Technology Futurist, Keynote Speaker, AI Strategist, Disruptive Innovation Expert, NYT Bestselling Author, Polymath, Serial Entrepreneur
San Diego, California, United States
1M followers
500+ connections
About
Daniel Burrus is recognized as one of the World’s Leading Futurists on Global Technology-Driven Trends and Disruptive Innovation.
As a founding member of the Department of Defense Joint Services Futures Group, he serves as a strategic advisor to both the military and leading Fortune 500 companies, guiding them on AI and technology-driven innovation. His thought leadership has earned him multiple Top Ten AI Thought Leader awards.
The New York Times has referred to him as one of the top three business gurus in the highest demand as a speaker. He has delivered over 3,000 keynote speeches worldwide and is a strategic advisor to executives from Fortune 500 companies, helping them to develop game-changing strategies based on his proven methodologies for capitalizing on technology innovations and their future impact.
He is the creator of the Anticipatory Organization® Business Model, which includes his Hard Trend Planning and Innovation Methodology, and his award-winning Anticipatory Organization Executive Learning Systems embraced by leading organizations worldwide.
Daniel is also a New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including Flash Foresight, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, and his latest Amazon #1 bestseller, The Anticipatory Organization, and has millions of monthly readers on the topics of disruptive innovation, exponential change.
Burrus is a Polymath and innovative entrepreneur who has founded six businesses, four of which were U.S. national leaders in the first year. He is the CEO of Burrus Research, a research and consulting firm that monitors global advancements in technology driven trends to help clients profit from technological, social and business forces that are converging to create enormous, untapped opportunities.
He has been the featured subject of several PBS television specials and has appeared on programs such as CNN, Fox Business, and Bloomberg. Burrus has been quoted in a variety of publications, including Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Fortune, and Forbes.
His accurate predictions date back to the early 1980s where he became the first and only futurist to accurately identify the twenty exponential technologies including the digital revolution and AI that would become the driving force of business and economic growth for decades to come. Since then, he has continued to establish a worldwide reputation for his exceptional record of predicting the future of technology driven change and its direct impact on the business world.
Articles by • Daniel
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1M followers
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• Daniel Burrus shared thisMost leaders are focused on staying agile and responding quickly to change. But in today’s environment, that alone isn’t enough to create long-term advantage. In my recent feature with FM Magazine on the Rise2040 initiative, I explore how the accounting and finance profession is evolving and why anticipation is becoming a critical leadership capability. When you learn to separate Hard Trends from Soft Trends, you gain clarity about what the future will bring and where you have the power to shape it. As AI continues to automate transactional work, the role of finance professionals is expanding into more strategic, forward-looking contributions. That shift creates a significant opportunity for those prepared to lead it. Read the full article here: https://ow.ly/Us8L50YBe46
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• Daniel Burrus shared thisWhat Happens When Technology Stops Asking for Attention? Since the early beginnings of digital technology, interacting with devices has required deliberate effort on our parts. We open applications, navigate interfaces, and manually trigger actions. Even as systems became more advanced and automated, the responsibility for interaction largely remained with us. Now, that dynamic is beginning to shift silently. As contextual intelligence improves, digital systems are gaining the ability to interpret signals. This includes behavior, environment, and predictable patterns. A good example is your mobile device’s GPS giving you an travel time estimate on where you’re heading before you’ve ever entered an address. This is based solely on your routine. Instead of waiting for instructions, devices will respond more fluidly to what is happening around them. This won’t eliminate the role of the user. It will change where effort on our part is required. When routine interaction is reduced, attention can shift toward higher-value thinking and decision-making. This is similar to how automation and other forms of AI are shaping what we need to do daily and what is taken care of for us. From a leadership perspective, this raises an important question: Where in your organization does friction still exist simply because systems require constant input? Reducing that friction may create more impact than adding another tool. #AmbientComputing #FutureOfWork #TechTrends #Innovation
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• Daniel Burrus shared thisTUNE INTO MY INTERVIEW ON THE #PassagetoProft Show! Sat - Sun, March 28th - 29th on 38 Radio America Network stations: https://lnkd.in/gDdx8aKX (listen on radio station sites) Sunday, March 29th @ 7:30 am ET on Radio Garden State: https://lnkd.in/ggAfqgqM (listen via this link) Sunday, March 29th @ 11 pm ET on iHeartRadio / WOR710: https://lnkd.in/gmWDsyQ9 (listen via this link)
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• Daniel Burrus shared thisMost leaders are still thinking about infrastructure as a cost. That’s a mistake. Infrastructure is becoming one of the greatest drivers of competitive advantage in today’s economy. It’s no longer just physical. It’s intelligent, predictive, and capable of adapting in real time. That shift changes everything. In my latest article, I explore how intelligent infrastructure is moving us from reactive problem-solving to anticipatory action where systems can detect, learn, and respond before disruption occurs. From energy grids and transportation systems to edge computing and smart cities, this transformation is already underway. And it’s not just about efficiency. It’s about resilience, foresight, and long-term growth. The organizations that recognize this shift early will be the ones that turn disruption into opportunity. The question is not whether this future is coming. The question is whether you are ready to lead it. #IntelligentInfrastructure #FutureOfWork #DigitalTransformation #AILeadership #AnticipatoryThinkingThe Future of Intelligent Infrastructure: How the Backbone of Tomorrow’s Economy Is Taking ShapeThe Future of Intelligent Infrastructure: How the Backbone of Tomorrow’s Economy Is Taking Shape
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• Daniel Burrus shared thisIt's great to see the continued momentum behind the Rise2040 Future CPA/CGMA Project. It was a privilege to contribute futurist insights to a report shaped by the voices of 6,000 finance and accounting professionals across 25 countries. The future of finance is not just about adapting to change, it is about anticipating it and using that certainty to lead with greater confidence, relevance, and value. My thanks to Tom Hood, CPA,CGMA,CITP, the UK team, Kassi Rushing, APR Rushing, and the entire #Rise2040 Advisory Group for bringing together such a thoughtful global discussion. I look forward to the report being unveiled at #Engage26 in the U.S. on June 8 and shared more broadly around the world after that. #Rise2040 #FutureCPACGMA #Finance #Accounting #FutureOfWork #Leadership #Innovation• Daniel Burrus shared thisOur #Rise2040 Advisory Group meeting is complete with our group #selfie. 🙏 Andrew Harding FCMA CGMA and our UK team for hosting us for a full day workshop facilitated by Kassi Rushing, APR and included members from around the 🌍 🙌 Sharing their insights and wisdom as we reviewed the draft report from our #Rise2040 #FutureCPACGMA Project. #WisdomoftheCrowd The report features the voices of 6,000 #FinanceandAccounting Professionals across 25 Countries and the work of global futurist • Daniel Burrus . The report will be revealed at #Engage26 in the US on June 8th and around the world after that 🙌
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• Daniel Burrus shared thisPredictive Infrastructure is Quietly Reshaping the Global Economy Much of the conversation around digital transformation today focuses heavily on surface-level updates to software, AI, or other emerging consumer-facing technologies. But one of the most important shifts is happening deeper in the economy. Infrastructure itself is becoming intelligent. Energy grids can detect faults and isolate disruptions faster. Logistics networks optimize routing using predictive data. Manufacturing facilities identify equipment fatigue before downtime occurs. These capabilities allow organizations to move from reacting to problems toward anticipating them with ease. The implications are significant. Predictive systems enable earlier maintenance, smarter resource allocation, and more stable operations across entire industries. However, the fear of humans being displaced is unwarranted. I explore why humans play a vital role in intelligent infrastructure in this week’s blog. Intelligent infrastructure is emerging as the backbone of tomorrow’s economy, and what’s vital is determining what role you play in it. https://ow.ly/wafL50Yvgtb #FutureOfInfrastructure #AnticipatoryLeadership #InnovationStrategy
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• Daniel Burrus shared thisHR is entering a new era shaped by artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. In the January issue of PeopleFirst HR Magazine, I spent time discussing how innovations such as generative AI, predictive workforce analytics, and AI-driven learning platforms are redefining how organizations approach talent strategy. For HR leaders, the real opportunity is well beyond adopting AI tools. The focus should be on anticipating how these technologies will reshape skills, development, and workforce planning in the years ahead. https://ow.ly/MH1S50YsvcX
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• Daniel Burrus shared thisInfrastructure is Entering an Era of Elevated Intelligence Every major economic transformation has been built on a pretty static infrastructure. We’ve had railways accelerate trade networks, electricity powering industrial production, and telecommunications connecting markets across continents. But all those elements were static. We built them, they were maintained, and we lived in a status quo of sorts. But today, we are quickly witnessing another complete evolution with infrastructure becoming intelligent. By integrating real-time data, predictive analytics, and automated monitoring, critical systems within our infrastructure are now able to identify emerging risks earlier and adapt more quickly to those changes. ☑️ Energy networks balance supply dynamically ☑️ Logistics systems optimize routing in real time ☑️ Manufacturing operations detect equipment stress before failures occur These capabilities move organizations beyond reactive management. Instead of responding after disruption occurs, they gain the ability to anticipate operational stress and respond proactively. This shift will play a central role in how resilient and competitive economies become over the next decade. #IntelligentInfrastructure #StrategicForesight #FutureOfBusiness
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• Daniel Burrus shared thisAs organizations continue exploring automation and robotics, an important question is emerging: what happens when companies move too quickly to replace human workers? A recent Quartz article examining the risks of over-automation includes my Anticipatory insights as part of the discussion around how leaders should approach AI and robotics in the workplace. The conversation around automation is more than just an exploration of technology. It’s about strategy, timing, and understanding where human capability creates lasting value. Read the full article here: https://ow.ly/lUVA50YssJf
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• Daniel Burrus liked this• Daniel Burrus liked thisConstruction: From Cost Control to Value CreationFive Decades of Declining Productivity in Construction Will Not be Recouped by AI. Not the Way You Think.Five Decades of Declining Productivity in Construction Will Not be Recouped by AI. Not the Way You Think.
Experience
Education
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University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
BS Education, Science
Activities and Societies: First Undergraduate in the U.S. to direct a Federal Research Grant. Became a published Author in third year. Pioneering work in multimedia education. Put him self through school playing lead guitar in a popular rock band. Attended graduate school at University of Wisconsin. Started a company and left before finishing advanced degree.
Received the Alumni of the Year Award.
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Licenses & Certifications
Skills
Publications
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The Anticipatory Organization
Greenleaf
See publicationTechnology-driven change is accelerating at an exponential rate, but moving fast in the wrong direction will only get you into trouble faster! Reacting to problems and digital disruptions, no matter how agile you and your organization are, is no longer good enough.
The Anticipatory Organization teaches you how to separate the Hard Trends that will happen, from the Soft Trends that might happen, allowing you to jump ahead with low risk and the confidence certainty can provide. Accelerate…Technology-driven change is accelerating at an exponential rate, but moving fast in the wrong direction will only get you into trouble faster! Reacting to problems and digital disruptions, no matter how agile you and your organization are, is no longer good enough.
The Anticipatory Organization teaches you how to separate the Hard Trends that will happen, from the Soft Trends that might happen, allowing you to jump ahead with low risk and the confidence certainty can provide. Accelerate innovation and actively shape the future—before someone else does it for you!
Digital transformation has divided us all into two camps: the disruptor and the disrupted. The Anticipatory Organization gives you the tools you need to see disruption before it happens, allowing you to turn change into advantage. In The Anticipatory Organization, Burrus shows us that the future is far more certain than we realize, and finding certainty in an uncertain world provides a big advantage for those who know how and where to look for it.
Inspired by the dramatic results that organizations are experiencing from his award-winning learning system, The Anticipatory Organization offers a comprehensive way to identify game-changing opportunities. Using the principles of this proven model, you will learn how to elevate planning, accelerate innovation, and transform results by pinpointing and acting upon enormous opportunities waiting to be discovered.
Readers will learn how to:
• Separate the Hard Trends that will happen from the Soft Trends that might happen
• Anticipate disruptions, problems, and game-changing opportunities
• Identify and pre-solve predictable problems
• Accelerate innovation (both everyday innovation and exponential innovation)
• Pinpoint and act upon enormous untapped opportunities
• Skip problems and barriers to succeed faster -
Flash Foresight: How to See the Invisible and Do the Impossible
HarperCollins
See publicationFlash Foresight offers seven radical principles you need to transform your business today. From internationally renowned technology forecaster Daniel Burrus—a leading consultant to Google, Proctor & Gamble, IBM, and many other Fortune 500 firms—with John David Mann, co-author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller The Go-Giver, comes this systematic, easy-to-implement method for identifying new business opportunities and solving difficult problems in the twenty-first century marketplace.
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Technotrends: How to Use Technology to Go Beyond Your Competition
HarperCollins
See publicationOne of the world's foremost technology forecasters reveals 24 breakthrough technologies and shows how they will revolutionize the business world of tomorrow.
Honors & Awards
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CPAE Professional Speakers Hall of Fame
National Speakers Association
CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame: In February 1977, the Association established the Council of Peers Award for Excellence (CPAE) Speaker Hall of Fame. This lifetime award was created to honor the organization's top professional speakers for their speaking excellence and professionalism. Inductees are evaluated by their peers on the different criteria.[17] As of 2015, 232 men and women have been inducted; there are currently 172 living members.
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CSP - Certified Speaking Professional
National Speakers Association
Conferred by the Association, the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation is the speaking profession's international measure of professional platform competence.[18][19] In 2015, NSA recognized 51 professional speakers, the largest class of individuals to receive the designation at the Annual NSA Convention.
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Distinguished Alumni Award
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
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Top 21 Speakers for 21st Century
Successful Meetings Magazine
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Top Five Futurists and Technology Speakers
Executive Speakers
Languages
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English
Native or bilingual proficiency
Recommendations received
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LinkedIn User
93 people have recommended • Daniel
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Elisha Tropper
SpaceX and Elon Musk are seeking to solve the impending AI data storage bottleneck problem by launching up to a million solar-powered satellites. They will be well-served to contact Lior Bar-Shalom of Arbell Energy LTD, whose revolutionary technology doubles the efficiency of current solar energy capture. Just this past week, Arbell - a recent graduate of CREATION-SPACE's Expand accelerator - won the Audience Choice Award at Israel Space Forum's IL Space Pitch 2026 in Tel Aviv. #solarenergy #Israelitech #startupnation #accesstospace #spacetech #ai #spacex #energyefficiency https://lnkd.in/eZJkaYC5
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Tatiana Preobrazhenskaia
Entrepreneurs Who Act Early in AI Will Capture Asymmetric Advantage Every technological shift creates asymmetry. Those who move early gain disproportionate leverage. Those who wait compete in saturation. AI is not just another tool upgrade. It is a structural acceleration engine. Entrepreneurs who integrate AI early can: • Produce at scale without scaling headcount. • Test ideas faster than competitors. • Launch offers with lower operational cost. • Personalize communication efficiently. • Analyze market data instantly. This creates asymmetric advantage. Small inputs. Large outputs. But only for those who act before it becomes baseline. At Preo Communications (https://lnkd.in/e7BMPcu9), we consistently guide entrepreneurs to adopt AI strategically, not reactively. Reactive adoption creates parity. Strategic early adoption creates dominance. Five years from now, AI use will be expected. Right now, it is still leverage. The entrepreneurs who: • Learn integration early. • Build AI-enhanced systems. • Combine automation with authority. • Scale distribution intelligently. will widen their competitive gap. The entrepreneurs who wait will eventually adopt. But they will adopt into a crowded field. AI compresses operational friction. It does not automatically create differentiation. Differentiation comes from early positioning combined with technology. In accelerated markets, timing matters more than perfection. Acting early creates insulation. Waiting creates competition. The question is not whether AI will impact your industry. It already is. The question is whether you will use it to build leverage before everyone else does. Because in every shift, early movers do not just participate. They define the structure others must operate within.
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Tony H.
https://lnkd.in/gcrq9UNj The New Laws of Corporate Hype About AI for 2025: Mueller's Law of Rebranding 2.0: Any technology becomes “agentic” if you add the word “autonomous” to it. The Extended Gartner Paradox: A technology reaches the peak of the hype cycle exactly when no one can explain how it really works anymore. The Law of Quantum Marketing: A product can exist simultaneously in two states: “completely obsolete” and “revolutionary,” until it is observed by an investor. The Venture Capital Axiom: The amount of funding received is directly proportional to the number of times the words “autonomous,” “agentic,” and “multimodal” appear in the pitch deck.
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Mark Boggett
Mission 15 Cohort Announced by Seraphim Space Accelerator & Generation Space Accelerator (USA) 🚀 🛰️ Seraphim Space, operating as Generation Space in the U.S., announces the ten pioneering startups selected for Mission 15 of its world-leading SpaceTech Accelerator. 🌟 Launched in 2018, the Seraphim programme has now supported more than 120 companies across 30+ countries, playing a vital role in building the infrastructure of the modern space economy. 💰 Collectively, alumni have raised $695.3 million in private funding, underscoring the sector’s momentum and growing investor appetite for space-enabled innovation. The 10 startups span five countries, aiming to support services ranging from defence communications to artificial intelligence-powered surveillance. 🚀 Mission 15 Cohort: Aerlin – (US) Developing a smart antenna that brings satellite data connectivity to consumer cars, transforming mobility with space-enabled data access. Ecosmic – (Italy) Tackling space sustainability by removing operational and traffic risks in satellite constellations. Ethereal Exploration Guild – (India) With the vision of catalyzing civilizational progress, the Guild is building Razor Crest Mk-1, the world’s first fully reusable medium-lift launch vehicle, enabling economic and multi-polarization of access to space launch, with launch costs as low as $350–$2000/kg. LambdaVision, Inc. – (US) Leveraging space to restore meaningful vision for patients with degenerative eye diseases by pioneering protein-based artificial retinas using microgravity-enabled manufacturing. LYRASENSE – (Germany)(UK) (Germany)(UK) Simplifying geospatial intelligence by equipping users with AI agents to build and scale earth observation applications. ONDO Space – (US)(Mongolia) Providing affordable emergency communication solutions for remote populations and animal tracking through an SOS satellite ecosystem. Pan Galactic – (UK) Building secure operating systems and quantum-safe blockchain infrastructure to underpin a resilient, trusted digital layer for the space economy. Planetary Utilities – (US) Creating a modular marketplace and infrastructure platform to make space more accessible as a service-based industry. Ravee Optics – (US) Enabling ultra-compact laser communication between satellites for high-bandwidth data transmission in small satellite platforms. Vortx.ai Private Limited – (India) Leveraging synthetic Earth memory—real-time, multimodal satellite datao address AI hallucinations, bias, and Earth Identifiable Information risks in satellite-enabled AI systems. Read the full release here: https://lnkd.in/es7ncshM
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