Faisal Hoque is an accomplished entrepreneur, noted thought leader, technology innovator, advisor to CEOs, BODs, and the US federal government, and an author with more than 25 years of cross-industry success. He is the founder of SHADOKA, NextChapter, and other companies. They focus on enabling sustainable and transformational changes. Furthermore, he serves as a strategic partner and an innovation leader for CACI, a $6.7 billion company whose mission and enterprise technology and expertise play a vital role in US national security.
The Journey So Far
H e is a three time winning founder and CEO of Deloitte Technology Fast 50™ and Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ awards; and a three time Wall Street Journal bestselling author for his books REINVENT (#1), Everything Connects (#2), and LIFT (#1).
“Talk about a trip: entrepreneur Faisal Hoque started his career in the U.S. as a “janitorial engineer,” but eventually went on to raise millions for his businesses, despite setbacks like being ousted as CEO of his own company (sound familiar, Apple?).”
“We’re delighted to share the news that Faisal Hoque has earned a spot on the Shortlist for the Thinkers50 2023 Strategy Award. This biennial award highlights the best strategic thinkers in their field, by answering the question: “If you were a business leader looking for strategic guidance, who would you turn to for advice?” It recognizes the most exceptional contributions to the world of strategic management and leadership – shaping the journey and outcomes for organizations.
Faisal Hoque is an entrepreneur and thought leader known for his dedication to enabling sustainable and transformational changes. His contributions epitomize the innovative spirit that defines excellence in strategy and leadership.”
At the age of only 14, he began what would be the first of many businesses; cobbling together stereo components to sell from his father’s home in Dhaka, Bangladesh in order to save the money he would need to support his plan to study in the United States.
He built his first commercial software product at the age of 20 while studying at the University of Minnesota, and went on to hold management positions in Pitney Bowes and then Dun and Bradstreet. In 1991, Pitney Bowes recruited him to join one of their R&D groups before he finished his undergraduate degree. At Pitney and Dun and Bradstreet, he worked on cutting-edge analytics and decision support methods and systems for customer intelligence, sales effectiveness, and revenue optimization before CRM/ERP, Sales Automation, and Business Intelligence were hardly concepts.
“Faisal Hoque, the entrepreneur and innovator, was born in Bangladesh and found himself in the boardrooms of Fortune 100s by the time he was 27.”
MARSHALL GOLDSMITH
#1 Leadership Thinker in the World
As a serial entrepreneur, he has raised venture capital from angels, strategic partners, and institutional investors to fund his innovative business-to-business startups. Over the decades, his companies innovated products and solutions that: provided middleware software for complex, secure transaction processing; created industry’s first set of re-usable software components for integrated B2B e-commerce; and pioneered comprehensive business value management frameworks and platforms.
Two of the companies he founded became the “Fastest Growing North American Technology Companies” according to the “Deloitte Technology Fast 500” where he served as the Chairman and CEO.
In 1994, GE recruited him, then one of its youngest technology executives, to launch one of the industry’s first comprehensive B2B electronic commerce spin-offs, leveraging his innovation from one of his startups.
The editors of Ziff-Davis Enterprise named him one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Technology alongside leading entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Larry Page, and others.
As a thought leader, he has authored, co-authored 10 award-winning books (his awards include Axiom Gold Medal, Readers Favorite Gold, Nautilus, Foreword, PenCraft, BIBA, Book Excellence, American Book Fest, Globee, and others) on humanity, business, and technology, including the #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller REINVENT – Navigating Business Transformation in a Hyper-Digital Era published in association with IMD (Institute for Management Development) (Fast Company Press, 2023), the #1 Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller LIFT – Fostering the Leader in You Amid Revolutionary Global Change (with Jeff Wuorio and Shelley Moench-Kelly, Fast Company Press, 2022), and the #2 Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller Everything Connects – Cultivating Mindfulness, Creativity, and Innovation for Long-Term Value (with Drake Baer, 2nd Edition, Fast Company Press, 2022). His ground-breaking first book e-Enterprise was released by Cambridge University Press in 2000.
His work has appeared in Fast Company, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Fox, CBS, Financial Times, I by IMD, Mergers & Acquisitions, Forbes, Inc., Leadership Excellence, and Huffington Post among other publications.
He holds a strong belief that it is through knowledge sharing that we may provide the greatest clarity on how to improve our collective future. As a globetrotter, he is passionate about nature, people, culture, music, and design, and he loves to cook.
NOTABLE RECOGNITION
Thinkers50 2023 Strategy Award Shortlist
100 Most Influential People in Technology
Ziff-Davis Enterprise
3x Winning Founder and CEO
Technology Fast 50 | Technology Fast 500™
Deloitte
3x WSJ Bestselling Author
REINVENT (#1), Everything Connects (#2), LIFT (#1)
2023 Top Thought Leader
2014 Top 100 Thought Leader
TAA-TWA
Leaders to Watch
American Management Association
Bestselling Author of REINVENT
#1 Wall Street Journal
#1 Amazon
#1 Barnes & Noble
13th Annual 2023 Globee® Awards for Business
2023 Best Business Book | Silver Winner
2023 Global EBook Awards
Best Business Book | Gold Winner
The 21st Annual American Business Awards®
2023 Best Business Book of The Year | Silver Stevie Winner
14th Annual Awards | American Books Fest
2023 International Book Awards
IBA Best Business Book in the Category of Business: Management and Leadership
PenCraft Seasonal Book Award
2023 Summer Best Book | Business/Finance
Bestselling Author of LIFT
#1 Wall Street Journal
#111 USA Today Combined List
#1 Amazon
#2 Barnes & Noble
2023 Readers Favorite Book Awards
Gold Medalist in Business/Finance
2023 Axiom Business Book Awards
Gold Medalist in Independent Thought Leaders
2023 Nautilus Book Award
Silver in Business and Leadership
2023 Book Excellence Award Winner in Leadership
PenCraft Seasonal Book Award
2023 Spring’s Best Book | Business/Finance
PenCraft Seasonal Book Award
2023 Winter’s Best Book | Business/Finance
14th Annual Awards | American Books Fest
2023 International Book Awards
IBA Finalist in the Category of Business: Management and Leadership
American Book Fest
2022 Best Business Management and Leadership Book
Globee Awards
2022 Publication of the Year | Best Business Book
Stevie International Business Awards
2022 Publication of the Year | Best Business Book
Best Indie Book Award®
International Literary Award | 2022 BIBA® Non-Fiction: Business Winner
2022 INDIES Book of the Year Finalist
Foreword Reviews | Business & Economics
Bestselling Author of Everything Connects
#2 Wall Street Journal
#77 USA Today Combined List
#1 Amazon
#1 Barnes & Noble
Globee Awards
2023 Publication of the Year | Best Business Book
2023 Book Excellence Award Finalist in Business
One of the 12 Business Books You Will Need to Read in 2014
Adam Grant, Wharton Professor, New York Times Bestselling Author of Give and Take
The Power of Convergence
One of the Best Business Books of 2011
800CEOREAD, CIO Insight
Winning the 3-Legged Race
Top 5 Transformation Books
CIO Insight
Sustained Innovation
Editor’s Picks: The 10 Best Business Books of 2007
CIO Insight
“Mr. Convergence”
CIO Quarterly
Acclaim 
Fun Facts
As a globetrotter, Faisal is passionate about nature, people, culture, music, and design. He also absolutely loves to cook. Check out his Piquant Plate cooking journal.

Faisal's Book Shelf
Most Impactful Non-Fiction Book Read

SĀDHANĀ: The Realization of Life
Rabindranath Tagore
A breathtaking collection of spiritual discourses given by Rabindranath Tagore to the boys in his school, in Bolpur, West Bengal. Compiled and translated by Tagore from his Bengali lectures, the book consists of eight essays, in which Tagore answers some of the most profound questions of life.
Most Impactful Business Book Read

Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Peter F. Drucker
The first book to present innovation and entrepreneurship as purposeful that explains and analyzes the challenges and opportunities of America’ s new entrepreneurial economy. A superbly practical book that explains what to know, learn, and do in today’ s economy.