Awesome people I met in 2019

It can be difficult to find your purpose when we are all under such strict lockdown rules. Yet, find your purpose you must. It is your purpose, unique to you, that will carry you forward.

Mind Control is Everywhere!
In today’s always on, social media hungry, digitally driven world, we are faced with more information from more sources than ever before. In fact, according to a recent study, the average person across their lifespan will spend almost 7 years engaging with social media. Our “news feeds” are full of information designed to keep us plugged in and to influence the way we think. We are bombarded daily with everything from kitten videos to political statements to news from around the world. What we don’t necessarily realise is, with continuous exposure comes continuous influence and all of these sources of input have both conscious and unconscious effects on our minds. With targeted advertisements, a steady stream of fake news, and a new breed of “Con- trepreneurs” all looking to capture our attention and influence our thinking, the question is, who or what is actually controlling our minds?
In this talk, Bret will examine some of the factors at play in our modern world and uncover many of the ways in which these factors tend to influence our thoughts and actions. He will explain some of the key principles behind what he calls the “Incremental Mindshift” and discuss new strategies to enable each of us to take charge of our thoughts and emotions, and in fact help us guard against mind control!

Challenges and change are an inevitable part of life and whilst much of the future is uncertain, our capability to live life on our own terms doesn’t have to be. Often, we can’t control what happens to us, but we always, always have choice in how we respond and who we choose to become.
As we look to the future how do we emotionally equip ourselves for what is still unknown?
This talk shines a light on the importance personal resilience and taking responsibility has in overcoming adversity. It considers the pivotal role schools could play in fostering the ability of children and young people to bounce back, as resilience becomes a growing consideration within education.
Through frank insights and reflections into her own experiences of becoming resilient the hard way, Emma shares her thoughts on how things can be different for the adolescents of generations to come. Whatever the future holds.

Diversity and Inclusion isn’t the latest business fad. It’s not a tick box exercise and it won’t go away! Creating an Inclusive culture should be at the top of the leadership agenda, yet many companies appear to get lost in the rhetoric of inclusion and diversity, launching stand-alone initiatives and mandating training to all in the hope these are enough to bring about change. Yet, despite these good intentions and hard work, changing mind-sets and behaviours is hard. It takes years to unpick or reframe what’s gone before which is why for many the progress is either slow or non-existent. This is when Diversity Fatigue starts to set in.

Leaders become tired of promoting initiatives that fail to gain traction, resentment builds amongst managers and employees as they continue to hear promises that fail, and company morale is affected as employees lose hope that the status quo will ever change. This TEDx talk aims to share 5 key steps for helping leaders to overcome and move beyond diversity fatigue. Teresa will share her personal and professional insights into what it takes to create an inclusive workplace culture and how leadership actions can make the workplace better for its people. So, become the envy of your competitors and discover how to overcome and move beyond Diversity Fatigue.

There is a new economy developing, one based on our most fundamental resource – time – and it is called “The attention economy”. Our lives have become increasingly busy as a consequence of global communications, marketing, the internet and social media. I believe we are increasingly surrounded by “weapons of mass distraction” and that this digital bombardment is seriously disrupting how we spend our time and our ability to focus on what’s important. This talk will begin by explaining the biological basis of the attention economy, speculate on the power of technology to enrich and sabotage our lives and make a prediction; that the time is fast approaching when organisations vying for our attention will be left with no choice but to pay us to watch their commercials. The talk will end by suggesting how concerned parents, organisations and children may be able to improve their relationship with technology and time.

By most measures, many would agree that our current model of leadership in our organisations, institutions and communities appears to be broken.

The complexity and intransigence of our current problems – from economic degradation to violently divisive rhetoric to economic disparity and beyond defy easy or pat solutions. We know that the level of thinking that got us to where we are is not the level of thinking now needed.

If we are going to make it to the other side of this mess, we need more leaders from all walks of life who embody the commitment, courage and capacity to fight for a liveable future on behalf of sentient beings.

So what kind of leadership does the world now need and where do we find the leaders we seem to want?

Paul shares a series of counterintuitive insights drawn from his experiences as a management consultant and his own personal quest to understand himself, what it means to become the leaders we need today and how to encourage them to lead at the next level.

The answers we are seeking, as you will hear, are much closer to home than you might think.

What’s next for creating personal wealth and financial sustainability?

Human beings are wired for stories, and we all have one; but how you tell it moving forward, will define your ability to create your own unique sustainable personal economy.

Whether it’s to guide clientele towards your business or ensure that your C.V stands out above the rest, controlling your narrative is now imperative to how people engage with you and your offering.

You may know that people buy into stories, before they buy into us: historically the way to tell those stories was the job of image consultants, marketeers and brand specialists. However, as our tools for telling stories have changed, so too should our methods.

So, by the end of this talk you will understand the key essentials to how you tell your story that not only engages people and makes them want to do business with you; but also makes them form part of your tribe, leading to sustainability. After all, your vibe attracts your tribe.

What does your vibe say about you?

This talk will help you project your uniqueness to capitalise on and build the future and lifestyle you want.

Easter Island holds numerous parallels with our time. We can learn many lessons from the short history of Easter Island, lessons that we may ignore at our own peril.
They say that history repeats itself, and there is a lot of evidence to support that claim, but it does not have to be that way; surely if we did truly learn some of the many lessons from the mistakes of history, and become more aware of some of our all too predictable human short-comings, then we would be in a much better place to create a more sustainable and prosperous future for all of mankind.