Contact us at info@speakersconnect.com
Anders Sorman-Nilsson
Change doesn’t care whether you like it or not – it doesn’t need your permission.
We upgrade, exchange and replace our software because we know that old technology, rusty circuitry and limited bandwidth won’t suffice in the future. Yet why are we so reluctant to apply the same upgrades to our thinking? The current rapid pace of change in every industry, means that we need to be constantly upgrading our personal, organisational and leadership software.
The only way to make these upgrades is to understand how oncoming trends are likely to affect your organization, so you can act swiftly when the next tidal wave of information hits your shores. How would your company be different if your staff were inspired about change, rather than paralysed by it? Or if your leaders could raise performance to meet the oncoming generations, do more with less, and innovate their way into the future? Or better still, if you knew which trends were impacting your industry today and how to position your thinking favourably for the future?
Anders Sorman-Nilsson is a reformed lawyer, and the founder and creative director of the Sydney and Stockholm based research company – Thinque. His unique global perspectives have been helping leaders, teams, and business owners in the USA, Europe, Asia and Australia make sense of and harness disruptive trends in innovations, generations and communications. His misfit insights have recently been manifested in his book Thinque Funky: Upgrade Your Thinking and amplified by endorsements via AFR Boss Magazine, Wired (UK), and Monocle.
Advising clients like Apple, MTV, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, SAP, McCann Erickson, CPA Australia, UTS Business School and Macquarie Bank on ‘next practice’, Anders’ future thinking provides GPS directions for businesses, teams and leaders seeking to navigate a constantly shifting business landscape, and successfully enter a new decade of thinking.
Topics:
‘Future Thinking: your organisation’s success GPS’
The world has changed and it’s a little out of whack. Organisations and leaders are struggling to find their bearings, and many feel overwhelmed by the changes they are facing. Globally, tidal waves of new ideas and thought currents are smashing old school thinking to smitherines. You and your leaders need a thinking strategy that is as flexible as a GPS, and that enables you to stay on trend, to adapt with the times, and successfully navigate a constantly shifting business landscape.
Check-In
- Are your leaders tuned into, driving and manifesting the latest thinking from across the globe?
- Is your organisation on trend, or is it likely to be smashed by disruptive innovation?
- Are your teams able to cope with the changes they are tasked with, or are they still coming to grips with the last change roll-out?
- Is your salesforce still knocking on doors, making cold calls, and refusing to leverage their efforts in an age of sales innovation?
Outcomes
Attendees will leave with an understanding of how to:
- spot disruptive trends, feel the underlying currents of change, and position their ideas successfully
- create future scenarios and future-proof your company based on their observations and thinking
- successfully ride disruptive innovation, generation and communication trends
‘Thinque Funky: Upgrade Your Thinking’
Stale thinking produces stale results. It used to be that we had to learn one new skill every year, then it was every month, then every week, when is it going to be every hour? Change has entered hyper-mode and it asks more of our mental bandwidth. To not be redundant, to stay relevant and to have a chance at being successful you need to constantly upgrade the way you think to ensure that you are compatible with the latest thinking trends.
Check In:
- Are your leaders fostering innovation and creating trendy intersection of thought to inspire your staff to contribute their best ideas?
- Is your organisation’s combined brain trust being utilised in a way where you see tangible Returns on Thinking?
- Are your teams structured to tap into the diversity in thinking or are they prone to group-think?
- Is your salesforce engaged and inspired to serve your customers and build stronger client loyalty?
Outcomes:
Attendees will leave with an understanding of how to:
- think outside the box, and solve problems innovatively, rather than by precedent
- appreciate different thinking styles and to contribute their own unique ideas
- get up and tackle challenges in a way that is future-compatible and sustainable
‘Thought Leaders: the brands of the future’
Ideas are the new currency. Branding and marketing is no longer just about capturing attention. It’s about spreading idea viruses and about your organisation being seen as the ‘go-to-expert’. Your leadership brain trust’s and thought leaders’ ideas and intellectual property is what will give life to your logo today and in the future. The question is whether you’re nurturing, harnessing and helping your thought leaders be brand advocates and live their brilliance inside and outside your organisation.
Check-In:
- do your leaders think, act and lead as thought leaders or thought repeaters?
- is your organisation successfully shifting into the premium knowledge economy, or is it stuck in a commodity-mindset?
- do your teams have a secret love affair with the power of ideas, or are they scared by their competitors’ innovation?
- is your salesforce struggling to develop profound connection or getting through the door with prospects and clients?
Outcome:
Attendees will leave with an understanding of how to:
- think and brand themselves as thought leaders
- harness the power of their own ideas, to capture them, and to communicate them in a way that profoundly connects with your market place
- position themselves as thought leaders in a way that is intimately aligned with your organisation’s success
‘Innovation Intersections: tapping diversity in thinking’
Innovation happens at the intersection of thought. Your team members all have unique gifts and talents – one of them is the authentic ways they think, communicate and solve problems. Is this what they bring to your work? For too long, we have been asked to conform and turn up as organisational drones which creates group-think and ‘same old / same old’ products and services. To harness the thinking capital in your organisation you need to create innovation intersections that encourage your people to turn up and contribute their unique intelligence at work.
Check In:
- do your leaders reflect the diversity of thinking in your organisation, or do they at least encourage heterogeneous thought?
- is your organisation known as an innovation champion or is it known as a reactive laggard?
- are your teams vibrating with enthusiasm, passion and a love for ideas and bringing the organisation into the new decade of thinking?
- is your salesforce aware of and capable of adapting their sales pitches depending on what style of thinker they’re communicating with?
Attendees will leave with an understanding of how to:
- create trendy intersections and environments inside your organisation that facilitate an innovation habitat
- express their ideas in a way which maximises your chances of innovation success
- develop an innovation mindset that they bring to work every day
‘Waves of change: three global trends that will be disrupting your slumber’
Having your finger on the pulse of the market place has never been more important than in our turbo-charged environment. This is a ‘Did You Know’- session that will expand thinking and shake your people up from ignorance, complacency and apathy about changes that are impacting your business today, tomorrow and within the foreseeable future.
Check In:
- are your leaders longing for the days when a Blackberry was just a fruit, when we used to express our emotions without adding an emoticon, or the re-assuring sound of the 56K modem as we slowly connected over the fax line?
- does what your organisation does really and truly matter tomorrow?
- are your teams equipped with the strategic foresight required to take your organisation forward?
- is your salesforce confident that what they’re selling is something that will be relevant not just yesterday, but tomorrow and for the foreseeable future?
Attendees will leave with an understanding of how to:
- get an insight into the trends behind innovation, generation and communication phenomena that are upending your industry
- use digital trends to drive innovation in successful products and services
- harness trends and use them in your scenario planning and strategy, rather than just viewing them as threats
‘Misfits: leading cross-generational teams’
Your people are demanding to bring their whole selves to work. The question is whether you can handle them. It’s so much easier when people behave and respond in predictable ways. It doesn’t demand as much cognitive bandwidth from leadership. However, a global shift is occurring where new generational trends are equipping, empowering and encouraging employees to bring their genuine selves – with both positive and negative connotations for you – to work. These misfits can be both your most brilliant team members and your most challenging team members, but lead them in a way that profoundly connects with them, and you have a profit and inspiration centre to count on.
Check In:
- are your leaders leading like they always have or is their style adapting with the times?
- how is your organisation handling the different generational mindsets and the misfit attitudes that some team members are displaying?
- are your teams generationally diverse and thriving, or generationally diverse and merely surviving?
- is your salesforce clued into different communication and sales styles that will connect with misfit clients?
Attendees will leave with an understanding of how to:
- identify, nurture and harness the inherent genius of misfits
- lead and encourage collaboration between these unique individuals
- ensure that personal creativity and misfit genius contributes and drives organisational strategy and business growth
Testimonials:
“At the US event, after two solid days, Ander has the entire audience on their feet and a room full of 130 people plus were more engaged than I have ever seen. His knowledge around trends in innovations, communication, and generations is unparalleled and the research he does into adapting his style cross-culturally was incredible. If you haven’t heard on of his keynotes yet, add it to your bucket list!”
- Eli Lilly, America
“I needed my opening keynote to not only energize the crowd but to also help set the tone of the conference for the full week. Anders delivered all the above and so much more, helping us kickoff one of our best conferences to date. He adopted his speech to the unique demographics of our audience, heeding all my recommendations and requests. His informative, energetic and quirky / entertaining style was a huge hit with our attendees. I highly recommend him for any speaking engagement and look forward to calling on his services again.”
- Marketing Communications Manager, Cisco Systems, Inc
Feedback from the Aurecon Roadshow 2010! :
“What a fantastic presentation.You really have an art at catching peoples attention and retaining it for the duration.In fact it was disappointing the hour was over all of a sudden.”
“Thanks for the entertaining and valuable presentation you gave this morning on thought leadership and streamlining ideas.I found it to be a rewarding experience and am sure I will be able to take something away from it.”
“Thanks for the fantastic presentation this morning here in Perth, definitely one of the one of the best and funniest I’ve ever been to – well done!”
“Anders’ delivery was schmick! He had a room full of Real Estate Agents in stitches & engaged throughout his presentation. Cheers!”
- Ausnet Real Estate Services
“On both occasions that we have hired Anders to speak, Anders’ message has been diverse, clear, interactive whilst delivering great meaning which all attendees have obtained and subsequently implemented within their individual environments. We will continue to incorporate Anders into our future seminar calendar due to numerous and impressive feedback received and would recommend Anders to any company wishing to inspire “funky” thought processes to their target market.”
- National Sales Manager, Schwarzkopf / Henkel
“I have recently had the pleasure of working with Anders during reparation for a national congress, where Anders was voted Best Speaker’. In all my dealings with Anders I found him to be extremely accommodating and helpful. Our timelines were incredibly tight but he was able to work within the parameters with no issue. He makes his presentations so applicable and relevant to the audience. I have been lucky enough to have attended a couple of Anders’ sessions and have come away each time with new strategies to try, which is otherwise rare and I am pleased to say the strategies have been effective!”
- Clinical Operations Manager, Novotech Pharmaceutical
“Anders presented to a group of leading finance executives on behalf of the CFO Ambition forum. His topic was very well presented, with a mix of media and interaction that maintained and captured the whole audience. He is very knowledgeable, inspires thought and creates motivation to change our thinking. He is without doubt one of the most engaging speakers out there!”
- Research Manager, Ambition Recruitment
“Anders is like a B12 shot in the arm……you go in feeling lethargic, exhausted, lacking motivation. You leave feeling energised, enthused, alive. He enables you to get back out there and tackle your problems head-on with practical solutions you can implement today. Do yourself a favour ……get a shot.”
- Emergency Staff Specialist, Queensland Health
“Thanks again for your participation and cooperation with our past event, you were a dream to work with and I will tell everyone in the “game” who is looking for a special presenter for their next event!”
- Events Coordinator – Mater Education Centre, Mater Health Services
“Anders was the perfect opening keynote for our marketing-focused conference. He listened to what we wanted to achieve and he delivered exactly what we asked for. His energy, creativity and engaging speaking style help us set the tone, excitement and focus we wanted to achieve from the kickoff for our event.”
- Vice President, Juniper Networks
“I was looking for an engaging and thought-provoking speaker for our conference in early December 2010. I needed my opening keynote to not only energize the crowd but to also help set the tone of the conference for the full week. Anders delivered all the above and so much more, helping us kickoff one of our best conferences to date.”
- Cisco, Barcelona
“Anders is a fabulous speaker. He was engaging, charismatic, informative and created an amazing buzz in the room. His presentation was also perfectly matched to our brief. Our audience loved him!”
– University of Sydney
“Anders provided a Keynote and Plenary session at our State Conference both of which were detailed, informative, interesting and interactive – our delegates really enjoyed Anders presentations. I would love to work with him again in the future and I have no problem recommending Anders’ services to others.”
– IPWEA
Related posts:
