Experience

Reinvent Futures

• United States
• Professional Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Founder

  • Jan 2022 - Present

  San Francisco Bay Area Reinvent Futures is a company that helps people better understand the future and what they can do now to make that future the best it can be. We help people figure out the answers to four key questions: what’s really going on today, what’s probably coming in the next 10 years, what’s possible to achieve in the next 25 years, and what you could do now. We do that by focusing on three core areas: convening remarkable innovators to help figure out the future, advising senior leaders… Show more Reinvent Futures is a company that helps people better understand the future and what they can do now to make that future the best it can be. We help people figure out the answers to four key questions: what’s really going on today, what’s probably coming in the next 10 years, what’s possible to achieve in the next 25 years, and what you could do now. We do that by focusing on three core areas: convening remarkable innovators to help figure out the future, advising senior leaders of organizations about what lies ahead, and creating media of what we learn to spread the ideas. We believe that America and the world enter the 2020s with the potential to lay the foundations for many fundamental system changes that could open up an era of great progress and solve many of our great challenges like climate change. The Reinvent Futures mission is to do our part to help reinvent those systems and bring about a better future for all. We carry out this mission by working with partners to convene remarkable innovators from many fields impacting the future in physical and virtual gatherings. We then drive conversations with this multidisciplinary network of technologists, entrepreneurs, intellectuals and creatives that help answer those four key questions and gain insights on this new way forward. We advise senior leaders of organizations on these new ways forward based on what we are learning from the network. These private strategic foresight projects range from tailored talks to boards, to one-day workshops with C suites, to foresight coaching with executives that can cover months, to immersive learning journeys in our home base of San Francisco. We also create media that shares what we are learning in our convenings with the broader public. We expect to soon launch regular written updates and a podcast from a new event series based on the comprehensive framework of the magazine piece The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050. See the website Reinvent.net for much more. Show less



Keppler Speakers

• United States
• Events Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Keynote Speaker

  • Oct 1997 - Present

  Washington DC-Baltimore Area Peter Leyden is a keynote speaker on the future who explains better than almost anyone what’s really going on in the world today, what’s probably coming in the decade ahead, what’s possible to achieve in the long-term, and what you could do now to adapt. Leyden has been giving frequent keynote talks on the future and the impact of new technologies to business and general audiences throughout America and Europe for the last 25 years, mostly working through Keppler Speakers. He’s a… Show more Peter Leyden is a keynote speaker on the future who explains better than almost anyone what’s really going on in the world today, what’s probably coming in the decade ahead, what’s possible to achieve in the long-term, and what you could do now to adapt. Leyden has been giving frequent keynote talks on the future and the impact of new technologies to business and general audiences throughout America and Europe for the last 25 years, mostly working through Keppler Speakers. He’s a gifted speaker who uses stunning images and powerful info-graphics in multimedia presentations to back up his foresight into the future. His positive, can-do attitude about what lies ahead often leaves audiences energized and inspired. Leyden has spent his entire career in a wide variety of roles all focused on better understanding the future and the impact of new technologies. He came to San Francisco and Silicon Valley more than 25 years ago to work with the founders of WIRED magazine and has developed an extraordinary network of innovators ever since. Leyden is both an intellectual and an entrepreneur who has run multiple organizations and can talk about the real-world implications of big-picture trends. He ran WIRED in the heyday as Managing Editor, and subsequently has founded and run two of his own media startups. Leyden has been represented by the speaking agents of Keppler Speakers in Washington D.C. for the last 25 years. He has given hundreds of keynote talks on roughly a monthly basis to business and general audiences during that time. Leyden has developed five relatively new keynote talks over the last few years to fit our newly uncertain times: The Great Progression from 2025 to 2050 The Inexorable Technologies & Trends to Come The Strategic Paradigm Shifts of the 2020s The Transformation of Our World to 2050 The Transformation of Our Civilization to 2100 Find out more through his profile on the Keppler Speakers website: kepplerspeakers.com/speakers/peter-leyden Show less



The Long Now Foundation

• United States
• Research
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Host of The Civilization Salons

  • Feb 2021 - Jun 2022

  San Francisco Bay Area During the pandemic, Leyden was the host and moderator of a series of Civilization Salons on the most consequential issues of the next 25 years and beyond. These intimate virtual gatherings operated like intellectual dinner parties with free-flowing discussions among about a dozen leading innovators from a wide range of fields. The Salons were convened by the board of The Long Now Foundation, which was founded 25 years ago by Stewart Brand and a handful of others to foster more long-term… Show more During the pandemic, Leyden was the host and moderator of a series of Civilization Salons on the most consequential issues of the next 25 years and beyond. These intimate virtual gatherings operated like intellectual dinner parties with free-flowing discussions among about a dozen leading innovators from a wide range of fields. The Salons were convened by the board of The Long Now Foundation, which was founded 25 years ago by Stewart Brand and a handful of others to foster more long-term thinking about issues on a civilizational scale. The Long Now board launched this private series to better understand the most important issues that will define the next 25 years and expand the Long Now network into the next generation. Each Salon took a timeless issue - like Work or Commerce or Governance - and began the conversation with each participant bringing a question about that issue in 25 years that they would love to know more about now. This sparked an emergent conversation among the group about the major themes and the critical uncertainties around that issue in the decades ahead. The Salons were discontinued when society opened back up after the pandemic in summer 2022. You can find more about Leyden's history and relationship to The Long Now Foundation through his profile on their website: https://longnow.org/people/peter843/ Show less



Autodesk

• India
• Software Development
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Senior Fellow for Strategic Foresight

  • Feb 2021 - Dec 2021

  San Francisco Bay Area Leyden spent most of the pandemic year of 2021 working for much of his time with the tech company Autodesk on a project as their Senior Fellow for Strategic Foresight. He acted as an outside advisor carrying out an internal project looking at what’s the most impact that Autodesk could make in the next 10 years to help the world slow global warming and get a handle on climate change. Autodesk is the leading tech company developing the key design tools used by industries now on… Show more Leyden spent most of the pandemic year of 2021 working for much of his time with the tech company Autodesk on a project as their Senior Fellow for Strategic Foresight. He acted as an outside advisor carrying out an internal project looking at what’s the most impact that Autodesk could make in the next 10 years to help the world slow global warming and get a handle on climate change. Autodesk is the leading tech company developing the key design tools used by industries now on the frontline of climate change: architecture, construction, engineering, manufacturing, as well as media and entertainment. He conducted a wide range of interviews with the entire C Suite and then innovators throughout the company who can figure out the best case of what’s possible to develop in the next 10 years. He also advised the company on how to best build out its Strategic Foresight capabilities in order to continuously navigate the critical uncertainties of the tumultuous times ahead. Show less



Reinvent Inc

• Canada
• Technology, Information and Internet
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Founder & CEO

  • Aug 2012 - Jul 2020

  San Francisco Leyden founded and ran Reinvent Inc. (as distinct from Reinvent Futures), a startup media company with investment from Silicon Valley that helped pioneer the early world of interactive group video that finally flourished during the global pandemic. Starting in 2012 we took advantage of the nascent medium of group video to hold events with participants from across America and the world. We were among the first companies to get sponsorship for these virtual video events. Our… Show more Leyden founded and ran Reinvent Inc. (as distinct from Reinvent Futures), a startup media company with investment from Silicon Valley that helped pioneer the early world of interactive group video that finally flourished during the global pandemic. Starting in 2012 we took advantage of the nascent medium of group video to hold events with participants from across America and the world. We were among the first companies to get sponsorship for these virtual video events. Our mission was to hold the important conversations that people wanted and needed to hear at this critical juncture in history, and do our part to help reinvent America and make a better world. Our business was to help other organizations host these memorable conversations that attract sophisticated audiences drawn to issues aligned with our partner’s interests. Reinvent was based in the San Francisco Bay Area, ground zero for the many transformations coming out of California and impacting the world. Over time we migrated to hosting physical gatherings and convening remarkable innovators from the region in physical event series. We became known for the popular event series What’s Now San Francisco held at an innovation lab in the hip SOMA neighborhood in San Francisco each month for five years before the pandemic. We drove conversations with remarkable thought leaders in these elite gatherings of innovators from a wide range of fields — but captured the programs in high-quality video that could be easily shared. The series became so successful that we expanded to What’s Now New York for a monthly series for two years before the pandemic. The beginning of the global pandemic in 2020 shut down both signature series and soon led to the end of Reinvent Inc. as well. You can still see many videos of Reinvent's work like the full coverage of the What's Now San Francisco series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGF_aHAX5ianUkxaqXuiGv-rm8QNXvyfN Show less



Next Agenda

• United Kingdom
• Technology, Information and Internet

• Founder & CEO

  • Dec 2008 - Jun 2012

  San Francisco Leyden founded and ran Next Agenda Inc.. a startup media company with outside investment that helped pioneer the early world of Web 2.0, primarily by focusing on the new capabilities of online video, in particular YouTube. We took advantage of the dropping costs of digital video equipment and online video distribution like YouTube to drop the costs of covering large conferences or in-depth events. This opened up new and cheaper ways to get complex, nuanced ideas out to broader audiences… Show more Leyden founded and ran Next Agenda Inc.. a startup media company with outside investment that helped pioneer the early world of Web 2.0, primarily by focusing on the new capabilities of online video, in particular YouTube. We took advantage of the dropping costs of digital video equipment and online video distribution like YouTube to drop the costs of covering large conferences or in-depth events. This opened up new and cheaper ways to get complex, nuanced ideas out to broader audiences than had been previously possible on the expensive medium of broadcast or cable television. We primarily helped think tanks advance big ideas through new video tools and new video distribution channels. This included political organizations who were trying to build on the tech breakthroughs of Barack Obama’s groundbreaking 2008 campaign and early presidency and leverage these techniques for the nonprofit world. One highlight was helping George Soros establish the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET). Next Agenda did all the web, new media and video work for his first two years to get that effort launched. We used these new immersive techniques to thoroughly cover the inaugural convening of economists from all over the world, including 5 Nobel Laureates, at Cambridge University in England that kicked off the Institute. You can still watch all the sessions and side interviews on YouTube. INET has thrived ever since and helped shape a generation of young economists to break out of the constraints of 20th century economic theories. See: http://ineteconomics.org Show less



New Politics Institute

• United States
• Think Tanks

• Cofounder & Director

  • Sep 2005 - Jul 2008

  San Francisco & Washington D.C. Leyden spent a four-year cycle helping transition politics to the internet by taking top technologists from Silicon Valley to Washington D.C. on a monthly basis through a political startup he co-founded called The New Politics Institute. Leyden teamed up with Simon Rosenberg, the founder of the NDN, a leading center-left think tank and advocacy organization based in Washington, DC. Together they formed the New Politics Institute shortly after the 2004 election when Howard Dean’s… Show more Leyden spent a four-year cycle helping transition politics to the internet by taking top technologists from Silicon Valley to Washington D.C. on a monthly basis through a political startup he co-founded called The New Politics Institute. Leyden teamed up with Simon Rosenberg, the founder of the NDN, a leading center-left think tank and advocacy organization based in Washington, DC. Together they formed the New Politics Institute shortly after the 2004 election when Howard Dean’s presidential campaign had first leveraged the internet in political campaigning. Leyden remained based in San Francisco and recruited entrepreneurs and tech experts to come to Washington each month and explain to those in government and politics what a Google ad was, or why anyone would want to watch a YouTube video, or how Facebook could ever be of any use. Leyden hosted public events that were open to the public and people from both parties attended, but he also would lead private strategy sessions with Democrats in politics and the leaders of NGOs of Democratic politics. During that time he gave keynote talks to Rep. Nancy Pelosi and the entire House Democratic Caucus on their annual retreat, as well as to Sen. Chuck Schumer and the entire Senate Democratic Caucus on their annual retreat as well. The 2006 Congressional campaigns became the first to see serious use of the new tools of the internet in politics and ended up with the Democrats taking back both the House and the Senate. Leyden then shifted his focus to Presidential politics as well. Leyden was an early backer of Barack Obama in his primary challenge to Hillary Clinton in the 2008 presidential campaign. Leyden served on Barack Obama’s Technology and Media Advisory Committee in that groundbreaking effort that fundamentally changed politics. Show less



Global Business Network

• United Kingdom
• Retail Office Equipment

• Network Director

  • May 2001 - Jul 2005

  San Francisco Bay Area Leyden learned the business of Strategic Foresight at one of the most influential firms in the futures business at that time— Global Business Network. GBN, as it was known, helped pioneer the field of strategic foresight with innovations in scenario planning, design thinking, and the use of networks of experts to help government agencies and global corporations better prepare for the next 10 to 25 years. Leyden worked closely with GBN Cofounder Stewart Brand, who curated an elite network… Show more Leyden learned the business of Strategic Foresight at one of the most influential firms in the futures business at that time— Global Business Network. GBN, as it was known, helped pioneer the field of strategic foresight with innovations in scenario planning, design thinking, and the use of networks of experts to help government agencies and global corporations better prepare for the next 10 to 25 years. Leyden worked closely with GBN Cofounder Stewart Brand, who curated an elite network of about 200 remarkable innovators in a wide range of fields impacting the future. These network members were brought together to help solve complex problems that eluded conventional strategy firms. (Stewart Brand is a legend in the Futures Business yet less well-known outside the Foresight field. See the new biography "Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand," or the new documentary: "We Are As Gods.") Leyden’s main job was to engage this network of remarkable innovators and synthesize key learnings from them that could be more widely shared within the network and with our broader network of clients. Leyden also coauthored the book "What’s Next" based on deep interviews with 50 key members of this network of experts in an attempt to better understand the decade ahead in the wake of the twin shocks of the DotCom crash and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. That book went into multiple languages, including Chinese. Leyden worked at GBN in the heyday with the founders in the late 1990s and early 2000s. GBN eventually was bought by a larger strategy consulting firm, and now has been absorbed into Deloitte Consulting. Show less



The Long Boom

• Coauthor

  • May 1998 - May 2001

  San Francisco Bay Area After working at WIRED, Leyden moved to the offices of Global Business Network to work on the book version of the cover story he co-authored with GBN Cofounder Peter Schwartz called “The Long Boom: A History of the Future, 1980 to 2020.” Schwartz was a world-renowned futurist and business strategist who had helped develop the use of scenario planning in business and government. He was the CEO of GBN, considered one of the world’s best strategic foresight firms at that time. The… Show more After working at WIRED, Leyden moved to the offices of Global Business Network to work on the book version of the cover story he co-authored with GBN Cofounder Peter Schwartz called “The Long Boom: A History of the Future, 1980 to 2020.” Schwartz was a world-renowned futurist and business strategist who had helped develop the use of scenario planning in business and government. He was the CEO of GBN, considered one of the world’s best strategic foresight firms at that time. The Long Boom book envisioned how the digital economy would evolve in the next 20 years, based on trends that largely did play out. The book also explained how accelerating globalization would change the world - and mostly did. Leyden was primarily responsible for researching, writing and promoting the book during this three year period. He also created one of the first interactive websites based on a book. He was the co-author of the book with Schwartz, along with Joel Hyatt, who added his political expertise to the mix. Leyden literally traveled around the world for the first year of reporting and interviewing leading experts across the planet. Partly because of the global nature of the ideas, the book was translated into seven languages. Show less



Wired Magazine

• United States
• Graphic Design

• Managing Editor

  • Sep 1995 - May 1998

  San Francisco Leyden came to San Francisco to work with the founders of WIRED magazine when it was considered one of the leading authorities in the world explaining the early digital revolution. WIRED at that time also was a driving force pioneering the early online media of the Web 1.0 with one of the first commercial websites, inventing some of the hallmarks of that era like banner ads. Leyden started as one of the few Senior Editors working with the magazine’s top writers like Neal… Show more Leyden came to San Francisco to work with the founders of WIRED magazine when it was considered one of the leading authorities in the world explaining the early digital revolution. WIRED at that time also was a driving force pioneering the early online media of the Web 1.0 with one of the first commercial websites, inventing some of the hallmarks of that era like banner ads. Leyden started as one of the few Senior Editors working with the magazine’s top writers like Neal Stephenson and Steven Levy on the big feature pieces and cover stories. He worked closely with Founding Executive Editor Kevin Kelly, who is still a mentor to this day. He also occasionally wrote his own pieces including an iconic cover story that the founders named one of the top 3 pieces published by the magazine in the magazine’s first 20 years: The Long Boom: A History of the Future, 1980 to 2020. The Long Boom piece helped ignite a national conversation on the long-term economic implications of the internet revolution and globalization. And that big idea was later developed into an influential book. Leyden eventually became the Managing Editor in the heyday running the whole editorial team of editors, designers and writers responsible for getting the magazine out each month. When Conde Nast bought WIRED and brought in their new management team, he moved on along with many of the original employees. Show less



Star Tribune

• United States
• Media Production
• 700 & Above Employee

• Technology Reporter

  • Jan 1991 - Jun 1995

  Minneapolis Leyden returned from working as a foreign correspondent in Asia to get married to his British wife in his hometown of Minneapolis. His daughter was born there as well. He worked for this period at his hometown newspaper and convinced the top editors that the next big story in the world was going to be the Digital Revolution and that they should create a new beat focused on the new “Information Technology” of personal computers and the internet. Leyden became one of the first… Show more Leyden returned from working as a foreign correspondent in Asia to get married to his British wife in his hometown of Minneapolis. His daughter was born there as well. He worked for this period at his hometown newspaper and convinced the top editors that the next big story in the world was going to be the Digital Revolution and that they should create a new beat focused on the new “Information Technology” of personal computers and the internet. Leyden became one of the first journalists in America on a full-time beat covering InfoTech and explaining email, the internet, and eventually the web to the people of the region. He ended his time at the paper spending a year reporting in Silicon Valley and the Twin Cities, and writing a 50,000-word series that came out in four special sections, one each Sunday for a month called “On the Edge of the Digital Age.” That newspaper series was one of the first in America to be published fully on the web as well as in traditional broadsheets. The series was extremely popular with readers, and far ahead of the typical media coverage at that time. The founders of WIRED magazine read the package and were so impressed that they recruited Leyden to move to San Francisco and work with them. Show less



Newsweek

• Internet News
• 300 - 400 Employee

• Special Correspondent

  • Jun 1988 - Jul 1990

  Seoul, South Korea Leyden worked as a foreign correspondent based in Seoul, South Korea, at a critical time in the rise of Asia when the economic power of Japan was cresting, that of China just beginning, and South Korea came of age. Leyden created a news bureau in Seoul with another young journalist David Bank to take advantage of the world’s interest in the 1988 Summer Olympics and the story of South Korea’s economic “miracle” and democratization from military rule. Leyden considers the business… Show more Leyden worked as a foreign correspondent based in Seoul, South Korea, at a critical time in the rise of Asia when the economic power of Japan was cresting, that of China just beginning, and South Korea came of age. Leyden created a news bureau in Seoul with another young journalist David Bank to take advantage of the world’s interest in the 1988 Summer Olympics and the story of South Korea’s economic “miracle” and democratization from military rule. Leyden considers the business they created called “The Enterprise” as his first startup of what have now become five startups he has founded in his career. The bureau primarily contracted to Newsweek magazine and both Leyden and Bank were considered Special Correspondents filing for the various regional editions of the magazine as well as the domestic edition in the United States. Most of Leyden’s work focused on economic, political and geopolitical stories about South Korea, but he also did stories in Japan and in China. Leyden was in China in the months following the Tiananmen Square massacre and he reported on the Chinese crackdown on protests in Tibet under martial law. Leyden was also able to write for other newspapers that did not directly compete with Newsweek but that also needed help in their foreign coverage. Leyden consistently reported and wrote stories for The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, The Atlanta Constitution and The San Francisco Chronicle. Show less



The Hartford Courant

• United States
• Newspaper Publishing
• 200 - 300 Employee

• Beat Reporter

  • Oct 1986 - Jun 1988

  Hartford, Connecticut Leyden moved to the Hartford Courant as a journeyman reporter partly to get to know another region of America - New England. He covered the classic crime beat that trains many young reporters on how cities actually work or don’t work. Leyden spent much of his time focused on inner city Hartford that was going through a series of gang wars around the burgeoning crack cocaine trade that was plaguing many cities throughout America at that time. One highlight was a three-month… Show more Leyden moved to the Hartford Courant as a journeyman reporter partly to get to know another region of America - New England. He covered the classic crime beat that trains many young reporters on how cities actually work or don’t work. Leyden spent much of his time focused on inner city Hartford that was going through a series of gang wars around the burgeoning crack cocaine trade that was plaguing many cities throughout America at that time. One highlight was a three-month project that broke a story on how the jail and prison system throughout Connecticut had numerous inmates needlessly dying because they were being denied basic medical treatment. This led to a legislative investigation and eventual overhaul of the whole system. Show less



Birmingham Post Co (Birmingham Post Herald)

• Beat Reporter

  • Jul 1985 - Sep 1986

  Birmingham, Alabama Area Leyden’s first job as a professional journalist after taking a masters in journalism from Columbia grad school was as a general assignment reporter for the Birmingham Post-Herald in Alabama. Leyden had grown up in the Midwest and gone to college and grad school on the East Coast but he wanted to better understand America’s Deep South. This wide-ranging general assignment beat gave him the opportunity to talk with all kinds of people in many walks of life throughout the state. He… Show more Leyden’s first job as a professional journalist after taking a masters in journalism from Columbia grad school was as a general assignment reporter for the Birmingham Post-Herald in Alabama. Leyden had grown up in the Midwest and gone to college and grad school on the East Coast but he wanted to better understand America’s Deep South. This wide-ranging general assignment beat gave him the opportunity to talk with all kinds of people in many walks of life throughout the state. He also worked with the political staff covering campaigns and elections at a time when the region was going through a critical shift away from the era dominated by Southern Democrats to one dominated by Republican Conservatives. One highlight was Leyden being cut free to report and write a special four-part series on the hidden gay community in Alabama that was getting hit hard by the early AIDS epidemic. Show less