Ken Robinson
Sir Ken Robinson, PhD is an internationally recognized leader in the development of
creativity, innovation, human potential and the people side of organizations. He is
also one of the world's leading speakers on these topics, with a profound impact on
audiences everywhere. The video of his famous 2006 talk to the prestigious TED Conference
has been downloaded more than 5 million times and has been seen by an estimated 200
million people in over 150 countries. It's currently listed on the TED website as
the most favorited video of all-time.
He works with governments in Europe, Asia and the USA, with international agencies,
Fortune 500 companies and some of the world's leading cultural organizations. In 1998,
he led a national commission on creativity, education and the economy for the UK Government.
All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education (The Robinson Report) was published to wide acclaim in 1999. He was the central figure
in developing a strategy for creative and economic development as part of the Peace
Process in Northern Ireland, working with the ministers for training, education enterprise
and culture. The resulting blueprint for change, Unlocking Creativity, was adopted by politicians of all parties and by business, education and cultural
leaders across the Province. He was one of four international advisors to the Singapore
Government for its strategy to become the creative hub of South East Asia.
For twelve years, he was professor of education at the University of Warwick in the
UK and is now professor emeritus. He has received honorary degrees from the Rhode
Island School of Design, the Open University and the Central School of Speech and
Drama; Birmingham City University and the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.
He was been honored with the Athena Award of the Rhode Island School of Design for
services to the arts and education; the Peabody Medal for contributions to the arts
and culture in the United States and the Benjamin Franklin Medal of the Royal Society
of Arts for outstanding contributions to cultural relations between the United Kingdom
and the United States. In 2005, he was named as one of Time/Fortune/CNN's 'Principal Voices'. In 2003, he received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II
for his services to the arts. He speaks to audiences throughout the world on the creative
challenges facing business and education in the new global economies.
His latest book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything (Penguin/Viking 2009), is a New York Times best seller and is being translated into eighteen different languages.