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Robert Richman
AI Transformation Is a Culture Problem
Robert Richman helps leaders turn AI anxiety into adoption. The former Zappos Culture Strategist, co-creator of Zappos Insights and author of The Culture Blueprint combines 15 years of culture work with hands-on AI building. His keynotes and experiences help people change how they work.
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Robert Richman spent 15 years learning how companies actually change. As Culture Strategist at Zappos, he co-created Zappos Insights and grew it into a multi-million-dollar business teaching more than 25,000 students a year. He then wrote The Culture Blueprint to make culture, the invisible system running under every org chart, something leaders can design.
AI is the second invisible system. While most speakers were adding "AI" to their slide decks, Robert was building: voice agents, products and experiments. His own speaking business is booked by an AI voice agent he built. His thesis is the same both times: the most important systems in a company are invisible to the people running on them. Everyone is buying the technology, but almost no one is changing how people work, and that gap is where AI initiatives die. Robert closes it with experiences rather than information. He has worked with organizations including Google, Toyota, Salesforce, Eli Lilly and Whole Foods. In October 2026 he gave an AI keynote and a culture keynote at GDP 2026 in Lima, Peru.
Keynotes
Featured Keynote
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AI Transformation Is a Culture Problem
Everyone is buying the technology. Almost no one is changing how people work, and that gap is where AI initiatives go to die.
Drawing on 15 years of culture work and his own hands-on AI building, including the voice agent that books his keynotes, Robert shows why adoption is a human-system problem and how to design the goals, rules, scoreboards and opt-in dynamics that turn AI anxiety into AI momentum.
In this keynote, audiences will learn:
- Why the bottleneck to AI value is culture, and the data that proves it.
- The four properties every adoption effort needs: a clear goal, known rules, a visible score and opt-in play.
- Why mandated adoption creates compliance while voluntary adoption creates momentum.
- Live proof: the AI voice agent Robert built to book his own speaking business.
- What leaders should do before buying another platform.
Ideal for: leadership teams, HR and people leaders, all-hands meetings and association conferences.
Topics
- Human Resources
- Innovation & Creativity Trending
- Leadership Trending
- Workplace Culture
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