Sean Flaherty
EVP of Innovation at ITX Corp.
Award-Winning Speaker
Thought Leader Entrepreneur
About Sean
Sean started innovating with software products at 11 years old on his 8-Bit Commodore Vic-20 in the 1980’s and he never stopped. He studied aviation electronics working on F-14 Tomcats in the Navy, molecular genetics at the University of Rochester, and earned an MBA from the Simon School of Business in 2006.
Most of his experience, however, has come from over two decades of working in the trenches with his clients building innovative software products that move, touch, and inspire the world. He is most fortunate to have the privilege of leading the team that is ITX. ITX has built a passionate group of inspired technologists and artists that produce magic every day for their clients.
Sean teaches MBA candidates at the William E. Simon School of Business and speaks to leadership teams around the world on the intersection of innovation, culture, and empathy. He has developed and organized “The Momentum Framework,” a set of contextual models that demonstrate the patterns, context, and language of successful leadership.
His work has led to him earning recognition and accolades such as the 2019 Vistage “New Speaker of the Year” and the 2019 Trust Across America “Top Thought Leader in Trust” awards among many others.
Sean [00:00:24]: So, we often default to that behavior… And I’m here to ask you to question that default. Because it’s always more sustainable if you can create an environment in which people are inspired to achieve. And that happens—the only difference between those types of leadership behaviors and these types of leadership behaviors is how much you authentically care about the people that you’re leading.
Sean [00:01:00]: Think about this impacts your culture. Think about having real metrics around those things that we know are important to us, like trust. Like loyalty. Like advocacy. Having real hard metrics around these intangibles… because what will do is it’ll have your people thinking about trust, thinking about loyalty, thinking about advocacy. Coming up with the innovations: the micro innovations and the macro innovations that’re gonna make your products better every single day.
Sean [00:01:38]: I believe that leadership is a form of two different kinds of empathy. The first form of empathy is called cognitive empathy. And, cognitive empathy—I relate to this concept of emotional intelligence, or EQ.
Featured Speaker
Sean has been a featured speaker for the following events and organizations:
Testimonials
See what people are saying about Sean’s work is changing the way corporate cultures are built!
After going through the workshop and assessments for my own teams – I was able to clearly pinpoint the areas where we needed support and take action to improve our outcomes.
I participated in a wonderful session about Product tactics, momentum and strategy…. Sean is a thought leader and practiced expert.
Attended Sean’s workshop on the Product Momentum Framework and absolutely loved it. I’m confident that it’ll raise my game.
This presentation really touched me. The principles learned will be part of me forever.
Sean is a visionary, a student of relationships, consumer behavior, and is an executer…He built a product strategy model that is efficient, effective and gets to the core of value creation.
I would highly recommend engaging with Sean if you are interested in developing a culture of success in your organization.
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Latest Podcast
144 / Embracing the Human Dynamic in Product Design, with Ryan Rumsey
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
In this episode, Paul and Sean catch up with Ryan Rumsey just moments after his poignant keynote at the 2024 ITX Product + Design Conference. During his keynote and follow-up conversation, Ryan explained that the biggest challenges product builders face are people challenges, “deeply rooted in our own personal experiences and feelings.” Ryan Rumsey is …
Latest Episodes
143 / John Maeda: Creativity, Risk, and the Role of AI
142 / Christian Idiodi, on Product Sense: Integrating Data and Intuition
141 / How To Build a Community of Practice, with ITX Leaders in Product + UX
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Continue on to our Product Momentum podcast feed for more great episodes.
Interested in booking Sean?
Sean frequently delivers keynotes on culture, empathy, innovation, leadership, strategy, and tactics.
He is actively booking speaking engagements. Fill out the form below and someone from Sean’s team will contact you!