Events | October 9, 2019

Managing in a disruptive world – NBForum speaker held a keynote for Roschier clients

"Competitive advantage is now short-lived. Rather, continuous innovation is the only source of advantage," said NBForum 2019 keynote speaker Professor Costas Markides, when he visited Roschier's premises to talk to our clients about "Managing in a disruptive world."

The digital revolution of the last 20 years has brought lots of disruptive changes that we have to manage, and the disruption continues. Costas Markides, Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School, spoke to close to 100 of Roschier’s clients, who first mingled with their hosts over breakfast and then sat down to enjoy Prof. Markides’ dynamic and engaging speech.

In fact, the truly disruptive changes have not happened yet.

“We will have artificial intelligence, robotics, nanomaterials, synthetic biology, machine learning, virtual reality as well as new business models,” said prof. Markides, just hours before his speech at Nordic Business Forum 2019 at the Helsinki Fair Center.

The key: to make people feel special

People today want a sense of purpose and are more inclined to change jobs than before, new graduates in the US expect to have had about 10-15 jobs before the age of 40.

“The key question is not how to attract the best talent, rather, we should ask how to retain and keep energized the best talent,” Markides said. “It is no longer enough to be a good employer. Nowadays, companies need to be special, as defined by choice of working environment, incentives and the goals set for the employees.”

It all comes down to making people feel special, or, rather, simply treating your colleagues and employees as human beings. “We need to emphasize the importance of personal responsibility and encourage people to change the things they can. Imagine if everyone makes 3-4 small changes in behavior or ways of working and how that will impact the overall work environment.”

Engaging with the audience

PhD Christina Dahlblom, Managing Director of Miltton Sparks Oy and finalist in Nordic Business Forum’s Speaker Contest 2019, moderated the following, quick Q&A-session, where the audience, clearly having gotten ample food for thought, eagerly asked how to change the business culture and environment to make employees part of the purpose. Prof Markides underlined the fact that to succeed in a disruptive, ever-changing business environment, we need to focus on the people, not on the technology.

Professor Costas Markides is the first speaker to enter the NBForum 2019 main stage. Among the other speakers are actor and philanthropist George Clooney, Zuckerberg Media founder and CEO Randi Zuckerberg and Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Roschier is partnering with Nordic Business Forum for the fourth year in a row, giving clients a chance to hear one of the main speakers of the NBForum event in a smaller setting, as well as arranging streaming events for stakeholders in order to share the Nordic Business Forum 2019 experience. The Head of Roschier’s Helsinki office, partner Gisela Knuts has also written a text for NBForum’s blog, where she outlines 5 ways of increasing diversity in the workplace. Read more here.