Abigail Posner

Anthropologist Former Director, U.S. Creative Works, Google; Becoming Irreplaceable in an AI World

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Abigail Posner's Biography

Abigail Posner spent 13 years at Google, but don’t make assumptions about her based on that fact. Abigail didn't start in tech. She started out studying people, earning a degree from Harvard in social anthropology, driven by one question: Why do humans do what they do? That lens proved to be the most valuable thing she ever brought to the boardroom at top advertising agencies where she shaped brand identities and communication to achieve tangible results. Then, for thirteen years as director of U.S. Creative Works at Google, Abigail brought cultural anthropology to the data and technology, leading a team crafting AI-powered technologies and winning strategies for YouTube's top global advertising clients. Her most pioneering work: Crea

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We Are All Inherently Creative

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Abigail Posner Keynote Topics

Expansiveness Edge: Becoming Irreplaceable in an AI World

What’s my edge now? That’s what leaders are asking as they try and spark innovation and organizational transformation in an AI-driven revolution. It’s a paradox: We have access to the most powerful technology in human history, yet we have a fear of becoming obsolete (FOBO). The problem isn't AI, it’s that most leaders have been conditioned to compartmentalize the very things that make them irreplaceable.

An anthropologist, former senior executive at Google and in advertising, Abigail shows leaders how to lead with more originality and impact and an edge that is unmistakably their own by leveraging all of their passions, skills, and experiences – their expansiveness. Think of it like this: You're not a single instrument. You're a musician who knows how to play several. Expansiveness is knowing which one the moment calls for. It’s NOT about bringing your whole self to work. It's a different game entirely.

Abigail’s energy, storytelling, real-world examples, and audience engagement unpack how the future belongs to leaders who generate results by digging into their expansiveness to create something no algorithm can predict and no competitor can replicate.

Tangible Takeaways:

• Learn to use expansiveness to fuel innovation in ways strategy alone cannot.

• How relentless curiosity about yourself and others sparks deeper questions, richer connections, and ideas no one else would have thought to pursue.

• Hone the ability to recognize which skill, which experience, which side of yourself is the most useful at the moment and activate it with intention.

• Leave with a curated set of hands-on exercises designed to leverage your personal Expansiveness Edge right now.

• Learn how to use expansiveness to uncover opportunities hidden in plain sight that create a competitive edge.

Wired to Create: Tap Your Innate Creativity to Drive Bolder Ideas and Bigger Breakthroughs

Too many people don’t think they’re capable of generating the breakthrough ideas their organization desperately needs. They’re wrong. And this presentation inspires them how to contribute in ways they never imagined. Creativity isn't reserved for the "naturally gifted" – it's wired into all of us. The problem isn't that people lack creative capacity. It's that they've never been shown how to find it, trust it, and activate it. In an era of AI, that capacity matters more than ever, freeing us to refocus on what humans do best: bold ideation, collaborative insight, and

imaginative thinking at its most powerful.

In this electrifying, mind-expanding talk, Abigail Posner, a force of nature on stage, shows every person in the room how to unlock their innate creative potential. She hands them a rich toolkit spanning anthropology, neuroscience, real-world business examples, and AI-powered analysis to generate bold ideas and compete in times of seismic change.

Audiences leave equipped with concrete tools to activate their creativity immediately.

Tangible Takeaways:

• Discover why the most valuable currency isn't technical skill, it's distinctly human creativity. Curiosity, imagination, and collaborative sense-making are now the defining competitive advantage.

• Be inspired to nurture, trust, and activate your innate creative potential to generate bold ideas that move the needle.

• Understand a cross-disciplinary set of lenses drawn from anthropology, neuroscience, technology, and creative development to unlock new dimensions of thinking.

• Get a full-spectrum toolkit for strategically deploying each to unearth the freshest, most generative ideas for any challenge, using a full-spectrum toolkit for uncovering ideas: from ethnographic observation and behavioral research to quantitative data and AI-powered analysis.

Ingenuity Unleashed: Using AI to Make Human Imagination More Powerful Than Ever

Everyone is using AI to do the same things faster. Almost no one is using it to think bigger. The creative potential of AI is vastly underestimated and almost entirely untapped.

Your boldest ideas and sharpest instincts have always been there. But ingenuity, the ability to apply those ideas to solve real problems, can only go so far when it's buried under the mental load of everything else. AI changes that. It takes on the rote and the analytical, freeing your most original, emotionally intelligent thinking to finally unleash its

full force and take what's possible further than ever imagined.

In this inspiring, provocative talk, Abigail Posner reframes AI as the latest in a long human tradition of using tools to expand what we're capable of and gives people a concrete way to use it differently. Audiences leave knowing not just why AI is a creative force multiplier, but exactly how to deploy it that way, with their thinking cracked open and a practical framework to put it to work immediately.

Tangible Takeaways:

• Understand how ingenuity – creativity plus the ability to make big ideas actually land – is innate in all of us. It becomes your most powerful force in an AI world.

• Learn provocative new thinking on how AI amplifies human creativity in ways that are still emerging, full of possibility, and overturning what we thought we knew.

• Embrace a new lens, drawn from years of anthropological research on how humans have always partnered with technology to expand their capabilities and what that means for right now.

• Discover a practical framework for activating your boldest thinking so AI doesn't just support what you do, it takes it further than was ever possible before.

Abigail Posner's Biography

Abigail Posner spent 13 years at Google, but don’t make assumptions about her based on that fact.

Abigail didn't start in tech. She started out studying people, earning a degree from Harvard in social anthropology, driven by one question: Why do humans do what they do? That lens proved to be the most valuable thing she ever brought to the boardroom at top advertising agencies where she shaped brand identities and communication to achieve tangible results.

Then, for thirteen years as director of U.S. Creative Works at Google, Abigail brought cultural anthropology to the data and technology, leading a team crafting AI-powered technologies and winning strategies for YouTube's top global advertising clients. Her most pioneering work: Creating the Humanizing Digital thought leadership series which explored our emotional relationship with technology. While everyone asked, “What can tech do?” – Abigail asked, “What does tech do to us?”– and then used those insights to create valuable strategies.

One thing became clear: As tech got smarter, humanness got more valuable. Now in her post-Google career, Abigail founded the Human Code Company to answer the question so many leaders were asking her: How do we create the future when change is coming at us so fast? The answer lies in the ability for leaders to think expansively and harness their Human Code as the ultimate competitive edge in an AI world.

The Human Code is the art of combining your unique experiences, interests, and perspectives to lead with more impact, more originality, and an edge that's entirely your own. Abigail helps leaders unlock innovation and drive real organizational transformation by blending AI and data intelligence with creative vision and human-centered thinking. She shows leaders that✩ AI also stands for “amplify impact,” and that combining it with their most human qualities creates results no algorithm can replicate.

That’s the overview – but let’s dig a bit deeper ↓

❊ At Google’s Creative Works, Abigail led a multidisciplinary team developing data-driven, AI-powered advertising and branded content strategies for YouTube’s top global advertisers. She pioneered Humanizing Digital, an anthropology-based thought leadership series exploring our emotional relationship with technology. She also helped guide a cultural transformation initiative for Google’s 4,000+ sales professionals, building unity and renewed purpose across regions; and earlier, created and scaled a global culture of insights program that deepened customer understanding both within Google and across client organizations.

Before joining Google, Abigail served as executive vice president of Brand Strategy at Publicis New York and Strategy Team Director at DDB New York, where she led major global client initiatives and new business efforts that shaped brand identities across industries.

✹ Her work has been recognized with the United Nations Media Impact Award, and her insights have been featured in outlets including The New York Times, Forbes, Fast Company, CNBC, and elsewhere. She regularly shares perspectives on innovation, creativity, and the human-technology relationship at conferences and business gatherings all over the world. Through the Human Code newsletter and her writing in outlets such as The Drum, Abigail shapes global dialogue around culture, technology, and human behavior. She also hosts the Human Code podcast, bringing these conversations to life with industry leaders and cultural figures.

Abigail sits on the corporate board for ENDI Corp (OTCMKTS: ENDI).

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University in social anthropology, Abigail lives in New York City, where she raised her three adult children.

Speaks About: Ingenuity • Leadership • Building Brands • Creativity • Human Advantage • Strategic Thinking • Navigating Change • Maximizing AI • Generating Big Ideas • Innovation • Organizational Culture

SUMMARY

HARVARD-TRAINED ANTHROPOLOGIST WHO BROUGHT HER HUMAN FOCUS TO DRIVE GROWTH AND
INNOVATION AT GOOGLE AND THE WORLD’S TOP AD AGENCIES.
USING HER RARE COMBINATION OF BACKGROUNDS, SHE SHOWS LEADERS AND TEAMS NEW WAYS TO
NAVIGATE CHANGE AND ACHIEVE REAL RESULTS AMID THE AI REVOLUTION.
PIONEERED HUMANIZING DIGITAL; ANTHROPOLOGY-BASED SERIES EXPLORING HOW, AS TECH GOT
SMARTER, HUMANNESS BECAME MORE VALUABLE.
HELPS LEADERS MASTER WHAT MAKES THEM UNIQUELY POWERFUL – THEIR HUMAN CODE – TO CREATE
SHARPER IDEAS, DEEPER INFLUENCE, AND BECOME IRREPLACEABLE IN AN AI WORLD.
FOUNDER, HUMAN CODE COMPANY.

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Abigail Posner testimonials

Director, Client Experience, Purus Wealth

“Everything you passed on to us truly resonated with me. I have been in financial services for 35 years and I’m always looking for ways to be more creative and expand and grow my view into the business. You’re an inspiration, a world of constant movement and I want to say thank you for the jolt of energy.”

Chief Strategy & Brand Officer at REALM Global

"Abigail Posner brought something truly rare to the REALM Global Collective: she didn't just speak about creativity; she awakened it. At a time when organizations race toward tools and technology, Abigail refocuses leaders on their most powerful, often overlooked asset: Human Creative Intelligence. Her ability to help individuals and teams rediscover curiosity, authenticity, and connection is not only inspiring, it’s transformative. Abigail doesn’t just deliver a keynote; she shifts how people think, create, and lead."

Vice President, Electric Power Engineers

“Really appreciate your talk today. Love the focus on mission vision and looking for links as a dad coach leader, spiritual person also I love seeing how everything we do is interconnected to us as human beings beyond everything working to improve the world for all human beings.”

University of Colorado, Boulder

“Abigail Posner was excellent. Her focus on creativity and being an effective leader resonated very well with both the student and Boulder community audience. She represents a terrific blend of the liberal arts with her Harvard undergraduate degree in Anthropology with the technology world at Google. We have received lots of positive feedback on Abigail's presentation, and the student session was also very well received."

Managing Director, Delta Community Retirement & Investment Services

“Fantastic presentation at focus. I’m already working on my expansiveness. I have a new idea to help clients overcome their financial Roadblocks through meditation, exploration, and yoga. Amazing.”

Frequently Asked Questions About
Abigail Posner

Abigail Posner speaks on themes connected to their work as Anthropologist Former Director, U.S. Creative Works, Google; Becoming Irreplaceable in an AI World. Contact us for current keynote titles.

Contact Speaker Agency UK through speakeragency.co.uk/contact. We will discuss your event's objectives, audience and timing, then tailor Abigail Posner's session to fit.

Abigail Posner is available for corporate conferences, leadership events, award ceremonies, internal team days and online sessions, in the UK and internationally.

Yes. Abigail Posner's sessions work well for leadership away-days, organisational development and staff training, and can be adapted to your team's goals.

Speaking fees vary depending on event type, audience size, location and format (keynote, panel or workshop). Contact Speaker Agency UK for a personalised quote for Abigail Posner.

Abigail Posner typically delivers 30 to 60 minute keynotes with optional audience Q&A, and can tailor the timing or run a longer workshop format to suit your event.