When I searched for Hens Night activities Bill Clinton was not really a name that came to mind, but Google had other ideas. As I searched using keys words like Burlesque and Pole Dancing it sent me to the Groupon site promoting Bill Clinton, keynote speaker at Entrepreneur 2012. Now after 4 days at the conference seeing the focus on Internet Marketing makes me think their staff have an interesting use of the key words on Google Adwords.
Shrugging aside the randomness of my discovery, I was delighted to spend a few days with The Hen at the Entrepreneur 2012 conference listening to Entrepreneurs from various sectors, making stupendous amounts of money that seemed rather soulless to this vagabond. The final day however was a Question Time format with a number of various business leaders and academics from across the UK to add value and a little bit of credibility to the conference.
Discussion points included Diversity & Equality, Motivation & Inspiration. The Influence & Power panel were a varied and interesting bunch taking inspiration from spiritual and business leaders and even the Queen Mum! What struck me was how un-engaged the representative from Goldman Sachs was, curiously he comes from my sector (loosely) and yet he was the one speaker I could not connect with at all.
Despite a blip with a repeat performance from a giddy Canadian Middle Man for an hour , repeating almost word for word his previous days sales pitch, putting a dampener on the warm up to Bill Clinton. This blip made many of us realise that most of the speakers had PAID to be at the conference and were there to self serve and (?) inspire. Oh how soullessly entrepreneurial. It really is no surprise this proud member of the McDuck family walked away without spending a penny on any one of their promotional speech weekends or boot camps.
With a crowd standing and clapping Mr Clinton was welcomed to the stage. He was warm and seemingly effortless, with a slight shake of his 66 year old hands. He commanded the audience with ease, drawing on all sensibilities from health, politics, education and business.
Over the course of 55 minutes he wooed the audience with his clear and concise thoughts on key themes. Drawing us in by highlighting how 30 years ago such a conference would draw carbon copies of himself and how encouraging the diversity seen before him was (and made for a more interesting view!). He drew our attentions to the the survival of the world being focused on the need to work on equality, stability and sustainability. Such simple concepts but ones we are struggling to grasp in the depths of an economic and environmental crisis.
He highlighted each of these concepts with his personal attempts to promote positive change.
Just imagine Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela shaking a tin cup asking for aide money to fight AIDS. And that is just what they did after Mr Clinton left the Oval Office. By encouraging an Indian pharmaceuticals company to work more like a fast food chain than a small town jeweller, they were able to negotiate a profitable model and ensure that AIDS anti-retro viral drugs have been reduced from $500 for an Adult to $90 and $600 for a child to a mere $60. Its life changing.
As is Mr Clinton's attempt to get all the heads of major "soft" drinks and juice companies together in a room to fight child obesity and Type 2 Diabetes. He proposed that together they could drive change in the next generations health by taking their drinks out of schools. His friends thought he had lost it. Which when you think about the power of some of these brands makes you really question his sanity. In the 4 years since the programme began to remove drinks from schools, they have reduced the calories available in schools by 90% in fruit and "soft" drinks. By encouraging the companies to use this market for their lower calorie alternatives like flavoured water products, to capture the market in a different way. He referred to it as a business deal that was humanitarian, generous, kind, compassionate and simply worked for all of them.
He highlighted the efforts of one fisherman in Haiti (where he now spends much of his time). Haiti has a growing Protein deficiency problem. This fish farmer has found a way to help others to learn to develop fish farms around Haiti using solar power making it a ecological and sustainable business giving jobs to the the communities and providing a source of protein for a better tomorrow. Talk about living in the sweet spot.
But sustainability seemed to be his key note message. Highlighting the climate change needs to work as economic model to become an attractive business investment. He strongly believes that Climate Change exists (hooray!) but the compelling nature of the past 2 decades seeing triple the amount of natural disasters and an undeniable warming of the worlds water temperatures seems to be lost of business when it relies on large investment for such lonnnnng term returns.
By highlighting the programmes London are involved in to retro-fit of their buildings as addressing the tip of the iceberg. Places like Denmark are a real inspiration with some towns aiming to be carbon neutral by 2029. Including one island who have invested in 200 electric cars and only drive their regular cars on the mainland for long journeys. They are already carbon positive and send back energy to the mainland.
In a time when "we need to remember the basics like photosynthesis" (sending me in cartwheels back to science class with Mr Dyack) Mr Clinton closed with the rousing idea that he would give up his time as president to be a 25 year old today to charter a course through the next 30 years....it really does make you think. What can we do to make it the best time in history from the dust of a global economic crisis and a desperate environment.
It was a wonderful time in my year to see Bill Clinton. I have spent the last year visiting some of the most influential people in history. I've stood above the bunker where it is believed Hitler killed himself, on the bridge where Franz Ferdinand was killed, I've walked past Ho Chi Minh in state, I've blessed at the feet of Mother Theresa's grave within Mother House in Calcutta. I've visited the home of the His Holiness the Dalai Lama, rested in the garden where it is believed Buddha was born, even touched the spot where it is believed Jesus Christ was born. But Mr Clinton is a man of our time. One who is seeking change, through promotion of positive change.
After seeing Mr Clinton, live and un-politically charged it reminded me again how the Clinton to Gore presidential campaign could have changed our world. But with such great visionaries in influential positions lets hope we can together find the inspiration to build a better tomorrow with a bit of foresight. Its our chance to make a difference for the next generation.
I have a copy of the speech as we were able to record it for posterity. If you would like to have a listen please don't hesitate to drop me a note.
Shrugging aside the randomness of my discovery, I was delighted to spend a few days with The Hen at the Entrepreneur 2012 conference listening to Entrepreneurs from various sectors, making stupendous amounts of money that seemed rather soulless to this vagabond. The final day however was a Question Time format with a number of various business leaders and academics from across the UK to add value and a little bit of credibility to the conference.
Discussion points included Diversity & Equality, Motivation & Inspiration. The Influence & Power panel were a varied and interesting bunch taking inspiration from spiritual and business leaders and even the Queen Mum! What struck me was how un-engaged the representative from Goldman Sachs was, curiously he comes from my sector (loosely) and yet he was the one speaker I could not connect with at all.Despite a blip with a repeat performance from a giddy Canadian Middle Man for an hour , repeating almost word for word his previous days sales pitch, putting a dampener on the warm up to Bill Clinton. This blip made many of us realise that most of the speakers had PAID to be at the conference and were there to self serve and (?) inspire. Oh how soullessly entrepreneurial. It really is no surprise this proud member of the McDuck family walked away without spending a penny on any one of their promotional speech weekends or boot camps.
With a crowd standing and clapping Mr Clinton was welcomed to the stage. He was warm and seemingly effortless, with a slight shake of his 66 year old hands. He commanded the audience with ease, drawing on all sensibilities from health, politics, education and business.
He highlighted each of these concepts with his personal attempts to promote positive change.
Just imagine Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela shaking a tin cup asking for aide money to fight AIDS. And that is just what they did after Mr Clinton left the Oval Office. By encouraging an Indian pharmaceuticals company to work more like a fast food chain than a small town jeweller, they were able to negotiate a profitable model and ensure that AIDS anti-retro viral drugs have been reduced from $500 for an Adult to $90 and $600 for a child to a mere $60. Its life changing.
As is Mr Clinton's attempt to get all the heads of major "soft" drinks and juice companies together in a room to fight child obesity and Type 2 Diabetes. He proposed that together they could drive change in the next generations health by taking their drinks out of schools. His friends thought he had lost it. Which when you think about the power of some of these brands makes you really question his sanity. In the 4 years since the programme began to remove drinks from schools, they have reduced the calories available in schools by 90% in fruit and "soft" drinks. By encouraging the companies to use this market for their lower calorie alternatives like flavoured water products, to capture the market in a different way. He referred to it as a business deal that was humanitarian, generous, kind, compassionate and simply worked for all of them.
He highlighted the efforts of one fisherman in Haiti (where he now spends much of his time). Haiti has a growing Protein deficiency problem. This fish farmer has found a way to help others to learn to develop fish farms around Haiti using solar power making it a ecological and sustainable business giving jobs to the the communities and providing a source of protein for a better tomorrow. Talk about living in the sweet spot.
But sustainability seemed to be his key note message. Highlighting the climate change needs to work as economic model to become an attractive business investment. He strongly believes that Climate Change exists (hooray!) but the compelling nature of the past 2 decades seeing triple the amount of natural disasters and an undeniable warming of the worlds water temperatures seems to be lost of business when it relies on large investment for such lonnnnng term returns.
By highlighting the programmes London are involved in to retro-fit of their buildings as addressing the tip of the iceberg. Places like Denmark are a real inspiration with some towns aiming to be carbon neutral by 2029. Including one island who have invested in 200 electric cars and only drive their regular cars on the mainland for long journeys. They are already carbon positive and send back energy to the mainland.
In a time when "we need to remember the basics like photosynthesis" (sending me in cartwheels back to science class with Mr Dyack) Mr Clinton closed with the rousing idea that he would give up his time as president to be a 25 year old today to charter a course through the next 30 years....it really does make you think. What can we do to make it the best time in history from the dust of a global economic crisis and a desperate environment.
It was a wonderful time in my year to see Bill Clinton. I have spent the last year visiting some of the most influential people in history. I've stood above the bunker where it is believed Hitler killed himself, on the bridge where Franz Ferdinand was killed, I've walked past Ho Chi Minh in state, I've blessed at the feet of Mother Theresa's grave within Mother House in Calcutta. I've visited the home of the His Holiness the Dalai Lama, rested in the garden where it is believed Buddha was born, even touched the spot where it is believed Jesus Christ was born. But Mr Clinton is a man of our time. One who is seeking change, through promotion of positive change.
After seeing Mr Clinton, live and un-politically charged it reminded me again how the Clinton to Gore presidential campaign could have changed our world. But with such great visionaries in influential positions lets hope we can together find the inspiration to build a better tomorrow with a bit of foresight. Its our chance to make a difference for the next generation.
This is part of a 4 Part Series on Entrepreneur 2012
Day 2 - book-worming your way to success
Day 4 - Bill Clinton and Pole Dancing a tenuous link
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