Change doesn’t care if you like it or not. It happens without your permission. How do organisations and people stay ahead of the curve in a world where the fastest growing economy is a communist one, rugby league players are metrosexuals who moisturise, and Susan Boyle took less than 48 hours to reach more people than radio did in the first 38 years of its evolution?
Professional agitators Anders Sorman-Nilsson and Nils Vesk challenged a roomful of Sydney’s best and brightest brains to upgrade their thinking. Sparks flew.
‘Have you ever stopped to think, and forgotten to start again?’ – Winnie the Pooh.
That was not the problem for the audience at the Sydney Opera House on April 15.
According to Sorman-Nilsson, the world has changed, and it’s a little out of whack. Things ain’t the way they used to be and that is exactly how they ought to be. Kids are excelling in second life, but flunking in first life; Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has been flipped on its head. It used to be that we had to learn one new skill every year, then every month, then every week. How long before things will be changing for each and every one of us hourly?
The world has just been through the worst recession we never had, and things are accelerating post-downturn faster than ever before. Companies are struggling just to keep up. It is up to the leaders of business to ensure that they don’t waste a good crisis.
Over first fifteen minutes of the event, Anders and Nils ran through a series of significant trends, observations and external scans that indicate how quickly and unpredictably the world of business is changing in the twenty-first century. Anders flew through his mind-bending presentation assisted by mindmapping software prezi. Take a look here:
‘A mind once stretched by a new idea never returns to its original dimensions.’ So said Oliver Wendell Holmes, US author and physician.
Meanwhile, Nils Vesk asked the audience what was on their minds. The topics for discussion emerged:
- How to get new ideas to business leaders
- Risk and risk management
- How to cope with change
- Are we happier?
- How can we control greed? And,
- What is design thinking?
Through the course of the next 90 minutes, the conversation wended its way through these subjects, assisted on its way by passionate interjections from attendees including CEOs, chief creative officers, writers, managers, designers, academics and thinkers of all stripes.
Nils tracked the course of the conversation by drawing and recording the proceedings. His pictures are here:
Much of the conversation centred around the age old conundrum of stimulating short term innovation while balancing long term profitability. Craig Davis, chief creative officer of Publicis Mojo went further, saying innovation can no longer be solely about the bottom line, it must be directed towards solving the major problems facing the world. The measurability of innovation is a perennial issue for business leaders.
How to effectively engage with customers and the use of social media was a significant focal point, as were ideas for empowering staff to experiment, take risk, and fail.
Thanks again for the invitation to the B21C event last Thursday night at the Opera House. It was a fantastic event! I really came away with lots of new ideas that I picked up from both Anders + Nils, as well as the other business leaders that were in the audience. The conversations were very thought provoking and I am really looking forward to reading the book we all received. Ive been to quite a few business discussions that have been hosted by a range of companies over the last 12 months and this one was by far the most interesting. Well done !
Killer event last night. I’m churning through the book….Thank you for what was another fascinating evening.
Thanks for a fabulous event – extremely stimulating discussion amongst a great crowd of people. Sydney doesn’t have nearly enough of this kind of thing.
I really enjoyed last night. Its been a long time since I felt so excited at a business event. I’m really looking forward to the next Business21C shindig – what will you come up with next?
