Keynotes

 

Powerful Times: Making Sense of an Uncertain World
Eamonn Kelly

The unknown, unexpected, and unimagined have long been central to the human drama, and yet the level of uncertainty today is radically higher than ever before. Over the past five centuries, the industrialized world has developed certain bedrock assumptions—assumptions that are now crumbling around us through massive technological, political, and social changes. In this keynote session, Eamonn will explore how the practice of scenario thinking offers a way to prepare for what’s coming—and transform this moment of uncertainty into unprecedented opportunity. By integrating traditional strategy approaches with those that rely on intuition, collective insight, emotional and spiritual intelligence, morality, and wisdom, we can move toward a new future, not in fear, but with conviction and sustained attention.

Eamonn Kelly is the visionary author of Powerful Times: Rising to the Challenge of Our Uncertain World, and CEO of Global Business Network (GBN). He is central to GBN’s leadership role in the evolution and application of scenario thinking and strategic conversation to help organizations change and innovate in fundamental ways.

 

 

Living and Leading on the Developing Edge
Roger Saillant

What are the conditions that allow people in organizations to confidently set course for an unknown horizon? As CEO of Plug Power, one of the first independent commercial producers of hydrogen fuel cells, Roger has found that openness, accountability, and authenticity are indispensable to building trust and engagement in a rapidly evolving environment. When people can rely on those values being present despite the prevailing uncertainties of the business they’re pursuing, they generate a different kind of energy together. In this session, Roger will share stories from the developing edge about the commitment required to create a culture of inquiry capable of relentlessly pushing toward what’s emerging next.

Roger Saillant is CEO of Plug Power, an innovative fuel cell manufacturer that is changing the way energy is harnessed, distributed and used. With equal measures of vision, humility and drive, Roger models a tireless leadership style grounded in the knowledge that the work we undertake today will never be completed in our lifetimes.

 

 

Risking Your Significance
Dawna Markova, Rachel Bagby, and Andy Bryner

If we always think the way we've always thought, all roads will always lead to where we've already been. To lead beyond the horizon of our own habits of thinking requires us to call on different areas of our brains than we usually employ. In this multidimensional session, Dawna, Andy and Rachel will use evocative questions, music, sound, and storytelling to create a new kind of conference experience. Through a series of reflective individual, small-group, and community practices, we will learn to shift from a reactive to a proactive stance and open ourselves to the full potential of what we can achieve individually and collectively.

Dawna Markova is a renowned educator, researcher, organizational consultant, and author of I Will Not Die an Unlived Life, among other titles. Her new book, The SMART Parenting Revolution, spells out how parents and teachers can identify and build on children’s strengths. Her focus on our most precious resource will be of value to all of us who are interested in the classroom and workforce of the future.

Rachel Bagby, JD (Stanford) helps people discover the vibralingual powers of being free out loud. Author of Divine Daughters, she has spent more than 25 years teaching about the transformative relationships between beauty, vibration, and collective wisdom. Composer, teacher and founder of Singing Farm, a solar-powered organic learning center, Rachel performed with Bobby McFerrin's improvisational ensemble, Voicestra for three years. She has released two CDs and distributes her choral works via Breathing Music.

Andy Bryner is known for using physical embodiment learning practices to enhance collaboration and effectiveness in the workplace. He is co-author with Dawna Markova of An Used Intelligence: Physical Thinking for 21st Century Leadership. As head of training for SmartWired, Andy just completed pilot projects at four American military bases in Europe to support military parents and their children. Also a music composer, he is currently working on his sixth album.

 

 

Jobs for the Future: Investing in Tomorrow’s Success
Marlene Seltzer, Donna Rodrigues, Gerald Chertavian, and Neil Silverston

As a global community, how do we create a workforce that meets the demands of a changing economy? And from a human standpoint, how do we make sure that all young people make a successful transition to adulthood and that all adults have the education and skills they need to advance in family-supporting careers? Through partnerships with communities, foundations, and other organizations, Boston-based Jobs for the Future works to strengthen society by accelerating the adoption of what’s new, what’s needed, and what works in helping youth and adults acquire the skills that employers require. In this session, hear from leaders on the frontlines of creating tomorrow’s workforce.

Jobs for the Future is a non-profit research, consulting, and advocacy organization that works to strengthen our society by creating educational and economic opportunity for those who need it most.

Marlene Seltzer is president and CEO of Jobs for the Future (JFF). Nationally recognized as a systems reform champion in the workforce development field, she has over 20 years of practical experience in policy and program delivery at the national, state, and local levels. Marlene is the senior advisor for JFF’s body of work that focuses on increasing economic opportunity for low-income workers. Prior to joining JFF, she held a number of prominent positions in non-profit management and government, including two years as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Employment and Training.

Donna Rodrigues is associate vice president of Jobs for the Future (JFF), where she works primarily with the Early College High School Initiative to help create quality schools for underrepresented students. She has spent 35 years in education as a teacher, department chair of foreign languages, professional development school coordinator, part-time professor at Clark University, and, for eight years, the planner and founding principal of University Park Campus School, a small Worcester Public Schools/Clark University collaboration.

Gerald Chertavian is founder and CEO of Year Up, an organization recognized by Fast Company and The Monitor Group as one of the top 25 organizations in the nation using business excellence to engineer social change. Gerald’s commitment to working with urban youth spans more than 20 years, during which time he has leveraged his entrepreneurial skills and successful career in business to create opportunities for others.

Neil Silverston is president of WorkSource Partners, an organization he co-founded with Mary Culhane in 1995. The WorkSource team provides clients with entry-level career development programs that integrate personal “success” counseling and training. Neil was a co-founder and developer of City Year, the privately funded “urban Peace Corps” based in Boston, which served as a model for AmeriCorps. Prior to WorkSource Partners, he was a senior consultant at Lochridge & Company, a strategic management consulting firm in Boston.

 

 

We've Never Been Here Before
Peter Senge

Our difficulty in confronting today’s problems—from organizational issues to global warming—is that they are fundamentally more complex than those of the past. With the ever-increasing pace of change, our ability to see and understand this alien territory demands renewed faith in our underutilized capacity for thinking systemically. As he has done so provocatively in each of the past 15 years, Peter will draw on the emergent themes of the conference to help us frame the questions that will inspire us to take wiser, more effective action in our organizations and in the world.

Peter Senge is an acclaimed author and founding chair of SoL, Society for Organizational Learning. Peter brought universal attention to the field of organizational learning with his landmark book, The Fifth Discipline. A long awaited second edition was published this year. He is back for his 16th Pegasus Conference.