Events Archive - Page 29 of 52

Thanks to a small but incredibly contagious RNA we have all become unwitting participants in a seismic experiment. Over 4 billion people in 131 countries have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in over $3 trillion direct economic loss, and 2-3 years of significant disruption and uncertainty in every sector.

Crisis is a catalyst for change. As markets are shaken up, customers shift priorities, and companies adapt to survive. A downturn is typically a peak time of innovation. In fact 57% of the Fortune 500 were founded in a downturn. Inefficiencies are rejected as business priorities quickly change, and new customer behaviours emerge offering new opportunities. We are all familiar with the rapid shifts in the ways we work, travel, shop, learn and much more. Some will stick.

Many companies have struggled in recent months, whilst others have thrived. Amazon to Bytedance, Starship to Zoom, Tesla’s rise is one of the most remarkable, a 5 times increase in market value in 12 months, propelling it to the world’s most valuable automobile. This is not simply because of a cool car, it is much more about a future portfolio, technology selection, business model, and global ecosystem.

The real legacy of Covid-19 for most industries will be a rapid acceleration in digitalisation, and in many other associated trends. There are 5 significant mega trends worth considering, and how they will shape your future. In some case we will see the next 20 years in the next 2 years. By looking at some of the adjacent industries to your own, we quickly get a sense of where change is likely to be most significant and rapid.

The 4th industrial revolution was already upon us – a blueprint for a more automated and networked, intelligent and personalised future – but the broader impacts on society and the environment will also be amplified as a result of this crisis. Consider the transformation in industries like energy, finance, healthcare – and the transformational journeys of companies like Orsted, DBS and PingAn.

Now is the time for business leaders to step up. So many great leaders are forged in a crisis – how they overcome adversity, how they bring care and empathy, but also hope and inspiration.

Now is the time to reimagine your business, to jump to the future and then work backwards to redefine priorities, but also to seize this moment to shape a new path in your own vision. This takes courage, to think and act in new ways. However if you can translate new ideas into courageous action, you have the opportunity to emerge from these difficult times fitter and stronger, and with a business, a team of people, and an industry creating a better future, today.

The most innovative businesses see the world differently.

They don’t just seek to imitate the success of others, to compete in the markets of today, to frame themselves by their relative differences to competitors. Instead they play their own game.

So what’s the “game”? Well, in simple terms, it’s the market.

These companies go beyond innovating their products and services, their customer experienes and business models. They seek to innovate how their markets work.

Think of it like a sports game. How could you change the game? It could be anything from the pitch dimensions to rules of play, the team composition to the measures of success, the role of the referee to the participation of fans. Even the name of the game.

Now look at today’s most disruptive innovators reframe, reimagine and redefine the market on their terms – who is it for, why people buy, what they pay and get, and how they work.

I’ve met and profiled over 250 “gamechanger” companies on my travels, in almost every sector, and in every part of the world. Corporate giants and start-ups, from Dubai to Berlin, Colombo to Qingdao.

There is no one way to change the game, but there are definitely some common traits:

Audacious – Gamechangers are visionary and innovative, but also daring and original; they seek to shape the future to their advantage.
Purposeful – They seek to make life better, in some relevant and inspiring way; they have a higher motive than just making money.
Networked – Gamechangers harness the power of networks, digital and physical, both business and customer networks, to exponentially reach further faster.
Intelligent – They use big data analytics and algorithms, machine learning and AI, to be smart and efficient, personal and predictive.
Collaborative – Gamechangers work with others, from ecosystems to platforms, social networks and co-creation, to achieve more together.
Enabling – They focus not on what they do, but what they enable people to do; and thereby redefine their marketspace, find new opportunities and redefine value.
Commercial – Gamechangers take a longer-term perspective, adopting new business models, and recalibrating the measures of progress and success.

Do you have a future mindset?

Today’s business leaders need a future mindset. That sounds obvious, but isn’t.

Most leaders have a “fixed mindset”. They keep stretching the old models of success. They stay loyal to the model that made them great, seeking to squeeze and tweak it for as long as possible. They seek perfection – to optimise what they currently do – which leads to efficiency and incremental gains.

Instead a “future mindset” is prepared to let go of the past. To explore the future, to experiment with new ways of working and winning. Failure is a way to learn, and innovation becomes the norm. Change is relentless inside, as it is outside. Innovation is their lifeblood. Like Jeff Bezos loves to say “it is always day one”.

With a future mindset, the CEO needs new attributes:

Sense maker – to interpret a fast and confusing world, to see new patterns and opportunities, what is relevant and not, to shape your own vision.
Radical optimist – to inspire people with a stretching ambition, positive and distinctive, to be audacious, to see the possibilities when others only see risk.
Future hacker – they start from the “future back”, with clarity of purpose and intent, encouraging ideas and experiments, leveraging resource and scale.
Ideas connector – da Vinci said innovation is about making unusual connections; connecting new people, new partners, new capabilities and new ideas.
Emotionally agile – whilst organisational agility is essential, emotional agility matters even more; to cope with change, to be intuitive in making sense, and making choices.
Entrepreneur at large – keeping the founders mentality alive, hands-on working with project teams to infuse the mindset, to be the catalyst and coach.
Having grit – “gamechanger” leaders need to go against the grain, to persist but know when to move on, to have self belief and confidence, guts and resilience.

The future is a better place to start

Start from the “future back”.

Trying to evolve in today’s complex and confused world is unlikely to lead you towards a bright and distinctive future. It will extend your life a little longer, but it will be tough and uninspiring, with diminishing returns.

Instead jump to the future. I tend to start with five years ahead, although it may differ by company. 5 years is long enough to change the world, but close enough to be real. Start by creating a positive, collective and inspiring vision of the future market. What will it be like? What will people want? Why? How? Where? Then consider how to win in this new world.

This is where “moonshot thinking” can be really useful. “Why be 10% better, when you could be 10 times better?” 10 times more profits, more customers, more quality, reduced cost, reduced time. Whatever. By giving yourself a “How could we do it 10x better” challenge you take a new perspective, solve problems in different ways.

Be inspired by ideas from other places.

Explore how ARM or GE, Inditex or Netflix, Glossier or Novo Nordisk have changed their markets. Choose any of my 100+ “gamechanger” companies! How did they do it? How did customers respond? (Remember, they often serve the same customers as you!). You can’t learn much from competitors, but you can learn a lot from relevant parallels.

Copy. Adapt. Paste.

Customer insight also matters. Deep dives and design thinking, exploring the emerging trends and deviant behaviours. This can enhance and validate your ideas, but the problem with most customer insight is that it is filtered by our current world. You need something to disrupt your thinking.

I have a great box of disruptive techniques. Some are really simple – like break then remake the rules, like imagine its free then find a way to make money, like reverse polarities and many more. The point is to disrupt your conventional thinking.

From this, ideas rapidly emerge. You need lots of ideas about the future. But these are fragments of the real answer. The real creativity comes in fusing together into bigger “concepts”. These could be customer solutions, or new ways of working, new revenue streams, or new business models, and new market scenarios.

Once you have a clear and collective ambition for the future, it’s time to work backwards. “If this is how we want to be in 5 years, where do we need to get to in 3 years, and then in 1 year? Therefore what do we need to start doing now?” You develop a “horizon plan” for your business; a strategy roadmap if you like, but developed backwards.

The important thing is that by working backwards, you have jumped out of the morass of today. You’ve avoided the assumptions, limitations, problems and priorities of today’s thinking. You have a more inspiring “gamechanging” future, and have started to map out the steps to get there. Most likely with different priorities in the short-term too.

Of course the steps on this journey might change, but it’s going to be an exciting adventure.

Change the way we think, resolve the conflicts

In today’s busineses, we have created artificial divides in how we think and operate. Digital and physical seem like two different worlds, global and local seem like alternative strategies that cannot combine, many still struggle to align value to customers and shareholders in a mutually reinforcing way, and short and long-termism continues to confuse our priorities.

Our thinking within business, has created separate and apparently conflicting approaches. The opportunity is to make the combination of both approaches world – “fusions” if you like – to be innovative in the way you combine apparent opposites.

Digital and physical are two sides of the same coin.

There is only one world, unless you believe Ray Kurzweil, and it is the real one. It’s human and physical. Digital technologies are incredibly powerful, enabling people to connect, to work, to learn, to play in new ways. From mobile phones to blockchains, 3D printing and augmented reality, digital allows us to do more, do it faster, do things we could never do before. But it’s still about humanity.

Start with people. How can you enable them to achieve more? To live better, to have more fun, to do better for the world. Whatever matters. I work closely with Richard Branson and his Virgin teams. Their mindset is to “start from the outside, and then work in”. Design a better customer experience. Built on your ambition and insight, and then explore how you could deliver it with new and existing capabilities.

Global and local are opportunities for every business.

I love Amazon’s “Treasure Truck” … Most of us have never connected with Amazon beyond the website and the delivery guy. Amazon is huge, global and anonymous. But the Treasure Truck is real. It travels around the country, bringing its pop-up store to local neighbourhoods, fun and games, bargains and demos. For Amazon, it’s a chance to make real connections, listen to people, and to be local.

We can all see a backlash in society against relentless globalisation, huge corporations, and social inequality. We see a lack of trust in brands, and know that authenticity matters. Etsy shows us that even the smallest and most local artisan businesses can also be global. For every business, local and global markets are within reach, however it’s also about combining scale and standardisation, with relevance and individuality.

Ideas and networks should be the core of your business.

Gamechanger businesses need a compelling idea, a core purpose, an inspiring proposition, that can spread fast and contagiously. In a digitally-fuelled world, the most innovative businesses embrace “ideas and networks” to drive exponential impact – like WhatsApp creating $19bn in three years, Airbnb $40bn in 9 years, Alibaba $476bn in 18 years, Amazon $740bn in 23 years.

Think about that concept of “exponential” … The power of networks – be it franchisees, or distributors, or customers and users – lies not in the number of members, but in the connections between them. Networks have a multiplying effect. Exponential. Consider, for example, Rapha, the sportwear brand that brings together people with a passion for cycling, who conveniently meet at their “Cycle Club” stores, and buy their premium gear. A fantastic “ideas and networks” business.

Finally this idea of short-term and long-term being in conflict with each other.

Jeff Bezos never has this problem, nor Elon Musk, nor Richard Branson. They focus on the long-term, recognising it will require some years of investment to get there. They all of course lead privately-owned companies. But every public company has the same ambition to innovate and grow. And so do most of their investors, actually.

The reality is that any company’s stock market performance is based on its future earnings potential, not its past. The better you can engage with equity analysts, journalists and investors themselves to explain why you will deliver a better future worth waiting for, then you get their support. If you don’t engage them in your future vision, plans and innovations, then they will default to looking for short-term evidence. It’s really in our hands, to work together to create a future we want to invest in. And to share the greater risk and rewards.

Time to embrace your future mindset

We live in an incredible time … More change in the next 10 years than in the last 250 years … remember? I know that sounds a little crazy, but think about Hyperloop in 3 years, a tipping point to electric cars in 5 years, Mars missions in 8 years. They are all real, and possible.

Digital platforms connecting buyers and sellers in new ways, blockchain having the potential to transform relationships and trust, 3d printing having the potential to transform value chains to deliver anything personalised and on-demand, AI and robotics giving us the capabilities to be superhuman in our minds and bodies.

These are just some of the fantastic new capabilities that enable us to innovate beyond what we can even imagine today. The future isn’t like the future used to be. We cannot just evolve or extrapolate the past. Today’s future is discontinuous, disruptive, different.

It is imagination that will move us forwards … unlocking the technological possibilities, applying them to real problems and opportunities, to drive innovation and growth in every industry, in every part of our lives.

Imagine a world where you press “print” to get the dress of your dreams, the food of your fantasies, or the spare parts for your car. Instantly, personalised and on demand. Think then what does that mean if we don’t need the huge scale of manufacturing plants, warehousing and transportation. Maybe we will even subscribe to the IP catalogues of brands, rather than buy standard products, in the ways we currently subscribe to Netflix.

Time to embrace your growth mindset … Unlock your Einstein dreams and Picasso passion … Embrace your Mandela courage and Ghandi spirit. Be more curious, be more intuitive, be more human. Ask more questions. Don’t be afraid to have audacious ideas, to challenge the old models of success, and turn future ambitions into practical profitable reality.

How else did Zespri reinvent the Chinese gooseberry as the kiwi fruit? How else will SpaceX reach Mars by 2025? How else did Netflix came to be, or NuTonomy, or Nespresso, or Nyx?

This is why 23andMe’s Anne Wojicki wont give up in her quest to make DNA analysis available to everyone, and to ultimately find a cure for cancer. And it’s why Jack Ma didn’t give up as he rose from $1000-per year English teacher to technological royalty.

The secret is the future mindset.

To realise that the future is malleable. So we need to grab hold of it, and shape it in our own vision. To our advantage.

This is what “gamechangers” do.

More ideas from Peter Fisk …

Article: Leading the future: The 10x Leader
Article: Leading the future: Amplifying Potential
Article: Leading the future: Are you the Einstein or Picasso of Business?
Article: Leading the future: How to innovate like Leonardo da Vinci
Blog: Leaders and Loonshots: What are the best new ideas in business?
Blog: The Age of AI: Smart robots, conscious computers and the future of humanity
Blog: 17 Lessons from Asian Business: Learning from China, India, Singapore and beyond
Blog: Do you believe in unicorns? The $1 billion starts have become giants across the world
Book: “Gamechangers: Are you ready to change the world?“
Book: “Customer Genius: Becoming a customer centric business“
Book: “Business Genius: A more inspired approach to strategy and leadership”
Book: “People Planet Profit: How to embrace sustainability for innovation and growth“
Keynote: Business Recoded
Keynote: Leading Change in a Disruptive World
Keynote: Man and Machine
Keynote: Business Lessons from Asian Innovators
Masterclass: Strategic Innovation
Masterclass: Game Changing Strategies
Masterclass: Disrupt or be Disrupted
Masterclass: Hacking Exponential Growth

About this event, organised by IBIS

Since its inception in 2001, IBIS – the International Bodyshop Industry Symposium – has become firmly established as the world’s leading collision repair conference provider.

IBIS has built up an enviable reputation as a source of high-level information and market analysis; a forum for high-level debate; a melting pot of innovative approaches to industry problems and, of course, incomparable networking opportunities. World class conference content and speakers are the driving force behind the success of IBIS conferences.

IBIS consistently delivers groundbreaking thought-leading presentations on a wide range of issues that consistently receive outstanding feedback from delegates. Whether it is a local Forum event, a larger Regional or the Global Summit itself, IBIS looks at the present and future opportunities and challenges to give all delegates a competitive edge.

Safety, Skills and Standards
IBIS advocates the need for the global collision repair industry to raise its safety, skills and standards in all sectors and markets. It supports positive change around the world and provides a framework to focus on these three pillars, which are at the core of the IBIS principles.

IBIS history
IBIS was founded in 2001 by UK bodyshop magazine owners Christopher Mann and David Young. The inaugural conference was held at the Celtic Manor Resort Hotel in Wales in 2001 and hosted 120 delegates from 12 countries. Since then, IBIS events has been held at various venues around the world and delegates numbers have steadily grown. The Global Summit event now annually attracts over 350 delegates, representing every major market.

IBIS quality and influence
The focus of IBIS has always been on quality of delegate, rather than quantity. It is widely accepted that IBIS attracts the most influential cross section of key collision industry players of any industry event, providing a unique international networking platform for those taking part. IBIS continues to prove its value to insurance companies, vehicle manufacturers, multi-site collision repair operators (MSOs), and associated businesses that see the IBIS Global Summit as the zenith of the industry’s year.

Links on the future of automotive:

Photo: Unsplash

The most innovative businesses see the world differently.

They don’t just seek to imitate the success of others, to compete in the markets of today, to frame themselves by their relative differences to competitors. Instead they play their own game.

So what’s the “game”? Well, in simple terms, it’s the market.

These companies go beyond innovating their products and services, their customer experienes and business models. They seek to innovate how their markets work.

Adidas seeks to change the game – to change markets, change society, change lives. The brand says “through sport, we have the power to change lives”

“Sport is central to every culture and society and is core to an individual’s health and happiness. We believe that through sport, we have the power to change lives. We work every day to inspire and enable people to harness the power of sport in their lives. Everything we do is rooted in sports.”

Now look at today’s most disruptive innovators reframe, reimagine and redefine the market on their terms – who is it for, why people buy, what they pay and get, and how they work.

There is no one way to change the game, but there are definitely some common traits:

Audacious – Gamechangers are visionary and innovative, but also daring and original; they seek to shape the future to their advantage.
Purposeful – They seek to make life better, in some relevant and inspiring way; they have a higher motive than just making money.
Networked – Gamechangers harness the power of networks, digital and physical, both business and customer networks, to exponentially reach further faster.
Intelligent – They use big data analytics and algorithms, machine learning and AI, to be smart and efficient, personal and predictive.
Collaborative – Gamechangers work with others, from ecosystems to platforms, social networks and co-creation, to achieve more together.
Enabling – They focus not on what they do, but what they enable people to do; and thereby redefine their marketspace, find new opportunities and redefine value.
Commercial – Gamechangers take a longer-term perspective, adopting new business models, and recalibrating the measures of progress and success.

Do you have a future mindset?

Today’s business leaders need a future mindset. That sounds obvious, but isn’t.

With a future mindset, the CEO needs new attributes:

Sense maker – to interpret a fast and confusing world, to see new patterns and opportunities, what is relevant and not, to shape your own vision.
Radical optimist – to inspire people with a stretching ambition, positive and distinctive, to be audacious, to see the possibilities when others only see risk.
Future hacker – they start from the “future back”, with clarity of purpose and intent, encouraging ideas and experiments, leveraging resource and scale.
Ideas connector – da Vinci said innovation is about making unusual connections; connecting new people, new partners, new capabilities and new ideas.
Emotionally agile – whilst organisational agility is essential, emotional agility matters even more; to cope with change, to be intuitive in making sense, and making choices.
Entrepreneur at large – keeping the founders mentality alive, hands-on working with project teams to infuse the mindset, to be the catalyst and coach.
Having grit – “gamechanger” leaders need to go against the grain, to persist but know when to move on, to have self belief and confidence, guts and resilience.

The future is a better place to start

Start from the “future back”.

Be inspired by ideas from other places.

Copy. Adapt. Paste.

Of course the steps on this journey might change, but it’s going to be an exciting adventure.

Change the way we think, resolve the conflicts

Digital and physical are two sides of the same coin.

Global and local are opportunities for every business.

Ideas and networks should be the core of your business.

Finally this idea of short-term and long-term being in conflict with each other.

Time to embrace your future mindset

How else did Zespri reinvent the Chinese gooseberry as the kiwi fruit? How else will SpaceX reach Mars by 2025? How else did Netflix came to be, or NuTonomy, or Nespresso, or Nyx?

The secret is the future mindset.

To realise that the future is malleable. So we need to grab hold of it, and shape it in our own vision. To our advantage.

This is what “gamechangers” do.

More ideas from Peter Fisk …

Article: Leading the future: The 10x Leader
Article: Leading the future: Amplifying Potential
Article: Leading the future: Are you the Einstein or Picasso of Business?
Article: Leading the future: How to innovate like Leonardo da Vinci
Blog: Leaders and Loonshots: What are the best new ideas in business?
Blog: The Age of AI: Smart robots, conscious computers and the future of humanity
Blog: 17 Lessons from Asian Business: Learning from China, India, Singapore and beyond
Blog: Do you believe in unicorns? The $1 billion starts have become giants across the world
Book: “Gamechangers: Are you ready to change the world?“
Book: “Customer Genius: Becoming a customer centric business“
Book: “Business Genius: A more inspired approach to strategy and leadership”
Book: “People Planet Profit: How to embrace sustainability for innovation and growth“
Keynote: Business Recoded
Keynote: Leading Change in a Disruptive World
Keynote: Man and Machine
Keynote: Business Lessons from Asian Innovators
Masterclass: Strategic Innovation
Masterclass: Game Changing Strategies
Masterclass: Disrupt or be Disrupted
Masterclass: Hacking Exponential Growth

Download Peter Fisk’s masterclass: The New Leaders

“Leaders of business. This is your wake-up call. You’ve been living on borrowed time. Raping the natural world of its resources, and leaving a toxic mess in its place. These weather patterns are not freaks, they are the world you have created. Blinding the man on the street with your superficial innovations and image. What about the sweatshops, the emissions, the packaging, the greed? It doesn’t look good”

Sustainability is the best opportunity for business to drive smarter innovation and profitable growth.

Peter Fisk’s book People Planet Profit explores how to address social and environmental challenges through customers and brands in a way that has more impact than politicians or environmentalists ever could. It introduces a more inspired, more balanced approach to business. Full of case studies and practical tools, it is the essential guide for managers.People do not trust business. They increasingly see companies as irresponsible, greedy and inhuman. Climate change and economic downturn have accelerated new expectations.

Businesses need to reengage people, to understand their new priorities, rethink their role and propositions, work in new ways, and enable people to do more themselves. Resolving the many paradoxes faced by customers who want the best things but also to do “the right thing” and business leaders who want to grow but in more responsible ways.

There are many books about sustainability – mostly around the worthy themes of “reduce, recycle, reuse”. However this goes beyond that initial phases to “rethink” business.

It is positive not negative, about opportunities not problems, driven by creativity not compliance, a whole business challenge, not left to a few people. It is about connecting social, environment and economic challenges, to achieve a new balance, that is more different from competitors and inspiring your people. And its about building brands in way that builds capacity rather than just making sales, enabling people to do more for themselves and their worlds, rather than just buy your product or service.

People Planet Profit is about that these three agendas. But more importantly, about how they connect. How doing more for the Planet can create more for People and more for Profit. Innovation is about making new connections, and that is what this book is about, and why sustainability is the biggest catalyst, for more enlightened innovation, and more enduring growth.

Purpose beyond Profits : Business should be about making people’s lives better, defining an inspiring purpose and turning promises into reality.
Strategies for Growth : Business strategy must focus on finding markets with sustainable growth, creating differentiation by doing good and new business models for a new world.
Inspiring Leadership : Leaders of the new business world are the catalysts of change, the conscience of a better business, and facilitators of rethinking and innovation.
Conscience Consumers : There is a new consumer agenda, based around me, my world, and the world. Business must create more capacity, enabling people to do more.
Sustainable Innovation : Resolving the paradox between what people dream of, and what is good for all of us, between what makes most money and what is the right thing to do.
Engaging consumers : People are engaged through enlightened dialogue, building networks to enable collaborative actions, and delivering a more authentic consumer experience
Sustainable Operations : Businesses must learn to work better together – good sourcing, transporting and producing, embracing the power of sustainable energy and technology.
Delivering Performance : Certification, labels and sustainable impacts, linking sustainability to business results, managing business performance and reputation
Transforming Business : Making sustainable change happen, starting by articulating a better case for change, commercial and caring, and managing the implementation
Sustainable Futures : Leading in the new business world is about sustainable innovation and lifestyles, where business and brands are the new force for positive change

The book ends with a vision of the future business leader, Joachim Cruz, the CEO of BlueSky, an innovative travel business based in Copenhagen. He embraces the new agendas, the new technologies, the new capital markets. But he also has time to smile, to pick up his kids from school, and sit back and enjoy his home-grown glass of Tempranillo.

Download: People Planet Profit : The Manifesto
Download: People Planet Profit : The 7 Transformations
Download: People Planet Profit : The Business Case
Download: People Planet Profit : The Executive Development Programme

Day 1 … Future Shaping

#1. Leading with a future mindset … how to lead fast forwards in a changing world

Tools: Future Mindset. Leadership Foresight. Strategic Agility.
Inspiration: Anne Wojicki (23andMe) and Elon Musk (Tesla and SpaceX)

#2. Moonshots and Megatrends … how to shape the future to your advantage

Tools: Future Compass, Moonshot Blueprints. Platforms for Good.
Inspiration: Jim Snabe (Maersk) and Medellin Smart City (Colombia)

#3. Visioning and Future Stories … how to inspire people to go to the future with you

Tools. Vision Framework. Future Story. Business Purpose.
Inspiration: Robert Dingemanse (PAL-V Flying Car) and Ari Weinzeig (Weinzeigs)

Day 2 … Game Changing

#4. Strategy from the future back … how to develop a longer-term growth strategy

Tools. Scenario Planning. Future Story. Growth Roadmaps
Inspiration: Henrik Poulsen (Orsted) and Jessica Tan (Ping An)

#5. Changing the game … how to break the old rules, and create better new rules

Tools: Gamechanger Strategies. Market Disruptors. New Business Models.
Inspirations: Helen Bevan (CTO NHS Horizons) and Tan Hooi Ling (COO Grab)

#6. Creating new markets … how new market emerge out of new needs and opportunities

Tools: Market Making. Framing your Space. Growth Accelerators.
Inspirations: Emily Weiss (Glossier) and Pat Brown (Impossible Foods)

The most innovative businesses see the world differently.

They don’t just seek to imitate the success of others, to compete in the markets of today, to frame themselves by their relative differences to competitors. Instead they play their own game.

I call them “gamechangers”, and here in San Francisco we will take some deep dives into the psyche of Silicon Valley’s innovators – from Apple to IDEO, Google and Tesla, Stanford and Rocketspace, as well as taking inspirations from companies all around the world who are shaking up markets, embracing radical new ideas, and changing the game.

So what’s the “game”? Well, in simple terms, it’s the market.

These companies go beyond innovating their products and services, their customer experienes and business models. They seek to innovate how their markets work.

Now look at today’s most disruptive innovators – 23andMe to Alibaba, Zespri to Zidisha – they reframe, reimagine and redefine the market on their terms – who is it for, why people buy, what they pay and get, and how they work.

There is no one way to change the game, but there are definitely some common traits:

Audacious – Gamechangers are visionary and innovative, but also daring and original; they seek to shape the future to their advantage.
Purposeful – They seek to make life better, in some relevant and inspiring way; they have a higher motive than just making money.
Networked – Gamechangers harness the power of networks, digital and physical, both business and customer networks, to exponentially reach further faster.
Intelligent – They use big data analytics and algorithms, machine learning and AI, to be smart and efficient, personal and predictive.
Collaborative – Gamechangers work with others, from ecosystems to platforms, social networks and co-creation, to achieve more together.
Enabling – They focus not on what they do, but what they enable people to do; and thereby redefine their marketspace, find new opportunities and redefine value.
Commercial – Gamechangers take a longer-term perspective, adopting new business models, and recalibrating the measures of progress and success.

Do you have a future mindset?

Today’s business leaders need a future mindset. That sounds obvious, but isn’t.

With a future mindset, the CEO needs new attributes:

Sense maker – to interpret a fast and confusing world, to see new patterns and opportunities, what is relevant and not, to shape your own vision.
Radical optimist – to inspire people with a stretching ambition, positive and distinctive, to be audacious, to see the possibilities when others only see risk.
Future hacker – they start from the “future back”, with clarity of purpose and intent, encouraging ideas and experiments, leveraging resource and scale.
Ideas connector – da Vinci said innovation is about making unusual connections; connecting new people, new partners, new capabilities and new ideas.
Emotionally agile – whilst organisational agility is essential, emotional agility matters even more; to cope with change, to be intuitive in making sense, and making choices.
Entrepreneur at large – keeping the founders mentality alive, hands-on working with project teams to infuse the mindset, to be the catalyst and coach.
Having grit – “gamechanger” leaders need to go against the grain, to persist but know when to move on, to have self belief and confidence, guts and resilience.

The future is a better place to start

Start from the “future back”.

Be inspired by ideas from other places.

Copy. Adapt. Paste.

Of course the steps on this journey might change, but it’s going to be an exciting adventure.

Change the way we think, resolve the conflicts

Digital and physical are two sides of the same coin.

Global and local are opportunities for every business.

Ideas and networks should be the core of your business.

Finally this idea of short-term and long-term being in conflict with each other.

Time to embrace your future mindset

How else did Zespri reinvent the Chinese gooseberry as the kiwi fruit? How else will SpaceX reach Mars by 2025? How else did Netflix came to be, or NuTonomy, or Nespresso, or Nyx?

The secret is the future mindset.

To realise that the future is malleable. So we need to grab hold of it, and shape it in our own vision. To our advantage.

This is what “gamechangers” do.

More ideas from Peter Fisk …

Article: Leading the future: The 10x Leader
Article: Leading the future: Amplifying Potential
Article: Leading the future: Are you the Einstein or Picasso of Business?
Article: Leading the future: How to innovate like Leonardo da Vinci
Blog: Leaders and Loonshots: What are the best new ideas in business?
Blog: The Age of AI: Smart robots, conscious computers and the future of humanity
Blog: 17 Lessons from Asian Business: Learning from China, India, Singapore and beyond
Blog: Do you believe in unicorns? The $1 billion starts have become giants across the world
Book: “Gamechangers: Are you ready to change the world?“
Book: “Customer Genius: Becoming a customer centric business“
Book: “Business Genius: A more inspired approach to strategy and leadership”
Book: “People Planet Profit: How to embrace sustainability for innovation and growth“
Keynote: Business Recoded
Keynote: Leading Change in a Disruptive World
Keynote: Man and Machine
Keynote: Business Lessons from Asian Innovators
Masterclass: Strategic Innovation
Masterclass: Game Changing Strategies
Masterclass: Disrupt or be Disrupted
Masterclass: Hacking Exponential Growth

Like many other sectors, healthcare is about to enter a period of rapid change. Longevity and the advance of new technologies and discoveries – as well as innovative combinations of existing ones – are among the many factors propelling patient empowerment, which is fundamentally changing how we prevent, diagnose and cure diseases.

Humankind has reached a turning point in its ongoing journey to preserve and improve our quality of life. We are at the forefront of these continuous advances, allowing us to watch over ourselves as part of an interconnected ecosystem. The video will explore the future of healthcare in the next five to twenty five years.

AI, design thinking, robotics and big data have made a splash across all industries, but perhaps their greatest impact is in healthcare. As technology and innovation have grown in the healthcare field, hospitals and startups have found amazing ways to improve their offerings and revolutionize the industry. The result is amazing applications of new technology and thinking that can forever change how patients are treated.

Here are some recent examples of explosive innovation in healthcare.

1. Startup Uses Big Data To Treat Rare Diseases

One of the biggest challenges to creating new drugs and treatments for rare diseases is simply getting enough information to find the right treatment. Healthcare startup RDMD is trying to solve that problem by using AI to analyze data from medical records to find commonalities in rare disease cases. The company then sells that data to pharmaceutical companies so they can create cutting-edge treatments. RDMD’s approach shows that harnessing the power of data can help find better treatments, faster.

2. Hospital Changes Traditional Design

Pennsylvania Hospital is steeped in history, but a new facility will bring in new thinking and technology. Instead of being organized by department like most hospitals, the facility will have a more cohesive feel. The goal is for every department to have ownership over every patient in an environment that feels more like a hotel than a sterile hospital. The Pavilion isn’t set to open until 2021. Throughout the design and construction phases, the hospital has involved patients and staff to provide feedback and recommendations for the best healthcare technology.

3. Using 3D Models To Shorten Surgeries

Detailed operations can dangerous and long. The more time a patient is in surgery, the bigger the risk. A growing number of hospitals, including Boston Children’s Hospital, are using 3D operating models that allow surgeons to practice complex operations before they walk into the operating room. Practicing beforehand not only helps the surgeries go more quickly but also allows surgeons to test innovative practices to be more confident of their success. 3D printing allows hospitals to create exact models of a patient’s organs for detailed practice.

4. AI Robot Helps With Heart Treatments

Advanced robotics opens doors for surgeries and treatments that were previously more dangerous and invasive. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University developed HeartLander, a miniature robot that can perform heart therapy treatments. A doctor makes a small incision and then navigates the robot to particular parts of the heart, where the robots sticks to the organ and performs therapy. HeartLander is a huge improvement over traditional heart therapy procedures because it is more precise, safer and less invasive.

5. VR Helps Patients In Difficult Situations

Certain situations can be difficult for patients, such as going through childbirth or facing anxiety about an upcoming surgery. Startup VRHealthhas partnered with healthcare providers to bring virtual reality to patients. The innovative concept is rather simple: patients are given VR glasses during painful or difficult procedures to minimize the stress. The technology makes for a more pleasant patient experience while also creating a better environment for providers to safely perform the procedure. VR technology also helps clinics gather new patient information and share treatment instructions for after the patient goes home.

6. Chatbot Provides 24/7 Personalized Health Advice

Innovative technology puts patients in control. Chatbot Florence is an AI-powered chatbot that gives answers and advice whenever patients need. Instead of waiting to talk to their doctor, patients can simply ask Florence a question about symptoms or medication, and she’ll provide personalized responses. She can also remind users to take medication and track healthy habits. Florence is constantly learning new information to stay ahead of health trends and changing disease patterns.

7. Cloud-Based Systems Streamline Data Access

Instead of keeping separate charts and systems for each department and patient, innovative healthcare systems are moving towards cloud-based data management systems. These programs combine patient data into a single system that can be accessed instantly and from anywhere. Instead of having to sort through multiple systems, healthcare providers can get all the information they need about a patient in one place and easily share it with other members of the care team. Companies like CloudCare allow providers to access protected data in real time.

What does it take to create a consumer-centric culture in today’s world? Is it enough to have deep insight, then develop great products and brands? Is it enough to thrown in a customer satisfaction index alongside your financial results? Or does it require a whole business alignment around the consumer?

Download a summary of Creating a Consumer-Centric Culture

We explore 9 attributes of a great consumer-centric companies

Consumers beyond Products … inspired by Dove
Purpose beyond Profits … inspired by Patagonia
Individual beyond Average … inspired by StitchFix
Influencing beyond Selling … inspired by Glossier
Enabling beyond Delivering … inspired by Nespresso
Simplicity beyond Process … inspired by Amazon
Authentic beyond Structure … inspired by Chobani
Intimacy beyond Efficiency … inspired by Supercell
Passion beyond Satisfaction … inspired by Nike

In my best-selling book “Customer Genius“, I start like this:

“Hello! I am your customer.

Yes, a real person, a human being.

I have my needs and wants, to get through the day, and to achieve what I must.
But I also have my hopes, dreams and ambitions.

For too long you have treated me as a name or number.
You group me into what you call a segment, or sometimes just a mass market.

But I’m not prepared to tolerate that anymore.

I am me. Don’t treat me like somebody else.

Sometimes I might be very similar to others,
but I can also be very different and discerning.

In the old world, I realise I didn’t have much choice.
I needed you more than your needed me.

But things have changed.

Now I have the power. Now I’m in control.
You need me, more than I need you.

It’s time you started doing business on my terms.

In fact, why are you actually in business?
Just to make as much money as you can, from whatever you can?

Or to make a difference, to make my life better?

I don’t mind if you make money.
If you can do something more for me, I want you to succeed too.

You’ll be able to invest in creating an even better business
With more rewards for both of us.

Why don’t you learn a bit more about me? Come and listen to what I really want.

I’d love to tell you what I’m really trying to achieve.
Not just whether or not I want your latest gadget, gizmo or gumption.

Why don’t we get together and find a way to really solve my problem?
I’d even be happy to pay more if you can really help me find the right solution.

And what about that brand of yours?
Your name, your logo, and all those pretentious advertising slogans?

They’re all about you, and how great you are.
Actually, Im more interested in me, and what you can do for me.

Start thinking about my world.

Don’t sell me travel tickets, help me explore the world.
Don’t sell me running shoes, help me to run a personal best.
Don’t sell me potted plants, help me to create a magical garden.

Stop bombarding me with your smug (but highly creative, you tell me) campaigns.
Telling me what you want to sell, when and how you want to tell me.

I’m not here just to prop up your sales targets.
I have got a life you know. I will buy things, but in my own time, on my terms.

Worst of all are all those unsolicited mail shots and phone calls.
They interrupt me and frustrate me. And eventually make me hate you.

When I do want something, I expect it to be easy.

Come to me, or to places convenient for me.
Rather than making me go to places convenient for you.
And at times to suit me.

I expect what I’ve seen online to be in your stores, or to be available by phone.
And to be able to take it back to any of your places, if I don’t like it.

But I want you to be open and honest about what the deal is.
None of those hidden clauses or additional costs.

Sometimes I wonder if you’re trying to trick me, and whether I can really trust you.

And when I do decide to buy something from you, please don’t call me Sir or Madam.
I’m me.

Don’t just follow a process or a script. Try and learn something about me.

And whilst we’re on the subject of stereotypes, please don’t say goodbye
with one of those fake “have a nice day” smiles,
which I know you have already done a thousand times today already.

If I can get any book or music delivered to my door in 24 hours
Then why shouldn’t I expect a new car, a new washing machine, and new home to be just as quick?

And if you treat me with you the best service when I’m a big cheese at work
Then I don’t expect to come back later and be treated like trash as an individual.

Treat me well as an individual and I will tell all my friends how good you are
And I might even switch to you as a corporate customer too.

Treat me as a human being. And be a yourself, not a corporate clone.

I know you get rewarded for satisfying me. But frankly I expect much more than that.
I demand 100% satisfaction, and 100% of that so-called delight too.

Every time I talk to your people. Every time I experience anything to do with you.
It should be right, it should be excellent, it should be perfect.

However I don’t want the same every time. Life’s too short and a bit boring.
To be honest, I’d sometimes like you to surprise me!

Which brings me to something that a friend of mine tells me that you care about a lot…
Loyalty.

Whether I really want to come back again. And do. And buy more. And tell others.
So you give me a plastic card. With something like a 1% discount.

Hmmm. To be honest I think loyalty is something that has to work both ways.
If you trust me, care for and do more for me. I might just do likewise.

But a relationship is perhaps asking too much of me.
Do I really want a relationship with a big anonymous company? I think not.

I know you invested millions in those customer relationship management systems.
But all I get is yet more pieces of direct mail. About what and when you want.

I’d much prefer to get to know other people who share my passions.
For travelling. Or running. Or gardening. Real people like me.

The best thing you could do is help me build relationships with other people in my world.
Help us to share our experience and opinions, even about you.
Help us to share our ideas and interests, and to do what we love most.

I’m then happy to buy your products. And delighted to be part of your community.
And you might even find the things I say and share, are valuable to you too.

Surely measuring how strongly I feel about you, and intend to do more with you
Are much better, forward-looking indicators of your success, than your financial history.

And one final thing about people – the real people, the human beings who work for you.
I know they work incredibly hard, but I wonder what life is like for them

So what makes them tick? Want to do more? To even surprise me?

I want to support a company that cares about its own people too. It cares about who makes its products, and the impact it has on people all around the world. Because I bet they care a lot more about me as a person, than me as a product.

If you give them time, and encourage them to know me, maybe they can create a much better solution to my needs, which I’d be happy to pay more for, and therefore better results for your business too.

When you think about it. I know you’re a real person just like me.

But when you go to work you put your blinkers on. You restrict yourself to some artificially defined sector.

Whilst I see a bigger, more exciting, more connected world. You become a slave to short-term, transactional thinking. Whilst I think without limits.

You follow conventions and prejudices of your own making. Whilst for me, everything is possible.

It’s simple really. You’ve just got to see my world.

Do business from the outside in. Not the inside out.

Start with me, and everything else follows. We can be real people together. Happy supporting each other. With so much more opportunity. And more fun.

Together we can do extraordinary things”

Extract from his book “Customer Genius: How to build a customer-centric business”

Customer Genius Book 3D

More about “Customer Genius”:

Download Creating an Extraordinary Customer Experience introducing the 10 phases

Download the Customer Genius Toolkit with 30 essential tools for making it happen.

Peter Fisk, global thought leader on strategy and innovation, explores the changing nature of power. He will look forwards to the future, making sense of the megatrends driving society and business, to understand where is power heading, and how can it be built and deployed for the future.

Other speakers include:

Ban Ki-Moon, 8th Secretary-General, United Nations
Sebastian Coe, President, World Athletics
Sir Ciarán Devane, CEO, British Council
Dr Yu Jie, Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House
David Haigh, CEO, Brand Finance

Download the full article The Future of Power: Megatrends and Metapower by Peter Fisk

Download the full report Global Soft Power Index 2020 by Brand Finance

Megatrends and Metapower

We live in a time of incredible change. Dramatic, pervasive, and relentless. More change in the next 10 years than the last 250 years. The challenges are numerous, the opportunities are greater. Incredible technologies transforming our lives and work, expectant consumers and disruptive competitors, power shifts economically and culturally, climate crisis and social distrust. The 2020s will be a decade of transformation.

The 2020s will be a decade of transformation. It will be a decade of shifting power. Whilst we used to think of power as hard and hierarchical, new power is soft and social. I call it “Meta Power” because it goes beyond our traditional sources of power, and boundaries of control. In particular it goes beyond nations, beyond the power nodes and codes of the past.

Meta power goes beyond nations

Meta power is not about having the largest army, it is about having the best story. It harnesses the new structures of our society, and is achieved through inspiration and influence. It comes from the voice of people who are loved and respected. It is the emotion stirred through culture and sport. It is the actions that positively contribute to a better society, healthier and happier. It is less tangible and less structural, more human and collaborative. It is a pull not a push, a carrot not a stick.

Thunberg is more respected than Trump, U2 has more influence than the UN, Messi is more followed than Macron. Leaders realise that social media is more effective than press releases, nations realise that culture is more potent than politics, media realise that people love stories of real people beyond celebrity. The best brands win through word of mouth rather than advertising, music and movies are promoted through immersive experiences.

Think of the power of social media in driving the Arab Spring, which no nation was able to influence or contain. Think about reality television which immerse people in trivial yet everyday lives. Think about the most memorable Olympic stories: Jesse Owens as he underminded Hitler in Berlin, Eric “the Eel” Moussambani who have never swum in a pool before Sydney, or Sarah Attar, who ran in London in a headscarf, and inspired the liberation of women in Saudi Arabia.

We are only starting to appreciate the seismic nature of change in our world, technologically and socially, and how it is changing the very concepts of power.

We are all familiar with how the smartphone has transformed the way we live, how we shop and connect, how we work and learn, how we vote and identify ourselves. The rising economies of Asia, its new brands and new middle class, transform business, but also the power behind movies, fashion, and sports. Jurassic Park to Harvey Nichols, Volvo Cars to Weetabix. We might be concerned about Huawei, we should probably be more concerned about TikTok, and its disruptive impact on our children. Indeed, artificial intelligence will be the most powerful transformative force of all, with its applications from genetic recoding to self-learning machines.

Take a look at three megatrends shaping our decade ahead, and the consequences for power, be it for nations, and also for entities that exist beyond or across nations:

Trend 1. Cities are the new the power nodes

Rapid urbanisation is redefining our world, the nature of markets and nations. 1.5 million more people live in cities every week. By 2025, Asia will be home to 33 of the world’s 49 megacities, of over 10 million people. In fact China expects to have 200 cities with a population of over one million people by 2025. To tackle overcrowding in Beijing, China is building a new city – Xiongan New Area – from scratch 100km southwest of the capital. Delhi will replace Tokyo as the world’s largest city, whilst all 10 of the world’s fastest growing cities will be in India, with the port of Surat growing fastest of all.

Economic growth is driving the rise of a new global middle class, 3.2 billion people today, growing across Asia to 5.3 billion by 2030, the world’s fastest growing market. At the same time, people have migrated across the world. Nations are increasingly heterogeneous, multi-cultural and diverse. Over 350 million people live in a different country from their birth, a number that will triple in 10 years. Diasporas and tribes, driven by culture or religion, a love of hip hop or running will spread across the world, dispersed but connected.

“Meta power” lies in the new communities of cities, and the global tribes of the future.

Trend 2. Social issues are the new power drivers

Environmental threats are intensifying, challenging our desire for industrialisation and progress, demanding a new balance between short- and long-term impacts. As individuals and brands embrace more resource-efficient behaviours, from bike-sharing to material recycling, social and environmental issues have become critical drivers of decision making. 66% of consumers, including 73% of millennials, say they will pay more for environmentally-friendly products.

Last year Formula 1 pledged to become carbon-neutral by 2030, and to make all grand prix sustainable by 2025. For a sport that produces 225,000 tonnes of CO2 each session, and transports 10 teams to 21 races around the globe, this is a huge commitment, and demonstrates the shift in society’s priorities. In a world under threat, people seek positive solutions, authenticity and hope, more human and sustainable solutions. Economic inequality is at an all-time high, whilst trust in all types of institutions is at an all-time low.

“Meta power” lies in stories of humanity, and improved lives and social progress.

Trend 3. Technology platforms are the new power brokers

Connective technology means that by 2020 there will be 7 times as many connected devices as people on the planet. The power of networks, formal and informal, grows exponentially, as we can see from the rise of new platform-based companies – Alibaba to Amazon, Airbnb to Netflix. They thrive as exchanges, fuelled by immense amounts of data. 90% of all data on the planet was created in the last 2 years. Intelligence accelerates growth, through personal relevance and precision influence. These businesses realise that they don’t need to be big to be powerful, instead they are smart and collaborative. Maybe this is a model for the future of nation power.

AI accelerates the data trend, from driverless cars to smart homes, personalised medicines to brain-linked controls. 90% of stock market trading is now done by algorithm. Look too at the addictive power of participation through technology – 2.2 billion people now participate in eSports, more than any other social activity, whilst games like Fortnite drive youth culture and aspiration.

“Meta power” lies in the hyper-connectedness and intelligence achieved through technologies, augmenting and fusing with the real world.

Welcome to a new power generation

“Hard power” succeeded in a world of borders and controls. It is aggressive and coercive, imposed through physical size and strength. “Soft power” is more effective in a world of connections and cooperation. It is more engaging and influential, independent of physicality. Meta power goes further, it harness the new structures and dynamics of a changing world.

We have reached a tipping point. The notion of power has changed, and its effectiveness.

Nations are wasting huge amounts of public money on traditional forms of hard power such as military interventions and economic sanctions, increasingly ineffective in today’s world. Instead they should refocus investments into activities that have a positive influence on other nations, communities and individuals.

Soft power activities, such as more cultural and sporting investment, more humanitarian and environmental support, deliver a better return on their investments, enabling nations to influence their stakeholders and build positive national reputations with enlightened influence.

Meta power goes beyond nations, but can be embraced by them.

In a world of blurred boundaries and multicultural tribes, power lies in the new stories of society – the sports teams we love, the influencers we follow, the movies we watch, the people who reflect our aspirations. This new power transcends nationalism, it embraces globalism, but in relevant ways. It gives individual people the freedom to choose how they are influenced.

Change is power

Perhaps the most potent source of power in today’s world is change itself. Embrace the changing world, its new structures and codes, and become more powerful. Neglect it, and your power will rapidly diminish.

Change is power, because it is the story of the future, which any one of us can write, and shape to our advantage.

About the Event:

Brand Finance has just completed and will launch its new Global Soft Power Index, the world’s most comprehensive soft power study from Brand Finance, surveying opinions of over 50,000 people in more than 85 countries.

It specifically explores the ranking of nations, built on a new model of six power drivers. It seeks to understand the relative standing of countries by publics around the world, how effectively they build this new power, and what they can do to better more effective. The summit will explore what does foreign policy success look like? Is soft power at the heart of diplomacy? Are we witnessing a shift in global soft and hard power dynamics? What are the key drivers of soft power? Is hard power making a resurgence?

There are two summits, in London and Oxford. Tickets are complimentary, See below:

Other speakers include:

Ban Ki-Moon, 8th Secretary-General, United Nations
Sebastian Coe, President, World Athletics
Sir Ciarán Devane, CEO, British Council
Dr Yu Jie, Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House
David Haigh, CEO, Brand Finance
Mishal Husain. International Broadcaster

Download the full article The Future of Power: Megatrends and Metapower by Peter Fisk.

Megatrends and Metapower

Meta power goes beyond nations

We are only starting to appreciate the seismic nature of change in our world, technologically and socially, and how it is changing the very concepts of power.

Take a look at three megatrends shaping our decade ahead, and the consequences for power, be it for nations, and also for entities that exist beyond or across nations:

Cities are the new the power nodes

“Meta power” lies in the new communities of cities, and the global tribes of the future.

Social issues are the new power drivers

“Meta power” lies in stories of humanity, and improved lives and social progress.

Technology platforms are the new power brokers

“Meta power” lies in the hyper-connectedness and intelligence achieved through technologies, augmenting and fusing with the real world.

Welcome to a new power generation

We have reached a tipping point. The notion of power has changed, and its effectiveness.

Meta power goes beyond nations, but can be embraced by them.

Change is power, because it is the story of the future, which any one of us can write, and shape to our advantage.

About the Event:

There are two summits, in London and Oxford. Tickets are complimentary, See below:

This year’s Future Book Forum explores the best new ideas in book publishing.

Over the last 6 years of the Future Book Forum we have come on an incredible journey together – exploring how to reinvent books, publishing and printing, in a world that is changing incredibly fast. Exploring the changing technologies – from data to content, machines to channels – but even more importantly, the changing markets – from consumers and behaviours, to influencers and value perceptions.

Some of my favourite moments from recent forums have included the:

What’s the business case for change? – rethinking the business models for publishing, from books to customisation, events to crowdfunding, modular and premium editions, freemium to subscription revenue streams.
Defining a new DNA of books – for some of us content is still king, including the author and imprint, title and words – for others the consumer is the new king, including data and collaboration, relationships and applications.
Innovating book formats – increasingly a book is not just 300 pages of print, but a more holistic experience that combines physical and digital formats, ongoing delivery to support consumers in different ways over time.
Exploring the potential of consumer data – from retail data to personal insights, utilising all forms of intelligence to be more personal, predictive and profitable in the way we develop content, target audiences, and engage consumers.

We realised that we cannot continue as we are, that there were far more creative and profitable ways to grow. We realised that digital was much more than ebook formats, better printing and social media. We realised that similar industries like music and entertainment offer fabulous places to learn. We realised that we have some phenomenal assets that we could use in new and smarter ways. We realise that value is less in the book, and more in access to and application of ideas. And we realised that together, we could create new industry-wide approaches.

What happened at Future Book Forum 2019?

Last year we focused on how to drive growth by engaging with communities of readers who have a passion for their particular interests. They have a deep commitment to their topic and each other, participating together, sharing ideas and experiences. Books can play a useful role in enhancing these communities, in a very tangible, memorable and profitable way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_QVq2b6bKQ

Indeed the forum concluded that communities are probably the most powerful way in which book publishers can drive new growth, both through selling more books to more people more often, but also by generating new types of revenue streams.

Think about some of the great examples of brand communities through which people engage with brands and businesses today, influencing what they buy, who they trust, and how they achieve more. From Lego Ideas to TED Talks, Xbox Ambassadors to Nike’s Run Club, Disney’s D23 Fans to Bayern Munich’s supporter’s club. Here are some of the most famous:

Harley Owners Group – recognised that owners loved much more than the bike, it was the freedom to ride the roads, the thrill to ride together, to hang out at Ace Cafes, to share their passion for life.
Glossier – became the world’s fastest growing beauty business, emerging out of a Vogue editor’s blog followers, to become a community where consumers share ideas and advice, but also co-create their products.
Rapha Cycle Club – a store for premium apparel became a hub for people who love cycling, a place to indulge in experiences, a service point to fix your bike, an online platform, a starting point for rides, all around the world.
Behance – Adobe’s platform for showcasing and discovering great creative work, a platform of over 10 million users, including exclusive tools and project collaboration spaces.
Spotify Rockstars – bringing together people who love music, encouraging discussion and recommendations, rewarding and ranking the most active, and also a platform for discovering new talent.

A brand community is a group of consumers who invest in a brand beyond what is being sold. From meaningful consumer retention to new sources of revenue, unfiltered consumer insight and predictable cashflows, branded communities offer many opportunities to drive growth:

Enhance consumer experiences – how people achieve more, collaborate and recommend, and create new content together.
Ongoing engagement – how people engage with brands continuously, not just at moments of promotion or purchase.
Know consumers better – 67% of businesses use communities to gain deeper insights to drive better focus and innovation.
Increase brand exposure and credibility, making it easier to sell without selling – typically 35% increase in brand awareness.
Reduce consumer support costs – 49% of businesses with online communities report cost savings of around 25% annually.
Improve retention and advocacy – improving retention by 42%, tripling cross-selling, and people pay more too.

“Growing with communities”

The genius of branded communities – when done well – is that they create a participatory experience for the consumer, to do more of what they love. Instead of projecting a need for the product onto the consumer and perpetuating the ‘us-them’ relationship, communities dissolve the boundaries, forming a ‘we’ experience, between consumers, authors and publishers.

In the world of books, communities are much more than those old book clubs, or a social media presence. They are rich engaging and participatory experiences that change the way people see books, and how they do more. Examples range from Bookabees to Bookstr, GoodReads and LibraryThing, InstaNovels and Hooked, O’Reilly to Springer Nature, Reposed and Unbound.

Building a great brand community has three foundations:

Consumer, starting with your target audience, with a captivating reason for members to join the “tribe”, be it a shared cause or interest, from hiphop music, to a love of science fiction novels, or a desire to get fit.
Collaboration, engaging with other people, facilitated by the brand and its community “platform”, which might take the form of discussions, recommendations, co-creation of products, or collaborative use in doing what they do.
Content, the glue that makes the community work beyond products. This might take the form of more books, newsletters, events, videos, other products and services, merchandise, exclusive offers, and much more.

Underpinning this is a business model that ensures that the community adds real value to its members, but also commercially works for the business. For community members, this means it adds value beyond the brand’s conventional products and services, typically enabling them to use them better, and get more from them. For business, this means having a business model that drives incremental revenue growth. This might be in the form of consumer retention, selling more or different products, but also other types of content, and potentially a subscription to belong.

This year’s forum includes a fabulous program of inspiring examples and practical applications – helping all of us, as publishers and printers, creators and distributors – to step up to the opportunity. From America’s Test Kitchen, which starts with a love of cooking, to Moviestar Riders, sharing a passion for gaming – we have the stimulus and also the power of ourselves as the Future Book Forum community to find new growth, and create a better future for books.

Here’s what happened last year, at FBF18:

Here’s what happened last year, at FBF16:

Here’s what happened last year, at FBF15: