Skip to Content

Sean Flaherty

EVP of Innovation at ITX Corp.
Award-Winning Speaker
Thought Leader Entrepreneur

Submit an Inquiry

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 Flaherty
EVP of Innovation

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:

  • AMV
  • US Army
  • Inno
  • Vistage
  • Founder Institute
  • Ndustry
  • Techstars
  • East Meets West
  • Product School
  • Greater Nashville Technology Council
  • TechTarget
  • Product League

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.

Headshot of Tara Wellington
Tara Wellington
GoDaddy

I participated in a wonderful session about Product tactics, momentum and strategy…. Sean is a thought leader and practiced expert.

Headshot of Geremy Bass
Geremy Bass
Zoro

Attended Sean’s workshop on the Product Momentum Framework and absolutely loved it. I’m confident that it’ll raise my game.

Headshot of Jarett Blankenship
Jarett Blankenship
CNN

This presentation really touched me. The principles learned will be part of me forever.

Headshot of Dwayne Nielson
Dwayne Nielson
Vistage International

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.

Headshot of David Casullo
David Casullo
Daneli Partners

I would highly recommend engaging with Sean if you are interested in developing a culture of success in your organization.

Headshot of Gregory Breads
Gregory Breads
DIRAK, Inc.

Join Our Mailing List

Get updates on where Sean is speaking next!

Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter, filled with insightful articles and resources for the ever-changing technology space.

Latest Podcast

124 / Mastering Product Management: ‘Zooming Out’ for Strategic Clarity, with Shelly Kalish

In product, it’s easy to lock in on a user-focused or customer-centric mindset. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be if we lose sight of the bigger picture. As product managers, we have a business to run. We have team members to grow and develop. We’re responsible for broader financial metrics. Shelly Kalish …
shelly-kalish-podcast-guest
Shelly Kalish
Sittercity

Latest Episodes

123 / Essential Lessons in Digital Accessibility and Inclusive Design, with Dave Dame

Dave Dame
Microsoft
“I have Cerebral Palsy,” says Dave Dame, Senior Director of Product Accessibility for Windows at Microsoft®. “But my money doesn’t. So if you want my money, you better build a product or a service I can use, or I’m going to spend my disposable income somewhere else.” Imagine hearing that from the estimated 2 billion …
Listen & Read More
dave-dame-podcast-guest

Special Edition / Audience-first Innovation: How to Use Data to Create People-Centric Products, with Quincy Olatunde

Quincy Olatunde
Peacock
What’s the point of building a product if it doesn’t actually help to solve a user problem? And how do you grow and scale your product without understanding consumers’ behavior with it?  Quincy Olatunde, Peacock’s VP of Products, Direct-to-Consumer explores these questions through the lens of data – what he calls the third leg of …
Listen & Read More
quincy-olatunde-podcast-guest

Special Edition / Revolutionize Your Product Development Process with Customer Feedback, with Jay Brewer & Zhuldyz Alimbek

Jay Brewer & Zhuldyz Alimbek
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
It hurts to admit, but product designers and teams don’t always know what our users need. We need to seek out user feedback and create ways for them to tell us spontaneously, often in the heat of the moment. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Jay Brewer and Zhuldyz Alimbek – fresh from the stage at Pendomonium 2023 …
Listen & Read More
jay-brewer-and-zhuldyz-alimbek-podcast-guests

Continue Listening

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!

Start an Inquiry