The average person spends 28 percent of their workweek — 13 hours — dealing with e-mails. During regularly scheduled meetings, 80 percent of attendees bury their heads in their phones for at least some portion of the gathering. What could you do with the time you spend writing emails every day? What about the unproductive hours spent on conference calls or in meetings, going over updates that could have been provided in another more efficient way? Many of us yearn to do meaningful work but find ourselves paralyzed when we try to make it happen. We continually pledge to do things differently and shorten our “to-do” lists, but still we don’t make headway.

Globally recognized innovation leader and CEO of futurethink, author Lisa Bodell, BBA ’90, offers a “simple” solution. She recognizes that complexity is killing companies’ ability to innovate and adapt, and proves that simplicity is the competitive advantage of our time. She brings her compelling message to more than 100,000 people a year, showing them how to eliminate mundane and unnecessary tasks from their everyday routine so that they have more time for work that matters. Bodell has transformed teams within organizations like Google, Novartis, Accenture, and more. Drawing on her practical Midwestern upbringing and entrepreneurial background, she has used the power of simplification to launch three successful businesses, write two books, travel to more than 40 countries and 48 states, and sit on boards such as Novartis’ Diversity and Inclusion Board and the Global Advisory Council for the World Economic Forum.