Jonathan MacDonald

Jonathan MacDonald is an award-winning, bestselling author and one of the most in-demand keynote speakers in the world on the topics of change, digital transformation, mindset, innovation, strategy and the future.

He is also the Founder and CEO of SELF, the next generation digital assistant. SELF uses the completely decentralised infrastructure of Minima, of which Jonathan was the CMO.

With a background in retail, entertainment and strategy, Jonathan has been creating and advising businesses for over three decades. He was the youngest ever Chairman of the British Music Industries Association.

Later, as Commercial Director for Ministry of Sound, Jonathan turned an analogue company into a digital powerhouse, helping to expand the global franchise around the world. He also launched the first-ever Sky TV station specifically for musicians, “The Musicians Channel”, generating higher viewing figures than MTV.

An entrepreneur and investor, Jonathan has over ten start-ups to his credit. He has also advised well-known, blue-chip companies including Google, Microsoft, Apple, amongst many more. He is trusted by senior executives around the world to convert his insights into profitable business strategies and personal success.

As a thought-leader, he contributes to numerous publications including Forbes, Google’s Think Insights, and The British Airways Business Life magazine.

Jonathan’s critically acclaimed book “Powered By Change“ became a Sunday Times Bestseller and won the 2019 Business Book Awards. The book introduces ‘The Windmill Theory’, demonstrating how businesses can be designed for perpetual success.

His latest book, The Rise Of Advanced Thought, about how to train your thinking to achieve almost anything, is complemented by The Academy of Advanced Thought, a training system for the brain founded by Jonathan. It focuses on developing your thought muscle to enable it to be in the best condition it can be.

To fuel his quest for new insights into the human mind, and to create the foundation for The Rise Of Advanced Thought, Jonathan recently received a diploma from the National Research University High School of Economics in Neuroeconomics, an emerging interdisciplinary field looking at how economic decision-making actually happens inside the brain and how it determines a course of action.

In 2019, Jonathan took the bronze medal in the Sports Jiu-Jitsu World Championships, after winning the British Sports Jiu-Jitsu Heavyweight Championship in 2018. He has been a blackbelt martial artist for many years, specialising in full-contact kickboxing.