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Diana Kander

Diana Kander

Driving Innovation Through the Power of Curiosity

Diana Kander and her family escaped from the Soviet Union when she was 8-years-old....

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Bio

Full Bio

Diana Kander and her family escaped from the Soviet Union when she was 8-years-old. By the time she was an American citizen, she had perfected her skills as a capitalist – selling flea market goods to grade school classmates at a markup.

Today, Diana draws on her experience as an entrepreneur and educator to serve as an innovation coach. In this role, she trains executives and Fortune 1000 companies to be more innovative and to inspire employees to think like entrepreneurs.

How did she get here? Diana was a Georgetown educated attorney who left her successful law practice to start and sell a number of ventures. The businesses spanned a number of industries: software, real estate, hospitality, construction, staffing and consulting. After the sale of her last company, Diana spent three years as a Senior Fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the largest non-profit in the world dedicated to entrepreneurship and education, and two years as a professor of entrepreneurship in the MBA program at the University of Missouri.

Diana is also the author of the New York Times Bestseller All In Startup Launching a New Idea When Everything is on the Line, a novel outlining lessons for launching successful products through the story of a struggling entrepreneur making his way through the World Series of Poker. The book has been used in over 70 colleges to teach innovation and entrepreneurship.

Diana lives in Columbia, Missouri with her high school sweetheart/best friend/husband, Jason, and their awesome son, True.

* Fun fact about Diana: As research for her latest book, The Curiosity Muscle, Diana tore her oblique muscle, but did master an 11.5-minute plank!

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Topics

Topics

Deliberate Curiosity: How four simple questions are the secret to accomplishing your personal and professional goals
Why Curiosity Is The Ultimate Competitive Advantage
How To Use The Power Of Curiosity To Solve Problems And Achieve Your Goals

Videos

Videos

Our approach to innovation is dead wrong | Diana Kander | TEDxKC
Protect Your Job From Innovation | Diana Kander | TEDxICC

Books

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News

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It was an absolute privilege to have Dr. Sanjay Gupta as our keynote speaker for the 2026 GME Leadership Conference. He delivered an outstanding address that resonated deeply and left a lasting impression on everyone in the room. The entire planning process was seamless and collaborative. It was a pleasure working together, brainstorming suggestions, and ultimately selecting the perfect fit for our event. We couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

HCA Healthcare

We had a fantastic day with Inge! She was very engaging with all those that attended. Her personal stories about the holocaust were very special and we were moved that she was willing to share them with everyone. Thank you again, PDA for all your hard work and dedication to make this program such a success!

Salt Lake Community College

It was a great pleasure to work with PDA Group! The communication was always prompt, friendly and helpful. We loved the speakers and events we booked through Mr. Peter Walker (PDA Group).

Western Michigan University

On behalf of myself and my organization Entertainment Unlimited the Campus Programming Board of Ferris State University, we thank you PDA and Dan for a successful event!! Dan was magnificent! Students really enjoyed the presentation. I know I did. Can’t wait to bring in more programs with PDA Group.

Ferris State University

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