NSB Logo April Rinne April Rinne

April Rinne

Speaker

Portland, OR, United States

VUCA and FLUX Change Guide to help you embrace uncertainty and the unknown

April Rinne is an acclaimed futurist, sought-after speaker and trusted advisor especially known for her role as a bridge: between startups and governments, between executives and customers, between financial and social returns, between for-profit and for-benefit business models, between developed and developing countries, between those excited about change and those resistant to it. She uses her FLUX model to help see change as an opportunity. 

Keynote Speeches

Virtual Keynotes & Webinars
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Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change

There’s an epidemic of change exhaustion, yet more change and uncertainty are ahead. When – and how – will this ever improve? Being adaptable and flexible have always been hallmarks of effective leadership, well-being, 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 is shifting. You’ll learn to see that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel… and it’s not an oncoming train.

Key Takeaways

  • Learn how to open a Flux Mindset, cultivate the 8 Flux Superpowers, and boost your “fluxiness”
  • Improve your relationship to constant change, uncertainty, and unknowns
  • See the future – including your future – with fresh perspective and clarity
  • Show up fully for work, your family, team, friends, community – every part of life, every day!
Beyond the Ladder: The Future of Talent & Careers

What does the shape of a successful, meaningful career look like in today’s workplaces full of change – and how can you (and HR) design your best one? Across the professional spectrum, people are reassessing what they want from their careers – and lives. This has led to unprecedented job-hopping (without the stigma), freelancing, quiet quitting, and career pivots as well as exhausting debates about hybrid work. And this was all happening before the breakneck ascent of generative Al and the uncharted territory it entails. Taken together, it’s a lot.

One of the keys to future-ready professional development and sustainable, thriving work cultures is to rethink the shape of our careers. The one-way, up-or-out 20th century “career ladder” isn’t just creaky.

It’s breaking. For talent and HR alike, this has profound implications- and represents a new world of opportunity for more useful career shapes and dynamics.

April Rinne has been working on “career portfolios” for more than 25 years, including her own. She helps organizations change how we think about work and individuals unleash their best, full selves. This isn’t about outsourcing one’s job or hiding side hustles. Rather, a portfolio approach is about seeing talent and career development with a fresh lens. Whether you’re running a Fortune 100 company, series A (or E) startup, venture capital fund, accelerator, association, think tank, or government, it’s a key tool for talent acquisition, retention, and thriving organizational cultures. It’s how to identify and nurture all of the skills on a team. Moreover, a career portfolio is essential for success in a world in which skills are evolving and changing fast. Creating your career portfolio is also one of the 8 Flux Superpowers in April’s bestselling book Flux.

Note: This talk is a perfect fit for “career weeks,” team LSD, HR gatherings, and Future of Work summits.

Finding Certainty in an Uncertain World

Just because the future looks really chaotic doesn’t mean your approach to it has to be. For leaders everywhere, success hinges not only on understanding the macro forces that will affect your business and team, but even more so on how you see these forces: Your mindset towards change and uncertainty and your tolerance of the unknown. Imagine the time, effort, or resources you could’ve saved if you’d seen the full implications of smartphones back in 2006, hybrid work back in 2015, the Covid pandemic before it hit, or generative Al today? 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 help leaders and teams navigate the unknown in ways that catalyze inner peace, growth, and future-fit perspective. As the world’s leading Humanist Futurist, April speaks with both head and heart. Drawing on nearly 30 years of experience in 100+ 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 capacity to harness uncertainty to your advantage. With your team and for your organization, you’ll learn how to stop fighting uncertainty, transform not-knowing into wisdom, and be the flux — ready and excited for whatever changes are ahead.

Key Takeaways

  • Learn how to open a Flux Mindset, cultivate the & Flux Superpowers, and boost your “fluxiness”
  • Understand the surprising (and often unspoken) ways many leaders get uncertainty and the future wrong – and how to get them right
  • Apply insights and fresh perspectives for navigating change from different global cultures
  • Get future-ready tools for you and your team to truly be in control
What the World Can Learn about Happiness from the World's Happiest Country

How might we learn from Finland about happiness, a skill they seem to possess in abundance? April’s Finnish roots put her in a unique position to share wisdom from the land of sisu – inner strength and satisfaction.

For the past six years running. Finland has been ranked the happiest country in the world. Not only that, their lead over #2 Denmark and other countries appears to be growing. How is that possible? In this talk, April guides you through Finland’s culture and pillars of happiness, drawing on her personal Finnish heritage, global perspective, and unique experiences as a Finnish happiness coach and advising the Finish government. Prepare to be surprised, refreshed, inspired – and able to find and maintain vour own happiness better than ever before.

Key Takeaways

  • Deeply understand what true happiness really is (and is not)
  • Understand the dynamics of individual and collective happiness
    Discover how to design aspects of Finnish happiness into your life, wherever you are
  • Create a happiness plan for your future

Audience reviews:

  • The most successful management session we've ever had! - Acuity Insurance
  • 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
  • April's talk was absolutely fabulous. Many of our attendees said it was the best keynote that IFT has ever had. - Institute for Food Technologists
  • Drop the April bomb... and good things happen. - Airbnb
  • We absolutely loved your session!!! - Fox Entertainment
  • It's absolutely great working with you. We really appreciate your energy and enthusiasm! - EY
  • April brilliantly balances the personal and the professional, heart and head, to bring original insights to individuals and organizations about how to not just survive but thrive in change. In a word: wow! - United Nations Foundation
  • April's thoughtful approach was just what we needed. She uses her rich global citizenship to connect to the audience in a meaningful way. We've had extremely positive feedback from across our audience. - Adobe
  • April wowed us with her wisdom. - The World Bank Group

Speaker Biography

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 2025, humans’ ability to embrace all kinds of change, uncertainty, and not-knowing isn’t exceptional, it’s 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: & 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.