Bill and I just returned from the World Business Forum in New York City, where about 5000 people from around the globe assembled in Radio City Music Hall to hear speakers the likes of economist Paul Krugman, Patrick Lencioni, Kraft Foods CEO Irene Rosenfeld, George Lucas, and Bill Clinton, and a host of others. The event was excellent, and I’m glad I went. Most of the speakers were really good. Some of them were outstanding. Here are a few random conclusions and observations:
- Far from the apocalyptic feel of a year ago, the economy’s getting better, but it’s not better enough yet.
- If Manhattan hotel room rates are any indication, New York’s healing is well under way.
- Note to all speakers everywhere: make it about your audience, not you. Those at this event who did that, rocked; those who didn’t sank like a rock.
- Even the state-of-the-art A/V system at Radio City Music Hall can’t make a bad PowerPoint look good.
- Too many CEO’s are lousy speakers. There’s no excuse for that.
- Even Bill Clinton, an excellent speaker, can’t perform at the top of his game after an overnight flight from the west coast.
- Despite the homogenization of English speech patterns, owing to mass media, there’s still a New York accent, and I love it.
- The world has changed. The principles of leadership have not. But their application has. And that’s precisely the message behind our new book, due out next year, entitled “Rebooting Leadership”. Sorry for the plug, but it fits.
- George Lucas would be cool, even without his films.
- Those giant pretzels you get on the street corner in NY used to be better.
- Nothing has yet been devised that can adequately replace human beings coming together in the same room to hear a live speaker. Nothing.
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Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/rehadden) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the new book Contented Cows MOOve Faster, as well as the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.
