In this talk, the speaker expands the definition of leadership to include any influence people have in their circles, not just formal titles. Drawing on her experience as a futurist, professional speaker, and former president of both the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa and the Global Speakers Federation, she reflects on the pervasive anxiety leaders feel when thrust into new roles or confronted with unforeseen crises. She uses the COVID‑19 pandemic as a case study, noting that while it taught valuable lessons, future disruptions will differ—citing potential fuel‑related geopolitical turmoil from a war in Iran and Vietnam’s fuel‑saving measures as examples. The speaker emphasizes the need for leaders to recognize their broader influence, acknowledge uncertainty, and prepare for novel challenges rather than assuming the next crisis will mirror the last.
Chapters
I know also that I'm speaking about leadership, but it's not just for leaders who are in a position on a board or who've got some title before or after their name. All of us have influence in our circles, in the places where we work, in the groups that we engage with, and that influence is leadership. So it doesn't have to be official leadership, but it could be just how we are working with other people. So to think about it in a slightly broader sense. I am very fortunate to work as a futurist, but whoa, I bounced, but also as a professional speaker. And I've held some leadership roles in our speaking world. In the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa, I'm a past president, as is Bruce. I'm also past president of the Global Speakers Federation. And especially in that role, I got to deal with leaders of these speaker associations around the world. And the reason I'm traveling is to kind of get these perspectives of how we deal with future issues in different parts of the world. But this leadership uncertainty we have and anxiety is— there's so many layers to it. It could be because we're not ready for a leadership role that we're suddenly thrust into, or that we think we're competent and we're good at what we're doing, and then it dawns on us that there are other things going on that we haven't seen seen yet because we didn't have enough leadership experience, or it could be that we're doing the best we can and something comes along like COVID. And COVID came, and global pandemic, and everybody has to respond, and there are decisions around the world and people arguing and pointing the finger. And sort of the summary of our experience with leadership during COVID times is that Okay, we've had that experience now. We've learned from that. We'll be able to handle another pandemic. We've got all the things in place. We'll be able to respond quicker next time or better next time. Only the next disruption is not likely to be the repeat of a previous disruption. It's going to be something different, like for example, a war in Iran that suddenly makes countries getting fuel a bit of like a roulette wheel about who's going to get fuel or not and who's gonna be able to get through that strait. We're traveling next, next week to Vietnam. And Vietnam is having, you know, certain rules in place now that businesses will be closed and public places will be closed on certain days to try and save some of this fuel so that the country doesn't run out. So it has all of these other disruptions. So there is this constant anxiety in leadership and ambition to grow and take on this mantle. But then this concern about whether we will be ready or not. And what are the other, the other things that are going to come along that are going to challenge us?
