Outthinker, Future Thinkers Coming Together In A Time Of Crisis
My friend and creative powerhouse Shawn Gensch turned me on to Outthinker ahead of their global virtual conference of Future Thinkers. This summit was a response to, and reflection of, the Covid-19 crisis. I owe him a huge thanks because watching the Zoom sessions with all of these leading thinkers opened my mind, challenged my assumptions, and ignited my creativity to find new ways to see things.
The first Covid-19 Outthinkers Virtual Summit titled “Leading In Times of Unprecedented Uncertainty,” was held on April 6-7th, 2020. It featured a list of 24 global thought leaders who reflected on where we are, what brought us here, and how to envision how we might might make the world a better place when we rise from the ashes of the Covid Epidemic. The Summit was hosted by Kaihan Krippendorf, and the lineup of speakers included: Navi Radjou, Roger Martin, Salim Ismail, Anna Tavis, Liz Wiseman, Alexander Osterwalder, Scott Galloway and many more leaders from a variety of academic and innovation-focused institutions.
I tried to take copious notes while also trying to deeply listen as each of the speakers walked the participants through a thirty-minute presentation on their views of the situation and possible outcomes. There was an additional twenty minutes of Q&A at the end of each session to answer questions submitted by the online Zoom participants. Knowing how much information was presented, they have graciously shared the links to the videos of each session for all participants. In addition to my following top takeaways, I have attached a link with further information and future events.
From my notes, these are the key things I picked up on:
Collaboration has never been more important, even with your competitors
Being and thinking human is key to innovation
Technology will only get faster; embrace it
You should think about your consumers’ lifetime value, rather than just sales
Now is the time to lean into sustainability and responsibility
Don’t assume things will work! Build a culture of research, make, test, iterate. Only about <8% of ideas will grow big
Lead from the future, not from today
Fear stops innovation and awesome ideas; use the power of joy and openness
Efficiency can kill potential; sometimes great things are messy
This whole conference was done in a very unselfish way. In addition to gathering and sharing information, all proceeds of the $99 US Dollar participation fee were donated to charities supporting the Covid Crisis and the people on the front lines responding to this global epidemic. They raised over $80,000 for three charities with this first event. These charities are Kiva, which is supporting local businesses in the US; Give Directly, which gives cash to families impacted by Covid-19; and No Kid Hungry, which is focused on ensuring no kids are going hungry during this crisis and every day. I appreciate their efforts, their information, and the charitable thought behind the event.
The Outthinker Strategy Network is planning another conference like this one for 24 hours, called Reimage the Future, with 24 speakers, starting on May 6th, 2020. I would encourage all of you to join this session. I hope it will challenge and inspire you as much as it did me. I will for sure be there! I remain optimistic that as people open their minds and hearts, it will lay the seeds to make our shared planet a better, more generous and sustainable place to live together.
