April Rinne
About
Change navigator and guide to help you embrace uncertainty and the unknown
Top-ranked global futurist with immersive work and travels in 100+ countries
Bestselling author of Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change
About April Rinne - Global Authority on the New Economy, Future of Work, and Navigating Constant Change, Head of the Sharing Economy Working Group, World Economic Forum & Author:
Change defines the present and uncertainty permeates the future. What are the skills, practices, and superpowers that this world in flux demands – and how can you cultivate them with purpose and joy?
In 2024, humans’ ability to embrace all kinds of change, uncertainty, and not-knowing isn’t exceptional, but rather table stakes. It’s at the heart of responsible leadership, thriving culture, and effective communication. Put another way, tolerance of uncertainty is the #1 skill we’ll need this year – and beyond.
April Rinne – change navigator, speaker, investor, and adventurer – has been obsessed with these questions for more than 25 years. Her work and travels in more than 100 countries have given her a front-row seat to a world in flux, as well as a world of wisdom to navigate the unknown. Not only is she your guide to developing a “flux mindset,” she’s also ranked one of the 50 Leading Female Futurists in the world by Forbes and is a Harvard Law School graduate, a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum, a member of the Silicon Guild and Thinkers50 Radar, a Fulbright Scholar, and the author of the international bestseller Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change.
April is a trusted advisor to well-known startups, companies, financial institutions, nonprofits, think tanks, and governments worldwide, including Airbnb, Nike, Intuit, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, AnyRoad, and Unsettled as well as governments ranging from Singapore to South Africa, Canada to Colombia, and Italy to India. For more than two decades, she’s been known for seeing emerging trends early, understanding their potential, and helping others do the same. April is a bridge-builder between stakeholders, priorities, business models, markets, and those excited about change and those resistant to it. Most recently, she’s been part of Finland’s inaugural “masterclass of happiness,” combining her Finnish heritage and “fluxiness” to reach audiences around the world.
Earlier in life April was a global development executive, an international microfinance lawyer, and a hiking guide. Before that, she spent the better part of four years traveling solo, with an insatiable desire to better understand how the rest of the world lives. (One lesson: Change is universal. How we deal with it is not.) She is as comfortable at Davos as she is talking with microfinance borrowers in an urban slum. A certified yoga teacher, she can often be found upside-down, doing handstands around the world.
The following is also shared, depending on audience and context: April also harnesses her very personal experiences with flux, including the death of both of her parents in a car accident when she was 20.
Topics
What April Rinne talks about:
Finding Certainty in an Uncertain World
Just because the future looks really chaotic doesn’t mean your approach to it has to be. Success hinges not only on understanding the macro forces that will affect your business and team, but even more soon how you see these forces: Your mindset towards change and uncertainty and your tolerance of the unknown. Imagine how much time, effort, or resources you could’ve saved if you’d seen the full implications of smartphones back in 2006, Airbnb and Uber in 2010, remote work in 2014, or the covid pandemic in2019? 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 translate this vision in ways that help people and businesses find peace, catalyze growth, and flourish. As the world’s leading Humanist Futurist, April speaks with both head and heart. Drawing on nearly 30 years of experience in100+ 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 flux capacity (aka your “fluxiness”) to harness uncertainty to your advantage. She’ll show you how to transform not-knowing into wisdom and tools for a brighter tomorrow. As an individual, team, or organization, you’ll learn how to stop fighting uncertainty and rather be the Flux–ready and excited for whatever changes are ahead.
Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change
Being adaptable and flexible have always been hallmarks of effective leadership 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
The Economy & Business Models in Flux
WATCH VIDEO
Fifteen years ago, the sharing economy–including companies like Airbnb, Lyft, Turo, and TaskRabbit–was seen as an impossible dream. Who would ever stay in a stranger’s home or get in their car? Often called “access over ownership,” these business models have exploded far beyond the mainstream.Today the sharing economy includes many billion-dollar businesses and is positioned among a universe of “new economies.” The digital economy encompasses the platform economy, gig economy, and attention economy. The circular economy, donut economy, experience economy, subscription economy,BOGO (buy-one-get-one) economy, and trust economy share some common principles–yet each is unique and evolving in its own ways.
And this economic transformation has only just begun. More disruption and uncertainty lies ahead. How might people live, work, learn, collaborate, create, invest, and plan for this tangly, thorny future? How might capitalism itself change? And of course, how should you and your organization prepare? In this talk, April Rinne takes you on a global tour of what’s possible, what’s likely, and what it all means. April has kept a front-row seat to these shifting dynamics for the past 25 years. She was in the vanguard of unlocking access to finance and mobile money long before smartphones existed. Later, she was one of the earliest voices in the sharing economy, advising startups and policy makers on responsible innovation and growth. Today, as the pace of change has quickened, she’s stayed ahead of the flux – quite literally, as she wrote the bestselling book Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change–and she’ll help you do the same.
Channeling Mr. Miyagi and Brene Brown, April will help you anticipate what’s ahead, expand your universe of opportunities, and–rather than fighting change–be the Flux.
The Future of Talent & Careers
The 20th century “career ladder” isn’t just creaky. It’s obsolete. Talented people want something different and a chance to thrive on their own terms. CEOs and HR leaders realize that talent is in flux and power dynamics between companies and workers are evolving. Moreover, everyone is exhausted, which stifles creativity and the zest to find new solutions. We know that “what got us here won’t get us there”–but what will?
Amid so much uncertainty and “change fatigue,” it can be difficult to know what to do–or even whereto look. But there is a simple, powerful shift underway that will transform how we see, design, develop, and fulfill our careers. It goes beyond a job, a resume, or a title. It’s a tool that individuals and organizations alike can leverage today. It stands to unleash our best selves and ultimately transform HR.
Fold and stow your career ladders. The era of career portfolios has arrived. Curating your portfolio is how to future-proof your career, engage your team, and shape the future of work. Unlike a job that can be lost through no fault of your own, your portfolio is yours forever. Individually, your portfolio draws on your whole person and expands your universe of opportunity and impact. Organizationally, portfolios help unlock hidden skills, boost engagement, and open new avenues for leadership and internal mobility. In this talk, April guides you through what a portfolio is, how to craft one (which she’s been doing for 25+ years), and what career portfolios mean for the future of hiring, leadership, and talent development. An inspiring, inclusive, thriving future of talent awaits!
Recent Publications
April lives in the future then helps create it now. Her grasp of the forces that create systemic change, innovation that matters, and how to accelerate into the future have helped us as we navigate our work towards a low carbon, equitable sustainable future. Be ready to innovate, at scale, fast when inviting her into your world!
Nike
