Curiosity is defined as having a strong desire to know or learn something, and an interest that leads to inquiry. In our current climate, it could be said that curiosity is more important than ever, as its engagement helps us to adapt and innovate. Stephen Scheeler, most notably known for his time as Facebook CEO (ANZ) has been quoted saying, “I truly believe curiosity is a superpower which many of us don’t realise we have. First, never stop learning. And by this, I mean, deeply, obsessively learning. Cruise control becomes the default mental setting for too many of us as we grow older.”
Stephen Scheeler is a seasoned business leader and global thought leader and next month he will encouraging our legal industry to stay curious, by sharing his knowledge and expertise on strategy and leadership in our disruptive world in a thought provoking ACC Australia webinar.
When asked how technology, data and artificial intelligence will transform business in a post-pandemic world, Stephen believes there are seven themes to unpack.
“So much about what the world will look like after the coronavirus pandemic is "over" is still uncertain, but I think we know enough now to start to draw some broad themes, think about their implications and, if possible, prepare to respond.
One theme is "People are Removed", by which I mean companies have suddenly realised that pandemics impact human employees far more than they impact machines. I think this will result in an acceleration in the shift to automation, robotics and AI replacing people in organisations around the world.
A second theme is "Privacy is Redefined", where we will likely see individual rights to privacy being overridden by governments’ need to respond quickly across entire populations, the rise of sensor- and camera-enabled tracking, and a huge push for individualised e-health records, shared clinical data sets, and forced compliance with government health standards.”
The five other themes Stephen will examine include how:
- social distancing will become the law
- ecosystems and supply chains need to be pandemic-proofed
- data and technology are needed to enable quick scaling
- remote working will be accelerated
- globalisation will take a hit
Just as technology, data and AI will disrupt the business world, leadership will also need to revolutionise. Stephen believes the fundamental qualities of good leaders that have been constant throughout time will remain; strategic vision and the ability to communicate clearly, however leaders will now need to develop new qualities that are uniquely required for these times.
“Over the past few months of global lockdowns, economic crisis and remote working, we've all experienced in real time how leadership needs to evolve in the digital age. How do you manage and lead people when you can't stand in front of them physically and "own the room"? How do you not just get work "done", but lead collaboration and innovation when teams are working remotely most or all of the time? These are tough challenges, and we've had no time to prepare for them, nor much training to deal with them. There is no doubt that being a good leader is harder than ever before.”
Pre-pandemic, the world was already in an era of hyper-change, COVID-19 simply accelerated it. Thinking through many of the legal implications now will put in-house legal counsel in a strong position to help their organisations through the crisis, and then help them to emerge stronger on the other side.
Regardless of legal team size or your level of experience, the seven themes unpacked within this session will be important for all to hear. Given Stephen has lived and breathed in the digital space for so many years he is well suited to take us all on this deep dive through a digital broadcast.
While an event of this magnitude would normally come at a cost, to celebrate legal leadership with our members, ACC Australia is offering this special Legal Leaders webinar free of charge to our members.
We invite you to use curiosity as your superpower and sign up to this webinar today.