Day 1: Tuesday, September 15
15:00 - 15:05 UTC/GMT
15:00 - 15:05 Your Local Time
Welcome and Introduction
15:05 - 15:30 UTC/GMT
15:05 - 15:30 Your Local Time
The Future of the Global Order
Speaker:
Description:
For several generations, the world has been governed by the global order. This order assumed that all humans share some core values, experiences and interests, and that by easing the movement of ideas, goods, money and people across the globe, we can create a better world for everyone. This order has indeed created a more peaceful and prosperous world than ever before. Nevertheless, people all over the world have been losing faith in the global order, parochial religion and nationalism have come back to fashion, and governments have been increasingly restricting the flow of ideas, goods, money and people. Now the Covid-19 crisis is threatening to completely break the global order. Will the global order indeed collapse? What kind of new order might replace it?
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15:30 - 15:45 UTC/GMT
15:30 - 15:45 Your Local Time
Digital Acceleration
15:50 - 16:15 UTC/GMT
15:50 - 16:15 Your Local Time
Making the New Normal Work
Moderator:
Speakers:
Description:
As businesses work their way into the post-pandemic future, they are looking for that balance between what worked before and what it’ll take to succeed going forward. Whether it is organizing work for a distributed workforce, tapping into new drivers of productivity or tapping into new levers of agility and resilience, leaders are seizing the moment to create their organizations of the future. Many are embracing radical positive change, becoming more people-focused, more inclusive, more purposeful, as they reimagine how they want to create value. This discussion will bring together three CEOs who’ll take a few minutes off from their top desks to share their insights and experiences with us. A lesson in leadership for our times.
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16:20 - 16:40 UTC/GMT
16:20 - 16:40 Your Local Time
Cloud-Powered Pivot to Progress
Moderator:
Speakers:
Description:
We are at an inflection point to digitize quickly and effectively in the wake of Covid-19. One dependable way to achieve that is to accelerate our cloud powered digital strategies, to create greater value across the enterprise - boosting enterprise ability to innovate at scale, double speed to market and achieve business resilience. This requires coordinated effort across the team and from the top of the organization - an orchestration that only leadership can drive. This panel of leaders will share with us how exactly that works.
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16:45 - 17:05 UTC/GMT
16:45 - 17:05 Your Local Time
The Economics of the New Normal
Speaker:
Description:
As the U.S. races toward the 2020 elections and toward a COVID vaccine, former White House adviser Todd Buchholz will show you the forces that will determine whether the global economy climbs higher and what it means for you. The economy never sleeps, and neither can your business. Todd is advising some of the hardest-hit companies – from major cruise lines to Broadway theaters – on their coronavirus comeback. Tap into his frontline economic experience.
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17:05 - 17:35 UTC/GMT
17:05 - 17:35 Your Local Time
Day 2: Wednesday, September 16
14:55 - 15:00 UTC/GMT
14:55 - 15:00 Your Local Time
Welcome and Introduction
15:00 - 15:20 UTC/GMT
15:00 - 15:20 Your Local Time
Winning Amidst Disruption
15:25 - 15:50 UTC/GMT
15:25 - 15:50 Your Local Time
The Great Digital Acceleration
Moderator:
Speakers:
Description:
Today, companies with resilient, digital future-ready business models have pulled further away from their industry peers, while those with legacy business models have, for the most part, fallen further behind. This has opened a unique window of opportunity for digital acceleration. Although decision making and execution are significantly hampered by the high levels of uncertainty around the virus situation, waiting for clarity comes at a high cost. What’s the way for businesses to embrace being digital more holistically to become faster, bolder, and more agile than ever before? That’s the question this panel will discuss.
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15:55 - 16:15 UTC/GMT
15:55 - 16:15 Your Local Time
Reimagining CX with Care, Connection and Creativity
Moderator:
Speaker:
Description:
Particularly in times of crisis, a customer’s interaction with a company can trigger an immediate and lingering effect on their sense of trust and loyalty. Keeping a real-time pulse on changing customer behavior and rapidly innovating to redesign journeys will be key. Customer leaders who master that approach with empathetic, grounded and even unconventional responses will create value in high-priority areas and in an environment of increased competition.
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16:20 - 16:40 UTC/GMT
16:20 - 16:40 Your Local Time
Fireside Chat: Boardroom Priorities for 2021
Speakers:
Description:
According to World Bank forecasts, the global economy will shrink by 5.2% this year, representing the deepest recession since WWII. While the short term prognosis is dire, for many companies the long-term strategic view of the opportunities created by digitalization outweighs crisis reactions. Digital transformation is now becoming a boardroom agenda, along with strategies for long term resilience, financial sustainability and talent retention. Equally important are the conscientious moves many corporations are making to become more responsible as businesses. As these two corporate heavyweights straddle the spectrum of corporate priorities for 2021, there’s much to listen and learn.
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16:45 - 17:05 UTC/GMT
16:45 - 17:05 Your Local Time
Cyber Security Challenge in the New Normal
Moderator:
Speakers:
Description:
The rapid and widespread adoption of work-from-home has required CISOs to balance two priorities - protecting against new cyberthreats and maintaining business continuity. This has meant diverting resources to embrace new tactics to safeguard the organization, while continuing to focus on such things as compliance and governance. As cybersecurity leaders are increasingly getting a handle on the first stage of the pandemic, they are now shifting to anticipating how the business environment will be affected by new conditions. This panel tunes into the latest strategies the best in the business are adopting.
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17:10 - 17:35 UTC/GMT
17:10 - 17:35 Your Local Time
17:35 - 17:40 UTC/GMT
17:35 - 17:40 Your Local Time
Valedictory Address
Speaker:
Prepare, Overcome, Win Every Round
by
Sugar Ray Leondard
Fortitude: from Training Day, to
the Day of Days by
Admiral (Retd) McRaven
The "Magic" Keys to Success by
Magic Johnson
Sustainability Beyond
Responsibility by
Jochen Zeitz
Purpose in the Face of
Disruption by
Dame Ellen McArthur
Balancing Human Instinct and
Machine Intelligence by
Oliver Kahn & Justine Henin
Finding Purpose in the Crossfire
by
Major Matina Jewell (Retd)
Disruption is Just the Beginning
by
John Maclean
The Beats of Brilliance by
Mark
Webber & Jim Courier
Prepare, Overcome, Win Every Round
4 key Takeaways
When you’re done, add more rounds
At the 15-round mark, when his lungs started to burn, Sugar Ray Leonard would say bring on some more. The point of exhaustion is simply the point where the will emerges: when you’re pursuing a passion, elevate yourself to what the task requires.
Find your roadwork: what sharpens your saw?
For Sugar Ray, waking up at five in the morning for a five-mile run prepared him to create additional reservoirs of strength to draw from. The athlete’s routine can inspire a routine in all of us: that one constant which makes us tick among the variables.
Define victory on your own terms
The best thing about victory is that it’s not always about winning. For some, victory is all about accomplishing what they set out to do and then for others, it's just a matter of knowing that they gave it their best on the journey. That they tried.
You can't know success until you've known failure
The thrill of winning constantly places you in auto-pilot. But it’s when you get the wind knocked off your sails that you start questioning how you go through the motions. From the ring to the boardroom, loss spurs reinvention and fresh perspective.
Behind the champion lies a dreamer, a strategist and a relentless doer. That’s the way of the legend. And few have epitomized it like one of the pound-for-pound greats of the boxing world: Sugar Ray Leonard.
Inspiration was in the air as the man who once stepped between the ropes took to the stage at Confluence. Between reliving storied victories and haunting defeats, Sugar Ray opened up a window inside the mind of a champion. How to make the climb to the top, rolling with the punches and never throwing in the towel: the famed pugilist’s lessons for the enterprise world were relevant to the times and yet, truly timeless.
Your dreams are the window to your future. Your goals are the vehicle that takes you there.
Fortitude: from Training Day, to the Day of Days
4 key Takeaways
From small things, big things one day come
Shining your shoes till they reflect. Making a bed so perfect that a tossed coin could bounce off it. Getting it right on the ordinary tasks adds up to a habit, one that manifests in extraordinary missions. Always sweat the small stuff.
Swimming with the metaphorical sharks
Whatever ocean you choose to dive into, there will be risk in every shape and form. And staying ashore will never take you anywhere. On the quest of next, let courage be your guide. Step up to the size of the challenge you face.
Cast your ripple of inspiration
"I'm 24 years old. I’m going to be just fine." These words from a quadruple-amputee serviceman spurred Admiral McRaven to keep inspiring 70,000 of his troops, who’d inspire millions more. Positivity and hope can be contagious.
Nurture the contrarians in your midst
Dissenting voices offer many things of value: a reality check, a new viewpoint, a moral compass and much more. A healthy debate goes a long way in cultivating a culture of equals: one where everyone feels they are shaping the bigger picture.
Think of some of the most influential military missions of the 21st century, and chances are, Admiral William H. McRaven has commanded them. No stranger to the bearing of risk or the abundance of grit over 37 years, the retired US Navy Admiral has seen it all.
At Confluence, the veteran took everyone on a tour of courage under fire. Revealing the character that it takes to navigate the toughest of mandates, Admiral McRaven’s perspectives are hardened by his experiences on the front line and in the White House. But above all, by being a gentleman, friend and mentor to those around him. In a keynote bookended by his early days in the Navy SEALS, it was the final image that brought home the most important lesson of all. The image of a bell that one could ring if one wanted out of the gruelling training. He never rang the bell. And asked us never to either.
Make as many friends as you can, have as many colleagues as you can, be kind to strangers, because one day you will need those people to help you paddle through the surf zone.
The "Magic" Keys to Success
4 key Takeaways
Reinvent yourself
Navigating the next is all about consistently learning, improving and adapting. There’s always going to be doubters but rather than letting it hold you back use it to fuel the fires of progress.
Have a positive outlook and a winning attitude
Leaders understand that winning is a team effort. They can motivate staff and mould their mindsets, putting them in a position to drive returns on investment.
Know when to hold and when to fold
Understanding the market and business can help you identify untapped streams of revenue, allowing for informed decisions making that boost profits and cut losses.
Success has a domino effect and it’s important to pay it forward
single win can lead to greater opportunities and sustained success. Your legacy is defined by your success and strengthened by the number of people you empower along the way.
Since retiring from professional basketball, Earvin “Magic” Johnson has transformed himself into a business powerhouse. He took his skillset from the basketball court and honed them for the boardroom. His near obsession with winning assured the resilience to thrive in business. From investing in theatres, inner city coffee shops to buying a professional baseball team, each of his endeavours were driven by hard work and met with success. In his keynote speech, Magic Johnson, kept the audience engaged with his story, sharing the lessons that have made him the legend he is today.
Never fear, Magic is here
Sustainability Beyond Responsibility
4 key Takeaways
To one day abandon the word itself
How can doing good become core and not consideration? When we rethink the word sustainability itself in terms of quality. Every business must now ask: is the product or service good if it is not sustainable?
Measure the costs of doing business with nature
It’s not what you control within the enterprise: take a walk along the supply chain, measure the environmental impact, and assign a monetary value. Tracking this from source to aftersales can turn intention into holistic action.
Build for the context of now and next
What was sensational yesterday may not be sensible today. It’s time for companies to revisit even their core product characteristics. Whether it’s fur coats or fuel engines, what’s the alternative to stay relevant and design a new future?
Sustainability is a standard to set
Rather than worrying about sustainability as a must-do, business leaders must recognize the need to make sustainability a benchmark that others must rise to. That’s the true opportunity: call it green ocean thinking if you will.
What do you do when you’re entrusted the reins of a large multinational at the age of 29? Well, not 29 actually, because Jochen Zeitz asked the board to announce his elevation as Puma CEO when he’d turn 30 a couple of months later. This way, some would think he wasn’t too young to lead. But one could say it was Jochen’s youth and maverick spirit that actually gave him the foresight to unite the streams of changing business and changing the world.
Embedding sustainability into the DNA of Puma’s business, Jochen brought about many new paradigms. He then took these paradigms to the world’s largest brands from Gucci to Harley Davidson. The journey also led him to The B Team, an initiative he co-founded to promote socially and environmentally conscious business practices. What the world needs now is practical optimism, and that’s what Jochen brought to his Confluence keynote.
The new role of business is a sustainable way of doing business.
Purpose in the Face of Disruption
4 key Takeaways
Find your mythical around the world in 80 days
The stuff of fiction can be a tangible goal. Just like the fabled book, Ellen MacArthur set her sights on a number and strategized to beat it. Builds, iterations, charting the seas, and braving every challenge: she circumnavigated planet Earth in 71 days.
Clear intentions manifest in purposeful products
Can we specify what we need beyond the specifications? Be it greater sustainability or usability, if we want products and services to deliver an outcome, we must declare it. And do so at the very outset of conception and design.
Never stop asking questions on the journey
You can know a lot about a lot of things. But there’s always the little that you don’t: even of what sounds familiar. The next time you’re in a meeting and someone throws around jargon like long-term or robust, peel back the layers.
Doing the right thing needs to be incentivized
Strange as it may seem, if a goal like sustainability needs to be driven across an organization, it needs a stimulus. Rewards and recognition will go a long way in normalizing a new behaviour until it becomes second nature.
What is most personal often sparks the most zealous missions. Dame Ellen MacArthur found her epiphany in a number: 118. The number of years that coal was projected to run out was also the same since her great grandfather had been born: a simpler time when the finite resources on our planet still seemed infinite.
After breaking records as a sailor, Dame Ellen set out on a quest to break the cycle of consumption and create a new one with the circular economy. Her keynote at Confluence offered inspiration with a shot of immediacy: what we do everyday has a bigger impact, and now is the time to hit reset. What we make, the way we do, and how we own it after: that’s the path to creating something of value.
If ever there was a moment we can do this, it's now. Because we have the ideas, we have the technology, we have the ability to share, and we have a plan.
Balancing Human Instinct and Machine Intelligence
4 key Takeaways
There’s no one-style-suits-all leadership
What motivates one may not motivate another. What differentiates some may be unqiue only to them. Just as a team sport understands what makes individuals tick, organizations must do the same at scale with the aid of digital tools.
Building a data culture, one application after another
Embracing data comes naturally to digital-native organizations than incumbent ones. And sporting is no different. To ensure data doesn’t become overwhelming, it’s good to find one use case for it, adopt it, and then repeat the process for other use cases.
Foster a confluence of skillsets, attitudes and cultures
A club football team is really a microcosm of a larger world. Nurturing diversity leads to unique styles being expressed, which is assimilated in a team culture. The enterprise world should mirror this behavior: respect individuality and converge what’s common.
Only what changes stays alive
Just as industries evolve, so does sport. New techniques, new demands, new normals: someone will always raise the bar. Questioning oneself constantly provides room for reflection. And being open to new answers makes way for reinvention.
The game has changed and one must change with it. The grand finale of Confluence brought together two legends who have seen the evolution in their respective sports over multiple eras. From mind to machine, from leadership to diversity, we uncovered it all with Justine Henin, seven-time tennis Grand Slam champion and legendary football goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.
There will always be this balance between artificial intelligence, machine learning and the minds of human beings.
Finding Purpose in the Crossfire
4 key Takeaways
Silence isn’t always golden
When a crisis emerges, communication is the difference between chaos and calm. While the illusion of normalcy is important, what matters more is leaders being real: being accessible and talking to people straight from the heart.
A culture of risk empowerment
Be decisive or be dormant? What do we need our people to be in rapidly changing times? Enterprises must empower talent to manage risks themselves rather than becoming risk averse or afraid of making the wrong decision.
Adversity is a great unifier
Change brings disruption. And disruption brings together people that who will respond to change. When we throw people into volatility head-on, they will become stronger as teams. And from adversity they will find opportunity for inventiveness.
Let your voice be the ripple
Your voice can be the one that sets in motion a tidal wave of change. Too often, we underestimate the impact that we can make on an entire organisation or even an industry. Speak up: the sound will echo and travel far.
The toughest battles can shape an unbreakable will and a voice that will not be drowned out. From some of the most danger-fraught military zones in the world, Major Matina Jewell (Retired) chose to see life with a purpose. Her purpose was created from career-ending injuries in Lebanon and suffering loss in the 'PB Khiam' UN patrol base.
She went about navigating her next with a spirit of making things better, from working with the Australian Government for veteran welfare to catalysing positive change for peace-keeping forces in the United Nations. Amidst all the tribulations, Matina found two things that would define what she sought to transform: humanity and empathy. And that above all else was her message to those at Confluence: what lens did you choose this morning and what perspective might you take for tomorrow?
Focus on your overarching purpose because often it is that what combines and unites our people to get us through difficult days and if the purpose helps others, it truly does have a double positive effect.
Disruption Is Just the Beginning
4 key Takeaways
Tap into the smaller version of the self
When John Maclean was a little boy, all he wanted to do was to run, to be outdoors, to ride a bike. Even after being partially paralysed, he continued to evoke dreaming like he was young. Retaining childlike wonder helps attain simplicity in thought and action.
Get uncomfortable to get comfortable
The familiar is the fortress where potential languishes and wallows. The unfamiliar is where the call to adventure is born. And to inhabit this space of newness is to find the next spot of what eventually will become routine, from where creativity and brilliance spring forth.
To be inspired and be the inspirator
Purpose can be found in the people around us. A desire to push oneself is unlocked when we ask questions that are relevant, get to know people and understand the best versions of them. By doing so, we create a culture of shared inspiration to pursue greatness.
Live the outcome before it happens
At the Beijing Olympics, Maclean played the sound of the Australian national anthem before the games, starting to create and embed the end state he wanted. If the silver medal that came after is anything to go by, well-imagined is half done. Let your next begin now.
How far can you go? A simple question, but one that took on deeper meaning when asked by a father to a son who was faced with the reality that he might never walk again. The question spurred John Alexander Maclean to inhabit a world without limits. To become a triathlete. A Paralympics silver medallist. The first wheelchair athlete to swim the English Channel and finish the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon.
A recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), John Maclean set his sights on every next, and conquered it. At Confluence, he took everyone inside his mind, revealing what it takes from finding your motivation to leaving your mark. And never looking back. He was hit by an eight-tonne truck while he was cycling at the age of 22. Some might think of it as a disrupton that ends dreams. For the man who saw his tomorrow, it was merely the beginning.
Delete the noise, let that go. Connect with what truly does matter. Make the most of those opportunities as you continue forward on your journey.
The Beats of Brilliance
4 key Takeaways
Be your own opposition with numbers
Data is the art of patternspotting in sport. And what’s as important as studying the competition is studying oneself: to eliminate the weak spots and maximise the sweet spots. On the court or in the enterprise, the philosophy remains the same.
Sense the start-up phase in everything
Like a business, an athlete has an entrepreneurial period. It’s like believing in your own product with tenacity. Even when you’re a successful incumbent, any new initiative is essentially another start-up, where the same early-stage hunger must be recalled.
Find the ‘data receptiveness’ state of mind
There are times when you are open to studying data and moments when you aren’t. Data is the most objective form of feedback, and it tells some hard truths. So whether you’re an individual in a sport or in a team, get to the data when there’s room for reflection.
Culture gets you to the chequered flag
All the finance in the world cannot overcome a collaborative spirit. Big budgets don’t equate to big outcomes without a cultural core: to create, rise together and do whatever it takes to get across the finish line. Burning desire is what blazes the path to change.
Brilliance, they say, has a rhythm. The rhythm that gets you to navigate the next corner at over 280 kilometres per hour. Or one that helps you smash back the next shot that’s flying in towards you at 250 of the same metric speed. Confluence brought together two legends who mastered their rhythms: a trailblazer on court, and a literal trailblazer on the track.
Analysing what happens at crunch time were Jim Courier, 4-time tennis grand slam champion and Mark Webber, 9-time F1 grand prix champion. Tracing the tipping points of success over their storied careers, the iconic duo shared their take on the many shades of victory. From acing the numbers to putting people in pole position, it was 60 minutes of insight that came in fast and furious. And whether it was data, disruption or desire, one thing was clear: there are beats to brilliance. It’s all about finding it and fusing it into your fabric.
It's still about the winning mentality and the people who gravitate to that winning environment ultimately. And class always comes through, you know, coin is one thing, but you need the people.
