Keynote Descriptions
The Point
The Challenge: The world changes making the future uncertain
The only constant in life is change. The future is unknown. It always has been and always will be. Whether the source of that uncertainty is technological innovation, wars, climate change, elections … or a pandemic, change happens.
The Problem: The Certainty Trap
The problem is that our brains hate change. Which is why when we face the need to change, we will do almost anything to stand still. We create structures that engineer out as much need for change as possible. I call this the ‘Certainty Trap’, which is the fundamental barrier to all personal and professional success at the individual and organisational levels.
The Solution: ‘Evolve or Die’
In nature the most successful systems are adaptable. Things that stand still die. A deer frozen in the headlights gets hit. Which is why adaptability is the ‘skill’ most sought by leaders and organisations.
The How: It’s a Way of Being
Adapting to uncertainty is a practice that one engages in every day, whether at work or home. Leaders, organisations and people fail because they don’t know how to ‘Change Well’. How can we Be Better in the face of change?
Being Better: Perceptual Intelligence
Perception Matters! Perception underpins everything it is to be you as an individual, leader and organisation. Behavioural change begins with perceptual change. Only by understanding how and why you see what you do can you adapt to and lead others into uncertainty. Becoming Perceptually Intelligent and practicing the Spiral Process of Discovery enables Leaders and their teams and organisation to succeed when others fail.
The Results: (i) Financial success; (ii) Happier, more creative and collaborative teams; (iii) Increased employee and audience loyalty, and (iv) Personal and organisational well-being.
Perceptually Intelligent Leaders create contagious cultures of well-being that increase innovation, empower diversity and inclusion, and increase the retention and recruitment of their teams by adding true value to their lives.
Why Me: The insights and practices I share are grounded in my own neuroscience research.
1st: As a perceptual neuroscientist, I provide audiences with evidence-based insights and practices that go beyond ‘behavioural science’. While Behavioural Science tells us what people do, Perceptual Neuroscience tells us why they did it. Knowing why deepens relationships and fosters a culture of innovation and resilience.
2nd: The principles and practices I share are from my own research for the last 30 years (which has resulted in over 70 scientific article and 3 books). My work has been featured in numerous documentaries, three MainStage TED talks, the World Economic Forum, training programmes for the Senior Leadership Teams for some of the largest Fortune 500 companies (including Google and others).
3rd: I’m not ‘just’ a scientist. I’m also an entrepreneur and CEO. Which means my insights and practices are not simply theoretical (as is common with most academic speakers). They are applied and tested in the real world.
4th: My presentation style is engaging, experiential and immersive. Which is why most programmers put me at the start of their meetings. Doing so literally expands the minds of the audience, getting them ready to engage openly and creatively with the rest of the conference. My style doesn’t just inform, it enables audiences to embody what I’m saying, and in doing
so motivates them ‘Want To!’. No matter what I say (or no matter what any other speaker says), nothing will happen until they ‘want to’.
5th: My Lab of Misfits designs experiments on audiences before the presentation, which further deepens their engagement with the content.
6th: I offer the opportunity for ongoing engagement with myself and my Lab of Misfits, which is the world’s only Creative Neuroscience Studio that has worked with the most innovative organisations in the world, such as Cirque du Soleil, BCW (who are the world’s 3rd largest Communications Company). Our work ‘moves’ organisations and their audiences, and our insights and content add significant value to an organisation’s Marketing, Communications, Product Development and Strategy.
Go here for further information … https://www.labofmisfits.com/for-business.
The Caveat: Because I work directly with clients, and believe strongly in what I do, I take a limited number of engagements, as I restrict my engagements to those people, leaders and organisations who truly want to change … to Do Better. If you truly want to become adaptable and resilient and thrive in uncertainty, then you must engage in a way that is grounded in the most fundamental aspect of what it is to be you: Your perceptual brain. This is what I help you and your organisation to achieve.