Jason Fox

Topics

A Quest Beckons
—Beyond the Default

#strategy #innovation #curiosity #possibility

This keynote is designed to disrupt default thinking, getting people out of operational work-mode (and its fixation on the immediate), and into a mode that is far more open, curious and courageous—so that we might contemplate new possibilities beyond the default.

In particular, this keynote has your people reflecting on their own thought patterns and behaviours, so that we are neither too complacent nor too cocksure (as can be the case amidst senior leaders and high performing teams).

It makes for the perfect opening for your event—have your people asking the right questions, and focusing on the activities that lead closer to future relevance.

Into the Storm
—Pioneering in Paradox

#leadership #networks #values #complexity

Conventional leadership-folklore serves a complicated yet predictable world. But now the world is complex and hard to predict, and instantly accessible and shareable information is rewriting the future as quickly as it can be understood. We’re in the storm now.

The Industrial Age is long dead, and our Information Age is at dusk. As we stand at the cusp of a new Age, leaders must navigate new shifts in the dance: from hierarchies to networks, centralised control to distributed authority, robust planning to antifragile experimentation, bureaucracy to responsiveness, profit-obsessed to purpose-driven (and so on). Such change behooves a refreshed leadership philosophy and culture. One that’s fit for the storm, and a world less predictable.

One of the biggest opportunities an event provides is the (head)space to ponder such things. To explore the opportunities and threats on the horizon, and to genuinely consider the things we are pretending not to know. This keynote provides the provocations for such, and is designed to be both upbeat and unsettling.

Change the Game
—Rethink Motivation & Work

#culture #motivation #purpose #performance

Charismatic fluff and fist-pumping rah-rah can be quite stirring. Rousing, even. But the longevity and actual impact of zealous motivational presentations—once we return to work—is oft questionable.

Smart people require more than just a motivational pep talk. If you want your people to be the champions of your culture—demonstrating the behaviours most aligned to your values and strategy—then they ought understand the science behind what drives motivation and performance.

In this keynote, we unpack the elements of Motivation Design—highlighting the most effective levers your leaders can use to influence individual and collective behaviour. Motivating and deeply practical.

Making Clever Happen
—Unlock Meaningful Progress

#progress #action #momentum #change

Just as an event begins, so it must end. In many ways, the final session is just as important as the opening session. Actually: more so, thanks to peak-end rule.* The final, closing keynote is what marks the beginning of the transition—from what is essentially an artificial yet wondrously curated experience (the event)—back to the world of work and life. This final keynote, if done well, can create resonance for your whole event. Much like how a large gong, when struck, can create a deep and lingering effect.

Therefore, of course it must be inspiring. But it must also be useful in assisting folks with this transition.

For a closing keynote, my philosophy is: get people in conversation (with each other, during the keynote). This keynote has folk intuitively scanning through the event to identify the ideas and interactions that resonated most with them. Then we sharpen our focus on the steps required to translate these new ideas into meaningful progress.

Of all my keynotes this is the most interactive. It is perhaps the lightest in terms of content—but the most significant in terms of effect. If you want your people to think, feel and do things differently as a result of your event, this keynote will serve you thunderously well.

Useful Delusions
—Meta-Motivation & Myth-Making

#psychology #mythology #mindset #meaning

This eclectic and cross-paradigmatic keynote provides intelligent audiences the means to self-author their own narratives, so as to shape richer meaning and experience whilst bringing about better decisions and behaviour. By taking advantage of the natural flaws in our own thinking—narrative fallacy, cognitive dissonance and our near-inescapable willingness to make meaning (along with our many biases and distortions)—we can continue to grow and develop as human beings.

This is motivation and character development for the ‘quietly dissatisfied’ whose mostly meta-rational minds are much too sharp and clever for conventional approaches to work. In this keynote you’ll learn how to embrace useful delusions (malleable ‘mindsets’) to bring about greater productivity, performance, clarity, agility and focus in our otherwise complex and chaotic (always-already) post-truth world.