Reflections on two exhilarating days at the Nordic Business Forum.

After a weekend of recovery from all the buzz and input overload, I’m still sorting and processing the information (illustration below courtesy of HotpotAI)

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While I am writing summary articles of both days, my brain has lost itself in the attempt of Connecting the Dots, which also happens to be the title of this year’s Inner Development Goals(IDG) Summit happening next week. Fret not if you’re not familiar with that framework, as figuring out how to put together the pieces of the puzzle is exactly why my neurons are on overdrive and I will get back to it. However, before doing so I wanted to reflect on how some topics from last year have continued into this year's event...

Last year, Yuval Harari explained that unlearning and #learning of fundamental skills is becoming ever more critical, as well as being able to differentiate between true and false information. Martin Lindstrom talked about the dangers of not regulating the next generation of technology, and while he built his case on the metaverse - which is still trying to become the next big thing - many of his and Yuval's points came back to me when hearing the excellent talks about AI by Mo Gawdat, Scott Galloway, Amy Webb, and Mikko Hypponen, who drew a very comprehensive picture of the opportunities and dangers of generative AI, and what questions we should ask ourselves.

If the race on intelligence is already lost to AI, we may as well focus our efforts on how the civil and peaceful use of this technology will benefit humanity. At the same time, we should re-connect with our origins and finally find ways to integrate our economic, technological, and societal advancements in a #sustainable way with our natural environment.

Which brings me to the other leitmotif that transcended both year's edition of NBF: The importance of meaningful #relationships.

This was ultimately the key idea underlying various talk last year, be it Jitske Kramer advocating for Powerlove, or Amy Edmondson’s psychological safety. To me also Rutger Bregman’s ideas of assuming the good in people and having a basis of trust plays into the same bucket, or Erin Meyer’s culture map as a tool to overcome potential obstacles in nurturing those relationships. I could go on…

But back to this year. While the delivery of talks was very different: from a fiery Rebecca Henderson to a composed Jos De Blok, or from a agitated Scott Galloway to a moving Maryna Saprykina, what I picked up as an underlying foundation was the importance of caring for and collaborating with one another.

And to close the loop with the IDG, when I think of meaningful relationships, I don't just mean with other human beings, but also with oneself, and with our home planet.

Thanks for reading and please let me know in the comments if this resonated with you.

#nbforum2022 #nbforum2023 #bethechange #humanconnection #collaboration #trust #growth #coaching #superchargeyourpeople