Public Speaking

Paolo brings strategy to life with energy, insight, and a good dose of humor. Whether he’s speaking to business leaders, creatives, or academics, he breaks down complex ideas into clear, actionable stories—often drawing on his research in sports, innovation, and high-performance environments. He’s delivered keynotes and talks around the world, from global conferences to boardrooms, helping audiences rethink how strategy works in the real world.

Paolo is bi-lingual and his lectures and speeches can be delivered both in English and Italian.

Leading in Turbolent Environment: lezioni di innovazione prese da casi di Formula 1

Paolo delivers thought-provoking and dynamic speeches tailored to a wide range of formats—from keynote presentations and masterclasses to multi-day executive training programmes, sometimes delivered across multiple locations.

Whether addressing a packed auditorium or facilitating an intimate boardroom discussion, Paolo adapts his style to maximise engagement, insight, and impact.

He is highly experienced in both in-person and online delivery formats, although he has a clear preference for face-to-face interaction, which allows for deeper engagement and richer dialogue whenever possible.

  • Paolo Aversa is one of the most talented and successful strategy speaker I have crossed in my professional path. His remarkable curriculum and unstoppable work of research should already speak by itself, but where he truly makes a difference is in front of an audience. His natural, outgoing and inquisitive disposition, always open to dialogue, never fails to engage and mesmerize the audience with a perfect balance between wit and accademic approach.

    Pietro Mattioni
    CEO, Zonin1821

  • Professor Paolo Aversa's captivating lecture, 'Leading in Turbulent Times: Strategy Lessons from Formula One,' positively impressed our business community, made of Top and Senior Managers, receiving outstanding feedback, well above the annual average of our speakers. His unique perspective from the world of Formula One provided valuable topics that were not only insightful but also immediately applicable in the business world. Prof. Aversa's communication style allowed participants not only to receive to get information and knowledge, but to be inspired as well.

    Gianluca Consonni
    Partner, The European House Ambrosetti

  • Paolo Aversa's keynote at Sopra Steria's corporate event in Rome was truly inspiring. He drew insightful parallels between Formula 1 and business, emphasizing agility, perspective, and data-driven decision-making.
Aversa highlighted the importance of swift adaptation, avoiding narrow focus, and leveraging data with human intuition. These principles align perfectly with our values at Sopra Steria Group.

    Stefania Pompili
    CEO, Sopra Steria Italy

  • Professor Aversa delivered a captivating keynote address at our Confindustria Vicenza - Innovative and Technological Services event, igniting excitement among participants. His engaging style held the audience spellbound, while his insights from Formula 1 sparked profound reflection among our entrepreneurs. These insights serve as a valuable foundation for ongoing discussions on innovating our strategy.

    Gianni dal Pozzo
    Managing Director CONSIDI; President SIT Division, Confindustria Vicenza

  • Professor Aversa delivered an exciting keynote speech to the participants our corporate convention. His style was very engaging and it captivated the audience. His insights from Formula 1 triggered powerful reflections among our executives, and offered a helpful foundation for further reflections on how to innovate our strategy.

    Eleonora Candilera
    Brand Manager, Novo Nordisk

Main Keynotes

Speeches can be delivered in English and Italian

Leading in turbulent environments: Lessons from Formula 1

Leading in increasingly competitive and turbulent market has become a very challenging task even for the biggest, oldest and most prepared organizations. Competitive advantage is short-lived and disruptive innovations can quickly overhaul competitive markets. In such turbulent competition, it is not rare to see giants fall, and emerging organizations quickly achieve dominant positions.

How can leaders understand and successfully adapt to turbulent and hypercompetitive environments? A highly dynamic and competitive setting such as Formula 1 provides a living laboratory to observe and understand such forces, and prepare to face major changes. Formula 1 offers an ideal setting where performance is unmistakably measurable, and every little change can determine success and failure. Such conditions help executives to focus their actions, be analytical, and performance-driven.

Leveraging Professor Aversa’s award-winning research, this keynote leverages the the iconic world of Formula 1 to provide best practices for other industries, while providing leaders and executives with tools and frameworks that fit today’s business challenges.

Making history today: Becoming a strategic leader by learning from the past

History is not merely a recounting of the past. It is a treasure trove of contemporary strategy and leadership wisdom waiting to be unearthed.

As we delve into the annals of time, this keynote will uncover strategies employed by great leaders and pivotal moments that altered the course of history: from Leonidas and Xerxes at the Battle of Thermopylae, to Nelson and Napoleon at the Battle of Trafalgar; from Dr Guillotin and the Enlightenment intellectuals during the French Revolution, to Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project during WWII; this keynote will distil timeless strategy and leadership principles, frameworks and best practices.

These can guide us in navigating the complexities of today’s challenges in business and organisations, thus becoming the leaders of today and tomorrow, and ultimately leaving our own mark in history.

Beyond AI: Leading business model innovation and digital transformation

Digitalization, including AI, has led to a dramatic reduction in the costs of creating, transmitting and consuming information along with the development of novel solutions to manage and process it.

The digital revolution has not only changed the business environment as we knew it, but even altered the rules of competition in the market. Yet, while most companies equip themselves with potentially groundbreaking technologies, only a few manage to actually capture value and profit from them. Why? Because each technology needs to be combined with the right business model, or it will remain only a costly gizmo.

Customised lectures
are available upon request