Events Archive - Page 42 of 52

“The best way to predict the future is to create it” said Abraham Lincoln.

The best leaders have the courage to create a better future … to think bigger and smarter, to shape the future to their advantage, to drive innovation across the business in a way that reinvents markets and organisations.

The best opportunities for business – to find new growth, to engage customers more deeply, to stand out from the crowd, to improve their profitability – is by seizing the opportunities of changing markets. The best way to seize these changes is by innovating – not just innovating the product, or even the business itself – but by innovating the market.

In the old world we accepted markets as a given – the status quo – and competed within it, with slightly different products and services, or most usually by competing on price. Most new products were quickly imitated, leading to declining margins and commoditisation. Most companies now receognise that this is not a route to long-term success in a rapidly changing world.

Fast-changing markets demand fast-changing businesses.

Leadership … Be the change

Leaders amplify potential by enabling teams to achieve more. They do this through a more collaborative and coaching approach, rather than top-down management.

Their starting point however, is the future. Leaders are the drivers of vision and change, but also enablers of innovation and growth. They create an inspiring vision of the future, make sense of change, build a sense of possibility. They make new connections, bringing together diverse talent, activities and partners. As Ghandi said, the challenge is to “be the change” – to change yourself, and to be the starting point for others.

Leadership comes in my different styles. Inspiring, empowering, quiet, humble. One thing for certain is that it has to be real, to be authentic, and that means finding the right style for you, as well as your people. Elon Musk leads through vision, but mostly by getting stuff done. Jack Ma leads through provocation and challenge, and with cult following. Mark Parker leads with collaborative innovation, one of the team who stepped up. Mark Zuckerberg leads by doing stuff. Every leader leads a little differently, and leadership itself can be found at every level of the organization.

The 21^st century business leader is different. Whilst past leaders won through hierarchy and power, the world has changed. Technology enables new ways of working, organization structures have inverted, and organisations win through collaboration inside and out. The old model was about 2C – command and control. The new model is about 4C – catalyst, coach, connector and communicator.

World Changing … We live in a time of incredible opportunity.

We will see more change in next 10 years than last 250 years
In every sector, change is fast disruption, challenge and possibility
What can we learn? Alibaba to Amazon, GE to GoogleX, SpaceX to Xiaomi
How do you make sense of this world? How do you innovate? How do you win?
Success today is not just about stady state, its about speed, agility and exponential
For MMI, the opportunity is huge, but its about delivery, from potential into profit

Disruptive Innovation … Driving innovation and growth … creating the future.

The mindset shift – “fixed mindset” to “growth mindset” – head up or head down
Real leaders – Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma, Indra Nooyi, Elon Musk – What’s their secret?
The 4Cs of Leadership – catalyst, communicator, connector and coach
How does this work in a merged business like MMI? – insights from Axa and Aviva
Smarter choices, sense and respond, give and take, deliver today and tomorrow
So what does MMI 2.0 mean for you? What does it demand of its leaders?

Courage … We are all in the future business … time to find your greatness.

We can talk at length about it, but its about you – “be the change you want to see”
Leadership Compass – What will you change? Retain? Improve? Accept?
Difference is our strength, harness the best of our past, create the future together
Consider your “ikigai” (personal drive) and “ubunto” (what we can do together)
We are all in the future business – it will take grit, passion, vision and courage
Time to find your greatness … What’s the brave thing you will do differently?

Download a summary of the keynote:

https://www.slideshare.net/geniusworks/gamechangers-the-courage-to-create-the-future

Creating the future of healthcare

Through positive wellness and personalised pharma, robotics and genetics, digital applications and patient-centric business models … the future of health is about specialisation and innovation, patient-centric solutions that are faster and more efficient. The fast-changing science is one factor, however far more significant is the convergence of pharma and biotech, insurance and hospitals, physicians and pharmacists … working together to make life better.

For just $99 we can see our life before us, with a DNA profile from 23 and Me, and as a result we go to PatientsLikeMe to find out how others have responded. We eat the best foods from GSK, and check our daily fitness with Nike+, maybe with a little help from Avumio’s diagnostic apps and online advice from Dr Koop.

If we need help, we turn to ZocDoc where a local nurse with Epocrates at his fingertips, who prescribes a standard drug from Wuxi, or a custom prescription from Genentech. A night in W Hotel’s clinic, or a surgical trip to Antalya is unlikely. Instead we spray on our L’Oreal skin protection, sip on our super-vitamin Zespri kiwi juice, and smile.

The future of healthcare is personal, predictive and proactive, using advanced diagnostics so that people can themselves understand their likely conditions, and take better actions now to reduce risks or avoid illnesses. In this sense it is about positive wellbeing, rather than caring or curing. However when misfortune does strike, then care is about patients and personalisation, putting people at the heart of the medical process, supported by physicians and pharmaceuticals which are right for individuals.

Today we live in hope that we will stay healthy. Improved diets and active lifestyles intuitively reduce our concerns, but when something does go wrong we put our faith in a system that is largely designed around medical science and operational efficiencies. We wait in line for a hospital bed, for a standard procedure, for a generic drug. And once we get the all clear, we disappear until the next problem. When was the last time when you talked to a doctor whilst feeling good, and staying fit?

The future is different. It sees a convergence of sectors, enabled by an integration of technologies, the personalisation of science, and business models that are more human and commercial.

We recognise that prevention is better, and cheaper, than cure: cholesterol-reducing margarines, UV protection built into cosmetics, anti-statins to every over 50 in order to reduce the risk of heart disease, regular scans for people with family histories, blood pressure monitored daily by your smart watch, fitness parks designed for middle aged retirees, compression socks for long-haul flights. Drug companies make functional foods, sports companies create wellbeing devices, hospitals offer fitness programs, medical centres offer beauty treatments, cosmetics brands help you look good and live better.

From biotechnology to pharmaceuticals, governments to surgeons, sports clinics to supermarket pharmacies, cosmetics to functional foods, mobile technologies and online communities, many different partners and services will come together to keep us alive and well.

Big data for fast and remote diagnostics, wearable sensors for body management, sit alongside more innovative solutions like 3D organ printing and robotic surgery. Advances in technology are allowing for the provision of affordable, decentralised healthcare for the masses and are lowering the barriers to entry in less developed markets.

Of all the advances, mobile technology is the catalyst for change. The phone and tablet enable distribution of a broad range of medical and support services in hospitals, and particularly in countries with little or no healthcare infrastructure and areas in which there are few trained healthcare professionals. These technologies also allow trained professionals to perform quality control remotely.

Amongst the many significant developments is a shift towards one-on-one, in-field diagnostics and monitoring. Services that were once only available at a doctor’s office or hospital are now available on-demand through low-tech, affordable solutions. Personal systems allow for “good enough” diagnostics that would have been difficult, expensive, and timely to attain previously.

“Today’s ambitious business leaders think 10x not 10% … enabling them to reframe opportunities, to solve problems in new ways, and to drive more innovative growth.”

Relentless change, disruptive technology, millennial consumers are keywords of our time. So ubiquitous that we ignore them. But they matter. The next 10 years will see more change than the last 250 years. By 2025, human brains will be simulated for $1000, 8 billion consumers will be hyper-connected, and Elon Musk will take us to Mars.

Markets have changed, customers have changed (and will change even faster). How has your business changed? How have you?

Whilst the world has never been more accessible – so many people with so much discretionary spend, an infinite choice of business and brands, enabled by automation and intelligence – significant growth is elusive. Finding new ideas is not easy. Making them happen is much harder. Uncertainty saps confidence, talent fights structure, customers distrust brands, and today overrules tomorrow.

Accelerate … You are the leader of innovation and growth.

Why is it so hard? Because most companies exist in a 10% world. Business plans that deliver 10% more than last year are good enough. Most innovation still focuses on products, and so usually becomes derivative, 10% better. This is incrementalism. Or in an accelerating world, it’s called standing still. Yet customers have higher aspirations and expectations than ever, conditioned by their experiences with other companies, often in other sectors. Same for investors.

Think about today’s fast growth businesses … like taxi to food delivery platform Uber ($68bn in 7 years), China’s electronics giant Xiaomi ($46bn in 6 years), car- sharing firm Didi Chuxing ($34bn in 4 years), and peer to peer accommodation with Airbnb ($30bn). Most recently, add examples like millennial news channel Vice Media ($4bn), online educator Udacity ($2bn) and local delivery bikers Deliveroo ($1bn). Way back in history, 10 years ago, none of them existed.

Yet we feel more confident in trying to stretch our old models of success, rather than creating new ones. We hope that the formula that made us great, will continue to serve us well. We try to extrapolate past market success into a discontinuous future. Einstein called it insanity (trying to solve a new problem with the same old thinking). We need to deliver today, to sustain cash and confidence, but we also need to create tomorrow.

Accelerate … Think 10x rather than 10%.

Progress happens when we think bigger. When we see a bigger picture, stretch our ambition, reframe our context, and get inspired by new opportunities. This is not about technology itself, but about solving bigger problems, and moving the world forwards. In an ideas economy it is not how big you are, but how you think that matters.

Thinking 10 times better is not that hard. Start from the future back, and you quickly redefine your market, not just your business. How can you create the future on your terms? Set yourself a bigger challenge, and you inspire new ways to solve a problem. How can we make a car that travels at 500 mpg not just 50 mpg? Or most simply, think like a customer, and you see new insights and opportunities. How can we help you grow, or live better?

10x thinking doesn’t actually require 10 times the effort, or time. Maybe 2 or 3 times. By spending a bit longer thinking you see opportunities not before considered, you create more ideas and see new connections, shape stronger and more distinctive solutions, and build energy and collaboration in your teams.

“Yes but, …” I hear you say. You need to deliver today as well. Every company needs a blend of 10X and 10% thinking. The thing is, by thinking bigger about your future, you will redefine your short-term priorities too. You have more purpose and direction. Your people feel more ambitious and energized. Your customers and investors too. Leaders amplify the potential of others.

Ideas, of course, are not enough. You need to make them happen. In markets that have changed. Where customers trust their friends more than any brand, and increasingly seek more personal, collaborative solutions, often free. And where value chains are ecosystems, distribution channels are non-linear networks, and every business has to be digital and physical.

Accelerate … How to drive exponential growth.

So how do you convert this bigger thinking into 10x impact, or in other words, into profitable, sustainable, exponential growth? Exponential thinking is non-linear, it is about harnessing the power of multiplication, or for business, the power of ideas than spread further and faster, and with more impact and value. As CEO your job is to amplify the potential of your team, and thereby also to amplify the potential of your business.

There are 3 pillars to exponential growth:

Addictive ideas … People are inspired by ideas that do more for them, open up new possibilities, enable them to achieve more. They seek ideas with purpose and passion. They look for resonance like sports fans with FanDuel, and spread them contagiously like Snap. Such ideas emerge out of deeper insights, turned quickly into prototypes to test, inspired by richer collaborations, and learning from parallel markets with similar experiences. These ideas are spread by smarter design, liquid storytelling and shared participation.
Innovation accelerators … Ideas happen faster with an entrepreneurial mindset – one that thrives on experiments (launch early and learn fast, like GE’s FastWorks), recognizing that much can be done by partners better and cheaper, dematerializing ideas so that they are created in ecosystems (like ARM, the semiconductor business that out-thinks Intel), and then focusing innovation on business models (unusual channels to market, adding new revenue streams, whilst removing risk and cost.
Market multipliers … Launch day is just the beginning. Markets are networks, so make the networks work for you – harnessing the collective B2B impact of distribution partners, and the C2C power of social media. Contagious ideas spread fast when connections and advocacy are facilitated and become valuable. Work with the people customers trust. Michelle Phan (the world’s top Youtuber), for example, is the most trusted voice in beauty. Build communities of people who share a passion, and become your best marketplaces. Realise the benefits of collective ownership, participation and achievement.

Of course, the effects are most obvious and easily implemented in small companies (in fact, why do you need to be big, when the most important asset is the idea, focused on the most profitable niches)? Think of WhatsApp for example. The free messaging service rising to $19bn of value over 3 years with only 17 employees. In just a short time, its instant messaging has replaced not just phone calls but email too. It’s value of course, lies as much in how it enhances the acquiring Facebook, as within itself. Shareholder value, then, is about delivering performance today and tomorrow – and in particular your potential for future growth.

Exponential thinking about thinking big, but it is also about the steps to go from small to big. As Ray Kurzweil said “If I were to take 30 linear steps, I’d end up 30 metres away. But what if I said to you take 30 exponential steps … 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, … where would you end up? The answer is a billion metres away, or twenty-six times around the planet.”

The starting point for you as a leader, is to take time with your teams to think – how you can create and harness the power of addictive ideas, innovation
accelerators and market multipliers. To innovate a better business, and to amplify the impact.

10X not 10% … Be inspiring, be exponential!

Download a summary of Peter Fisk’s Digital Leadership keynote …

We live in an incredible time.

More change in the next 10 years than in the last 250 years.

Combine the printing press and steam engine, light bulb and jet aircraft, automated production and space travel, microprocessors and the Internet, cell phones and driverless cars, and much more … and you still can’t imagine the impact of what is emerging right now.

For leaders there are huge questions:

How will you win in an age of digital technologies and intelligent robotics? The tsunami of new technologies can be overwhelming. The speed of change, the complexity of connectedness, and the fear of irrelevance. How can you embrace the future, and use these technologies, to move the world forwards, to drive innovation and growth?
What can big companies learn from youthful entrepreneurs and small businesses? It often feels like young start-ups have the advantage, but large organisations have unique assets too. They have more to lose, but to do nothing is the bigger risk. How can they embrace the future in relevant and audacious ways?
Why will human ingenuity triumph over machines and robots? Many fear that robots will take our jobs, and AI will outthink our brains. Not if we think different, and smarter. Humanity has unique assets that will never be matched, by what some see as “the point of singularity”. Instead we can harness the power and intelligence of technology to our advantage, to achieve more.

More about the &Now Business and Technology Festival

Technology is at the heart of “the fourth industrial revolution” and is forcing the business World, its leaders and organisations, to change rapidly.

Half of the children starting the school today will work in unfamiliar profesions. Nearly half of today’s jobs will be replaced by automation, robots and artificial intelligence within fifteen years.

The leadership, management and learning processes of businesses are already changing and will change more. The way in which customers connect with brands, products and services, will be reninvented with methods that we do not even imagine now.

&Now is a new business experience, that builds on MCT’s twenty-five years of experience so that all business professionals can quickly adapt to this inevitable transformation, be able to take their place in the world, and take a closer look to the future.

&NOW

This is an exciting, new generation business and technology week that will cchange all perspectives , helping business people – leaders and maanagers, including specifalists in marketing and HR, to see their futures differenytly and better.

It is about visionary minds building the passion to see and guide the future.

&Now is a technology centered experience that brings together the leader names of the new world in which the concepts of leadership, marketing, and human resources are intertwined and works for developing the ideas and capabilities of future leaders.

It is a great opportunity to be able to absorb the impact of technology on business, and how it can be transformed with technology!

&Now includes well-established events such as Marketing Summit, Human Resources Summit, Gamechangers Awards, Future of Work, Digital Leadership Summit, Be Digital Experience Zone, Rock & Tech Music Festival – building on past experiences with today’s language.

It is looking for the ways to grow business “10 times, not 10 percent”, and will engage business leaders in forums to explore these opportunities

&Now brings together the people who change the technology and the people changed by the technology in the same place. With its technological spirit it has and with the management expertises, it will help eveery participant to drive innovation and growth, in more creative, more agile and more profitable ways.

It enables leaders to engage their teams in creating the future together

In particular areas where companies have presented the opportunities to experience different products or services, it will explore experiences that have not been experienced before, opening up all of our minds to the challenges and opportunities in every market, in every business.

Real innovation: It makes innovation applicable, right now.

&Now is all about harnessing the potential of technology for business success. It explores new business models and new business solutions that will enhance the existing business, and help to take in new and exciting directions

&NOW, right now, takes you closer to the future.

See you in May!

Download a summary of Courageous Leadership by Peter Fisk

“The best way to predict the future is to create it” said Abraham Lincoln.

We live in an incredible time. More change in the next 10 years than in the last 250 years. New technologies transforming the ways in which we live and work. Digital platforms and blockchains, AI and robotics, 3D printing and nanotech .

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, in the ways we currently subscribe to Netflix.

The best leaders have the courage to create a better future

… to think bigger and smarter, to shape the future to their advantage, to drive innovation across the business in a way that reinvents markets and organisations.

Fast-changing markets demand fast-changing businesses.

Courageous Leaders … Leading in a fast-changing world

Leaders amplify potential by enabling teams to achieve more. They do this through a more collaborative and coaching approach, rather than top-down management.

World Changing … We live in a time of incredible opportunity.

We will see more change in next 10 years than last 250 years
In every sector, change is fast disruption, challenge and possibility
What can we learn? Alibaba to Amazon, GE to GoogleX, SpaceX to Xiaomi
How do you make sense of this world? How do you innovate? How do you win?
Success today is not just about stady state, its about speed, agility and exponential
For MMI, the opportunity is huge, but its about delivery, from potential into profit

Disruptive Innovation … Driving innovation and growth … creating the future.

The mindset shift – “fixed mindset” to “growth mindset” – head up or head down
Real leaders – Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma, Indra Nooyi, Elon Musk – What’s their secret?
The 4Cs of Leadership – catalyst, communicator, connector and coach
How does this work in a merged business like MMI? – insights from Axa and Aviva
Smarter choices, sense and respond, give and take, deliver today and tomorrow
So what does MMI 2.0 mean for you? What does it demand of its leaders?

Courage … We are all in the future business … time to find your greatness.

We can talk at length about it, but its about you – “be the change you want to see”
Leadership Compass – What will you change? Retain? Improve? Accept?
Difference is our strength, harness the best of our past, create the future together
Consider your “ikigai” (personal drive) and “ubunto” (what we can do together)
We are all in the future business – it will take grit, passion, vision and courage
Time to find your greatness … What’s the brave thing you will do differently?

Download a summary of the keynote:

Explore more

Article: The 10x Leader
Article: Amplifying Potential
Article: Are you the Einstein or Picasso of Business?
Article: Moonshot Thinking
Article: What will you do when you grow up? ..
Book: “Gamechangers: Are you ready to change the world?“
Book: “Business Genius: A more inspired approach to leadership”
Workshop: “Gamechangers Program: Leading for smarter innovation and profitable growth”
Workshop: “Inspiring Leadership … future, people and change“

More about the &Now Business and Technology Festival

Technology is at the heart of “the fourth industrial revolution” and is forcing the business World, its leaders and organisations, to change rapidly.

&NOW

It is about visionary minds building the passion to see and guide the future.

It is a great opportunity to be able to absorb the impact of technology on business, and how it can be transformed with technology!

It is looking for the ways to grow business “10 times, not 10 percent”, and will engage business leaders in forums to explore these opportunities

It enables leaders to engage their teams in creating the future together

Real innovation: It makes innovation applicable, right now.

&NOW, right now, takes you closer to the future.

Innovation parks are scattered across the world. Usually they focus on technological R&D, often adjacent to an academic institute, and in reality an excuse to attract large number of tech businesses to locate together. There are some obvious benefits in having similar kinds of business close by, particularly if they can share knowledge and skills, or form an ecosystem of partners or suppliers (horizontal or vertical).

Clusters of specialist businesses emerge. “A business cluster is a geographic concentration of interconnected businesses, suppliers, and associated institutions in a particular field. Clusters are considered to increase the productivity with which companies can compete, nationally and globally. In urban studies, the term agglomeration is used.”

Silicon Valley is the most obvious example, emerging in the hinterland of Stanford University, but eventually with high tech businesses sprawling across a vast area that used to be famous for little more than orange trees. Digital Media City in Seoul is a more planned example, a dedicated space for media, entertainment and gaming companies to live together. It includes conference and cultural centres, the Korean Film Academy, and companies like LG.

What is important is that these locations bring together more than core technologies. University-type R&D facilities will do great research, but it is the commercial application of technologies – aka “innovation” – that matters most. That is achieved by having a broader mix of companies, and also a place to meet (conferences, coworking), socialise (restaurants, sports), learn (seminars, workshops), extend (agencies, investors), and promote (showcases, shops). In turn this needs to be supported by infrastructure (roads, parking, wifi), and a good place to live nearby (homes, schools, town).

Examples of innovation parks in Europe include:

Kista Science City, Stockholm

15 mins from Arlanda airport and Stockholm city centre, Kista is Europe’s largest ICT cluster (and second biggest in the world after Silicon Valley). Sweden’s largest company Ericsson has its HQ located here, alongside global names like Microsoft, IBM and Sun. Some of the nation’s major business institutions are based here too. Residential (for 30000 people), shopping (the largest mall in Sweden), and entertainment facilities are located nearby.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYO0mQ79DWo

WISTA Science and Technology Park, Berlin

Over 800 companies are based in Berlin-Adlershof, the largest science park in Germany. Science City sits at its core, alongside Media City, supported by 6 departments of the Humbolt Berlin University and the BESSY Synchrotron.

Finnish Innovation Center, Otaniemi

Science and engineering location, supported by Aalto University (a combination of three of Helsinki’s universities for tech, art and design, and economics. Business at the centre specialise in fields such as pulp and paper, nanotechnologies and measurement science. Technopolis is a business incubator which offers business development and incubation services, financing services, in addition to premises and related services. The business development services consist of Innolinko Pre-Incubator, giving advice and guidance in company establishing, Spinno programmes, consultancy, mentor network, and more.

Andalusia Technology Park, Malaga

The Parque Tecnológico de Andalucía was conceived as a technological nucleus to stimulate industry in the region. 600 companies come together in IT and telecoms, including Oracle, Ericsson, BM, Accenture and Huawei. It has become one of the most significant tech parks in Southern Europe, and also global HW of the International Association of Science Parks. It also includes MIT School, an innovative plurilingual school, supported by the latest technology, for students from Reception to High School.

Sophia Antipolis, Antibes

Created in 1970-1984, the French park is the location of companies mainly in IT and pharma. Several institutions of higher learning are also located here, along with the European headquarters of tech institutes W3C and ETSI. The “human factor” is what the Science and Technology Park seeks to achieve better, leading to better innovation, through creating an international specialist community. This means focusing on tenant interaction, networking and cross fertilization of ideas. The concept was that bringing together people from different intellectual horizons and “making” them meet, would bring added value and generate innovation. Professional clubs were one of the ways to achieve this, including Sophia Business Angels Club, Nordic Link, Art Sophia, and Telecom Valley.

Reggio Emilia Park of Innovation, Italy

The local authority and Iren Rinnovabili have together developed this abandoned industrial area, that represents the evidence of an important chapter of the Italian industrial history. It is located very close to the historical city centre, between the railway line and the airport, directly connected to A1 motorway and the new high speed railways Mediopadana station. These are the reasons why this area is the ideal place to host the great project of developing the distinctive local proficiencies, based on the knowledge economy.

Where can I find more detailed research and insights?

What can we learn from these examples?

Have a distinctive proposition … why are we doing this, where is the focus, what are the benefits?
Give it a central point … create an axis, a hub, a centre – architecturally, communally, actively
Beyond an academic centre … link to nearby university R&D, but go beyond to focus on innovation
Get anchor brands … crucial is to attract a few lead brands early, like the anchors of a shopping mall
Attract national institutions … creates permanence, credibility and non-profit stability
Good infrastructure … obviously good transport links, but also eating, meeting and socialising
Education matters … from schools, to university, to ongoing skills and knowledge for business
Create regular activities … it needs to be a living place – seminars, conferences, meetings, workshops
Provide business support … be it a business incubator for start ups, specialist agencies and consulting
Have a bigger vision … look beyond the location, make it a thought leader for the region, continent

What might it look like?

Conceptually (maybe even architecturally?), an innovation park might be designing like a pyramid. It addresses the need of the local area, in terms of supporting local businesses to grow and providing support, whilst also attracting inward investment, i.e. outside companies choosing to locate there. This delivers outputs in terms of jobs and economic growth, but also local facilities and building the city’s reputation.

The design of the park is ultimately to find ways to make it work together. It is not just a field, which offers subsidised locations for business. It is an environment that is supported and connected. This requires presence, facilities and collaboration. And it requires the ongoing active management of the park to spark these collaborations, to bring the environment to life, and add meaning to the buildings.

Image creating an innovation park in your city …

In today’s connected world, every business has changed how it works – how it communicates, its processes and projects, its speed and decision-making. Selling is not alien to this, both in its need to engage in new ways, but also in the opportunities to collaborate more closely, and add more value to clients.

Decision makers are more connected, more informed, and more susceptible to peer influence. Recent IDC research shows that 84% of B2B decisions start from a referral. Social media, in its many formats, therefore becomes a powerful tool in reach, connecting and influencing new and existing clients. IDC also found “social selling” could extend piplines by 18%, accelerate them by 28% and improve conversions by 15%). And in total, enhance sales by 40%.

The ability to know business contacts more intimately, by reviewing their profile on Linked-In, or reading their blogs and posts, or collaborating within online forums, means that relationships can be far more personal, meaningful and accessible. Similarly the development of online business platforms, from synchronisable schedules to operational processes, enable businesses to be far more integrated, connected and collaborative.

Companies as diverse as GE and AT&T, Accenture and IBM, Deloitte and UBS each offer great case studies of ways in which they have empowered their sales people to harness the power of new tools, to drive a more active and collaborative approach to selling, which then flows through to more profitable and enduring business relationships.

Financial sercices, in particular, have a significant opportunity to align more closely with clients, to learn from these related sectors, and even change the game by which it sells. The impact will range from building a thought-leading reputation in the market, targeting and engaging clients better and faster, working more actively with them to achieve their business goals, and driving business performance.

You could call it an “unfair advantage” …

In Lisbon, Peter will work with BNP Paribas’s senior relationship managers to explore:

The changing world of work … exploring how clients have changed the way they work – organiations are flat and fast, teams more dispersed, projects more dominant, and decisions more empowered. What else? What is most different?
Technologies disrupt how we sell … from tools like Crystal Knows and Salesforce Tracking, to GE’s thought leadership, IBM building personality in blogs, Deloitte in social and sharing, and Fedex’s ecosystem of solution partners.
Implications for the way we work … from push to pull, physical to integrated, planned to responsive, delivered to collaborative, transactional to relationship, anonymous to personal … more valuable and more profitable. What else?
How can we use technology to change our game? … from simple steps like Linked-in profiles and discussion forums, through to practical new platforms for sales, collaboration, innovation and growth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZtIk7Za4YQ

Examples of companies using “social” to sell smarter:

GE: The success of GE’s social selling strategy is simple: don’t make it all about “you.” No one wants to read post after post about how amazing your company is and why corporations would be lucky to use your services. Content is key to fruitful social connections. GE’s Facebook and Twitter pages are dedicated to sharing the latest news in the world of technology and science. They also take the time to diversify their social networks. They have dedicated pages for aviation, mining, healthcare, transportation and more. On Twitter, they use hashtags to attract like-minded individuals to their social networks. At the Business Marketing Association’s 2014 conference, Linda Boff, Executive Director Global Brand Marketing at GE, cited that General Electric has found Instagram, Vine and Tumblr as platforms where the GE brand has found its voice by sharing innovative research and simple science experiments. Examples of GE’s effective social campaigns include #6SecondScience, #SpringBreakIt and #GravityDay on Tumblr and Vine, and their 197,000 follower Instagram account.

AT&T: When you think of social selling, you probably think about traditional networking on the main three – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. I’m here to tell you that blogging is also a huge part of a company’s overall social selling strategy. In 2011, a blogging sales strategy implemented by AT&T served the market with fresh business tech content. The most successful outlet for attracting prospects was AT&T’s B2B blog titled Networking Exchange. The content featured on the blog were about topics of high interest to tech-minded companies – topics like security resources, cloud computing and mobile business technologies. The blog is well-constructed and absolutely rich with links leading readers to their sales pages. Check out this case study about how AT&T used social (and specifically their blog) to renew a fading client to the tune of $47 million.

CBRE: Commercial real estate firm CBRE is a leader in their industry, and they have the baked-in advantage of being a business that shows up spectacularly in photos. With the utilization of breathtaking photographs of inspiring buildings and stunning skylines across the world, CBRE grabs your attention immediately. Naturally this lends itself to an incredible Instagram page with world-class urban photography. Through social media, CBRE also expresses their worldly growth story and the growth of their industry by promoting posts on the shifting nature of the modern office.

Further info

Report: Social Buying Meets Social Selling: How Trusted Networks Improve the Purchase Experience

Report: 2017 Trends and Tech Guide for B2B sales and marketing

Article: How Sander Biehn made $47 million from his B2B blog

Article: 10 Tools that will change how you manage sales and marketing

Article: The Case for Social Selling & How to be Successful

Personal, predictive and positive

For just $99 we can see our life before us, with a DNA profile from 23 and Me, and as a result we go to PatientsLikeMe to find out how others have responded. We eat the best foods from GSK, and check our daily fitness with Nike+, maybe with a little help from Avumio’s diagnostic apps and online advice from Dr Koop.

If we need help, we turn to ZocDoc where a local nurse with Epocrates at his fingertips, who prescribes a standard drug from Wuxi, or a custom prescription from Genentech. A night in W Hotel’s clinic, or a surgical trip to Antalya is unlikely. Instead we spray on our L’Oreal skin protection, sip on our super-vitamin Zespri kiwi juice, and smile.

The future of healthcare is personal, predictive and proactive, using advanced diagnostics so that people can themselves understand their likely conditions, and take better actions now to reduce risks or avoid illnesses. In this sense it is about positive wellbeing, rather than caring or curing. However when misfortune does strike, then care is about patients and personalisation, putting people at the heart of the medical process, supported by physicians and pharmaceuticals which are right for individuals.

The future is different. It sees a convergence of sectors, enabled by an integration of technologies, the personalisation of science, and business models that are more human and commercial.

From biotechnology to pharmaceuticals, governments to surgeons, sports clinics to supermarket pharmacies, cosmetics to functional foods, mobile technologies and online communities, many different partners and services will come together to keep us alive and well.

Digital and mobile, catalysts of change

Building patient-centric brands

Pharma companies often express their desire to be patient-centric organisations. Whether “inspired by patients, driven by science” (UCB); “science and patients … the heart of everything we do” (AstraZeneca); or being “a global integrated healthcare leader focused on patients’ needs” (Sanofi), the industry has enthusiastically grasped the idea of patient-centricity. Of course, its how they behave, not just what they say that matters. But an orientation around patients is a good starting point, to thinking and behaving in a more human, relevant and outcomes-driven way.

In simple terms, patient-centricity means placing the patient at the centre of business activity and to consider how decisions about business will affect the patient. This seems far-fetched but there are in fact many aspects of a pharma company’s operation that can be re-imagined to be more aligned with the interest of the patient. They include:

Drug Discovery
Formulation
Drug Delivery Device Development
Clinical Trial Design
Marketing
Communications
Sales
Supply-Chain Management.

What is most significant is in how patient-centric thinking truly permeates leadership and decision making, and in particular

Leadership that drives the culture in every one of its words and actions
Business innovation that embraces it in business models and strategic development
Strategic planning that reformats future plans around patients not sales first
Payment models built around outcomes not traditional reimbursements
Performance incentives likewise built around patients

Fortunately for patients in need of better therapies and experiences, the vast majority of pharma companies have started a journey towards more patient-centricity. While no hard metrics exist that can track success of such initiatives, annual patient-centricity ranking and awards published by industry organizations nevertheless attempt to provide a degree of feedback to the industry.

In a 2013 survey on patient-centricity by research firm Patient-View, for example, ViiV Healthcare (the GSK & Pfizer joint venture focussed on HIV therapies), Gilead, AbbVie, Menarini and Janssen occupied the top 5 spots. Fast forward to 2016 and a review of the eyeforpharma Barcelona Awards 2016 shows not a single one of these companies won in the “Most Valuable Patient Initiative or Service” category, arguably the award most focussed on patient-centricity. Instead, Sanofi took the top spot, and Merck, Roche, Novartis and TEVA were the remaining nominees. UCB, with its renewed focus on the patient, did particularly well that year with 3 nominations and 1 award across categories.

It is noteworthy that even generic pharma companies are focusing more on the patient. The behemoth of the category, TEVA, has a number of initiatives in this space, and the CEO of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, India’s largest maker of generic pharmaceuticals, recently shared in an interview that all innovation at his company has to be patient focussed.

Patient-centricity in pharma is not a fad – it is decidedly here to stay. The reason for this is very simple: Being patient-centric is good for the bottom line. In a 2015 survey by Pharma Marketing News, an impressive 86% of pharma executives either agreed or strongly agreed that “a focus on patient-centricity is the best route to future profitability”.

More insights and ideas:

Developing a patient-led brand strategy, white paper by Couch
2017 the year of patient-centric creativity, 6 steps to get started, article by ZineOne
Humanising the patient-centric brand experience with social media, ebook by Aspire

Download a summary of my keynote:

https://www.slideshare.net/geniusworks/the-power-of-patient-focus-in-healthcare/edit?src=slideview&type=privacy

Corporate lawyers are the guardians of the future … harnessing the megatrends, becoming the new gamechangers.

Download a summary of my keynote Megatrends + Gamechangers

It is often said that lawyers will be one of the first professions to be disrupted, maybe even displaced, by the growing presence of artificial intelligence.

Robot lawyers seem like a bizarre idea.

But when you think about it most of a lawyers activity today is based around information analysis and defined process. Machines can do that.

Lawyers in business have a much more important role.

Whilst they spend most of their time telling you what you cannot do, rather than what you can – and getting you out of trouble when you do the wrong thing – their most important role is as the guardians of intellectual property.

IP is the asset of the future.

It comes in many forms – ideas and strategies, brands and innovations, patents and licenses, customers and contracts. These are the assets by which business can shape its future markets, drive innovation and progress, and creating value short and long-term. Of course, all assets have future value, but IP is the one which can be applied and adapted, its value multiplied many times, limited only by imagination.

Lawyers are the guardians of the future.

But this requires them to step out of the background. To become strategic advisors and drivers of the future business, working with leaders, strategists and innovators, to shape the future together. To use imagination and foresight, to unlock these assets in new and valuable ways.

Much more than an intelligent robot.

So what does the future of business look like?

How can you help your business shape the future to their advantage?

Growth is shifting, innovation is relentless, disruption is accelerating, expectations are high, and social tensions are rising. Making sense, and making use, of these dramatic forces of change will help you to make better strategic choices, shape markets to your advantage, and create a brighter future.

Everyone talks about “megatrends” … so what are the most significant forces of change?

I spent some time comparing the many different approaches to tracking and articulating these patterns of change, to find out which trends are the most common, and the most significant.

Isn’t it obvious? Technology is shaping everything? Yes, but its the implications of that, which matter.

As McKinsey says “the trend is your friend” … It’s the oldest adage in investing, and it applies to projecting future business performance too. Their analysis shows that capturing the waves of change, created by industry and geographic trends, is the most important contributor to business results … a company benefiting from such waves of change is 4-8 times more likely to rise to the top of future performers.

The companies who harness these mega trends, do so in a way that shapes the future to their advantage. They apply their ideas and assets to the challenge in new and imaginative ways – to disrupt markets, to create new business models, and to drive innovation and new growth.

“Gamechangers” range from the new start-ups who have speed and agility to move quickly, who have no fear of breaking rules, and who can challenge huge incumbent companies with only a handful of employees by thinking differently. Digital disruption is everywhere. Think about Netflix in entertainment, Haier in white goods, Tesla in cars, Spotify in music, Paypal in money. Look at WhatsApp creating $19bn of value in 3 years, or Uber $60bn in 6 years, or Alibaba $130bn in 11 years. Their growth is exponential, as is their impact.

Incumbent companies, large and slower to change, have to rise to these challengers, quickly and smartly, and to utilise their emotional intelligence to think more imaginatively and intuitively, to match humanity with technology. GE transforming itself from an industrial to digital company, Amazon over 25 years constantly adapting and growing like a start-up despite its size, Lego embracing digital technologies to stay current in a playful world. Even Apple faces huge challenges from small companies, but also big new ones, like China’s Xiaomi which could exceed its market cap within the next 12 months.

Gamechangers, big and small, harness these mega trends, the new drivers and discontinuities in markets, to think differently. They change the game not just in how they work internally, but also how their markets work. They change what companies do, how value is perceived, and what customers want.

An analysis of the trends in megatrends, shows a number of themes that are repeatedly explored by futurists in seeking to make sense of the big change drivers of the future. They are grouped into 4 themes:

Technology:

Disruptive technologies … smart, connected, ubiquitous … digital and data, 3D printing and machine learning, AI and robotics, genetics and nanotech, and much more

Energy and environment:

Changing energy mix … more renewable, more secure, more expensive
Shortage of resources … water and food, rare earths and key commodities
Climate change … preventation and adaptation, even in the face of Trump’s blinkeredness

Economics and politics:

Knowledge and information … personal education, automation, highly skilled workforce
Economic shifts … emerging markets, new middle classes, and growing wealth
Globalisation … connected economies – markets, competitors, customers and owners
New normal … low interest rates, higher debt, more government intervention
Multi-polar … diffusion of power, rising nationalism, rise of networks and coalitions

Social and health:

Demographic shifts … population growth, ageing population, needing more support
Urbanisation and mobility … mega-cities, smart cities, fast and responsible transport
Health and wellness … growing expectations, fear of pandemics, burden of ageing

The question for corporate lawyers is simple but profound: How will you step up, to add more value than an intelligent business, to work with colleagues across the business, to be a strategic driver of the future.

How will you change yourself … to be the change … to be the future gamechangers?

Gamechangers: What can you learn from the world’s most disruptive businesses shaking up every market right now?

Across the world, new ideas, new businesses and new solutions are transforming every market. “Gamechangers” think and act differently. They innovate every aspect of their brand and marketing.

From Alibaba to Zipcars, Ashmei to Zidisha, Azuri and Zynga, a new generation of businesses are rising out of the maelstrom of economic and technological change across our world. These are just a few of the companies shaking up our world.

Gamechangers are disruptive and innovative, start-ups and corporates, in every sector and region, reshaping our world. They are more ambitious, with stretching vision and enlightened purpose. They see markets as kaleidoscopes of infinite possibilities, assembling and defining them to their advantage. They find their own space, then shape it in their own vision. Most of all they have great ideas. They outthink their competition, thinking bigger and different. They don’t believe in being slightly cheaper or slightly better. That is a short-term game of diminishing returns.

We asked 1000 business leaders to nominate the companies who they believe are creating the future in each different sector. The top 100 innovators are big and small, spread across every sector and continent, from Asia to the Americas, finance to fashion. And then we wanted to understand what they did differently.

They range from well known innovators like Amazon and Apple – the magic Dash buttons creating a direct link between consumer and brands, the ecosystems that go beyond devices – to new brands like Brazil’s Beauty’in fusing the world of food and cosmetics, or even Zespri redefining the obscure Chinese gooseberry as the superfood Kiwi fruit.

They capture their higher purpose in more inspiring brands that resonate with their target audiences at the right time and place, enabled by data and technology, but more through empathetic design and rich human experiences. They fuse digital and physical, global and local, ideas and networks. Social media drives reach and richness, whilst new business models make the possible profitable. They collaborate with customers, and partner with other business, connecting ideas and utilising their capabilities. They look beyond the sale to enable customers to achieve more, they care about their impact on people and the world, whilst being commercially successful too.

As they say in the GoogleX moonshot factory, in seeking to reinvent everything from cars to healthcare, “Why be 10% better, when you could be 10 times better?”

Agenda

Session 1: World Changing … making sense of the future

The next 10 years will see more change, than the last 250 years
How will you seize the opportunities fast-changing markets?
Which mega trends will most effectively drive innovation and growth?
Future forwards … Are you stretching the past, or shaping the future?

Session 2: Changing the Game … rethink, refocus and reinvent

Alibaba to Bitcoin, Sophia to Zespri … inspired by the world’s 100 most disruptive innovators
What do the most innovators do, learning from corporates and entrepreneurs?
How will you innovate your strategy, business model and customer experience?
The new toolkit … future scenarios, design thinking, lean development, market multipliers

Session 3: Inspired Leaders … creating tomorrow, delivering today

Growth v fixed mindset … tomorrow’s leaders need a new mindset to be winners
Finding a better balance – purpose and profit, human and tech, today and tomorrow
Leaders amplify potential – being the communicator, catalyst, connector and coach
Be bold, be brave, be brilliant