Christopher S. Rollyson Founder Message

Contact | LinkedIn

I am passionate about helping people lead in high-stakes situations, and my career mission is helping organizations to become more human, less mechanical and more competitive. For over 25 years, I’ve guided organizations’ adoption of technologies, processes and behaviors that change the rules. I’ve worked on both sides of the desk, advising clients on using disruption as a consultant and leading transformation as a line executive (marketing). Some firms I’ve worked with: IBM, Sun Microsystems, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Sears, Micron, Motorola, UBS, GM, Thomson…

I’ve learned that I have an unusual approach: as a futurist, I detect and focus on emerging patterns of change in the economy, markets and industries; as a guide, I create rapid innovation cycles and adoption tools, so clients can move ahead of the market with less risk; as a practitioner, I know the technology, marketing and the diffusion of innovation. My clients constantly tell me that I can explain complicated or unknown market phenomena and technologies in ways they can understand and act on, as well as commercial applications of technologies and disruptions.

Today I lead CSRA Inc., and we help firms use experiential social media and social business to change the rules and evolve and transform. After research and planning, we get into the trenches with our clients and show them how to activate the Trust Business Chain Reaction, a reliable process for increasing profit with social business. Some unusual facets of my experience:

• I’m grounded in serving people because it’s who I am, but I’ve also learned it produces better business results; this led me to design CSRA’s pragmatic approach to ethnographic research of social media and a 450-page book that’s an interactive app. In this video I share how experiential heals business.
• I’ve managed multi-party engagements as a consultant as well as complex marketing programs as an executive, a rare combination.
• I have analytical and creative design experience, so I can create products, programs and new ventures that empower people and solve business problems.
• I often create and leverage proprietary IP (intellectual property) to facilitate adoption; examples are CSRA’s Social Network Roadmap and the ebusiness services framework for a global consultancy.
• I’ve lived and worked in 6 countries… speak several languages.

For speaking/conference qualifications (+ pdf/video/podcast links), see Speaking.

For a formal biography, see Bio.