Today I emceed the second annual Workforce Institute Executive Summit - a day long session we run for executives who are attending our KronosWorks conference.  You can find today's agenda and speaker bios at www.workforceinstitute.org/event.

Here are some of my favorite insights from today's speakers:

From Rich Karlgaard, Publisher of Forbes -

Why do people feel worse about the economy than the facts of our current economic situation actually support?

Karlgaard noted that the 1970s, an economic climate very similar to what were seeing now, was a veritable crucible of entrepreneurship and innovation.  His hypothesis is that when traditional organization growth slows during times of economic turmoil, smart innovators are likely to turn to entrepreneurship.  This decade spawned Southwest Airlines, FedEx, Genentech, Microsoft, Apple and Oracle, among others.  What are some of the components of their sucess?

Bill Bradley, former US Senator, New York Knick and Olympic gold medalist, spoke to us about what it takes to lead in a changing world - from a personal and an organizational perspective.  Senator Bradley reflected on the qualities of great leaders: readiness to confront the unknown, passion, selflessness, resilience, imagination and integrity.  He talked about the importance of the ethic of connectedness in our world today; i.e. the need to link collective caring with personal responsibility in order to address the significant issues that face not only our domestic challenges, but global challenges such as climate change and access to healthcare.

What's your level of confidence that you'll manage through the current turbulence?  In Bill Bradley's words, how do you "keep the current economic challenges and failures of today from becoming the enemy of victory tomorrow?"

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