Embracing Disruption - Embracing Disruption

America's First

Frontier Futurist

What We Face

The world is changing at an exponential rate. The Pandemic, Web 3, the Great Resignation, Global Instability and emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and the Metaverse may be making your headspin. Well, guess what, you should be freaking out! You don’t need someone to give you your “10 steps to creating your laziest workforce,” you need someone that’s going to be brutally honest and give it to you straight while helping to rewire your brain in the process. That’s John McElligott.

Sieze the Future

John has presented to, advised, or created initiatives for everyone from two Presidential Administrations, CEO’s, Governors, Mayors, Educators and even Royalty. When you know your organization needs to step up and change to meet the demands of the future but you just can’t seem to get them to move, John McElligott is who you call. He’s been called everything from a vision caster, a technical futurist to (lovingly) “America’s number 1 De-motivational Speaker.”

Never one to sugarcoat the truth, John’s keynotes are more of a rollercoaster than a presentation, showing the audience everything happening in the world of technology, and connecting the dots in a way that is meaningful and actionable for everyone from students to
C-level executives and beyond.

Who is John?

John isn’t just a talker, he’s a doer. Leading several technology companies, founding a licensed college and holding several patents, John has developed everything from curriculum, to robotics and AI as well as helped launch multiple initiatives across the country and raised over $40 million to do it. If you’re looking to get yourself, your organization or your community ready to thrive in an uncertain future, John is your man.

John brings a unique perspective to every aspect of our companies and communities. In addition to being a serial entrepreneur, John is also a United States Marine and brings a much needed “no-nonsense approach” to the world of the technical futurist. Having presented for both the Obama and Trump administrations, John takes an apolitical approach to dealing with some of society’s most pressing issues. In addition to politics, John has presented to and advised everyone from non profits to CEO’s, from Royalty to High school students, all with a focus on preparing for an unknown future.

I needed someone to be blatantly honest with our community while connecting the dots in a practical way, and John did not disappoint! His presentation was powerful, intriguing yet inspiring, and has created dozens of conversations from local government to entrepreneurs to organizations at the state level. But John went beyond just the keynote event; he took a personal interest in fully understanding our community. In fact, he went above and beyond by delivering two outreach presentations to all of the tenth-grade students in the school districts and gave an eye opening experience that impacted their futures!

Kay Self - Executive Director for VisionGreenwood

I recently was fortunate to hear John speak about the topic of “disruption” (with regards to technology) and how it is going to be affecting us in our lives. His passion on the topic was evident and his knowledge just as impressive. I also spent time with John 1:1 but if you get the chance, I recommend you attend a session or if you are fortunate enough, pick his brain 1:1.

Sam Statz - Vice President of Construction at Hoffman Planning, Design & Construction, Inc.

John’s thought provoking content about the pace of change, artificial intelligence and the need to embrace disruption wowed me at a Pennsylvania Economic Development Association conference and made me proud to introduce him at a national Utility Economic Development Association forum where he took the house down. He is young, energetic, well prepared and personable, super-intelligent and engaging, and on the cutting edge of innovation, a five-star addition to any line up! Highly recommended.

Maureen Sharkey - Senior Economic Development Specialist at PECO

His approach for his business and his education system offers a vision for a path forward on how society can integrate automation with our lives instead of using automation to displace people. This also breathed some new life in me to continue to push for my own business and coworkers to think ahead as we constantly evaluate our automation capabilities. I truly enjoyed our session and hope others do, too!

Matt Ryan - Director, Operations and Capital Management at Hershey Creamery Company

If you are a manufacturing organization looking for someone to spark interest and excitement within the industry as a whole, but also the future of the industry, John’s your guy. I would say, not only just for automation and technology, but for where the industry can go and the possibilities of what’s to come, I think there’s just an overall excitement coming from that summit that we had out manufacturers jazzed about what’s to come and where it’s going.

Morgan Larkson, Business Advisor & Don Cooper, Center Director with South Dakota Manufacturing & Technology Solutions

John’s intelligence and wit were abundantly clear, but his insights about the current and future interplay between technology and day-to-day life, especially as experienced and lived by today’s hyper-connected youth, were both exciting and chilling at the same time. The almost casual reliance of youth on technology, and more specifically virtual assistants, has implications for everything from marketing to interpersonal relationships, voting decisions and perhaps even future geopolitical decision making and stability.

David Nizen - Vice President, NYSERNet

John is a dynamic speaker who provided a thought provoking peek in to the future using trends and concepts that are on the cutting edge of becoming everyday reality. If your organization or region is going through change or you are starting a strategic planning process, John’s talks will open your mind to thinking differently to help steer you away from a typical outcome.

Ed Sitar - Manager of Economic and Business Development at ComEd

The skill with which he presented the need to "embrace disruption" in his remarks held the audience's attention and resulted in several follow on questions. More importantly, his remarks were still being discussed by the group at their spring conference held six months later. Johns ability to predict and communicate the disruptive changes that are coming and that now are upon us demonstrates the value of his insights. John is a personable articulate communicator of the future…a true time traveler.

Dean F. Whittaker - Founder & President Whittaker & Associates

Not a cough could be heard in the Sheraton Harrisburg Hershey conference room as manufacturing leaders from across the region gazed at projected images of a small drone hovering in the air with an attached handgun firing off shots. Forget all those old motivational poster platitudes about change and how it drives businesses to evolve and expand. John McElligott wants you to think about disruption. McElligott's concept of disruption is a force for good — for those prepared to embrace it. His points weren't lost on me. As a business journalist, scoping trends is my bread and butter.

Roger DuPuis - Central Pennsylvania Business Journal

I’ve had the pleasure to hear John speak at two recent conferences, in 2015 & 2016. He was equally engaging at both, very energetic and quite able to capture the audience’s attention. When you see the audience gaze at the speaker and not their cell phone, you’ve got a hit! John was dynamic, interesting, and thought provoking. He was on point with the audience and they could see the relevance in his presentation. I would absolutely recommend him for any number of speaking engagements.

Carol Karls - Manager at Business & Community Development at Wisconsin Public Service

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The Podcast

The Embracing Disruption Podcast centers around technology, robotics, artificial intelligence, geopolitical shifts, and much more.

Our goal is to prepare you for an unseen future and the coming Fourth Industrial Revolution. We speak with technologists, non-profit and political leaders, entrepreneurs, and many others on what is happening now that are shaping our future.