speaking

speaking

I have always spoken in the course of my career.

Whether it was in persuading people to buy an idea that I was selling in the R&D world, or just telling a good yarn to entertain an audience of clients, peers or friends.

It has never seemed like work to me.

Standing on a stage and ‘holding forth' is ... well ... let me put it this way: my mother used to call me ‘Sir Lawrence' as a toddler.

It didn't hurt that I took drama and theatre as a hobby to enhance my delivery skills.

Today, at this stage in my life, I have different things to say. Some of them, quite frankly, difficult to put into words satisfactorily.

Naturally, there are things that are important and easy to talk about, demonstrate or educate in. For many in my line of work, the topics of choice range from Change Management to Motivation, from Communications to Leadership.

I favour Future Trends, and all that that entails, with particular emphasis on the magic of group interaction in anticipation of those trends.

Describing how to successfully apply group work to help a company make substantial, documented, financial or organizational/political gains, comes easily to me.

So I have made a specialty of some of the more repeatable topics.

Topics like reducing the cost of a product while maintaining or improving quality. Or how to ensure the success of a product prior to launch. Or how to reduce the product's Universal Life Cycle Cost.

No sweat!

Strangely, as I have engaged more and more groups in more and widely different topic areas, a picture has emerged, one that runs across enterprises – whether public or private, for or not for profit, small or gargantuan.

I have given this picture the name of ‘Simplexity'.

We read a lot more today about ‘complexity theories' or ‘chaos' than we did a couple of decades ago, when I began to experiment with the effectiveness of those methods that you could only read about in scientific rags and university papers.

It's important stuff, and because it is relatively new to the business world at large, we don't have much of a vocabulary or toolkit to deal with it – yet.

One thing is certain: Our world continues to get faster, more complicated and bewildering than anyone can imagine, let alone handle.

The wise and successful will be, as usual, those who prepare early for the journey. Those who anticipate and keep abreast of developments that can impact their world.

Every aspect of my practice is aimed at providing critical information, skills and speed to those early adopters who make dealing with unpredictability an art.

Not surprisingly, the topics on which I focus these days are:

Complexity and Cybernetics

• Simplexity – a practical approach to handling complexity
• The Internet as Gold Rush – from a man-machine perspective
• Trumpetology – the art of dealing with an unpredictable future

Tactics in a Chaotic World

• Successful New products to Market in ‘Internet' Time
• Cleaning up the Organizational ‘Mess'
• Cost Reduction for High Tech Products
• Electronic Commerce Boot Camps – defining your way to e-commerce

And I do it with a twist: I use humour profusely. Being English, that too comes to me easily.

The harder the problem, the more important it becomes to lighten up the approach.

It is well known that when people find themselves in a relaxed, safe, comfortable environment, they succeed at resolving problems that have eluded them for ages.

That is where I make the most significant difference to an organization and its people. And that is when my work becomes truly rewarding for me.

Can I help you?

cliff saunders

Speaker, master facilitator, creative genius, teacher,
author, futurist, humorist, raconteur, bon vivant

For more information or to book Dr. Saunders to speak for your organization, please contact us.