24Sep2025
Embracing change, leading with empathy, continuous learning. These themes were laced throughout the inspiring Day 1 Main Stage sessions, with 6 standout quotes in particular—and the big ideas behind them—helping to shape the day’s discussions:
Howard Yu: “Innovation Dies Among Permission Forms.”
In his opening keynote, Howard stressed that personal choice lies at the center of future-readiness. A personal choice to be ridiculously easy to work with, to operate with full transparency, to freely perform small experiments that quickly return results, and to double down on and scale successes, all while never losing sight of delivering consistent results.
When widely spread, this personal choice will be reflected in the company-level behaviors of future-ready organizations that understand it is impossible to outsource learning new skills. As a timely reminder to the audience, Howard said “we are always more capable of learning far beyond what we initially think.”
However, for the fast pivot to happen at all levels of a company, red tape and bureaucracy—the timeless enemies of those trying to stay an inch ahead of the market—must be culled.
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy: “Companies Don’t Just Exist as a System to Treat Each Other Well.”
If culture eats strategy for breakfast, should strategy be in service of culture? As Sukhinder pointed out, this is the trap many businesses fall into, often through seemingly good intentions. Citing the #human company value she found when she took over as CEO at SaaS success story, Xero, Sukhinder realized that the long shadow of the company’s strongly inclusive culture had led to a bloated headcount.
Within a week of taking over, Sukhinder made the hard (but just) decision to lay off 900 employees. And while there were admirable intentions behind the #human company value, all data point to the fact that “successful individuals and companies have high correlation with growth mindset, agility, and grit.” In short, the ability to see and enact change will keep culture a driver of progress, not a millstone around its neck.
Gianpiero Petriglieri: “If We are Lucky, We Find a Place That Has a Heart.”
We are living in an age where people often have precarious affiliations to organizations they work with – but a deep personal attachment to their work. According to Gianpiero, this is because many of us see their work as part of their identity: “it doesn’t matter where I work, as long as what I do is who I am.”
And what are we, exactly? At our core, we have attachment and learning hardwired into the very fabric of our being. We are designed to seek safety, predictability, and power. And when we find them, we feel dopamine. We feel we are growing. Ultimately, we also want to leave a legacy.
As Gianpiero poetically said: “All work we humans do is in order to last – if not in a body of flesh, then in a body of work.” So, when we find a place where the work we do makes us better, makes us matter, we have found a good home. A home that people join freely, grow closer, and leave gratefully.
Angela Ahrendts: “You Have to Look Back Before You Look Forward.”
The goal when coming into any business is to add value by driving change. In fact, as Angela said, “if you are not changing, you are not doing your job.” To assure alignment; hire for shared values, creating a culture of deep trust, enabling change at speed and scale.
Speaking on her time as Burberry’s transformational CEO, in which she drove revenue over 300% and expanded the iconic brand’s customer base by targeting a younger customer, Angela shared that “so many turnarounds fail because there is a lack of honour and respect for the legacy on which it was founded.”
This was the brand that developed cutting edge fabrics to clothe Shackleton’s expeditions. It was also a company that had accrued vast experience and knowledge within its workforce, who had clear ideas on what was working, and what wasn’t. By unearthing these insights—and setting a strategy that would keep the company alive for the next 150 years—she helped build it into the fashion powerhouse it is today.
Milda Mitkute: We Weren’t Afraid to Admit What We Didn’t Know.”
From the outset, Vinted was envisioned as a solution to a problem: Milda’s mission to get rid of her extra clothes by leveraging technology. Monetization strategy and business building weren’t even in the picture.
Early validation of the problem occurred at a party attended by Milda and her co-founder Justus Janauskas, when he found out that indeed, every female in attendance also had a bin bag full of pre-loved items they needed to sell. The transparency to admit that they didn’t know the answer—but were willing to find it by asking—became a core pillar of Vinted’s culture, leading to like-minded individuals joining that felt ownership at all levels of operation.
These proactive learners felt empowered to find solutions to their own problems, and didn’t become bottlenecks when the business began to scale.
Simon Sinek: “We never ask people about the career they want.”
Despite what newly promoted millennial managers may think, the generation gap between themselves and the Gen Z workforce they employ has been seen before. Simon’s time-tested advice: “have empathy and be curious. Recognize that they are human and they want to know they matter, their work matters, they want to belong, and they want to be the best version of themselves.”
Gen Z also grew up in a world where mass layoffs are normal and employers often show zero loyalty to employees. It’s therefore no surprise when their tendency is to cash in now, get money up front, and leave when another opportunity arises.
Instead of pre-judging, Simon’s advice is to “try to understand what’s driving the behaviour and show them loyalty over time.” By being curious and empathetic, you are more likely to guide them into the career they want to have, instead of them leaving you to find it for themselves.
