The Lavin Agency

The Lavin Agency A speakers bureau that represents the best original thinkers, writers, and doers. Making the world a smarter place since 1989.

The Lavin Agency is the world’s largest intellectual talent agency, representing leading thinkers, writers, and doers for speaking engagements, personal appearances, consulting, and endorsements.

11/11/2025

Are you letting AI fulfill you? Or are you using it to fulfill yourself? The difference matters more than you think.

This week on our podcast, Lavin Voices, we sat down with Jacob Ward: veteran technology journalist (NBC, WIRED, New York Times) and author of The Loop, in which he predicted the rise of for-profit AI nearly a year before ChatGPT was launched. A clear and prescient voice on AI, business, and society, Jacob argues that AI can play a powerful role in our lives—as long as we don’t outsource the most fulfilling parts of being human.

Jacob is the author of The Loop: How A.I. Is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight Back. Roger McNamee (Zucked) writes that “if AI is to get back on track, then Ward will be the guide.” An honest, warm, and high-energy keynote speaker, Jacob reveals what we should be outsourcing to AI, and the truly important things that we shouldn’t.
Enjoyed this clip? Watch the full episode and learn more about Jacob at the link in bio!

10/27/2025

“Humans were made to run.”

Lavin Exclusive Speaker Nicholas Thompson was profiled on CBS Sunday Mornings yesterday! He spoke about his new book, The Running Ground (out tomorrow!), and what his journey to becoming an ultrarunning record-holder has taught him about family, resilience, and leadership.

If you liked this preview of the segment, you can find the whole video on the CBS Sunday Mornings website, and learn more about Nick at the link in bio!

We should play because it’s good for us, says Cas Holman—it’s a powerful tool for creativity, healing, and resilience. B...
10/21/2025

We should play because it’s good for us, says Cas Holman—it’s a powerful tool for creativity, healing, and resilience. But more than that, we should play because it’s a vital part of what makes us human.

Cas’s new book, Playful, is out today, and it’s already making waves across the media: from TIME Magazine to Fast Company and beyond. Cas was featured on CBS Mornings today, where she made the case for the power of play for people of all ages.

Learn more about this Lavin Exclusive Speaker at the link in bio, and get in touch to book her to speak at your event.

Congratulations, Cas!

We’re told that growing old is scary, embarrassing, or just plain sad. But celebrated anti-ageism activist and Lavin Exc...
10/09/2025

We’re told that growing old is scary, embarrassing, or just plain sad. But celebrated anti-ageism activist and Lavin Exclusive Speaker Ashton Applewhite says it’s none of those things. Instead, it’s a normal part of life—one that can be rewarding and good for us, if we embrace it.

All over the world, an anti-ageism movement is in full swing, and Ashton is at the forefront of it. The UN has recognized her as one of its Healthy Ageing 50: leaders transforming the world to be a better place in which to grow older. She is the author of This Chair Rocks, and has spoken at venues that range from community centers to the United Nations.

Today, on Ageism Awareness Day, we recognize the discrimination that people face based on their age, and commit to building a better world for people of all ages: one where we can live healthy, fulfilling lives as we age.

Congratulations to Lavin Exclusive Speaker Karen Hao, who was named today to the TIME100 AI!Karen is a long-time Silicon...
08/28/2025

Congratulations to Lavin Exclusive Speaker Karen Hao, who was named today to the TIME100 AI!

Karen is a long-time Silicon Valley insider and the instant New York Times bestselling author of Empire of AI: a thrilling look into the biggest tech arms race in history. TIME calls it a “page-turner that has made waves not just in Silicon Valley but around the world,” and writes that Karen “is fundamentally shaping many people’s perceptions and understanding of the company at the center of the AI revolution.”
 
Karen was the first journalist to profile Sam Altman’s OpenAI, and in her vital book, she uses the story of that company as a lens for understanding the moment we’re in. “Plenty of ink has been spilled on OpenAI, but Empire of AI instantly struck a cultural nerve,” TIME writes.

Simultaneously realistic and hopeful, Karen’s powerful keynotes are the culmination of her years of insider access, deep reporting, and over 300 interviews with key players. They’re a vital look into where we’ve gone wrong—and how we can make it right. You can learn more about her through the link in our bio.
 
We’re so proud to represent this brilliant thinker. Congratulations, Karen!

06/20/2025

The moment you control your own image is the moment you reclaim your own narrative, and Frederick Douglass understood this before anyone else.

In this clip, Sarah Lewis () unveils how Frederick Douglass became the most photographed American man of the 19th century, not out of vanity, but as strategic warfare against racism.

Douglass understood that the 1839 invention of photography had democratized portraiture, giving African Americans unprecedented agency to be seen as they chose.

However, images had become weapons, and scientists were using photographs to "prove" African Americans were subhuman and justify ongoing racial oppression and slavery. Douglass created a counter-narrative with his dignified presence by flooding the visual landscape with photographs of himself, essentially running his own media campaign.

His strategic self-documentation campaign shows why visual representation remains the battleground for dignity and humanity in every generation, and why controlling your own image, whether through 19th-century photography or today's social media, becomes the foundation for every other fight for equality and recognition.

Watch the full video and learn more about Sarah through the link in our bio!⁠
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06/18/2025

How many white Americans in 1931 had their entire worldview shattered by witnessing Black artistic genius? Probably more than we know, and that's the power of excellence to break through prejudice in ways arguments never could.

Sarah Lewis () examines how Louis Armstrong's performance helped shift Supreme Court lawyer Charles Black Jr.'s perspective, revealing why exposure to undeniable talent often creates the moral clarity needed to challenge unjust systems.

Watch the full video and learn more about Sarah through the link in our bio!⁠
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06/17/2025

There are two types of people in evaluative situations: those who want to prove how good they are and those who want to learn and grow. Their differences determine everything about how they handle failure and success.

Social psychologist Dr. Mary C. Murphy () breaks down the psychology behind fixed versus growth mindsets, using Sara Blakely's journey from failed law student to Spanx founder to show how our relationship with failure shapes our potential for breakthrough innovation.

Learn more about Mary through the link in our bio!⁠
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Want to stay inspired? Follow The Lavin Agency for more!⁠
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06/14/2025

We all navigate between fixed and growth mindsets throughout our lives, and social psychologist Dr. Mary C. Murphy () explains how specific triggers can shift us between these mental states.

Her research shows that by becoming aware of these triggers and understanding their patterns, we can actually learn to leverage them as powerful tools for personal development and success.
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Learn more about Mary through the link in our bio!⁠
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Want to stay inspired? Follow The Lavin Agency for more!⁠
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06/13/2025

We once legally believed that Black Americans were 3/5 human and called it a constitutional fact. So the question today is, what do we accept as truth today that future generations will find equally barbaric?

In this talk, Sarah Lewis () examines how America forces its citizens to live with legal truths we know are morally wrong, exploring why cultural narratives become essential for helping us see past our most dangerous blind spots.

Watch the full video and learn more about Sarah through the link in our bio!⁠
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06/12/2025

If you think you have a growth mindset, you're wrong.

The truth is that we all have both a growth and fixed mindset, and that we continuously switch between them throughout different situations in our lives.
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In this clip, social psychologist Dr. Mary C. Murphy () explains what most people get wrong about the fixed and growth mindsets and how growth cultures play a huge role in our growth.
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Success isn’t just about skill. It’s about the belief that skills can be built.⁠
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Learn more about Mary through the link in our bio!⁠
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Want to stay inspired? Follow The Lavin Agency for more!⁠
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06/11/2025

Culture shapes justice as much as law does, maybe more.

In this short clip, Sarah Lewis () shares her grandfather's profound question about who "gets to belong" in American society, revealing how textbooks, art, and monuments quietly determine whose excellence gets recognized and whose gets erased.

Sarah Lewis is a Harvard Associate Professor and bestselling author of The Rise and The Unseen Truth. She leads a civic initiative that explores visual culture's foundational role in American democracy and created the pioneering Harvard course Vision and Justice: The Art of Race and American Citizenship, now part of the university's core curriculum.

Watch the full video and learn more about Sarah through the link in our bio!

Liked this video? Follow The Lavin Agency for more thought-provoking content!

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