HSPC’s Professional Development Conference (PDC) 2024

Session title: The Geeks and the Freaks: The Age of AI and Infinite Leverage

Session description:We are on the brink of a revolution based on the meteoric rise of ChatGPT and generative AI. These exponential technologies are transforming the way we communicate, collaborate, and create, revolutionizing industries around the world. However, when everyone has an AI co-pilot, who will stand out? Shawn Kanungo argues that we need more freaks—leaders who are both unique and bold.

With the rise of generative AI, cloud technologies, and remote talent, we’re entering an age of infinite leverage where our work can be replicated at no cost and where we don’t need permission to get started. As a result, we can build exponential organizations—a new breed of business that can be more nimble, flexible, and highly leveraged.

In this provocative keynote, Kanungo dives deep into the age of artificial intelligence and infinite leverage. He explores how these will shape the future and impact culture, business, technology, and individuals. Ultimately, the future will favour the freaks.

Speaker biography: As a globally recognized innovation strategist and bestselling author, Shawn Kanungo works at the intersection of creativity, business, and technology. He spent 12 years at Deloitte working closely with leaders to help them better plan for the opportunities associated with disruptive innovation. In his high-energy keynotes, Kanungo draws on his extensive experience to provide audiences with an optimistic roadmap for the future: one that embraces unexpected approaches to innovation to remain competitive and relevant.

Since leaving Deloitte, Kanungo has worked with hundreds of organizations on their journey to digital transformation. He’s led complex projects incorporating artificial intelligence, cloud technologies, behavioural economics, Web3, and more. Today, Kanungo is a partner with Queen & Rook, where he advises leading organizations and executives on disruptive trends and invests in early-stage ventures.

Kanungo is the first innovation expert to have a streaming special, which was released on Apple TV and Prime Video in August 2023. It complements and shares the name of his bestselling debut book, The Bold Ones, a playbook to help individuals become bolder and push their careers and organizations forward. The book has been touted as one of McKinsey’s top decision-making books for leaders. Kanungo’s work has also been featured in The Globe and Mail, The Guardian, CBC, and CTV.

A prolific content creator, Kanungo’s posts on innovation have garnered millions of views across LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook. He’s been recognized by Edify magazine as one of their “Top 40 Under 40” and was called the “best virtual keynote speaker I’ve ever seen” by Forbes in 2021.

Video: https://youtu.be/guB435eIip8?feature=shared 

Session title: Influencing Change Without Authority: Strategies That Work!

Session description: Influencing change in areas we don’t manage is a core capability of successful leaders in all organizations. Cross-functional specialties—including health and safety, human resources, and risk management—tend to be constrained from creating their greatest level of value because of the natural barriers found in traditional organizations. 

This session will provide participants with strategies for breaking through those barriers, starting with recognizing their own distinct communication styles. We will also highlight three key elements of delivering messages that are core to influencing stakeholders and decision-makers, and will highlight when and how to build a coalition that supports change efforts.

At the end of this session, participants will be able to: 

• recognize and self-assess their primary influence style
• identify when and how to build a coalition supporting change
• distinguish three key elements of delivering messages that are intended to influence decision-makers

Speaker biography: Dylan Short is Managing Director of The Redlands Group Inc. He has more than 20 years of expertise as a business owner, health and safety professional, not-for-profit board leader, and international keynote speaker.

The Redlands Group provides client-focused solutions that meets clients’ health, safety, and risk assurance needs. Its team has the expertise to deliver excellent results, from executive-level strategy development to front-line staff training, right-sized for every organization.

In his pursuit of professional excellence both personally and within his filed, Short coaches, mentors, and energizes team members to achieve their full potential. He is a sought-after International keynote speaker who delivers engaging messages focused on management systems, influence, change, and risk management. Because of his professional and volunteer achievements, Short was awarded the CSSE’s highest award in 2016: Safety Professional of the Year.

Short is also an active volunteer in the health and safety community. He has served on the editorial advisory board of OHS Canada, has been a category judge of COS Magazine, a technical committee member for the Standards Council of Canada and the CSA Group, and is Vice-Chair of the BCRSP’s Post-Secondary Education Accreditation Task Force. Short is also an Avetta Distinguished Supply Chain Fellow.

Website:  RedlandsGroup.com

Session title: Why Collaboration Beats Competition

Session description: From the day Graham Sherman and his business partner opened Tool Shed Brewing Company, they knew they wanted to do business differently. They didn’t want to just sell their beer: they wanted to elevate the craft beer industry in Alberta.

Today, not only do they have a 22,000-square-foot headquarters in Calgary, sell their products in more than 1000 locations across Canada, and compete with giants like Labatt and Molson, they’ve also helped create a budding, competitive, and collaborative environment for craft beer to thrive in Alberta.

It was this same collaborative working model that saved Sherman’s business during the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw him transform his brewery into a storage facility for a local food-delivery service,

In this high-energy presentation, Sherman shares why adopting a collaborative approach—even with your competitors—can actually be a healthier way to do business and can lead to exponential growth and a loyal customer base.

Speaker biography: Graham Sherman is a self-professed “high-level geek” who used his love of technology to disrupt an entire industry. In 2013, Sherman took homebrewing “too far” when he launched the Tool Shed Brewing Company. What was originally a hobby he set up in his backyard tool shed is now a 22,000-square-foot brewery that produces a range of beers sold in more than 1,000 locations. In his presentations, Sherman highlights his bumpy entrepreneurial journey as he shows audiences how to harness disruption to transform their lives.

Prior to starting Tool Shed, Sherman and his business partner worked on contracts for the Canadian and US governments and military forces, installing encrypted, tactical communication networks. By day, they rolled around Afghanistan in armoured vehicles, “geeking out” in the world of satellite communications. By night, they aimed their obsessive, high-level thinking at mastering everyday tasks such as roasting their own coffee beans and brewing the perfect “cuppa,” learning to control their homes in Canada remotely with their iPhones, and, finally, perfecting batches of beer.

After quitting his well-paying, stable government job to jump head-first into the craft brewing industry, Sherman quickly learned that his newfound vocation was actually illegal in his home province of Alberta. So he changed his game plan from simply brewing craft beer to disrupting the industry. It took a year of relentless perseverance for Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis to change its rules. It was through this process that he learned the importance of adaptability, resiliency, and collaboration in any success story, and it is these traits that helped his brewery see sustained success throughout the pandemic.

Sherman has been nominated for Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year, was named one of Calgary’s 2016 “Top 40 Under 40” by Avenue magazine, and won the 2018 Business in Calgary Leaders Award.

Video: https://youtu.be/7zwx3hFX6zA?feature=shared