Six Ways to Conquer Uncertainty: How to lead and thrive in a volatile world

2024’s proving to be another year of uncertainty. And many executives themselves are feeling uncertain. But that doesn’t need to be the case. I’ve been helping leaders manage uncertainty for over a decade. And I’ve learned that volatile times actually provide more growth opportunities than calm ones. As Formula One champion Ayrton Senna once said: “You can’t overtake fifteen cars in sunny weather – but you can when it’s raining.”  I’ve created a brand new talk that helps leaders thrive in today’s unstable world. It distils all my experience of Uncertainty Management into six practical processes you can adopt to help you thrive in a VUCA world. I can show you not just how to manage uncertainty, but how to find huge growth opportunities within it.

Four New Ways to Innovate: Build an Innovative, Design Thinking Culture

Companies that actively promote a culture of innovation are 3.5x more likely to outperform their peers. And 87% of executives believe innovation is essential to their organisation’s success and growth (McKinsey). Yet  just 36% of today’s businesses are actively innovative (DTI).

If you’re finding it hard to create an innovation culture within your company, this talk can help. Over the last 20 years, I’ve identified four practical things companies can do to become more innovative. 

• Identify customer-led growth opportunities
• Instil a more open, “challenger” mindset
• Manage collaborative creativity and idea generation
• Build new metrics and processes to test success

I show you how to use these in your business – to create innovative new products and processes that’ll keep you a step ahead of the competition.

An Organisation Fit for Tomorrow: Make your workplace more agile and collaborative

In tomorrow’s uncertain business landscape, the most successful companies won’t be those with the best products or marketing teams. They’ll be the ones that can best adapt to new circumstances. The ones with the best organisation: the most efficiently run offices, smartest workflows and resource allocation, inspiring cultures and engaged, productive employees. 

But old fashioned environments and reporting structures are really hampering many companies’ productivity, engagement and efficiency. The introduction of hybrid is a good start – but much more needs to be done. 

In this talk, I look at what CEOs and the HR department can do to rebuild the enterprise: creating environments and organisational structures fit for the future. That give individuals the autonomy and flexibility to excel – while fostering a collaborative, engaged community across blended workforces. That build flatter, teams-based, results-driven hierarchies working towards a common purpose. That use new technologies like generative AI and smart materials to empower individuals and improve workflows. 

Getting Engaged: Build trust and engagement in customers and staff 

Brand loyalty and employee engagement are at an all-time low. According to one study, 92% of consumers say they aren’t even loyal to their favourite brand. And 85% of employees admit to being disengaged at work. 

But, despite such disturbing statistics, I believe it’ll actually be easier to build loyalty tomorrow than in the past: in both consumers and employees. Why? It’s all down to a growing desire to belong, to ‘feel part of something’, to have the support of ‘people like me’ in an increasingly uncertain world. 

In my new talk, I use examples from social media to competitive leisure, neighbourhood groups to book clubs, to show how smart companies can foster loyalty by creating ‘brand families’. I help audiences identify passions and values that can unite their employees and engage their customers. How to use events and advice to bring customers together. How to give people a voice without losing your own. 

Continue Reading »