(KL, Malaysia)

Today it happened again: I was the only white person at a conference.

500+ IT-experts from all over Asia had gathered in Kl, Malaysia for a conference and I was invited as the opening keynote speaker. Everyone but me was Asian.

I love when that happens.

Not specifically that I was the only Caucasian in a big group of Asians, but the fact that I was in one way different from everyone else.

When I lived in China it happened all the time. I was the only European, everyone else was Chinese. But it can also happen when I am at a conference of nurses for example and everyone in the room but me is a woman, and so on.

What I am looking for in a group where I “fit out”.

Some people feel uncomfortable when they stand out in a crowd, or when they feel they do not fit in. I am never more comfortable, as I see it as a perfect time to better get to understand myself.

What I learnt while living in China was that it is easier to be true to who you really are when you are in an enviroment where there is no-one from your own culture/group around.

When everything is familiar, understandable and well known – then how do you know if what you think is really your thoughts? Or if your “truths” are just the collective thoughts of your surroundings?

Or to use a metaphor: Who is more likely to feel secure in knowing what his true thoughts are: the white sheep in a flock of other white sheep – or the black sheep in a flock of white sheep?

I am arguing the black sheep.

Now in my headline I wrote that we should be “grey sheep”, I did that because the image of “being the black sheep” gives us the feeling that it is somehow wrong to be the different one.

The grey sheep is different, without being the bad one. 🙂

When you are in an enviroment where all think alike, where there is no struggle or tension to stand up for what you think because everyone else thinks the same then there is a risk of us becoming mentally lazy.

On the other hand: When your beliefs and “truths” are constantly challenged by a group that has other “truths” than yours, then you are forced to look at what you believe and question why you think what you think is correct. It also gives you opportunities to fine “better truths” by seeing what another group has done.

As a speaker I am constantly invited to industry conferences where everyone else there belongs to the “tribe” of that industry.
As a global speaker (I do 90% of my work outside my country of residence) I am constantly traveling in countries and cultures that are not “my own”.

That means that I am “double” exposed to end up in enviroments where I am the only grey sheep. And I feel that it is in those circumstances that I get my clearest insights and biggest revelations. It could just be a coincidence. But something tells me that it is not.

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San Francisco.

What is the biggest perk of being a speaker?

The chance to travel the world?
The fact that the main work takes one hour per day?
The fact that it pays well?

No. Not at all.

The biggest perk is the privilege to learn about things no one else gets to know.

For example:

The finance industry will probably be the industry that will see the most disruption in the next decade.

Now, imagine if you could be a fly on the wall when the best innovators get together at an innovation conference of a global leader of financial payments facility held in Silicon Valley.

Well, I was that fly. 🙂

Today, I was invited to be the only speaker at VISA’s global innovation award in San Francisco. In this event, they acknowledged the recipients of patents within VISA.

And during lunch, I got to sit next to the boss of the innovation department.

Over cod fish for main dish and chocolate mousse for desert, we talked about everything from VISA’s view on block chain, to who will be the winners and losers in mobile payment – and even where VISA’s big bet for the future is (very interesting and a total surprise to me).

And yes, I could tell you more about it, but then I would have to kill you 😉

Lesson: Our job as speakers is to inspire, teach and inform in order to get companies to move forward.

Interestingly enough, these very same companies will inspire, teach and inform us speakers as much, if not more, if we take the chance to learn when we are at the venue.

I am very happy that I did just that today.

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The most important people at a conference are the speakers.

I am not saying that because I am a speaker. As a speaker, I think that the most important people are the audience.

It is the organisers of a conference who are saying it.

 

You do not believe me?

Then answer this question: Who do they put at the VIP table?

Answer: The speakers. And the CEO.

 

The speakers are at the Very Important Person Table because the CEO wants to get a chance to get some more information from the speakers. And because it is supposed to be a nice thing to do to put the guests at the VIP table.

But as a speaker, you should use the time at the table to get more information from the CEO and the other speakers.

At least, that is my approach to the Very Important Table.

Like today.

Singapore Institute of Directors had organised a great conference with an impressive line-up of speakers for the 850 or so in the audience.

Some of the speakers at my table were:

Mr S Iswaran, Minister, Prime Minister’s Office; Second Minister for Home Affairs & Second Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore (who had just been re-elected days before),

Emeritus Professor Jean-Philippe Deschamps of business school International Institute for Management Development or IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland,

and

Mr Ray Hatoyama, (pictured) Global Managing Director of Sanrio Company Ltd., the company that owns the “Hello Kitty” brand.

We had an interesting discussion at our table around everything —  from collaboration between government and private sector to the motto that drives the Hello Kitty brand: “Small Gift. Big Smile.”

I tend to find the time spent at the VIP table to be the most valuable time when it comes to learning. And I am amazed at how many speakers use their time at the VIP table to talk about themselves instead of learning from other people who are there.

Do not make the same mistake.

Lesson: Sitting at the VIP table should not make you think you are a Very Important Person. It should make you focus on the fact that you are privileged to get to sit together with a bunch of Very Important People and you should grab that opportunity to learn as much as you can from them.