Lavin Speaker News

Lavin Weekly #43: Maeda, Samuel, & Scudamore

1. “Money Isn’t the Enemy”—John Maeda in Good Magazine   Design speaker John Maeda has some blunt advice for young creatives: make money. Maeda recently dropped by Good Magazine to impart something he learned working under graphic designer Paul Rand in the 90s—sometimes, we need to sacrifice our... Continue Reading →

Lavin Weekly #34: Levin, Ford, Kantayya, & Pinker

1. What Does the Cosmos Say? Janna Levin’s Black Hole Blues Profiled in The NYT Yesterday’s New York Times had some high praise for Janna Levin’s new book, Black Hole Blues, saying that it “dismantles the eureka convention of science, exposing the invisible, incremental processes that produce the... Continue Reading →

Lavin Weekly #31: Doolittle, Wilson, Hari, & Kourounis

1. Robyn Doolittle Reflects on the Rob Ford Saga Last week, Toronto was rocked by the death of embattled and often controversial ex-mayor Rob Ford. In this week’s Globe and Mail, investigative journalist Robyn Doolittle—who helped break Ford’s crack cocaine scandal in 2013—muses on her complex... Continue Reading →

The 12th Floor: Meet Stacey from the Toronto Office

In The 12th Floor series, Lavin’s Marketing Writer Spencer Gordon interviews the many amazing professionals who make up the team here at our head office in Toronto, Canada. The Lavin Agency relies on its diverse, intelligent, and passionate staff to represent its roster of world-changing speakers.... Continue Reading →

Lavin Weekly #18: Kaufman, Rushkoff, Tandon, & Scudamore

1. Foster a Personal Growth Mindset with Scott Barry Kaufman Theories of intelligence sometimes diverge between fixed and growth mindsets (i.e., our basic intelligence is fixed, or it can developed). In a new post for Scientific American, Scott Barry Kaufman outlines the theory that fostering a... Continue Reading →

Lavin Weekly #15: Crabapple, Cobb, Kim, & Shukla

1. Molly Crabapple for PEN DIY: “Give up Nothing. Don’t be Afraid.”  Molly Crabapple, author of Drawing Blood, and world-renowned artist, activist, and journalist, took to the PEN DIY stage this month to deliver a talk called “How to Draw the Elephant in the Room.” Crabapple has covered some of... Continue Reading →

Lavin Weekly #6: Atwood, Farsad, Ali, Aslan, Gino, & Eagleman

1. Atwood’s The Heart Goes Last Takes a Darkly Comic Look at Modern America Margaret Atwood’s new novel, The Heart Goes Last, has received an enthusiastic early review at The Guardian. Portraying a dystopian near-future with an extra dose of madcap comedy, the new novel investigates “economic and... Continue Reading →

Lavin Weekly #4: Packer, Gino, Rushkoff, Thompson

1. George Packer Asks If Suburban Paris Is an Incubator for Terrorism Turning his razor-sharp journalistic focus to France, New Yorker staff writer and bestselling author George Packer examines life in the banlieues (or the pejorative word for slums, populated largely by immigrants) and the cités... Continue Reading →

The Expert Guide: Introducing New Speaker Randall Lane

If you’ve read Forbes Magazine recently, you’ve witnessed Randall Lane’s incredible editorial influence: by emphasizing the achievements of young innovators and disrupters, he’s helped the magazine reach millions of new readers. Lane is also the creator of the Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy and... Continue Reading →

Envy as Powerful Motivator: Maria Konnikova in The New Yorker

In her recent New Yorker column, psychologist Maria Konnikova asks the pointed question: “Can Envy Be Good for You?” Her answer? Yes, it can. “The right kind of envy can serve an important personal and social function,” she writes. “It spurs competition and improvement.” She’s not suggesting that... Continue Reading →