Hello Friends!
Wow. Mind blown. I don’t think I can accurately capture in words how invigorating, energizing, and stimulating the Oslo Business Forum was. I was so excited to hear Simon Sinek speak live but I had no idea how many other incredible speakers would be there, and how much I would take away from this event!!
I was particularly impressed by the caliber of the speakers. The Speaker Coach in me was in absolute heaven! These speakers were absolutely riveting to watch and listen to. They had hardly any slides, and the slides they did have were usually pictorial or graphical, to support what they were saying. If you didn’t listen to the presentation, the slides would not have told the story on their own. Which made the talks so engaging!
Each of the speakers left me with something memorable. A fact, a statistic, an anecdote, a metaphor. But what struck me most was that all the speakers had one main point in common: LOVE.
They all talked about love. Caring. Heart-ware. The importance of emotion and feelings in leadership. It was both fascinating and gratifying to see. Love is one of my core values, and I have always been a huge proponent of the power of it in the workplace. ♥
The energy, the vibe, the buzz, the intangible brilliance of this Forum is indescribable. I’ve already signed up for next year’s event!!
It brought to mind the concept of eudaimonic happiness. If you don’t know what eudaimonic happiness is, don’t worry I didn’t know the term until a few years ago either! 😊
Mark Manson described it well in a recent newsletter and I think it is really applicable here:
Being part of the OBF was the best version of eudaimonic happiness. And I’d love to share a few of my highlights with you!
BUILDING READINESS FOR THE UNKNOWN…
This was the first panel discussion of the event, and honestly, I turned to my husband afterwards and said it was worth the price of the ticket just to be part of it!
The discussion centered around how leaders need to navigate paradoxes and uncertainty. As panelist Bente Kristin Malmo put it, “Your competitive edge is no longer knowledge. Your competitive edge is the ability to learn.” YES!!! Curiosity, growth mindset, and the agility to learn new things is the real make-or-break skill that effective and successful leaders need. (Coincidentally, this was the topic of my Thursday Thought that week!)
Malmo also talked about the importance of reflection – one of the topics closest to my coach’s heart and a topic from my last newsletter! – saying, “You need to be quick, but you need to step back and find time for reflection – to assess how you approach the future.” Wise words and excellent advice!
THE FLUX MINDSET…
April Rinne talked about leading and living in a world where we don’t have much control. She introduced the idea of positive friction: mistakes that allow for learning and growth. And pointed out that “we will take a wrong answer quickly rather than wait for a right answers. It’s when we’re rushing that we make foolish mistakes.” And foolish mistakes are the antithesis of positive friction.
She also encouraged us to “take some time to reflect about what are my beliefs that are no longer fit for purpose?”
I was so interested in her talk that I bought her book, The Flux Mindset: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change and can’t wait to read it. Watch this space for a review! 😊
SIMPLE QUESTIONS TO UNLOCK INNOVATION…
I’ve been following Diana Kander for a while and she is without question the most dynamic and engaging speaker of the event for me. She was dynamite. Her comparison of Snoop Dogg to Vanilla Ice was very memorable. Who adapted and grew, and who did not?? (Spoiler: Vanilla Ice is still stuck in the 90s. Snoop is iconic and far more influential today.)
I loved her idea of each birthday being a new version. So when Diana turned 44, she became Version 4.4. What will this system upgrade mean? “What features and benefits does this version have that previous versions didn’t have?” Such a great perspective!!
And her best quote…
Boom!!!! This is the Self-Authoring Mind in action. Growth is a choice. But potentially the most important choice we can make.
HOW THE WORLD’S BEST LEADERS UNLEASH THE MOST POWERFUL FORCE IN BUSINESS…
It’s love. The most powerful force in business is love.
Marcus Buckingham was incredibly persuasive talking about how the data is inescapable. Love is the most powerful force in business. He struggled to accept this – as he joked, he’s a British man and a psychometrician who could barely even say the word! – but this is what the data conclusively and powerfully show.
“The opposite of Artificial Intelligence is genuine emotion.”
5s are love. And 4s are not 5s.
BRINGING LEADERSHIP TO LIFE…
Gianpiero Petriglieri spoke so eloquently about leadership. As an Organisational Behaviour professor at INSEAD, leadership is his wheelhouse.
He too equated leadership with love. He said “Leadership is a kind of love. It’s between people. It holds us together and moves us forward at the same time.”
And “any activity that broadens your capacity to care is leadership development.”
How forward-thinking is that?!
SIMON SINEK…
Of course I was at the OBF to see Simon!! That was my reason for going. And he did not disappoint!!
So many nuggets of wisdom in his session, “Building High-Performing Teams”.
Top of the list was that we are too afraid to ask for help. The best thing we can do as leaders is realize that “you will feel overwhelmed if you think that you have to have all the answers. The single most important thing you can do as a leader is to ask for help.”
Couldn’t agree more!!
Simon too spoke about love, and how “we’ve got to take business from a transaction to a feeling.” And to do so we need to “learn the human skill of listening and holding space.” ♥
Perfection.
A LAST FEW THOUGHTS…
A few additional quotes I jotted down during the conference that resonated with, inspired, or moved me:
“Our ancestors didn’t leave the Stone Age because they ran out of stone.” ~Lillian Gjerulf Kretz
Pippa Malmgren encouraged us to “upgrade to Heartware”. ♥
“Are you attracting talent that is willing to be developed? If we want courageous leadership tomorrow, we need to think about how we measure courage today.” ~ André Mundal
“The best leaders prioritize tech and heart” ~ Terence Mauri
“Fundamentally what people want is a caring environment.” ~ Dr. Eliza Filby
This was just a snippet of what I loved at the OBF and wanted to share. I’d love to chat more about it! Feel free to drop me a line, send me a DM, or get in touch in any way to discuss! It was a brilliant event and I learned SO much.
And in the spirit of growth, development, and new challenges, the entire Harig family headed to Oxford last weekend to run a half-marathon together! Keep your eyes peeled on my social media to hear how it went!
Wishing you a wonderful week!
Hugs,
Julia
P.S. This newsletter was entirely researched, planned, and written by me. No ghost writers and no A.I. As such, all opinions and errors are mine and mine alone.