Abigail Posner

Anthropologist and Former Director, U.S. Creative Works, Google
Becoming Irreplaceable in an AI World

Abigail Posner

Anthropologist and Former Director, U.S. Creative Works, Google
Becoming Irreplaceable in an AI World

“Creativity without ingenuity is inspiration without impact.”
“Creativity without ingenuity is inspiration without impact.”
Key Speech Themes

Ingenuity • Leadership • Building Brands

Creativity • Human Advantage

Strategic Thinking • Navigating Change

Maximizing AI • Generating Big Ideas

Innovation • Organizational Culture

Abigail’s Story

• ANTHROPOLOGY MEETS GOOGLE INNOVATION: Abigail inspires leaders and their organizations to create game-changing ideas that move people and drive business growth.

• TRANSFORM BIGGER AND FASTER: Abigail’s anthropology and creative background felt out of place at a tech company, yet that lens gave her the ability to see what others missed. Her insights helped Google’s biggest customers achieve extraordinary results.

• NEW WAYS TO AMPLIFY LEADERSHIP IMPACT: Abigail shows leaders how to create originality, influence, and ideas competitors can’t copy by accessing their expansiveness edge. It’s the sum of their interests, knowledge, experiences, and perspectives that make leaders irreplaceable.

• GO BEYOND CREATIVITY: Creativity without execution is inspiration without impact. With her decades of leading creative teams, Abigail shows how to turn curiosity and imagination into ideas that actually land – and become a defining competitive advantage.

• ADAPT QUICKER TO TECH-DRIVEN CHANGE: Abigail created Humanizing Digital at Google – a first-of-its-kind practice that uses cultural anthropology to help leaders read the emotional and human impact of new technology, so change succeeds with employees, customers and markets.

• A TECH MIND-FLIP: As tech got smarter, human qualities became more valuable. For Abigail, it’s not “what tech can do” that matters; it’s “what tech and we can do together.” Understanding the difference changes everything.

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Abigail Posner spent 13 years at Google, but don’t make assumptions about her based on that fact.

Abigail didn’t start in tech. She started out studying people, earning a degree from Harvard in social anthropology, driven by one question: Why do humans do what they do? That lens proved to be the most valuable thing she ever brought to the boardroom at top advertising agencies where she shaped brand identities and communication to achieve tangible results.

Then, for thirteen years as director of U.S. Creative Works at Google, Abigail brought cultural anthropology to the data and technology, leading a team crafting AI-powered technologies and winning strategies for YouTube’s top global advertising clients. Her most pioneering work: Creating the Humanizing Digital thought leadership series which explored our emotional relationship with technology. While everyone asked, “What can tech do?” – Abigail asked, “What does tech do to us?”– and then used those insights to create valuable strategies.

One thing became clear: As tech got smarter, humanness got more valuable. Now in her post-Google career, Abigail founded the Human Code Company to answer the question so many leaders were asking her: How do we create the future when change is coming at us so fast? The answer lies in the ability for leaders to think expansively and harness their Human Code as the ultimate competitive edge in an AI world.

The Human Code is the art of combining your unique experiences, interests, and perspectives to lead with more impact, more originality, and an edge that’s entirely your own. Abigail helps leaders unlock innovation and drive real organizational transformation by blending AI and data intelligence with creative vision and human-centered thinking. She shows leaders that AI also stands for “amplify impact,” and that combining it with their most human qualities creates results no algorithm can replicate.

That’s the overview – but let’s dig a bit deeper.

At Google’s Creative Works, Abigail led a multidisciplinary team developing data-driven, AI-powered advertising and branded content strategies for YouTube’s top global advertisers. She pioneered Humanizing Digital, an anthropology-based thought leadership series exploring our emotional relationship with technology. She also helped guide a cultural transformation initiative for Google’s 4,000+ sales professionals, building unity and renewed purpose across regions; and earlier, created and scaled a global culture of insights program that deepened customer understanding both within Google and across client organizations.​

Before joining Google, Abigail served as executive vice president of Brand Strategy at Publicis New York and Strategy Team Director at DDB New York, where she led major global client initiatives and new business efforts that shaped brand identities across industries.​

Her work has been recognized with the United Nations Media Impact Award, and her insights have been featured in outlets including The New York Times, Forbes, Fast Company, CNBC, and elsewhere. She regularly shares perspectives on innovation, creativity, and the human-technology relationship at conferences and business gatherings all over the world.

Through the Human Code newsletter and her writing in outlets such as The Drum, Abigail shapes global dialogue around culture, technology, and human behavior. She also hosts the Human Code podcast, bringing these conversations to life with industry leaders and cultural figures.

Abigail sits on the corporate board for ENDI Corp (OTCMKTS: ENDI).

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University in social anthropology, Abigail lives in New York City, where she raised her three adult children.​

Abigail Posner’s Videos

How Anthropology Unleashes Innovation

Abigail Posner: An Introduction

Seeking the Why Ignites Breakthrough Insights

We Are All Inherently Creative

Expansiveness Edge

Summing it Up

Look For The Links

Generative AI Supports Divergent Thinking

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Speech Descriptions

Expansiveness Edge: Becoming Irreplaceable In an AI World

What’s my edge now? That’s what leaders are asking as they try and spark innovation and organizational transformation in an AI-driven revolution.

It’s a paradox: We have access to the most powerful technology in human history yet we have a fear of becoming obsolete (FOBO). The problem isn’t AI, it’s that most leaders have been conditioned to compartmentalize the very things that make them irreplaceable.

Read More >

Wired to Create: Tap Your Innate Creativity to Drive Bolder Ideas and Bigger Breakthroughs

Too many people don’t think they’re capable of generating the breakthrough ideas their organization desperately needs. They’re wrong. And this presentation inspires them how to contribute in ways they never imagined.

Creativity isn’t reserved for the “naturally gifted” — it’s wired into all of us. The problem isn’t that people lack creative capacity. It’s that they’ve never been shown how to find it, trust it, and activate it.

Read More >

Ingenuity Unleashed: Using AI to Make Human Imagination More Powerful Than Ever

Everyone is using AI to do the same things faster. Almost no one is using it to think bigger. The creative potential of AI is vastly underestimated and almost entirely untapped.

Your boldest ideas and sharpest instincts have always been there. But ingenuity, the ability to apply those ideas to solve real problems, can only go so far when it’s buried under the mental load of everything else. AI changes that.

Read More >

Activate AI Like a Boss: A Leader's Playbook for Getting Your Team On Board, Moving, and Winning with AI

Format: 60-90 minute Workshop

AI isn’t going to replace your team. But a team that knows how to use AI will replace the one that doesn’t.

AI is changing how work gets done, what teams look like, and what leadership actually requires. Most organizations know they need to become AI-native. What they don’t know is how to get their people there – genuinely, not grudgingly.

Read More >

Speech Descriptions

Expansiveness Edge: Becoming Irreplaceable In an AI World

What’s my edge now? That’s what leaders are asking as they try and spark innovation and organizational transformation in an AI-driven revolution.

It’s a paradox: We have access to the most powerful technology in human history yet we have a fear of becoming obsolete (FOBO). The problem isn’t AI, it’s that most leaders have been conditioned to compartmentalize the very things that make them irreplaceable.

Read More >

Wired to Create: Tap Your Innate Creativity to Drive Bolder Ideas and Bigger Breakthroughs

Too many people don’t think they’re capable of generating the breakthrough ideas their organization desperately needs. They’re wrong. And this presentation inspires them how to contribute in ways they never imagined.

Creativity isn’t reserved for the “naturally gifted” — it’s wired into all of us. The problem isn’t that people lack creative capacity. It’s that they’ve never been shown how to find it, trust it, and activate it.

Read More >

Ingenuity Unleashed: Using AI to Make Human Imagination More Powerful Than Ever

Everyone is using AI to do the same things faster. Almost no one is using it to think bigger. The creative potential of AI is vastly underestimated and almost entirely untapped.

Your boldest ideas and sharpest instincts have always been there. But ingenuity, the ability to apply those ideas to solve real problems, can only go so far when it’s buried under the mental load of everything else. AI changes that.

Read More >

Activate AI Like a Boss: A Leader's Playbook for Getting Your Team On Board, Moving, and Winning with AI

Format: 60-90 minute Workshop

AI isn’t going to replace your team. But a team that knows how to use AI will replace the one that doesn’t.

AI is changing how work gets done, what teams look like, and what leadership actually requires. Most organizations know they need to become AI-native. What they don’t know is how to get their people there – genuinely, not grudgingly.

Read More >

What People Say About Abigail

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Additional Resources

Biography
Introduction
Past Speaking Client List
Testimonials
Hi-Resolution Photo