Bill Taylor

Co-Founder, Fast Company
Bestselling Author, “Mavericks at Work”

Bill Taylor is the co-founder of Fast Company. This bold business magazine redefined the genre and chronicled the tech-driven revolution which transformed how businesses work. Chronicling and learning from free-thinking leaders and game-changing companies is Bill’s passion. He had a front-row seat to the forces that have redefined the logic of business and personal success.

Fast Company has won just about every award there is to win in the magazine world. From “Startup of the Year” to “Magazine of the Year” to three National Magazine Awards. In recognition of Fast Company‘s impact on business, Bill was named “Champion of Workplace Learning and Performance” by the American Society of Training and Development. In less than six years, a magazine that took shape in borrowed office space in Harvard Square sold for $340 million. 

Bill continues to inspire a generation of executives and company-builders to think differently about leadership, change, culture, and the new world of work. He’s written three bestselling books filled with examples of new ways to innovate and succeed: Simply Brilliant: How Great Organizations Do Ordinary Things in Extraordinary Ways, and Practically Radical. Bill is also a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review. 

Besides the previously mentioned works,  Bill co-authored Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win. Just weeks after its release, Mavericks became a New York Times bestseller, a Wall Street Journal Business bestseller and a BusinessWeek bestseller. In addition, The Economist also named Mavericks one of its “Books of the Year” for 2006, as did The Financial Times. 

He lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with his wife and two daughters.

THE BEST IT LEADERS ARE MAKING THE WORKPLACE MORE HUMAN

The digital revolution is reshaping the logic of business, work and society. Companies use digital tools to reach more people more efficiently than ever. While technology is driving dramatic change, what customers, partners, and employees truly value is a deeper and more authentic sense of humanity. Bill Taylor draws on cutting-edge insights about technology and timeless truths about culture to show engineers, project leaders, and marketers the inexorable connection between technology and humanity. 

TRANSFORMING YOUR ORGANIZATION AND CHALLENGING YOURSELF

In this era of hyper-competition and non-stop disruption, past success does not guarantee future prosperity. Even the most successful companies have to rethink and reimagine every aspect of how they do business and deliver results. One challenge is originality—not to be the best at what others already do, but to be the only one who does what you do. Another challenge is people and culture—in a world transformed by technology, infusing your organization with a deeper sense of humanity. A third challenge is rethinking the logic of risk—recognizing that in an environment of constant disruption, “playing it safe” may be the most dangerous course of all. Armed with challenging ideas and in-depth case studies, Bill Taylor shows how organizations and leaders can unleash long-lasting, positive change in turbulent, fast-moving times.

DON’T LET WHAT YOU KNOW LIMIT WHAT YOU CAN IMAGINE

As the world is being remade before our eyes, the leaders who make a difference are the ones who can reimagine what’s possible at their organization and in their field, and who can turn bold strategies into relentless execution. And they’re not just CEOs; they’re executives running business units, managers in charge of key departments, engineers or marketers running project teams, entrepreneurs building a company from scratch. Regardless of their formal role or title, high-impact leaders make sure their expertise doesn’t get in the way of innovation. They champion provocative thinking that energizes their colleagues and creates organizations where people get the chance to be at their best every day. Put simply, the best leaders are the most insatiable learners and the most authentic mentors. Bill Taylor offers hands-on thinking gleaned from the extraordinary leaders he’s studied over the last 25 years—leaders who are as competitive as they are human, and as creative as they are consistent.