Duncan Wardle

Former Head of Innovation & Creativity, The Walt Disney Company

Founder, id8 & innov8

Duncan Wardle had worked at Disney for 30 years. After he graduated college, he began his Disney career at the Rose & Crown in Epcot at Walt Disney World. Shortly after, Duncan was transferred to Disney’s Public Relations team in London, England. For years, he planned and executed memorable openings of Disney attractions and parks internationally. During his time at Disney, Duncan had sent Buzz Lightyear into space on a space shuttle, built an Olympic-sized swimming pool in Main Street USA (to welcome gold medalist Michael Phelps), and flown a giant Mickey Mouse hot air balloon into the Soviet Union. 

In his final role at the world-renowned company as Vice President of Innovation and Creativity, he was a key architect in the cultures of various Disney subsidiaries. These subsidiaries include ABC, ESPN, Lucasfilm, Marvel and Pixar. 

He had spent over a year developing a creative problem-solving model which was honed and implemented throughout Disney to create better ideas faster “and enjoy the process along the way.” Duncan then launched his own consulting firm, iD8&innov8. He has taken his time-tested design thinking methods to thousands of large companies including McKinsey & Company, Apple, Forbes, NBA, Disney and Coca-Cola.

In 2008, Duncan was honoured with the “Outstanding American Citizen Award” at the White House. He was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Edinburgh Napier University in 2014.  Additionally, he holds the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, presented by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Disney

Think Different

Using insights and key innovation case studies from his time as the Head of Innovation & Creativity at Disney, keynote speaker Duncan will provide your audience with his unique Design Thinking process, empowering them to leverage their creative mind and think differently.

Embedding Innovation into Everyone’s DNA

Sharing from his time spent embedding a culture of innovation at Disney, Duncan Wardle now empowers teams from all companies to embrace their inner entrepreneur, teaching tangible tools and techniques that give everyone access to their own creative ideas, and thus developing your company’s culture so that it’s primed and ready for innovation.

Experience Customer Magic

Learn how to transform your business from product-centric to customer-centric, and experience the amazing results and rewards that come when customers believe the work you do is truly magic.