Insider Blog
June 17, 2020
This is The Beginning: (RE)SHAPING a Better Tomorrow
Perhaps unusually, we wrote a manifesto for RESHAPE. We did this because RESHAPE is more than just a summit, it marks the start of a movement. A commitment to bringing the brightest minds and business adventurers from round the world into a constructive and inspiring dialogue. To create a community that can co-create strategies for survival and success. Rome was not built in a day. RESHAPE didn’t last for just one day. The mission continues.
If you have a crisis, if you need expert advice to help your business through a dark time or an explosive time packed with potential – sound the RESHAPE alarm, get in touch and we commit to connecting members of the RESHAPE community so that together we can thrive.
What a day! 11 hours of back to back speeches, panel discussion, and workshops, enjoyed by thousands throughout the day, from 93 different countries. We hope everyone enjoyed the summit as much as we did.
Here are just some of the leading global brands we heard from:
Sequoia, Cirque Du Soleil, Google, Bain & Company, Avon, Payme by HSBC, Dolby, Groupe PVCP Group, Blinkist, Carrefour, ING, Zurich, Pernod Ricard, La Redoute, Pandora, Loewe, Riverwood Capital, International Space School Educational Training (ISSET), Babbel, TikTok, Smule, DBS Bank, Jardine Restaurant Group, FNAC. Phew… the full list is here.
Who didn’t want to be an astronaut growing up? The venture into the unknown. Pushing the boundaries of science and technology further than humanity has ever done before. Space travel has captivated the imagination of children and adults alike for over half a century.
RESHAPE had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Steve Swanson, former International Space Station Commander, and NASA astronaut, along with Chris Barber, Director of International Space School Educational Training (ISSET).
Steve amazed the audience that with the current investment and technology being developed, there are real opportunities for huge advancements. NASA looks to create:
The importance of teamwork is rarely more life-critical than on a space mission and it’s something that astronauts train for vigorously, travelling to hostile environments to challenge both their bodys and minds. But even down on earth, our greatest chance of survival and success in our business adventures comes down to those same principles of showing up for your team.
RESHAPE included a hugely unique experience for many of us – exclusive access to an interview with a Prime Minister in a stripped back, open and honest format. No autocue screens and lecterns to hide behind, no hundreds dollars paid per ticket. This was Malcolm Turnbull, 29th Prime Minister of Australia, talking to Adam Payne of Business Insider and to you, the RESHAPE Virtual Summit audience from his home in New South Wales.
The Prime Minister emphasised both the economic and environmental benefits of renewable and storable energy. He warned, “Saying you don’t believe in climate change is like saying you don’t believe in gravity. It’s a fact.”
On world leaders’ reactions to COVID-19 he pointed out that every leader knew the situation in Wuhan by January. He reflected that it’s going to be very clear who responded quickly and who didn’t and that this something those leaders will have to be held accountable for.
The Prime Minister did stress that a global investigation into the pandemic should be on a “no blame no shame basis’, that Donald Trump has looked to point the finger to China for failures to respond appropriately to the virus, and that some criticisms might be fair. He stated “We all have a vested interest in finding out what happened, if you want records released it has to be no blame no shame. This shouldn’t be a witch hunt.”
Businesses already have the talent and skill to RESHAPE the digital world, however we must RESHAPE our thinking, our efforts and our attitudes. And when it comes to creativity, human ingenuity, and constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible, there is no better company to hear from than Cirque du Soleil.
Reassuring RESHAPE attendees in these uncertain times Sheila Morin, Cirque du Soleil CMO (Interim) highlighted that uncertainty is already apparent in every aspect of putting on productions of the scale and ambition level that Cirque creates time and time again.
The Kurios Upside Down World scene was fraught with uncertainty and complications but they persevered and now the Upside Down World is iconic. “No it isn’t easy, but if it was, everyone would do it. We’re good at it” she told RESHAPE listeners.
You don’t have to be a gymnast or an acrobat to invert your thinking. Evolution is necessary but ‘never change your mission, just change the way you achieve your mission’. Take a step back and look at your business from upside down.
In his keynote speech CHAOS, Pieter Kemps, Principal for Sequoia explored the idea that startups already work in the chaos as they don’t have the level of predictability that an established company has through data and trajectory. Startups have no clarity of history, their future is dots and chaos and what leaders need to do is learn to recognize patterns as soon as they occur.
A clear message was that learning and adaptation are crucial. A more established company that Pieter was working with once asked him if he thought they were a dinosaur. Addressing the RESHAPE audience, he said “The dinosaurs became extinct because they weren’t able to adapt. You can only survive if your rate of learning is faster than the rate of change.”
Pieter recounted that Jeff Bezos distinguishes 2 types of decisions. Decision type one is a door that you walk through and come back. Decision type two is a door that you walk through and if it doesn’t work out, you can turn back and try a different door. He advised that 95% of decisions are type 2, and if you acknowledge this you have greater freedom and can increase your rate of experimentation.
These are just a fragment of the wisdom imparted at RESHAPE Virtual Summit 2020. We are hoping to make recordings of some of the sessions available very soon.
In the meantime, check out the RESHAPE ebook, which explores the themes of the summit of uncertainty, accelerated digital transformation, agility, and recovery. It provides 27 actions to (RE)shape (RE)tail in the new world, to help you go through the drastic mind shift and get your brand ready for the new normal.
