MATTHEW E. MAY
A Bit About Me
My simple aspiration is to help business professionals raise their thinking game to create meaningful change. I do that through writing and speaking on key leadership themes like strategy, innovation and problem-solving.
I’ve published a total of five thought-provoking books, the latest being Winning the Brain Game, which I wrote to help leaders improve their ability to conceive elegant solutions to difficult problems.
I’m a founding partner in the strategy firm Stratechia, a contributing writer for several publications and sites, a New Yorker cartoon caption contest winner, and an avid cyclist. But I get the greatest joy from helping ambitious professionals achieve the success they envision for themselves.
books
Winning the Brain Game
FIXING THE 7 FATAL FLAWS OF THINKING
“This book should be a must-read for any innovator, business leader or problem solver.”
BRAD SMITH, Executive Chairman , Intuit
This book is the culmination of giving a real-world thought challenge to thousands of people over ten years, and reveals seven observable problem-solving patterns that can block our best thinking. Calling on modern science to help explain things, along with insights from the world’s best thinkers, it offers a super-curated, field-tested set of “fixes” proven to raise your thinking game.
PRAISE
“Matt, I want to convey the important impact you clearly had on our team and emphasize how much we value learning at AppNexus. I look forward to celebrating both quick wins and complete rethinks your session today ultimately triggers.”
PABLO DOMINGUEZ
VP, AppNexus
“Matt, our sessions with you gave us the forethought and foresight that enabled us to not only weather the recent real estate crash, but positioned us to launch a new brand for an entirely new home purchaser and emerge as market leader.”
KEN KRIVANEC
President, Quadrant Homes
“Matt, thank you for the guidance you have provided the Senior System Leadership Team. You add depth to our thinking on how we are developing people to improve unique processes to create superior value and win in the marketplace.”
JEFFREY HUNTER
EVP, Thedacare
WHO I HELP
master classes
master classes are high-energy, hands-on, tools-based and perfect for time-crunched professionals wishing to upskill themselves and their teams in the most relevant business disciplines
PLAYING
TO WIN
Strategy Development Framework
DESIGN
THINKING
Customer-Centered Innovation
LEAN
THINKING
Toyota Production System + Kaizen
JOURNEY MAPPING
Customer Experience Development
BUSINESS BIG THREE
Strategy + Design + Lean
WINNING THE BRAIN GAME
Advanced Creative Technique
Speaking
I tailor every talk, but these are some of the most popular themes
COMPETING FOR THE FUTURE
Leaders at every level face the same daunting challenge: how to win consistently in a massively disruptive business environment. In this talk, I show leaders how to begin with a future-back winning aspiration, then answer two deceptively simple questions: Where will you play? and How will you win? Blending compelling examples with stories from years of front-line experience facilitating strategy sessions, this keynote delivers a master class on competing for the future.
MIND OF THE INNOVATOR
The pressure to stand out and stay relevant in a fiercely competitive marketplace demands innovative thinking to jump the curve and move to the next level. The tension between business objectives and creative thinking isn’t easily resolved…unless you can tame the traps of traditional thinking. In this talk, I take the audience inside the minds of the world’s most creative executives and entrepreneurs to reveal how they crush the status quo, write their own rules, and move the world.
ELEGANT SOLUTIONS
Our businesses are more complicated and difficult to manage than ever. There is endless choice and feature overkill in all but the best experiences. Enter the need for elegant solutions: products, services, and strategies that achieve the maximum effect with minimum means. In this talk, I reveal the key to innovative breakthroughs in a wide range of domains, and shed light on the power of simplicity and subtraction in business, work and life, while offering surprising evidence that the best ideas have something missing…on purpose.
THE ELEGANT LEADER
Amidst an arguably expanding world economy, one fact stands clear: business leaders are facing a scarcity of resources. Materials cost increases and other financial burdens combined with an ever-shrinking pool of top talent leaves leaders facing a critical capability challenge. Enter the concept of elegance: achieving the maximum effect with minimum means. In this talk, I reveal how the best leaders spur creativity and innovation among their ranks by imposing intelligent constraints.
WINNING THE BRAIN GAME
When we’re faced with a difficult or unfamiliar challenge, our best thinking and problem-solving becomes vulnerable to brain patterns that lead us astray. In this highly interactive keynote, I give audiences the same simple thought challenge I've given to over 100,000 people to reveal those thinking flaws. Then, calling on science and insight from the world’s most innovative thinkers, participants leave with a powerful set of “fixes,” proven through hundreds of creative sessions to raise your mental game.
INNOVATION THE TOYOTA WAY
Creating a culture of continuous innovation is no longer a nicety, it's a necessary. No better example exists than Toyota, a global giant that implements 1 million ideas a year. Driving the Toyota approach is a companywide quest for elegant solutions. Based on my book The Elegant Solution, and success in applying the collective wisdom gleaned from nearly a decade of working with Toyota, Lexus, and Scion to other organizations, I deliver a vital prescription of ten key cultural practices that are a must-have for organizations pursuing continuous innovation.
“Matt was very well received by our group. He adapted his presentation so that it suited our senior team. We enjoyed his insights on innovation, and look forward to implementing them.”
HARVEY TREMBLAY
Chairman/President, Hy-Tech Drilling LTD
“Matt is a masterful presenter in every way…he connected with the audience and knew his material. We were delighted to have him kick off our Design Strategy series.”
TIM SMITH
Design Chair, California College of the Arts
“We were so honored that Matt came to speak to our Council on Development, Education and Learning. He delivered an excellent presentation on innovation. We wanted more time with him!
THE CONFERENCE BOARD
On the campus of 3M Corporation
articles
a sampling of my contributions to well-known publications
Creativity Loves Limits
HBR
Observe First, Design Second
Rotman Magazine
Create The Cartoonist Way
Fast Co.
Stealing Ideas Is Harder On Your Brain
Inc.
How to Hold Lean Meetings
99-U
7 Zen Design Principles
Fast Co.
Skunk Works
Rotman Magazine
The Art of Bosslessness
Fast Co.
Breakthrough Borne Of Conflict
HBRGot A Career Strategy?
99-U
How to Reset Your Brain
Inc.
Perils of Self-Censoring
99-U
The Weekend Creativity Booster
Inc.
Neuroscience of Change
Rotman Magazine
The FEDEX Logo Story
Fast Co.
7 Targets for Lean Innovation
HBR6 Secrets To Doing Less
Strategy + Business
How to Quiet Your Mind
HBRKill The Stupid Rules
99-U
Zen & The Art of Simplicity
Rotman Magazine
Mastering Creative Tension
Rotman Magazine
Winning the Brain Game Interview
Rotman Magazine
Addition By Subtraction
NYT
Mindfulness Without Meditation
NYT
The Art of Subtraction
Rotman Magazine
The Secret to Solving Problems Creatively
Inc.
Connecting The Dots The WSJ Way
Fast Co.
The Most Engaging Ideas Leave Something Out
HBRLoose Reins Management
HBRLess-Is-Best Innovation
HBR
Media
BROADCASTS
PRESS
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PODCASTS
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CONTACT
To inquire about services and availability, please feel free to contact me directly or via social media:
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