Leadership Beyond Borders

In the business and cultural world, individuals and organizations create, innovate, come up with new ideas and create new experiences for us every day but this Innovation and creativity would not happen if we did not have intellectual property laws. Intellectual property protection (IP) is important to fostering innovation and encouraging creativity. Without the protection of ideas, businesses and individuals would not get the full benefit of their inventions and creations and this could stifle innovation. The global economy has made IP protection necessary, not just in your home country but in foreign countries. Digitalization has made drawing the line between what is IP and what is not a little more complicated, even when the basic concepts behind IP remain the same. In this episode, we take a look at what IP laws are and what you need to be aware of. We are going to help make the subject of IP in this digital world a little more transparent.

Today, even though we are seeing more and more women starting businesses, there continues to be a shortage of capital for women when they do. In 2017 only 2.2% of the Venture Capital money available went to women, even though women founded 17% of the start-ups. But even the number 17% is too low a number, we need more women starting businesses. But the struggle is not only in entrepreneurship. While women continue to be key players in the workforce and it is hard to find an organization that has less than a 50% gender mix, these statistics are not being reflected in executive management. So, the battle continues. From executive equality to entrepreneurship opportunity and economic equity, women today are finding a new voice. This episode explores the opportunities for women in executive leadership and entrepreneurship and discusses how we can help make a shift and ensure that women are afforded the opportunities they deserve.

The late Millennials, and Generation Z, are shaking up the workforce, they are changing purchasing channels, customer service expectations and they have developed what we call a sharing society, but at the same time, they have the reputation for making some of us from other generations crazy. There have been numerous books written about the new generations, seminars how to integrate them into the workforces, but it is seldom we have the opportunity to hear advice straight from the horse's mouth. This episode is dedicated to hearing not what people think about millennials and Generation Z but what they think about the world. We interview an influencer in the world of Millennials and Generation Z. Born on the cusp of these generations, he has created his own path and is extremely knowledgeable about not only about the changing digital world around us, but also about the habits and behaviours we can expect from these well studied generations, from an insider point of view.

The hiring process has transformed dramatically over the years, in large part due to technological advancements. Beyond just the rise of the internet, tools like video interviewing and interview scheduling software have helped to streamline the hiring process, saving both time and money and making a hiring manager's life much easier. Before social media and the internet, a person looking for a position would send in a resume, and if they wanted to draw attention they used tricks like sending the resume in a sneaker with a note saying, "I would like get my foot in the door". And then we all moved online. Applications became easy and efficient for the HR departments, but it also meant to me as a CEO I may be missing talent. So, in this digital hiring process, as an employer, how do I find the talent I need and as a job seeker how to I draw attention to myself? This episode talks about how to get the most out of technology and the new hiring process.

You're sitting in a meeting or conference staring at the face of someone and you want one thing and they want something entirely different. It occurs to you that neither party is going to get what they want. Negotiating is not getting what you want or giving in to what the other party wants. It's not an 'either/or' situation. It's about having both parties walk away satisfied. You really need a pre-determined approach or prepared plan of action to achieve a specific goal or objective and to potentially find and make an agreement or contract in a negotiation with another party. But on the other hand, you sometimes do not have time to prepare a plan, when situations come up spontaneously, and this is where real negotiation skills come into play. So how do you get them? Can you learn them? After a few lessons will you be an expert? Probably not but good negotiation skills will make you a better leader and our guest on this show is a professional negotiation coach.

Artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things is changing everything and it very often raises more questions than it does answers. Our guest in this episode is convinced that asking the right questions will help us adapt to this changing world. As leaders are aware of many of the opportunities technology changes are bringing us, but we also recognise the challenges. . In 2014, a Pew Research study revealed that 48 per cent of respondents believed that robots and digital agents will displace significant of blue-collar and white-collar workers by 2025, so I pose the question how can we embrace these changes and make the future workplace a better place not just a scary prediction. Today we are going to talk about how leaders can lead these changes. What we need to do to embrace the changing workforce that includes the Internet of Things, Artificial intelligence while putting an emphasis on talent instead of labour.

We live in a digital world and businesses are taking advantage of the increasing marketing channels available, such as mobile, but at the same time we are seeing stricter controls with ad blockers and data privacy regulations. Marketing departments are also facing new challenges. Maybe what is happening today is a result of the media misuse in the past, or are we finally making digital marketing and advertising more ethical and possibly more effective. As consumers, we applaud new privacy regulations but as business people, we are in conflict. Our businesses must adapt to these changes, and every day we are faced with new challenges which also bring us new opportunities. Today we are going to look at the ever-changing digital media landscape. We will talk about some of the concrete issues businesses are facing today with advertising on the web. We will also take a brief look at how we got to where we are and what may be coming down the road.

Men hold the overwhelming majority of positions in IT leadership, where women fill less than 17% of CIO. The lack of diversity remains an issue and the numbers are unlikely to improve a lot right away but there is hope. Initiatives like Europe's 2020 legislation, which has the goal of reaching a 40% gender diversity on the Boards of publicly held companies, has boosted the initiatives for more CIOs. The number of CIO's in the Fortune 500 has been dropping, from 24% in 2015 to only 15% as of November 2017, so what do we do? Today the CIO role focus on driving business transformations, customer-facing initiatives, on-demand services and developing "smart cities and companies". To have gender equality we need role models and CIO's who are encouraging women to go into technology and focus on management and operations. Today we are going to be speaking with a woman who has made it to the Board and is a CIO, a role model in the field of technology and an encouragement to all.

Now there is no debate that your professional image is important.

Normally, when we think of professional image, we think about meeting or seeing someone in person, although in today’s global marketplace we live in a world where contacts take place online.

Images are built on social media and on professional online networks.

There are many professional online networks where you can develop your professional image, but there is only one professional network that has 467 million members and that is Linkedin. With 87% of recruiters using Linkedin to find qualified candidates, this is the one place you need to portray your image and build your brand.

A good Linkedin profile can propel your career forward, and if you have a profile that is not optimal you will just get lost in the crowd.

This episode will give you tips on how to build a powerful Linkedin profile, what to pay attention to in your profile and how to use Linkedin to increase your future opportunities.

In 2016, an estimated 163 million women were starting or running new businesses in 74 economies around the world. In addition, an estimated 111 million were running established businesses. These statistics are more impressive when we consider that women's entrepreneurship rates increased by 10% on average vs 5% for men. But one thing which has been shown is there is a distinct gap between men and women in their perceived capabilities to start a business. The bottom line is we very often lack confidence. Sometimes it is because how we are raised, or because the stats are against us and sometimes it is just that the challenges may seem so big that we give up. What does it take to be a successful woman entrepreneur? We are going to talk to a woman who has "scratched" herself to the top of local media, and long after she had raised her family. Someone who knew what it was like to grow up in a generation that said, "girls should not do that" but made her own way as an entrepreneur.