KNOWLEDGE ARTICLE – LEADERSHIFT
THINK ABOUT YOUR THINKING Some thoughts based on a presentation by Jeff Hurt, Empowered Epiphanies, at the Event Innovation Lab at IMEX America, Las Vegas
Think differently about your
Individuals want to evolve, grow and
Question:
brain and your participants.
develop professionally – that makes
What weighs 3 lbs, has more than
that person a leader in the meetings/
1000 trillion connections and controls
Repeating an event year after year is
event space. Leadershift by its nature
conferences, events and meetings?
a recipe for disaster. The brain is kept
challenges out of date ideas, it
Answer:
alive if fed with new challenges, it dies
challenges the status quo, it challenges
The brain of each of your participants.
if everything is just on repeat mode.
the focus on logistics, details, schedules
Therefore there is a need to think to
etc.
create change, and thus create learning.
Dr. Sandra Bard Chapman, Neuroscience Researcher, UTD’s Center for
If events do not continue to evolve and
Growth is the only guarantee that
BrainHealth, commented “if your
improve, they will inevitably stagnate
tomorrow will be better than today. If
events are the same as before, you are
and decline.
you shoot for goals you’ll achieve your
damaging someone’s brain.”
goals but you may not grow. If you shoot The meetings profession is in dire need
for growth you’ll grow and you will
It is human nature to desire
of leadershift, not necessarily leadership:
achieve your goals.
improvement and resist change
an ability and willingness to make
simultaneously. It is the way the brain
changes that will positively enhance
is built biologically. It is built to avoid
participants’ personal, professional and
thinking. Thinking, and thus learning, is
organisational growth.
work.
8
| November 2019