FORUM ONE Leadership Forum in Kaunas

www.forumone.lt

Last weekend, on 1 and 2 June, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend one of Europe's largest leadership forums, FORUM ONE, which took place at Žalgiris Arena in Kaunas. This event was large not only in terms of audience (over 3,000 participants) but also in terms of speakers who can genuinely be considered leaders.

Upon arriving and registering, all participants were wristbanded to be divided into sectors - diamond (ticket price EUR 2,896), gold (EUR 464), and silver (EUR 232) - with all the privileges that entailed. Each person received a notebook, a pen, and the international business club magazine Brand Power. Also included was an Angry Birds coupon, which could be exchanged at the bar for Angry Birds-branded lemonade. By filling in a special form, you could also borrow headphones with a translation device, which later turned out to be completely unusable as the translation quality was, unfortunately, poor. So on the second day of the forum I didn't even bother queuing in the enormous line to get hold of one.

Outside the arena, in the ground-floor lobby, and in the hall, gleaming BMW cars were on display, drawing the eyes of interested onlookers. Equally large crowds gathered during the forum breaks at the Samsung stand, where Galaxy S4 phones were laid out to look at and handle. Everyone advertised themselves as best they could. On the second day, book sellers also appeared, along with commitment bracelets (a string with a decorative gem) from one of the speakers, Madi Sharma (entrepreneur and founder of Madi Group). These could be purchased - three for LTL 10. The idea: make yourself a commitment, put on the bracelet, wear it, and only take it off when the commitment has been fulfilled.

Taking the stage and showing the audience a teabag, Madi (the only woman among the speakers) opened her talk with a parable: "A woman is like a teabag - you never know how strong she is until you put her in hot water. That is my story." Some found her delivery too feminist, but no one could deny that it was sufficiently emotional and moving. The speaker had no presentation - just one slide with contact information. It was one of the inspiring success stories. The message Madi conveyed to the audience:
- nothing is impossible;
- without mistakes there is no learning and no growth;
- if every person in the world shares even one idea with others, together that already amounts to 7 billion ideas.

I must immediately add that the event had an excellent, professional moderator, Rives (USA), who engaged effortlessly with both the audience and the speakers, making more than one less-than-successful presentation interesting through his questions afterwards. A FORUM ONE app was available to download, allowing you to follow the programme, submit questions to speakers, and later rate and comment on their talks.

The first speaker on the first day of the forum was a master of applied psychology, qualified psychotherapist, and licensed NLP business consultant from Ireland, Owen Fitzpatrick, who immediately captured the audience's attention. He spoke about the nuances of public speaking, overcoming insecurity, and building communication with listeners.

Here is one insight from his talk: avoid the word "but", because it creates opposition and kills the positive impact of what was said before. Try replacing "but" with "and" in your speech. Example: You have successfully completed this task, but ... there are a few mistakes that will need work. You have successfully completed this task and you won't find it difficult to correct a few mistakes. What matters is not what you say, but how you say it. For example: "that is complicated" vs "that is not easy". The content doesn't change, but the way of saying it does. Turn negative expressions into positive ones, even when you need to express criticism, regret, or concern!

Inspiring success stories were also shared by the creator of the now world-famous game Angry Birds, Finn Peter Vesterbacka, and by Scorpions founder and guitarist Rudolf Schenker. The former revealed that before making the Angry Birds game, 51 previous games had been released - so it cannot be called a coincidence, but rather careful and purposeful work. Peter acknowledged that there are three things that are very important for such a success story:
- ambition (the game has now been downloaded by 1 billion users, including people who have never been interested in any computer game before);
- education (he emphasised the great contribution of Helsinki University of Technology and the opportunity to look at studies through the lens of game elements);
- story (an inseparable part of the brand; he was asked from the audience: why does he hate the pigs so much? His answer: there's a whole story here - the birds are angry because the pigs stole their eggs. Wouldn't you be?).

Musician Rudolf, in turn, introduced his life philosophy, which consists of a few simple but very significant things:
- never follow the money trail; listen to what your heart says;
- what matters is not just the team, but the right collaborator - the right chemistry in a relationship, a person who makes you feel good to be around;
- focus on the present moment;
- meditate, because meditation adjusts your path and helps you make the right decision.
He emphasised: "I have always strived to create music that promotes friendship and friendly relations between people."

The closing act of the first forum day was money coach from Germany, Bodo Schäfer, who became my personal favourite of the event. In a clear, structured, and illustrative way, he showed the necessity of changing one's mindset if you have set yourself the goal of becoming wealthy.

We look at a wealthy person like a saint capable of walking on water - yet it is well known that mortals do not walk on water. They know only the stepping stones that make it look as though they are walking on the surface. We cannot see these stones unless we have mastered 6 lessons:
1. Think like the wealthy;
2. Plan to be wealthy;
3. Save;
4. Earn more;
5. Invest;
6. Enjoy, take pleasure in life.
Money can't buy happiness, but money can buy comfort and freedom - and are comfort and freedom not happiness? But if you choose to take this path, be prepared for everything in your life to change - different friends, different books, new habits, and so on.

But first you need to understand just how wealthy you want to be. The answer "very wealthy" won't do - you need to name a specific number and write a commitment to yourself that you will then keep. Bodo told a parable: when ordering food, nobody says "bring me a lot of nice food" - you name exactly what, how much, at what price, and when. The same approach must be taken with your "orders" to life. How can you receive something if you don't even know specifically what you want, how much of it, and within what timeframe?

Both days of the forum were packed with content. The second day opened with a performance by the expressive ultimate achievement coach, Joseph McClendon III. Even now I can still hear "Stand up and say YES!" echoing in my ears, as the entire hall leapt to its feet and roared like mad. The speaker announced right at the start that he was there to take each person out of their comfort zone and spur them to action in the space of two hours. Joseph emphasised repeatedly that a leader's two main qualities are: having a vision (not merely a dream) and the ability to influence.

The majority of FORUM ONE attendees had undeniably been drawn in by the advertising campaign whose face was the founder of Virgin Group and its brand, Sir Richard Branson. Everyone waited impatiently for this key forum guest to take the stage, quietly readying their phones and tablets to capture the moment (photography was prohibited). They expected a grand entrance - a bang, perhaps a descent from the arena ceiling by parachute, a life-affirming "screw it, let's do it!" ... but what the audience received instead was an elderly billionaire who cannot string together a single beautiful sentence or inspiring phrase, who does not consider it necessary to stand before the audience but instead lazily settles into a chair - where he spends his allotted half-hour.

The only thing Branson managed to squeeze out was that an important quality of a leader is the ability to delegate responsibilities - and that if you have a good idea, you should go ahead and realise it. To a question from the audience - "Please describe one ordinary day in your life!" - Branson did answer fairly originally and convincingly: I am a happy person; I have no ordinary days.

Kaunas University conferred an honorary doctorate on Branson through its senate - since, as is well known, he has no higher education, let alone a degree. It must be said that this looked rather comical - a rather obvious bow to Branson's millions. Compared to the efforts, time, and mental capacity that the graduates of this university have put in to call themselves worthy of their Alma Mater, it was a complete failure on the part of the university administration.

Branson's appearance at FORUM ONE is simply yet another dream killed. Glorified from a distance, judging by the scripted videos, articles, and media coverage - in person, a NON-leader. Apparently, too much was expected from his performance and nothing was received.

Otherwise, FORUM ONE is a very inspiring, ambitious, and valuable event within easy reach for a Latvian. If the organisers are to be believed, it is planned as an annual event. I intend to follow the activities and, who knows, perhaps find even more inspiration next year.

A few more photographs of the beautiful city of Kaunas: