Sean Pillot de Chenecey

Sean Pillot de Chenecey is a NGO renowned ‘applied thought-leadership’ expert and futurist, innovation and strategy consultant. Sean is the founder of Brand Positive, an independent research and strategy consultancy that has supported clients like Coca-Cola, Heineken, Nespresso and easyJet with multi-sector B2B and B2C trends and insights, as well as future planning and positioning. Throughout his 30-year career, Sean has developed a keen interest in social, cultural and political catalysts and has shared his expertise during talks for IKEA, John Lewis, Harrods, and Microsoft across Russia, North Africa, the Middle East, the EU, the US, Asia and Australia. As a keynote speaker, Sean is an outstanding authority on scenario planning, foresight-driven innovation, politics, philosophy and business, allowing his talks to resonate with a plethora of industries and events. 

Sean started his career working with leading strategy agencies; however, in the 1990's, he joined forces with Martin Raymond and Chris Sanderson to co-found the trend forecasting agency, The Future Laboratory. Sean then founded his own consultancy company, Brand Positive, with partner Helen Pillot de Chenecey. Leading with his 'Curiosity as a Competitive Advantage’ mantra, Sean has built a large base of contacts, and frequently works with other agencies like McCann, FCB and Mindshare as well as universities and think tanks. Alongside his consultancy work, Sean has lectured on strategy and innovation at prestigious institutions such as Central St Martins, Chelsea College of Art, LSBU Business School, Miami Ad School, Royal College of Art, OMNES/INSEEC and the University for the Creative Arts for over 20 years. His teaching focuses on foresight methods for interpreting signals, trends and uncertainty, identifying risks and opportunities, catalytic leadership and driving innovation. Sean is also a UK Assoc Partner for the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. 

Sean has delivered his keynotes at numerous conferences, forums and summits across the world and is consistently requested as a speaker at agency events and think-tank gatherings. Some of his notable talks include his geopolitics & futures-thinking keynote at the Leadership Summit in Lisbon for Lider Media, and his discussion on megatrend analysis, illuminating uncertainty, risk management and foresight-driven innovation for the launch of the new Master’s programme in Strategic Foresight at Venice University’s Business School. His ‘Now-Next-Why’ speech is a particularly popular talk that builds on his framework for organisations navigating challenges, future shifts, and performance and has featured at events across L.A., Tokyo and Melbourne. When he isn't the one delivering speeches, Sean is requested as a reliable chair and moderator for webinars, workshops and ideation sessions such as the #RecoverySummit. Sean also appears on TV and media outlets like the BBC, CNN, The Wall St Journal and The Times to share his understanding of the impact of cultural and social trends on attitudinal and behavioural change. 

His first book, ‘The Post-Truth Business’, explored 'reputation capital' through the lenses of authenticity, ethics, privacy, and misinformation and reached No. 1 on the ‘Business Bestseller’ list. His second book, ‘Influencers & Revolutionaries, ’ expanded on multi-sector H1/2/3 innovation and concept development approaches. It was highly successful and was shortlisted for the ‘Business Book of the Year’ Awards. Sean's podcast, 'The New Abnormal', discusses these subjects further with guest activists, creatives, philosophers, strategists, writers, psychologists, lecturers and futurists, and has reached well over 250,000 downloads. Sean contributes his writing to multiple publications, including his ‘Strategic Foresight in an Uncertain World’ article for L’OSMONAUTA as well as for Contagious and Assoc of Professional Futurists' official magazine, Compass. In 2026, Sean was asked to contribute his knowledge to the ‘Future 100’ report from VML as a global expert and be a speaker for their launch event in London. 

With expertise in leadership, risk management, innovation and business strategy, Sean Pillot de Chenecey is an outstanding keynote speaker for a wide range of events. In high demand around the world, he blends his years of experience with commercial insight, delivering practical ideas rooted in real-world results. For a speaker who can reshape your thinking and help you navigate challenges with confidence, Sean Pillot de Chenecey is an exceptional choice. Book Sean with Champions today to inspire fresh perspectives and practical action.