My Monthly Fail Story
My first paid keynote speech
In 2021 I decided to commit sharing more failure stories on social media and less of “Look, my dear network how well I am doing!”
So here is my second story: Last year I had an opportunity to give my first paid keynote speech. This was very exciting for me and the Integrated Villages NGO who received the payment.
As typical for me, I was preparing a lot for this presentation and felt confident with my story line. However, at some point while presenting I was waiting for my 'killer' slide to show-up.
But it didn't!!! This was the time when I realized that I was sharing an older version of the presentation. :)
Although I didn't mention it to the audience, I did lose my flow for a while. And the worst was how I felt about it - a complete failure with such a stupid mistake. Lesson learnt - be more empathetic towards yourself and lower your 'High Achiever' saboteur. Nobody is perfect and it's okay to make mistakes. And of course always pre-check whether you are sharing the latest version of your file ;)
I would love to hear your failure stories too! Please share it by replying to this email.
Find Your Purpose
Self-reflection power
Isn't it controversial how easy is to analyze others behavior, attitude and make conclusions about it? But once you need to turn that mirror the other way around - into yourself, it suddenly changes lots of things.
Although I find self-reflection always difficult, in the end it always brings me so much back! So, here are some of my thoughts on this topic in my latest blog post. Additionally, I developed a brief self-reflection process template which includes explanation and a practical example.
Happy reading and I am curious to get your thoughts on this topic.
Personal Growth
The 'millennial crisis' term finally demystified
I am so happy to get my article published on Thrive Global community. This platform was founded by Arianna Huffington with the aim to improve our well-being and performance.
In the article I am talking about the ‘millennial crisis’ term which I use to describe why I took a career break in 2019. This term got attached to many people with whom I talk, so I kept using it.
What a controversial story!
Last year Zuckerberg family name was condemned from a public San Fransisco hospital after the family has given the largest single private gift to a public hospital ever.
I have summarized the whole story in a 1.5 minute video. Please, let me know your thoughts by replying to this email. Do you think it was a right decision?
Business
Hoshin Kanri at Maersk
In this vastly changing world it's sometimes hard for organizations to imagine having a long-term (e.g. 3 years) plan. Some would simply say that it doesn't make sense in their business to think so far ahead.
Well, Amdi Krogh who is currently leading Maersk North Europe Operations office would argue with you for a bit.
Why? Because in 2017 there were similar discussions within Amdi's leadership team, but today after the 3-year breakthrough plan is implemented and shown its impressive results, doubts are gone.
It is an immense pleasure to share with you a story written by Amdi on how Maersk North Europe Operations organization implemented their 3-year breakthrough business plan based on Hoshin Kanri principles.
As an initiator of this plan, I am extremely pleased to see the business results which would have not been possible without hard work of the whole North Europe Operations organization always supported by the dedicated management and leadership teams!
Thanks Amdi for always being a role model and taking your precious time in sharing this story!
When should I kick-off a digital transformation in my business?
LEAN thinking which was born at Toyota has been and still is transformational for many organizations across the world. It’s hard to find an enterprise which was not touched by the LEAN principles.
Naturally, after you have implemented LEAN thinking principles in your organization, you might ask yourself - what’s next?
My answer is “keep continuously improving as you did before, but take a look what digital can offer you.”
This is what I am talking about in my latest blog post. Check it out and let me know your thoughts.
Books
I became a Digital Transformation bookworm
Apparently learning how to learn is one of the hottest skills to have these days! But how do you learn to learn?
One of my favorite ways is reading more books and spending less time on social media. For me books provide a more in-depth understanding of a topic and help me to crystalize new concepts better compared to reading articles on the internet.
Last year I have read quite some books on digital transformation - the topic at the center of my current job at Schuberg Philis.
Even though after finishing a couple of them 📚, I started to notice that some points are repeated, each book provided me a new angle and fresh perspective.
What is your proven method of learning new things? Do you have recommendations for books to read on digital transformation topic? Please share it by replying to this email.
Make An Impact
Bracelets
Every now and then I get the question why I got involved with Integrated Villages NGO in supporting women in rural Uganda. "Agne, you cannot save the world..."
This is indeed true if you work alone!
Last year I had the pleasure to give a keynote speech for Virtuagym employees, who made a donation to Integrated Villages as an appreciation for my effort.
This donation enabled us to give micro-credits (e.g. required material) to single mothers in rural Uganda, enabling them to start their own business. For example, Mary started selling bananas (matoke), whereas Saidat opened her street food place where she is selling dried fish and Hadijah started to sell fire wood.
For many of us these ideas will look extremely simple and easily fundable, and for us in the Western world they are. For the single mothers in Uganda it is changing lives by giving them a chance to jumpstart their own business. If you too would like to contribute in funding entrepreneurship of women in rural Uganda, you can do so in a very simple way! Instead of giving a donation, you can purchase one of their products - 'bracelet with a story'.