My takeaways from #TheRecoverySummit

I was recently very fortunate to virtually attend The Recovery Summit (https://www.therecoverysummit.com/ ) which had a wonderful line-up of speakers and topics more relevant than ever in these times of COVID-19. 

Below are my key takeaways as well as additional detail from my notes for many of the speakers. I recommend looking them up to explore their thought leadership. I am also happy to discuss my takeaways/notes and the sessions further.

Themes / Questions:

Crises can be an accelerant for both nascent trends and innovation.

We will not be 'getting back to normal'. We are in a new context now and moving toward the next normal, which in many ways will not look like our pre COVID-19 normal.

We all need to cast a wide net to examine what's happening to and around us ( our new context ) and look courageously to the future.

A passion to ask questions, connect the dots, and continually learn are keys to not only surviving, but thriving in this new context.

Looking forward, scanning the horizon for possibilities, and finding ways to put ideas together in unconventional ways that add value will be key.

Pain points, disruptions, and opportunities are all part of our landscape; how do we best identify and address them?

The ways and places we work have and will continue to change dramatically; what are the opportunities and challenges involved?

We need to ask ourselves how digital affects us, our business, and our customers. We have seen an unprecedented leap forward in digital and it is by no means finished.

As we navigate these uncharted waters, our leadership skills are more crucial than ever. Whether we're leading ourselves or our teams, we need to show compassion, have an open to listen, and be role models.

Notes from the Sessions:

Session: Leading In The Spotlight, Disrupted: How Leaders Can Influence Positive Outcomes, Especially During A Crisis

Presenter: Connie Dieken

Listening vs the desire to Hear 

Simplify to Amplify

You don’t convince anyone of anything, they convince themselves

Tell Stories

Session: Seeing Around Corners: Navigating Through An Inflection Point

Presenter: Prof. Rita McGrath

Helpful Cassandras

Option - Small investment today with possible high upside

Discovery Driven planning

We're now ALL in a High Assumption Environment

Session: LEAP: Thriving After A Crisis

Presenter: Prof. Howard Yu

Pandemic as an Accelerant

Need Cognitive Diversity or have too many blind spots

Writing is on the wall, the Question is Timing - the pandemic is accelerating things

Session: Leading in Uncertainty & Disruption

Presenter: Jim Lawless

“The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” - Alvin Toffler 1970

Necessity to Learn

Ideas economy

Session: Challenges to Innovate

Presenter: Terence Mauri

Disruption is happening everywhere

Turn Pain Points into opportunities

Scale a Culture of Courage

Daniel Kahneman - "We are blind to our own blindness" - need to get feedback - scale the best version of you

Turn Disruption into opportunity

Session: Overwhelmed, Overloaded, & Overworked: Creative Recovery For High Performers In Times Of Crisis

Presenter: Rahaf Harfoush

Rich, Broad, Diverse Inputs

Making connections between ideas

Connecting different context pillars (vs algorithms that reinforce your 'bubble')

Session: Lock-Down Life Lessons For Low-Stress, High-Fulfilment And Success

Presenter: Miles Hilton-Barber

Life is 10% What happens to you and 90% what you Do with it

Failing to try is worse than Failing

Courage: I will try again tomorrow

Session: Aftershocks And Opportunities - Scenarios For A Post-Pandemic World

Presenter: Rohit Talwar

Learning is the critical enabler

Digital as the Center of Everything we do

Are you learning continuously?

Learning as the route to Survival and Thriving

Session: The New Abnormal: Why Hope, Community And Resilience Are The Way Forward

Presenter: Sean Pillot de Chenecey

Need New thinking, not recycled old ideas

Schopenhauer quote - " So the problem is not so much to see what nobody has yet seen, as to think what nobody has yet thought concerning that which everybody sees "

COVID-19 has accelerated some existing trends

Session: How To Boost Positivity And Productivity During Times Of Adversity

Presenter: Debra Searle MBE

Intentionally Adapt

Challenge is not knowledge, it's the application of it

On hard days know there are better days to come

Session: Pause, Reset, Restart... And Learn

Presenter: Paolo Gallo

Complicated vs Complex

New Context, not new Normal

Cognitive Workload = Time Pressure + Switching /Interruption + Complexity

The right question is meaningful

Session: Achieving The Impossible

Presenter: Dr. Bertrand Piccard

Challenge your Certitudes

When you don’t know something is 'impossible' you don’t have the filter of certitude

Session: The New Workplace And The Future Of Work

Presenter: Stephanie Akkaoui Hughes

From a 4-wall Box to a Network

3rd place to Work from (other than Home or office)

Workplace as a Worknet

Creating New Normal vs Returning to Normal

Session: Collaboration Is The New Leadership

Presenter: René Carayol

Everyone is Brilliant at Something, No one is Brilliant at Everything

When someone is struggling, make your presence felt, be there for them, you’re the role model for them

Maya Angelou Quote: "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

The only mistake is one you don’t learn from

Session: Imaginal Skills And Preparing For An Unexpected Upside

Presenter: Pippa Malmgren

Shape of Recovery - not linear -will be Quantum (many things at once)

Imagining the Possible vs assessing facts

10 years of digitization moved forward into 3 months

Get Strong on Soft Skills ( Art, Signals, Not analytical, Different Ways to consider reality)

Speed of Innovation Accelerating

Data looks backward, Signals look Forward

Session: Cross-Industry Innovation: A Priority Now More Than Ever

Presenter: Ramon Vullings

ideaDJ - Someone who creates impactful & beautiful combinations which add value

Ego blocks us from learning from somewhere else

7 types of Silos (1) Physical (2) Mental (3) Invisible (4) Access (5) Company subculture (6) Country subculture (7) Age 

Session: Developing Resilient Leaders

Presenter: Anna Hemmings

A Resilient Leader:

> uses their actions and behaviors to demonstrate what is possible

> Knows the strengths and motivations of others and understands what they contribute in a range of situations

> Learns from setbacks and uses what they have learnt to move forward

> Monitors progress and adapts their strategies to best achieve the overall goals

> Asks for and accepts support from others

> Anticipates a range of possible outcomes and plans accordingly