Dr. Alan Watkins

Featured Keynote Programs

The HR (R)Evolution – Change the workplace change the world.

We stand at a crossroads in human history where the two paths ahead could lead to two very different futures. One route could take us back to the harshest days of the early Industrial Revolution and the Great Depression. The other could lead us to a world of abundance, equality, inclusivity and prosperity for all. Which future awaits us will be largely determines by what happens is business. Dr Alan Watkins’ keynote will explore how organisations set themselves up for success well into the future? How do they reshape their people practices in particular to meet the changing demands of a digitally savvy workforce who will make up most of the workforce by 2020?

He has lectured to many organisations and HR communities on the ‘future of work’. His latest book,
which will be published in December 2019, is on this exact topic and has been described as a “must
read” by numerous CHROs from around the world.

Attendees leave with a deep insight into how organisations’ approach to their people has evolved over the last 100 years and how they will change in the next 50 years. Leaders will have a new view on how to set up their organisations for the future, leverage AI, roboticization and other global macro trends to ensure they stay ahead of the competition. Their new insights will include specific changes to organisational design (OD), management and development of the talent pool and deployment of new technology. Harnessing all these changes will futureproof the organisation and transform results.

Changing the way we see innovation to leverage superagile networked organisations of the future.

Most organisations are struggling to grow and increase their top line revenue or bottom line profits not least because they have lost the ability to innovate. In large part this is because most organisations see innovation itself as a process not an outcome. Most new products or services are ‘propelled’ through an R&D funnel towards the market and innovators are rewarded based on how little money they spend rather than how much money they make for their organisations. Thought leader Dr Alan Watkins explodes this approach and reveals how disruptive innovation requires products or services to be ‘impelled’ or sucked into the market.

Alan will explain how organisations can transform their innovation engine to stay ahead of the competition. This includes identifying all the key players, building a superagile networked three-layered organisation necessary to innovate successfully and how to work connect the key players together to cross the triple chasm to commercial success.

Attendees leave with a deep insight into how organisations’ need to change their operating model and the way they approach innovation in order to stay ahead of the competition. Using live network analysis data we explore how changing their target operating model (TOM) can transform the fortunes of any business which when combined with a new way to approach innovation. Such changes can help organisations go beyond world class and become truly world leading.

As all organisations become digitally enabled where does AI really take us?

The acceleration of digital transformation is one of the greatest challenges facing organisations over the next 30 years. This ranges from the roboticization of the workforce to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Many academics and commentators believe that AI is actually a threat to our survival as a species. Or at the very least we will see 30% of jobs disappear in the next 30 years and the emergence of a Universal Basic Income (UBI). But such ideas are based on a misunderstanding of robots, AI and ML and how they will actually affect the world of work.
Alan will explore the real debate in AI which stretches way beyond autonomous vehicles and rapid search. He will explore how to code mainframes with morality, why computer viruses may become self-aware and why and how humanity and AI will converge not diverge. He will ground this digitally enabled futurology in the commercial reality of today’s business problems.

Attendees leave with a completely new view of the digitally enabled future we are moving into. They will face into the issues of identity, the sentience of robots and why we need to understand human development and morality in order to set ourselves up for the future. We will look at what disruptive intelligence looks like and how they can unlock such capabilities within themselves learning from the principles of AI and synergistically interacting with the ideas that AI, ML and roboticization spawn. This keynote is for people who want to know what the future holds but even more are keen to know how this future will change them personally.

And become ten years younger in the process.

Most corporate leaders, professional sport stars and Olympic athletes can be brilliant sometimes but very few know how to be brilliant every single day. This is because very few have studied exactly what is takes to deliver exceptional performance day in day out.
The secret lies in understanding the real drivers of performance. The hidden dimensions that drive leadership behaviour. Alan will explain how to hack your own system and build the biology basis for brilliance. He will explore how biology affects brain function at the most critical moments of our day.
Alan will explain how all levels of the human system must be controlled if you want to be consistently brilliant. He reveals how all our brains shut down under pressure using a live demonstration to prove his point. He then goes further to demonstrate how to avoid this DIY lobotomy and how it is possible to maintain a high performance state of coherence even under fire. He has taught these skills to leaders all over the world as well as fighter pilots and professional athletes.

Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of how they can go beyond biology and control their own brain function. They will also develop the ability to turn on any emotional state they need in any meeting or situation. Alan will also explain how controlling biology and emotions and inducing a state of coherence relates to many other techniques leaders may have tried to improve their performance. The shortened version of this keynote can be seen in Part1 and Part 2 of Alan’s TEDx talks (see links below), which have now been seen by over 3.5 million viewers.

What planet are you on?

Despite well intentioned efforts for over thirty years organisational wellbeing continues to deteriorate. Mental health problems are on the rise, people are increasingly stressed or overwhelmed and employee engagement is often very low. Most organisations’ efforts have become one dimensional box ticking exercises designed to suggest that they are doing something. Ironically health is about being not doing, the clue is in the word “well-being”. So if we want to change outcomes we must focus on the interior of individuals. Specifically we must change two things – employees’ energy and emotions.
Dr Alan Watkins’ keynote dispels many of the myths about health and wellbeing and draws on his background as a physician. general practitioner and medical academic. He explores the overwhelming evidence for emotions being the superhighway to many modern diseases. He goes onto teach some very practical skills that enable leaders to understand what emotional state or planet they are on at any particular time. More importantly how can people change how they feel, on demand.

Attendees will leave with an ability to change how they feel on demand in any meeting. Alan will demonstrate how attendees can download and use the Universe of Emotions App so they can develop their emotional literacy. This App identifies 2,000 possible emotional states that leaders can operate from. Attendees will also leave with a clear plan of how to step change staff wellbeing and how to track improvements in their staff and quantify employee engagement more accurately. The shortened version of this keynote can be seen in Alan’s Oxford TEDx talk (see link below), which has now been seen by over 1.5 million viewers.

The journey to success requires 12 steps and four phases.

Remaining competitive as the world accelerates requires leaders to change themselves, change their teams and change their organisations. However, many leaders are quite resistant to change. This is, in part, due to lack of understanding of the twelve steps and four phases of change. If leaders are too confident or insular then they risk loss of market share from new entrants or rival organisations.
Dr Alan Watkins’ keynote describes a leader’s journey from its inception to inspirational transformation. The journey starts with a wake up call and the discovery of data that forces a leader to accept a new commercial reality. This signals that the leader themselves, their team or the whole business may need to change. Alan will walk through the 12 critical steps of change and how they play out in a modern business. If leaders develop real skill and becomes a change agent then a genuine transformation is possible. If not their problems will likely persist or get worse.

Attendees will leave with clarity on where they are on their own personal journey and what challenges they are currently facing. They will be clear on the critical path ahead and the importance of crossing the threshold to commit to change. Alan will relate the steps of change to mental health in business and society. We will connect the journey to the need for leaders to ‘wake up, own up grow up and show up’ differently. We will also explore how every stage has shown up in modern cultures and movies over the last fifty years.