Duncan Wardle

Duncan Wardle, formerly Disney’s Head of Innovation and Creativity, works with brands like Coca-Cola, Ford, and Johnson & Johnson on developing a culture of creativity across everything they touch. As a senior executive with the Walt Disney Company, Duncan infused a culture of innovation with a start-up mindset across one of the most creative companies in the world via his unique innovation toolkit.

Duncan fills his presentations with colorful Disney anecdotes, vibrant drawings, and his trademark artistic touch. He shares the creative techniques and behaviors to develop big, innovative ideas. He stirs and unleashes the audiences’ creative juices, delivering his message with infectious energy and playful collaboration. He inspires in people an energetic desire to seek out new and usual places to uncover innovation. 

From his first day as an intern with Disney in their London office in 1987, Duncan’s Disney career was nothing less than magical—hosting Princess Diana and her two young princes in 1993 at Walt Disney World; launching Disney’s Animal Kingdom in 1998; creating the Superbowl halftime show in 2000; sending his son’s Buzz Light-Year into space in 2008 as a way to open Toy Story Mania; and hosting a fully-grown Prince Harry at Walt Disney World for the Invictus Games in 2016.

Duncan helps audiences discover the massive impact that innovative thinking can have on an organization and how that benefits corporate culture. The man who pioneered the Disney Innovation Process spotlights creative problem solving, how to identify new marketplace opportunities and drive strategic growth. He offers strategies on how to improve customer experience, embrace calculated risk and helps teams work collaboratively. In his quest to unleash the magic within each individual and organization, Duncan helps people overcome their expertise and get out of their own way, enabling them to think differently and creatively about solutions to challenges big and small.