VLOG 18: Future Focus Dublin – Welcome to Ireland

Future Focus comes to you from Dublin, Ireland today, for the fourth of our business conferences, hosted by the Telegraph Business Club, in association with IBM. Before our speakers take to the stage, we caught up with some of our Irish delegates, to discuss their perspectives on technology and communications. We also hear from both IBM and our mid market clients about how they are embracing these new technologies and practices to develop their businesses to become “future proof”…

Future Focus Dublin: Have You A Question For The Speakers?

Future Focus takes place in Dublin on 16 June and it is going to be a terrific day with industry experts and speakers from the UK and Ireland taking part.

The venue is the Guinness Storehouse and the day starts at 12.30pm.

The Chair of the event is James Bellini who describes himself as ‘an historian of the future’ and is interested in the key strategic challenges facing current and future business up to Horizon 2025, stretching to 2050.

I am delighted to have been approached by the Future Focus team to be a guest blogger, so I will be doing my best to capture insights from the event.

If you have not booked a place yet it is still not too late to book – HERE.

I also hope to catch up with a few speakers during the course of the day and capture an audio or video podcast which we can share later.

Be sure to watch out for the Twitter hashtag #futurefocus as I am sure there will be a few people Twittering. I’ll do my best to do so too – but it might be a bit challenging – you can find me at @krishnade.

And if you have questions for the speakers be sure to either Tweet me, DM me or leave a comment for me here and I’ll do my best to see if I can put your questions to the panels discussions during the day.

Just checking on Twitter Search and I see that two of the people attending tomorrow are @green_goddess (aka Caroline Taylor, an IBM executive – IBM being one of the sponsors of the Future Focus series) and @ronanlyons (Ronan Lyons is an economist and will be speaking at the conference).

I hope you will follow and join in the #futurefocus conversation.

I hope that my commentary will provide a useful summary of the event especially for people who are unable to attend.

And if you are unsure about how to follow conversations on Twitter with hashtags, here is a video I created a little while ago to explain how to use them:

1. You don’t need to have an account on Twitter to follow the conversation – you can watch it HERE

2. To participate in the conversation on Twitter you need to register your account on Twitter – here is a video that shows you how to get started on Twitter

3. You might like to use Tweetchat to filter all the #futurefocus conversations – it will automatically add #futurefocus at the end of your Tweet. You just need to register with your Twitter ID and password then enter the room #futurefocus.

Disclosure: I am not an employee of IBM or The Telegraph Business Club and all the opinions that I share here are my own – am also not paid to blog this event.

Author: Krishna De speaks, writes and consults on brand engagement and communications to build your visibility, reputation and profits through traditional and social media;  follow her on Twitter @krishnade.

Backgammon Vs Chess: Why Richard Farleigh prefers to manage elements of randomness in business

In his Keynote opening speech at today’s Future Focus event in London, Richard Farleigh opened by comparing business to a game of backgammon rather than a game of chess.

It has been well documented that Richard plays chess as a hobby and is an internationally-ranked player who has represented both Bermuda and Monaco at the Chess Olympics. His interest in chess began at an early age and was a joint winner of the 1978 NSW (Australia) junior chess championship.

But shining knight Farleigh made his name, not in chess, but in financial investments. Today he enjoys legend status in the financial community – inspiring Dragons’ Den rookies here in the UK. At age 34, he made enough money to retire in Monaco. Did his love for the black and white checkerboard help him in business? It would appear not.

His original view on business success was to approach his investments in the same way as he would play out a game of chess: purely analytically. His theory was that as in chess, if you make the right moves, you should end up winning. However he soon realised that it is in managing randomness (a strategy frowned upon in chess) you’re more likely to succeed in business as you maximise your chances of a clear win.

Farleigh calls this the ‘backgammon strategy’ and points out that often in business, the best ideas and strategy can end in failure whereas sometimes the worst plans can often reap the highest rewards. In Richard’s mind, it is this randomness that proves that actual outcome doesn’t necessarily equate with merit.

Richard isn’t the first person to draw the clear distinction between chess and backgammon. Why have the two games been always compared against each other, when chess is not a gambling game unlike backgammon?

I came across an article online which highlights the similarities and differences between the two games which raises a few interesting metaphors for business strategy. Here are the key take-outs:

• Without analytical thinking, game players would be lost in backgammon. Like chess players, they need to learn certain attacks and strategies to be able to win. That is why a lot of books about this game have already been written, for beginners, for intermediate gambling players, and even for the professional ones. There is so much to learn, and it hard to perfect the craft of this game, much like the game of chess.

• Certain strategies in this game can also be used in chess. Backgammon players may choose to be aggressive, which chess players also do in chess matches. Some people opt to hit a lot of their opponent’s checkers as soon as possible, and then make it to the homeboard fast. They may also raise the stakes quite too often. In chess, aggressive players are the ones who try to do a checkmate on their opponent early in the game.

• Another backgammon strategy that players use, which can be applicable to chess, is the passive strategy. Passive players in backgammon set up traps instead of attacking their opponents’ pieces as fast as they can. These types of players wait for their opponents to fall into their trap which is why the game speed is much slower. Chess players on the other hand are on passive mode when they seem not to attack the king directly, and scatter the pieces in a strategic set up on the board.

• Backgammon players may also influence or even force the opponent to move his pieces in their desired way. This they do by moving their own pieces to positions that would leave the other opponent little or no choice at all. As for their part, chess players also do this which results in the opponent sacrificing his queen or even getting himself in checkmate.

• The biggest difference between backgammon and chess is the factor that luck brings to those games. In backgammon, players rely heavily on their luck in casting the dice; however, afterwards, moving the checkers depends on the players’ skills. Meanwhile, chess players need very little luck to win games. They win almost totally because of their good strategies. If luck is any factor, then it may only come in the form of the opponent’s mistakes.

Having listened to Richard Farleigh’s keynote speech in which he humbly outlined his dotted career as a tech investor, he is an extremely charismatic speaker who has benefitted from years of diverse business experience. He has made millions of dollars after investing his own capital in British technology companies. The Rich 200 list estimated his personal wealth at around AU$160,000,000. He is ranked as the 876th on the Sunday Times Rich List 2006 with an estimated net worth of £66million. His management of randomness is a testament to his undisputed success.

I’ll hopefully be interviewing Richard later on today. Perhaps we’ll film it in the bar here in Westminster where I guess the round will be on him. Question is, will the chessman be paying by cheque, mate?

Richard’s book, Taming The Lion: 100 Secret Strategies for Investing is available on Amazon

Rax Lakhani is a social media consultant specialising in brand marketing. You can read his blog at raxraxrax.com or follow him on Twitter @raxlakhani

VLOG 2: Dr. James Bellini – A Future Proof Company

I wonder if Dr James Bellini puts ‘futurologist’ as the occupation in his passport? It sounds like a rather strange role, but he’s obviously well connected and certainly talks a lot of sense.

James’ objective, he explains, is to make businesses ‘future proof’. That means they have taken account of the changes that are going to happen and factored them into their strategic planning, rather than reacting when the changes have already taken place.

Far too many businesses fail to spend time thinking about the future, according to James. The majority make their ‘big decisions’ largely on gut feel. Not surprisingly, many of those big decisions turn out to be big mistakes.

Wiser organisations keep up with the trends regarding things that are going to take place 3-5 years down the line, he maintains. By investing time into thinking about the future, they are positioning themselves to take advantage of the changes.

One major global bank, he reveals, is planning to invest in new generation video conferencing. Not only will it make the bank more ‘green’, but also slash its global travel costs.

Major changes such as this are a ‘must’ for 70-80% of businesses, he says. A decade from now, James suggests, companies will own far less fixed assets and will use much less office space. Mobile technologies, remote working and collaboration will soon become the business norm.

Recession is a great time of opportunity for businesses, he maintains. Wise business professionals use the time to revisit the business fundamentals and think about their future path. Those that fail to seize the opportunities of change will probably go to the wall.

Dr James Bellini sounds like the ideal chairman for the Future Focus conferences in June. And there will be the chance for delegates to talk with him afterwards, which will round off each event perfectly. Must remember to ask him what it says in his passport!

Welcome to Future Focus

The word ‘recession’ is on everyones’ lips, yet already there are quiet murmurs of recovery. Exactly when the economy will grow again is unclear. But recovery is certain.

Equally certain is the fact that some companies will emerge very strongly from the current economic problems. Part of their success will be down to reorganisation and improved efficiency. But most of this rapid success will be due to strategic decisions taken now.

Future Focus is a multi-media programme organised by the Telegraph Business Club to help senior personnel within medium-sized UK businesses to make inspired strategic decisions that will drive business success during economic recovery.

Highlight of the Future Focus programme is a series of full day business conferences around the UK and Ireland taking place:
London – Thursday 4th June
Manchester – Tuesday 9th June
Edinburgh – Thursday 11th June
Dublin – Tuesday 16th June
Chaired by renowned author and TV presenter Dr James Bellini and featuring Dragons Den star Richard Farleigh, these events will:

INFORM – Give an expert insight into future products and technologies that are just about to have a major influence on our life and work
INTERACT – Allowing you to meet and talk with fellow business professionals, expert speakers and Richard Farleigh himself.
INSPIRE – Provide the opportunity to discuss and explore how they can be used to drive business success in the coming months and years.
For further details of the agenda click here.
For further details of the speakers click here.
To register to attend any of the events click here.