Marken explores different ways of thinking, from professional poker and chess players to provoke, challenge, and inspire business leaders. In discussion with professional poker player Alec Torelli, she looks at the interplay between analytics and intuition in decision making in today’s workplace. They talk about a high-stakes game that ended in a surprise that all the math experts would not have expected because Torelli relied on his intuition. In a world full of data-driven decision making, is intuition dead? They explore this idea and its applications to business decision making. Marken and chess grandmaster Sam Shankland then explore the concept of bold risk-taking through a discussion of the 1972 chess championship between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer, who took the entire chess world by storm when he opened with a new move, C4, despite a lifetime of having successfully played E4 as his opening move. While this move caught Spassky by surprise and demonstrated Fischer willingness to play in Spassky’s turf, it also was an objectively smart move, as Fischer went on to win the match. This and other case studies share lessons from chess and business on bold risk-taking.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” famously attributed to the late business guru Peter Drucker, perfectly states the need for an organization’s culture to be aligned with its strategic objectives for there to be any hope of fully realizing them. Culture is tribal and pervasive. And, it can vary depending on the group, environment, or objectives. But, this powerful and often unconscious set of forces that influences both individual and collective behavior can be harnessed to drive culture change and reinforce shared values within an organization or project team. Speakers explore examples of “epic culture fails” resulting from strategy that neglected the cultural component, then impart seven tips to drive outcomes that leverage culture to support organizational- or project-based strategy. These tactics can be used to support a company or project team’s core values and culture while creating synergies with strategic initiatives and shortening the time to adoption. Aligning the strategy of whatever it is you are trying to do with the culture of whoever it is you are working with is paramount. It can mean the difference between success and failure. Culture doesn’t have to eat strategy for breakfast; they can be harnessed together to create organizational strength and a better overall customer outcome.

Dixon explains four factors that are critical for a team to learn and then illustrates those factors with a case study of an agile, innovative, and empowered team. Organizations increasingly rely on teams, both virtual and co-located, to carry out strategic and operational tasks. Teams have become the unit of learning in an organization. Individual learning is necessary, but it is teams that are responsible for taking action by creating products and delivering service. Teams need to learn in order to detect changes in the environment, learn about and respond to customers’ requirements, improve team members’ collective understanding of a situation, and discover unexpected consequences of their previous actions. To happen, team learning requires more than holding an occasional AAR. Get tips and techniques for improving team learning in your organization.

Organizations are under tremendous pressure from increased competition, volatile political shifts, and digital transformation. To survive, they need to be able to quickly understand what is going on and make faster, and better, decisions. Knowledge repositories just aren’t going to cut it any more. Come hear a seasoned KM practitioner with an engaging presentation that offers a new way to look at KM along with interesting research and practical ways you can deliver even more value to your organization.

Former head of KM with the BBC, Semple believes in conversations and leads our panel on a far-ranging discussion of change, culture and learning as we all aspire to an outbreak of common sense on our journey for knowledge sharing and creating sustainable, high-functioning organizations and communities.

Join your colleagues at the end of the day for an informal debriefing and meet with other attendees who have similar interests. Enjoy some great networking, stimulating discussions, and a chance to interact with some of the outstanding conference speakers and moderators. Open to all conference attendees.