Morris Misel
Trusted Advisor, Global Thinker & Foresight Strategist
Profile
Nothing feels more natural to Morris Misel than challenging the status quo.
He’s forever imagining what a different world might look like.
Morris was born to be a futurist. The son of World War II survivors, who had seen the world crumbling around them, he grew up in a household that believed there would always be a better tomorrow.
This belief has become his lifelong passion. Through powerful storytelling and practical and uncanny insights, Morris takes some of the world’s biggest organisations and brands on a journey that enables them to see what tomorrow might look like – long before they experience it.
A hell-raiser to the core. Morris is known to hurl metaphorical hand-grenades into rooms to push companies to unshackle from legacy systems and stuck-in-the past thinking.
A conversation with Morris often starts with making people uncomfortable, in order to get them comfortable to dream – big, bold, audacious dreams.
He’s teeming with questions about the world around us. Through childlike wonder and curiosity, Morris approaches organisational challenges from the viewpoint that tomorrow is under our control – and it can be transformed.
Current Work:
He’s no Nostradamus though. Through his depth-of-knowledge he hypothesises, rather than predicts what lies ahead.
For over 30 years, Morris has been methodically collecting evidence and information across 160 industries. He’s also picked up an assortment of weird and wonderful facts, much like a bowerbird. It’s through this wide lens that he provides bespoke and matter-of-fact exchanges, exercises and experiences so organisations can understand what their future potential might be in the marketplace.
Through his inquisitiveness and human-centric approach to future thinking, Morris motivates businesses to do things differently – by shifting and shaping their thinking. He assists them to see their own industry with clarity they may not have been able to before. It’s these a-ha moments that gives Morris the greatest joy and drive.
Morris has identified opportunities in all sorts of areas, from dynamic architecture and active bedding to the aged-care workforce and digital twinning. He was speaking about digital wallets, branded fruit and vegetables and smart homes and cities well before they became a reality.
To Morris, everything that businesses do and believe in is a construct of the mind. It can be broken down – and rebuilt for a successful future.
No matter your business type, Morris will assist you to smash all the barriers that are boxing you in.
He is lively, forthright and a truly global thinker, who will awaken your creative force.
Previous Experience:
To get to where he is, Morris has worn many hats. By the age of 18, he was living an entrepreneurial life running a direct mail business. However, moving from his garage-bound business to the global stage, including delivering a TEDx talk, took a few more steps. He spent many years as an academic in management and marketing and even ventured behind prison bars, to work as a Chaplain. He’s also Australia’s first and only futurist in the Einstein 100 Genius (G100) alumni, an honour he shares with the exceptional, Barbara Streisand. More recently Morris has been working closely with Griffith University as an ambassador and Adjunct Industry Fellow.
Media
Feedback
Your presentation was incredible; I wish I had seen you earlier. We have made such monumental changes in such a short amount of time, and it is absolutely because we saw, and now see, our business through your eyes.
It is the most profitable time we have ever spent and we look forward to working with you on going - what a return on our investment.
I knew I had done the right thing the minute you began talking. You were almost clairvoyant in your ability to understand my business and to tell me things I had never known about myself, my business, my industry and my staff - but should have - and all from the stage and in just 60 minutes. The tips and suggestions you gave me have been invaluable. I can't stop telling my friends and clients about you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Wow, talk about a roller coaster ride. I learnt more in 90 minutes about my future, myself, my business and what I really need to do to move forward than I have in the past five years. I appreciate your frankness and bluntness, although it did take me a while to get to use to it and what you already knew about my industry, my competitors and what I wanted to achieve, was mighty impressive.
Your disarming presentation style snuck up on me with a punch when I realised that I was learning so much about tomorrow's world and having so much fun. It's a whole new frontier and with your insights I am ready to take the world on - head first.
Our in-house strategy workshop that you facilitated was incredible. In one day we covered more ground and saw with more clarity then we have ever done before and I was blown away by your preparation, knowledge, insight, skills and ability to help us maintain focus, momentum and energy - you're a keeper.
