Aric Dromi | | Futurologist | Innovation & Strategy Advisor | Keynote Speaker

Futurologist | Innovation & Strategy Advisor | Keynote Speaker | Professional Troublemaker

For over two decades, I’ve wandered the sacred temples of corporate innovation—the keynote stages, the boardrooms scented with freshly printed KPIs, the consulting bunkers where buzzwords go to breed—and I’ve come to a blasphemous realization:

Most of it is bullshit.

Not the kind that smells. The kind that’s powerfully scented with synergy. The kind sold in $15,000 strategy decks. The kind that claps for itself after every “Design Thinking” workshop that solves absolutely nothing.

I’ve seen it all—from the illusion of “transformation” at Microsoft to the innovation theater at Volvo Cars where I served as In-house Futurologist (yes, that’s a real job title). At Edgecom, I led development when "mobile-first" was still something people said with a straight face. As Chief Knowledge Officer at Cellcom, I was responsible for building the thing behind the thing.

And now? Now I help people stop lying to themselves—but with charm.

THE FLUFF AND THE FURY

Here’s how to spot the difference between real innovation and expensive performance art: When someone says “leverage our core competencies,” I hear: “We have no idea what we do, but let’s sound confident.” When they talk about “blockchain integration,” I ask: “Can we first make sure your customers can actually log in?” And when they whisper “disruption” like it’s a sacred chant, I check if there’s even a real problem being solved—or if we’re just duct-taping apps onto broken processes and calling it a digital strategy. Most “transformations” I’ve seen are just glorified UI reskins on systems that never worked in the first place.

Every useful strategy I’ve seen—the ones that actually changed something—fit on a napkin. Not a whitepaper, not a quarterly deck, not a 47-point innovation framework with animated slide transitions. Just a napkin. The truth is, if you need 200 slides to explain your plan, you don’t have one. Forget the kombucha bars and beanbag sanctuaries where creativity goes to nap. Give me a whiteboard, a dangerous question, and someone brave enough to say, “This doesn’t work—how do we fix it?” That’s where the real innovation starts. And it usually ends with less process, not more.

THE GOSPEL OF THE NAPKIN and the F*CK THAT Factor

Every useful strategy I’ve seen—the ones that actually changed things—fit on a napkin. Literally.

I’ve worked with Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (yes, from vrom), IFC and the World Bank (who once asked for “bold ideas” then panicked when I actually brought some), T-Mobile, Fujifilm, even the Government of Kazakhstan (and yes, there were camels and consultants). And the only things that endured were the ideas not buried under 200-slide decks and 17 stakeholder alignment sessions.

Forget the innovation lab with bean bags and kombucha taps. Give me a whiteboard, a dangerous question, and someone brave enough to say: “This doesn’t work—how do we fix it?”

So I founded RETHINK—because honestly, I was done with making things that looked clever but did nothing. As Founder and, yes, self-declared Creative Director (because titles should be earned, not assigned by HR software), I built RETHINK as a creative production agency that exists for one reason: to make ideas that actually move people—not just impress the Boardroom Slide Clicker Caste.

We don’t do “content” for the sake of content. We do provocations dressed up as campaigns. Strategy that survives contact with reality. And stories that don’t need to be explained by a consultant wielding a laser pointer like it’s a wand of clarity.

We work with brands who’d rather offend mediocrity than make everyone feel comfortable. And if that makes people squirm? Good. Discomfort is where the real ideas live.

And out of RETHINK came the logical next step: THNK MACHINE—my own speaker bureau. Not because I stopped doing keynotes (I still do), but because I wanted to choose when, where, and how loudly I say “f*ck that.” If you want the talk, you better want the truth. And you better be ready to pay for the profanity of honesty.

Because I don’t do cheap inspiration. I do necessary provocation.

THE BOOKS THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN PUBLISHED (BUT THANK GOD THEY WERE)

I wrote The Intellectual Rage: A Historical Chronicle of the Corporate Dark Ages because someone needed to record what happened while McKinsey consultants tried to reinvent the coffee cup using blockchain.

Then I wrote Echoes in the Code: The Prometheus Problem because the future was arriving faster than most companies could hold a meeting about it.

If you’ve read them, you already know: I don’t worship at the altar of frameworks. I burn the altar and ask why we built it in the first place.

LET’S TALK—BUT ONLY IF YOU MEAN IT

If you’re tired of paying consultants to tell you what your interns already know…

If you’re done innovating for slide decks and want to build something that actually matters…

If you’re ready to hear what everyone else is too polite (or too billable) to say…

Beep me. adj @ thisisrethink .com

Because the future isn’t in your innovation funnel or your brand manifesto. It’s in the next hard conversation you’re willing to have—with your team, your customers, and yourself.

And I’m happy to help you start it.