Erez Morag
Former Nike Game Changer Dr. Erez Morag is the CEO and Founder of Acceler8 Performance Ltd, focusing on high speed decision making.
MEET Erez MoragFormer Nike Game Changer Dr. Erez Morag is the CEO and Founder of Acceler8 Performance Ltd, focusing on high-speed decision-making. Dr. Morag speaks widely around the world, inspiring business leaders, engineers, entrepreneurs, and students to use sport science principles to enhance their businesses. His keynote speaking engagements have included the High tech sector (Intel, Oracle, HP, Applied Materials, SAP, Texas Instruments, Checkpoint, etc.); Biotech sector (Abbvie Pharmaceutical, Covidien); Banking sector (Societe Generale Group, ANZ Bank); Telecom sector (Cellbrite, Partner Communications); Education sector (Harvard Business School, Willamette University), Advertising sector (McCann Erickson), and the Sport Sector (The National Football League, Australian Sport Tech Network). While at Nike’s headquarters in Oregon (1998-2011), Erez contributed to four unprecedented start-ups within the company. He was recruited initially to lead innovation research in the multi-billion dollar global football and women’s fitness industries. After a successful run with product innovations, he founded programs that linked product and business innovation. For example, Nike Football+, offered a complete consumer-centric performance solution that merged the physical and digital worlds and created football communities in over 25 countries worldwide. Not only do customers got great shoes, they were also invited to join an insider club of expertise. With the tag line, “buy world-class boots, access world-class pros”, Nike Football+ have reached hundreds of thousands of players around the globe. Later, Dr. Morag founded Athlete Performance Insight, a program that harnesses the skills of superstar athletes to develop high quality product innovation. Top athletes are invited to the Nike Sport Research Lab in order to study their techniques and develop products that will enhance the players’ performances. In this role Erez worked with dozens of elite athletes including footballers Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rooney, Oliver Bierhoff, and Mia Hamm; basketball all-stars Russell Westbrook, Manu Ginobili and Rajon Rondo; NFL greats Larry Fitzgerald, Troy Polamalu, and Greg Jennings; Olympic gold medalists Liu Xiang, Allison Felix and Sanya Richards; and tennis legends Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Dr. Morag conducted his postdoctoral research at Rush Medical Center, Chicago. While in Chicago, he also pioneered a workshop for Chicago public school teachers on using sports to teach science and math. He earned his doctoral degree from Pennsylvania State University in Exercise and Sports Science. He holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor of Education degree as well as teaching and coaching certificates from Wingate Institute. He has received prestigious awards for his scientific work, teaching, and innovation. In addition, he was awarded 20 patents and has filed 5 additional ones. Not only an accomplished researcher and entrepreneur, Erez is dynamic and personable, inspiring audiences with his passion for sport and business. SPEAKING TOPICSInnovation and Speed: from foot speed to speed of thoughts Just as athletes in the world of sport have become faster and more competitive, so has the world of business. Dr. Morag takes a truly global perspective on how to be faster and more competitive in the international marketplace through innovation, training, and a continual focus on improvement. He demonstrates how principles in speed training can be applied to business innovation. By learning to think about speed as a system, your audience comes away with new ideas about how to improve the speed and quality of innovation within your company or organization. Like relay runners, your team is capable of more than the individual speed of its members. Dr. Morag explains how speed of thought, speed of decision-making, speed of ideation, and speed to the market will enable your team to effectively “pass the baton” at top speed, increasing the overall performance and potential of new products and innovations. This talk is complemented by a 45 minutes breakout session during which participants are invited to experience a sport science activity followed by a business implementation exercise. Innovate to Elevate: Sports-inspired strategies for career and corporate success There are many similarities between world-class athletes and top business executives. They are competitive, they are willing to work hard to be successful, they are constantly trying to improve their teams, and they always look for a competitive edge. Hence, many of the metaphors used in the boardroom are derived from sports. Using examples from his specialized experience at Nike working with the world’s best athletes, Dr. Morag offers a fascinating presentation of lessons about excellence that are inspired by athletes, embedded in science and applied to successful business initiatives. This talk is complemented by a 45 minutes breakout session during which participants are invited to experience a sport science activity followed by a business implementation exercise. Play Bigger Than Your Size This talk is inspired by great athletes that play bigger than their size, such as Carles Puyol and Troy Palamalu, among others. In his talk, Dr. Morag describes what are the key factors that will allow your business to innovate and 'play bigger than it's size' in order to compete successfully in the marketplace. Bridging the Gap between Product and Brand Innovation In today’s market, developing a hot new product is not always enough to excite consumers. In his talk, Erez demonstrates how to combine product innovation with innovative experience in order to drive performance results. This talk was first presented at Harvard Business School (HBS), and led to the publication of a full length HBS case study about Nike Football. Intrapreneurship – How to Launch a Start-up within Your Company Erez speaks about the unique role of “intrapreneurship” within a company, and why start-ups within a larger business increase innovation, customer loyalty, and the bottom line. Combining academic knowledge with his extensive practical experience, he guides the audience through the key steps to taking a strong idea and turning it into a successful innovation reality. |
The lecture was very dynamic and left me excited and full with new insights on the Importance and the benefits that the execution of innovation processes bring to organizations, and feeling it is incremental in achieving higher goals. |
