<p>Dr. Scott Parazynski is a highly decorated physician, astronaut, explorer, technology startup founder and CEO who applies the lessons of calculated risk in extreme environment exploration to leadership, teamwork and innovation.</p><p>A graduate of Stanford University and Medical School, Dr. Parazynski trained at Harvard and in Denver in preparation for a career in emergency medicine and trauma. In 1992, he was selected to join NASA’s Astronaut Corps. Over his 17-year career as an astronaut, Scott flew five Space Shuttle missions and conducted seven spacewalks (EVAs). </p><p>With audiences, Dr. Parazynski offers important lessons on teamwork, risk management, and innovation under the most demanding circumstances, on or off the planet. In 2007, Parazynski led the EVA team on STS-120, a highly complex space station assembly flight, during which he performed four EVAs. The flight’s fourth and final EVA is regarded as one of the most challenging and dangerous ever performed. Tasked with repairing a fully energized solar array wing, Scott was positioned by a 90-foot robotic boom farther than any orbiting astronaut had ever ventured from the safety of the airlock. That coordinated effort in orbit and on the ground by Mission Control is often likened to the Space Shuttle/Space Station era’s “Apollo 13 moment.” Dr. Parazynski was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2016.</p><p>A life-long explorer, Dr. Parazynski is also an accomplished scuba diver, pilot, and mountaineer whose treks have taken him around the world, from the top of Mt. Everest in 2009 to the depths of one of the world’s highest lakes on top of the active Licancabur volcano. In 2016, he and a colleague set the first boot prints adjacent the world’s youngest lava lake, inside the crater of the Masaya volcano in Nicaragua. </p><p>A prolific inventor and serial entrepreneur, Dr. Parazynski also serves on the boards of several companies and is the founder and CEO of Fluidity Technologies, an award-winning technology startup focused on the development of devices that leverage machine learning to simplify 3-D motion controls for everything from drones, VR/AR applications and video games to surgical robotics. </p><p>Dr. Parazynski is the bestselling author of <i>The Sky Below: A True Story of Summits, Space, and Speed</i>, a memoir of a remarkable life from a storyteller who shows audiences how to apply the lessons of extreme environment exploration to leadership and to catalyzing innovative, resilient cultures and teams. </p>
Accomplished NASA Shuttle Astronaut, Physician, Explorer, Inventor, Technology Startup Founder and CEO
<ul><li><strong>Leadership Under Extreme Adversity, On and Off the Planet</strong></li><li>Scott has brought diverse teams together, challenging enormous odds on, far above and underneath the earth's surface. Drawing on his lessons learned from the harsh vacuum of space, the route to the summit of Everest, and within tense operating rooms and board rooms, he relates attributes of situationally appropriate leadership and company culture that have yielded enormous successes over many years. Punctuated by great storytelling, breathtaking imagery and a self-deprecating good humor, his style is relatable and inspirational to all audiences.</li><li><strong>The Opportunity and The Obligation to Innovate</strong></li><li>To be an innovator, you need to be both open-minded and relentless in the hunt for problems that need to be fixed. For a company to be truly disruptive and grow, it must create an environment in which every employee is not just allowed to contribute to the advancement of the mission but also feels an obligation to innovate. That's the kind of environment and work ethic Scott has spent a lifetime advancing: from developing tools and techniques to recover from the Space Shuttle Columbia accident to developing innovative medical devices and enhancing safety on the slopes of the world's highest mountains. He draws on his background working in extreme environments as a catalyst for innovation in daily life. In this presentation, he transfers that mindset to your workforce with powerful examples from aerospace, medicine, mountaineering and everyday life, along with a healthy dose of engaging, relatable stories and good humor!</li><li><strong>Managing Risk vs. Taking Risk</strong></li><li>You may think that someone who has zoomed down luge tracks, flown high-performance supersonic aircraft, walked in space at considerable peril, reached the top of Mount Everest, and performed a scientific dive in the world's highest lake may be a bit of a daredevil. That is not the case. Scott prepares for work in these challenging realms through study, training, and previsualization of his success and his obstacles. But he also insists on having a backup to the backup plan. Knowing how complex systems work and how they might fail is one of many skills in his toolkit, and his lessons learned are relatable to all industries. Scott is a storyteller and he shares his story in ways that leave audiences knowing they can apply them into their own lives.</li></ul>