6 Startling Truths I Learned from Speaking in 2018

Here is a reflection from the select talks I gave in 2018 from Rome to Indianapolis.

1. Too many toxic working environments that kill inspired actions

Date: 28th February, Rome, Italy

Audience: An international group of 300 leaders and professionals who work for unity throughout the world who have gathered for the New Humanity School 2018

After my talk, many people came up to me expressing their surprise that a purpose-driven approach can be sustainable as a business and were inspired. I personally believe that our way of operating as a business can certainly be practiced by everyone. But I believe the reason why it is so rare is because there are too many toxic environments that have made everyone doubt that inspired actions; actions of purpose and unity are possible or even rewarding. This made me even more determined to share with more people that running inspired enterprises is not only possible but is the way forward.

Click on this link for the transcript of that talk in Rome

2. Smart cities without a human core are not sustainable

Date: 6th July, Singapore

Audience: A regional group of 100 professionals, entrepreneurs and policy makers in the field of smart cities in ASEAN at Shape the World Conference 2018

The exchanges during the conference affirmed my belief that we cannot simply talk about smart cities from the infrastructure point of view which is limiting. We urgently need a holistic approach that will consider socio-economic and cultural impact. We should not be replicating template cities but shape cities that inspire and further advance our humanity in terms of values. A truly smart city is human-first which means it must be able to create new solutions to bridge inequality, ensure sustainability and enable inclusion.

Click on this link for the Transcript

3. Our Youth demands an Inclusive Future Economy

Date: 11th July, Tagaytay City in Philippines.

Audience: 1,000 young people from 55 countries who have gathered for the Post Genfest Programme

I was very inspired by the many interactions with the youth after this talk. One said to me, you have given me hope that staying true to one's purpose is possible in the business world. Another said to me: "I had hoped to listen to something real yet inspiring and this was it!" Then a group immediately wanted to learn more about some of our approaches so that they can put it into practice, especially on some of the ideas I shared about shaping an inclusive economy.

What became clear is, the youth of this generation is extremely conscious about the crises in the world and are prepared to take collective action to shape a better world. I came away with a lot of hope that our youth can be counted on to be part of our global movement for economic change to make poverty history.

Transcript: relational-innovation-overcome-poverty-our-times-lawrence-chong-张福强

4. Design Thinking without systemic change is futile.

Date: 19th Oct, Singapore.

Audience: 250 regional retail entrepreneurs and professionals who have gathered at the Asia Retail Leaders Conference 2018

By and large many people appreciate the method of design thinking but the biggest challenge is how to systemically implement it and how to measure its impact for business success. Fortunately in our application for design thinking, we have gone beyond user-experiences to embedding it into Human Resources, financial planning for more than 10 years. So when I shared our approach, many leaders could connect with our systemic approach. In dealing with the challenges for Industry 4.0, design thinking is a very useful method and now the next big step for us as practitioners is how to apply it increasingly at the systems level. This is something we will explore in our upcoming Shape the World Summit 2019.

5. Tolerating extreme diversity is what enables the American system to reinvent itself.

Date: 23rd Oct, Indianapolis, United States of America

Audience: 40 leaders, policy advisors, senior representatives in Indianapolis

Through the various interactions with leaders in the city and the subsequent visit to the state university, it is clear that the American system's amazing ability for reinvention is due to its tolerance for extreme diversity. At any one time, there are multiple agendas, groups clamouring for a say. To outsiders it seems rather dysfunctional but for our American friends, it is part and parcel of life. Having said this, the growing concern is this tolerance for diversity is thinning, and this will directly impact America's competitiveness. I have been to the US many times since 2008 and even though it seems that American leadership does not seem very inspired these days, I still have faith that it will be able to reinvent itself again because the diversity element is already deeply entrenched in the system.

Transcript of my talk at Sagamore Institute: shaping-heroic-leaders-humanity-40-lawrence-chong-张福强

6. Multi-dimensional dialogue is what we need in our schools and offices today

Date: 5th November, Singapore

Audience: 150 religious leaders, lay people from Christian and Taoist Traditions gathered from around the world for the 2nd Christian-Taoist Colloquium.

I have been involved with interfaith conferences since 2005 but this is one of the most enriching in terms of method of conference. Usually interfaith conferences only involve senior religious leaders. Even if they do involve other vocations such as a lay person in business or a youth, they are seldom in the same session with the leaders. But the format that the Vatican has introduced for this event is multi-generational, multi-vocation, which made it very interesting. So in any session you would have religious leaders and lay persons sharing their experiences and insights in one setting. It was a very inspiring approach and you could really see the spectrum of life in any topic. We discussed ethics in media, education, business, governance from different lens and views.

So I thought to myself, wouldn't it be beautiful to teach kids and professionals in the office to do dialogue in this way. It would introduce realism and more appreciation for each other's perspectives. I came away inspired and eager to do more of such interfaith conferences or to introduce this type of formats in the conferences that we organise.

Click on this link for the Transcript

About Lawrence Chong

Lawrence shares about his experiences of helping leaders, companies, cities transform for Industry 4.0 to enable innovation through purpose and unity. His passion is in shaping purpose-driven leaders, companies and smart cities that will contribute to shaping a better world.    

He is the Co-founder and CEO of Consulus Global Network, an innovation consultancy with business management and multi-disciplinary design capabilities. Lawrence is a featured speaker at global events such as Innovation by Design, World Marketing Summit and World Brand Congress. He served as the Immediate Past President of Design Business Chamber Singapore. His thoughts on innovation and creativity appear in regional media such as Fortune, Nikkei Asian Review, Business Insider, Business Times, Marketing Magazine, Newsbase, Prestige Magazine, VTC10. In his personal capacity, he is a member of the Focolare, a movement in favor of building a united world through dialogue, economics, and politics.

About Consulus

Consulus is a global innovation consultancy with multidisciplinary business and design capabilities. Since 2004 the firm has served leaders, companies and cities in the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania to meet their innovation needs through a unifying approach that integrates business strategy, organizational development and experience design. Clients include Teo Garments, BIBD, Goodrich Global, DST, Health City Novena, MTU and Sony.

www.consulus.com or follow us on Linkedin and Facebook

Applying our proprietary UNIFY methodology to redesign business models, organizational cultures, and brand experiences, we help our clients develop in-house capabilities so as to enable them to innovate more effectively and meet the complex challenges of the 4th industrial revolution.

Here are our FIVE SOLUTIONS FOR THE FUTURE ECONOMY

1. Business Transformation: PurposeCORE 

2. Customer Experience Design: ExperienceCORE

3. Development or Smart City Solution: PlaceCORE

4. Digital Strategy: DigitalCORE

5. Leadership Transformation: LeadershipCORE

Our custom-design solutions have allowed our clients to increase revenue by over 138%, expand to overseas markets, develop new products and intellectual property and prepare the next generation of leaders to drive and sustain high-growth. Today, Consulites serve throughout Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Consulus is a member of the Economy of Communion (EoC).

In 2013, Consulus launched World Company Day initiative to inspire companies to shape the world into a better place through daily work.