to constant change, uncertainty, and unknowns
• See the future – including your future – with fresh perspective and clarity
• Show up fully for work, your family, team, friends, community – every part of life, every day!

What does the shape of a successful, meaningful career look like in today’s workplaces full of change – and how can you (and HR) design your best one? Across the professional spectrum, people are reassessing what they want from their careers – and lives. This has led to unprecedented job-hopping (without the stigma), freelancing, quiet quitting, and career pivots as well as exhausting debates about hybrid work. And this was all happening before the breakneck ascent of generative AI and the uncharted territory it entails. Taken together, it’s a lot.

One of the keys to future-ready professional development and sustainable, thriving work cultures is to rethink the shape of our careers. The one-way, up-or-out 20th century “career ladder” isn’t just creaky. It’s breaking. For talent and HR alike, this has profound implications – and represents a new world of opportunity for more useful career shapes and dynamics.

April Rinne has been working on “career portfolios” for more than 25 years, including her own. She helps organizations change how we think about work and individuals unleash their best, full selves. This isn’t about outsourcing one’s job or hiding side hustles. Rather, a portfolio approach is about seeing talent and career development with a fresh lens. Whether you’re running a Fortune 100 company, series A (or E) startup, venture capital fund, accelerator, association, think tank, or government, it’s a key tool for talent acquisition, retention, and thriving organizational cultures. It’s how to identify and nurture all of the skills on a team. Moreover, a career portfolio is essential for success in a world in which skills are evolving and changing fast. Creating your career portfolio is also one of the 8 Flux Superpowers in April’s bestselling book Flux.

Note: This talk is a perfect fit for “career weeks,” team L&D, HR gatherings, and Future of Work summits.

Just because the future looks really chaotic doesn’t mean your approach to it has to be. For leaders everywhere, success hinges not only on understanding the macro forces that will affect your business and team, but even more so on how you see these forces: Your mindset towards change and uncertainty and your tolerance of the unknown. Imagine the time, effort, or resources you could’ve saved if you’d seen the full implications of smartphones back in 2006, hybrid work back in 2015, the covid pandemic before it hit, or generative AI today? Today, you can develop this vision – these superpowers and savviness – moving forward. Not only can you: Given the relentless pace of change, it’s safe to say you ought to!

April Rinne’s gift is to see key shifts early amid chaos and disruption, and to help leaders and teams navigate the unknown in ways that catalyze inner peace, growth, and future-fit perspective. As the world’s leading Humanist Futurist, April speaks with both head and heart. Drawing on nearly 30 years of experience in 100+ countries as well as insights from her bestselling book Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change, she’s your #1 guide to today’s uncertain world. She helps you see what you’ve been missing, overcome your stumbling blocks, and boost your capacity to harness uncertainty to your advantage. With your team and for your organization, you’ll learn how to stop fighting uncertainty, transform not-knowing into wisdom, and be the flux – ready and excited for whatever changes are ahead.

Key Takeaways

• Learn how to open a Flux Mindset, cultivate the 8 Flux Superpowers, and boost your “fluxiness”
• Understand the surprising (and often unspoken) ways many leaders get uncertainty and the future wrong – and how to get them right
• Apply insights and fresh perspectives for navigating change from different global cultures
• Get future-ready tools for you and your team to truly be in control