Adah Parris (pronounced Ad-der)is a strategic futurist and pattern navigation expert.
She helps leaders navigate AI transformation and create sustainable competitive advantage.
Forbes Brazil named her “one of the most important futurists.” She transforms complexity into immediate strategic clarity for C-suite executives and boards implementing AI strategy and managing digital transformation.
Her pioneering work in pattern navigation and strategic foresight enables organisations to spot emerging opportunities and create actionable transformation strategies.
Her unique methodology combines advanced pattern recognition with strategic presence, delivering immediate results for global organisations navigating AI implementation, market volatility, and systemic change.
Adah is dedicated to inspiring individuals and organisations to embrace new ways of thinking and doing.
She challenges individuals and organisations to think differently by asking, “What type of ancestor do you want to be?”
Adah has a unique blend of expertise in multiple fields, including living systems, technologies (digital and ecological) and systems design.
Her perspective on innovation, transformation, and technology is empathetic and subversive. She challenges the status quo and helps people recognise and bridge the gap between their external stories and internal behaviours.
Adah Parris is the Chair of Mental Health First Aid England and the advisory group for the Centre for Cultural Value. She has also been recognised as a TED Talks Global Emerging Innovator.
Her work explores the anatomy of transformation and innovation.
“What type of ancestor do you want to be?”
Her cutting-edge philosophy, Cyborg Shamanism™, merges ancient wisdom, living systems, traditional ecological knowledge and practices, and digital technologies. Through her consulting and her ancestors retreats, she provides individuals with the tools and practices to bridge the gap between where they are and where they want to be.
Adah Parris has over 20 years of experience in transforming cultures to nurture decentralised innovation environments. She has worked with some of the world’s leading organisations and institutions, including Natwest Bank, Google, Unilever, Sainsbury’s, Ogilvy Labs, The British Council, The EU Council, The Tate Modern, the British Film Institute (BFI), ArabNet Dubai, Innovate Finance, Wayra UK, The University of The Underground, and Shambala Festival to name a few.
Her work with individuals and organisations helps them to expand their perspectives, develop a deeper understanding, and take action towards a more sustainable future.
“One of the most important futurists in the world”
Forbes Brazil
Adah Parris – Futurist, Innovator and Sustainable Growth Speaker
Do you need a keynote speaker who inspires innovative solutions to global and business challenges? Adah Parris can transform your approach to change, leadership, and culture.
Traditional speakers deliver insights. Adah develops insight capacity. After writing Leadership Legacy (Wiley, 2025), 26 strategic questions emerged that help leaders navigate technological complexity independently, rather than following frameworks that become obsolete.
26 PARADOXES
Strategic intelligence for technological leadership. Questions that transform complexity into competitive advantage:
- Why do we dominate nature whilst serving technology?
- Why obsess over AI consciousness whilst digitising our own?
- Are we creating digital symbiosis or digital parasitism?
Keynote titles include:
Eclipse Navigation: Leading Through Technological Transitions:
- Navigate AI disruption whilst staying human.
- Develop strategic intelligence for technological leadership.
The Authority Paradox™: Vulnerable Leadership for Unprecedented Times:
- Create stability within volatility through authentic authority that doesn’t require performance.
Pattern Intelligence: What Type of Ancestor Do You Want to Be:
- Transform quarterly survival thinking into generational strategic planning.
Beyond Binary: Navigating the Both/And Leadership Revolution:
- Master paradox navigation when markets demand either/or solutions.