Ryan Mathews

Ryan Mathews, founder and CEO of Black Monk Consulting is a globally recognized futurist, cultural ecologist, speaker and storyteller. Ryan is also a best selling author, a successful international consultant and a sought after commentator on topics as diverse as innovation, technology, global consumer trends, advertising and media and retailing. He and his work have been profiled in a number of periodicals including Wired, which labeled him a philosopher of e-commerce and Red Herring, which said of him, "It's Mr. Mathews' job to ask the hard questions".

His opinions on issues ranging from the future of Internet pornography to ethnic marketing have appeared on the pages of literally hundreds of newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, the Washington Post, Business Week, Chicago Tribune, the Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, Advertising Age, Fortune and American Demographics, which labeled him the "futurist to watch" in an article on individuals who have had the greatest impact on American demography over the past 25 years.

A veteran journalist, Ryan has written cover stories for Fast Company and other leading magazines and has been a frequent contributor to National Public Radio's Marketplace on topics related to innovation. He is widely regarded as an expert on consumers and their relationship to brands, products, services and the companies that offer them. Ryan has also done significant work in related areas including supply chain analysis, advertising and new product development.

He has enjoyed an extensive and diverse career as a consultant. Ryan has worked in every area of advertising from campaign creation; agency branding and positioning; client management; agency selection; and media sales.

Ryan has done extensive brand work with several Fortune 100 companies and has also taken on a number of assignments related to high-level corporate strategy and positioning from market positioning and creating competitive strategies to designing organizational structure and overseeing sales operations.

Ryan is the co-author (with Fred Crawford) of The Myth of Excellence: Why Great Companies Never Try To Be The Best at Everything (Crown Business), which debuted on the Wall Street Journal's list of Best Selling Business Books. Myth was named to the bestseller lists of Business Week, 1-800 CEOREAD and other business book tracking services. It was also a bestseller on Amazon.com. Amazon's Business Editors selected it for their list of the twelve best business books released in 2001. Writing about Myth, Frederick K. Smith, chairman, president and ceo, Federal Express called Ryan and his co-author, "...exceptional strategic thinkers who have given anyone concerned about consumers a practical, innovative and unique approach to competitive differentiation." Procter & Gamble president and ceo A.G. Lafley said of Mathews' work it, ",,,is the best tool I've seen for incorporating consumer wants and needs into your business."

He is also the co-author (with Watts Wacker) of The Deviant's Advantage: How Fringe Ideas Create Mass Markets (Crown Business), which received uniformly high reviews from The New York Times, the Harvard Business Review, the Miami Herald and Time magazine. Robert Sutton, professor, Stanford University and co-director of the Stanford Engineering School Center for Work, Technology and Organization, said of Deviant's Advantage, it, "...is the best book ever written about how and why companies can benefit from fringe ideas and people..."

Ryan was also a contributor to the best selling, Business: The Ultimate Resource (Perseus) and The Change Champion's Fieldguide: Strategies and Tools For Leading Change In Your Organization (Best Practice Publications).

In 2007 Ryan published his third book, What s Your Story?: Storytelling To Move Markets, Audiences, People and Brands. Paul A. Laudicina, Managing Officer and Chairman of the Board of A. T. Kearney called the book, "...an essential guidebook for capturing and conveying the essence of corporate identities and enriching brands." Dominique Bourse, Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Cyber Group Europe and former Senior Vice President, The Walt Disney Company (Europe) called the book, "...a must-read for marketers, brand managers, marketing students and, more globally, for anyone interested in understanding the emotional attraction/repulsion effects brands have on us." What's Your Story? was short-listed in the Advertising/Marketing Category in the first annual 800-CEO-READ Best Business Book Awards.

Ryan's books have been translated into several languages including German, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Russian.

Ryan is an acknowledged leader in organizational change and innovation practice as well as a pioneer in an area he terms, "corporate cultural ecology" which examines not why companies can't change, but rather why they choose not to.

A frequently requested keynote speaker Ryan has addressed a wide variety of subjects in his speech practice from the future of beauty to the future of house paint. His audiences have included labor groups such as the United Food & Commercial Workers Union; not for profit organizations like Planned Parenthood; associations from the Photographic Retailers Organization to the Grocery Manufacturers of America; academic institutions like Michigan State University and Pennsylvania State University; high technology forums such as Information Week's CIO Boot Camp and Accenture's E-Business Symposium; consulting audiences including Cap-Gemini, Ernst & Young and Deloitte & Touche; to consumer goods manufacturers from Sherwin Williams to Procter & Gamble, Kellogg's, Coca-Cola and numerous others. He has worked and spoken extensively in Europe for clients including Grey Advertising, Musgrave, Ltd, the British Post and Unilever. In addition to speaking and his other areas of expertise Ryan has done significant client work in organizational development as a facilitator and scenario planner.

Ryan received his BA from Hope College in philosophy and Inner Asian history and did his graduate work at the University of Detroit where he studied phenomenological ontology. He has also served on the Advisory Board of the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University's Eli Broad College of Business and is currently Industry Strategist and Senior Futurist at SmartRevenue.com.

Ryan is a Kentucky Colonel and his reputation and experience as a chili authority won him a seat on the International Chili Society's board of directors. He is also a creative artist and is co-founder of The People's Arts Festival - an annual event held in Detroit featuring artists, musicians, filmmakers and performance artists which is the largest free arts event in the state of Michigan. He is also a published poet.