ABOUT CHRIS
HIS STORY“We don’t learn creativity, we lose it. To find it is to reclaim our life’s playful courage & curiosity.
—Chris Chapman
Chris is the former Global Creativity & Innovation Director at Disney behind Imaginology —a global innovation agency established in 2019 that specializes in creative collaboration workshops, design sprints, and development projects. His interactive and entertaining approach and kind yet rebellious attitude drive real change for companies and individuals.
At a young age, he was selected for a test program called Creative Learning Resource to prevent elementary children from losing creative collaboration skills.
After attending Art and Design School at Illinois State University, he worked his way up at Disney Parks from serving ice cream to becoming a designer and art director. He found that the creative teams and the business teams were consistently at odds with each other, so he brought his knowledge to turn this obstacle into an opportunity. His impact led to him being named the Disney Global Creativity and Innovation Director.
In his new role Chris partnered with senior executives across all segments of the Disney company, using a 'learning through doing' approach to foster collaborative creativity and human-first innovation. His impact ranges from Disney Parks & Walt Disney Imagineering to Pixar, Disney Studios, ABC Studios and Disney Interactive. The disciplines that benefited from his leadership span marketing, sales, finance, legal, operations, art, story, products and experience design.
Today his approach is still firmly rooted in courageous curiosity which he calls “Daring Play” integrating the latest advancements in design thinking, mindfulness, and collaboration, placing him and those he works with at the frontier of how we create together.
After Disney Chris Co-Founded the company, Imaginology, that guides creative collaboration workshops and design sprints. His recent partnerships span a diverse range of professionals, from Oscar-winning producers and animation directors to Fortune 500 leaders, academic researchers, psychologists, and even surgeons.
Chris's transformative impact on people & teams extends across 24 countries through his captivating and thought-provoking keynotes & workshops. His uniquely interactive & entertaining style, along with his kind yet rebellious attitude, inspires real change at both a personal & professional level.
Chris’s Unique & Engaging Daring Play Talks
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Talk + Live Stage Demo
The modern workplace needs creativity but has mounting stress from rapid change, office politics, and outdated forms of collaboration for solving challenges. Top performers are quitting or leaving all together.
Learn how to reconnect with the psychology of childhood creativity to ignite your well-being. Explore why we grow out of creativity as adults, why it causes workplace burnout, and the simple ways to overcome it.
Observe live on-stage demonstrations in which participants use simple habits to transform creative collaboration.
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Talk + Q&A
The workplace is changing and a new generation is demanding higher emotional intelligence & improved collaboration.
Unpack the evolution of human collaboration & its relationship to leadership. Learn the keys to protect a thriving & deeply connected creative culture.
Explore ways to use boundaries to attract top talent, manage talent out, and build proven collaboration norms to create a thriving culture.
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Talk + Live on Stage Design Sprint
As the world changes rapidly, our outdated approaches to solving challenges become outdated. At the heart of these changes is fear. Learn how to navigate fear by focusing on both the users of our creations and the creators themselves.
Discover how to transform uncertainty into relevant creative solutions for any challenge.
Audience members will have the opportunity to join us on stage for a live 'improv-design' sprint. As flies on the wall, the audience will witness these participants tackle challenges with greater harmony, relevancy, empathy, speed, and creativity.
“Chris consistently showcased extraordinary creative design skills, what I most appreciated was his attention to client service and understanding of the complete business landscape.
Chris possesses an entrepreneurial courage to try new and innovative approaches to art and design that inspires the rest of the team to go beyond the safe and the ordinary. I wholeheartedly endorse Chris as an outstanding business partner.
— Terry Turner, Head of Consumer Products Cirque du Soleil