VIEW SPEECH SUMMARY
Three Leadership Principles
1. Clarity of Vision
- Leaders must clearly see and communicate their vision.
- Effective communication is essential; 90% of a leader’s role can be communication.
- Uses Seth Godin's "marketing promise" template to clarify product vision with:
- A community empathy statement ("My product is for people who believe...")
- Understanding customer needs (spoken and unspoken)
- Process guarantee: defining the specific process behind delivering the product/service, not vague promises (example: trampoline park's approach to defining "fun" and "safety").
- Actionable: Leaders must clarify their vision and test it with stakeholders by asking open, non-leading questions about their understanding.
2. Relationship Design
- Relationships in teams need intentional design and constant management, not left to autopilot.
- Compares it to learning to use a prosthetic arm: requires adjustment and guidance.
- Leaders should co-design KPQs (Key Performance Questions) and KPIs with team members for more strategic alignment.
- Actionable: Regularly redesign relationships with team members based on life or market changes; co-create KPQs and KPIs for clarity and accountability.
3. Exceptional Organization
- Leaders often feel under-resourced, but this usually means under-organized.
- Uses Singapore’s transformation from poor swamp to wealthy nation as a case study demonstrating the power of organization and decisions like establishing English as lingua franca, importing talent, and eradicating corruption.
- Emphasizes ruthless prioritization: knowing what to kill and what to keep.
- Actionable: Evaluate and enhance organizational structures and priorities for better execution.
---
Empathy as the "Secret Sauce"
- Empathy is misunderstood as only putting oneself in others' shoes; it also requires choosing to believe and validate others’ feelings and feedback.
- Empathy is a sensor for better decision-making involving people.
- Leaders must allow vulnerability and accept challenges to their views to foster innovation and trust (e.g., Steve Jobs hiring smart people to tell him what to do).
- Provides a personal leadership story about crisis management in Cambodia involving asking for help, teamwork, and generosity from volunteers, which led to successful outcomes and further opportunities.
- Actionable: Practice true empathy by actively listening, validating others’ experiences, and being willing to be vulnerable and ask for help.
---
Closing and Final Exercises
- Speaker leads the audience through relaxation and breathing exercises to reduce nervous energy and improve connection.
- Reiterates the four principles with audience participation:
- Clarity of Vision: Lead into what you can see.
- Design Culture: Relationships require ongoing work.
- Exceptional Organization: Be ruthless and prioritize.
- Empathy: Sincere empathy builds followership.
- Encourages attendees to take responsibility ("It starts with me") for leadership improvement.
- Offers to share additional resources and materials on LinkedIn.
---
Key Actionable Items
- Clarify and communicate your vision distinctly; test understanding with open-ended questions.
- Design and continuously redesign team relationships; engage in co-creating KPIs and KPQs.
- Ruthlessly organize and prioritize resources; learn from efficient models like Singapore.
- Practice empathy fully: listen carefully, believe your people, accept vulnerability, and be open to feedback.
- Engage in self-awareness activities and seek help when needed as a leader.
- Use intentional exercises to improve personal and team alignment regularly.
1. Clarity of Vision
- Leaders must clearly see and communicate their vision.
- Effective communication is essential; 90% of a leader’s role can be communication.
- Uses Seth Godin's "marketing promise" template to clarify product vision with:
- A community empathy statement ("My product is for people who believe...")
- Understanding customer needs (spoken and unspoken)
- Process guarantee: defining the specific process behind delivering the product/service, not vague promises (example: trampoline park's approach to defining "fun" and "safety").
- Actionable: Leaders must clarify their vision and test it with stakeholders by asking open, non-leading questions about their understanding.
2. Relationship Design
- Relationships in teams need intentional design and constant management, not left to autopilot.
- Compares it to learning to use a prosthetic arm: requires adjustment and guidance.
- Leaders should co-design KPQs (Key Performance Questions) and KPIs with team members for more strategic alignment.
- Actionable: Regularly redesign relationships with team members based on life or market changes; co-create KPQs and KPIs for clarity and accountability.
3. Exceptional Organization
- Leaders often feel under-resourced, but this usually means under-organized.
- Uses Singapore’s transformation from poor swamp to wealthy nation as a case study demonstrating the power of organization and decisions like establishing English as lingua franca, importing talent, and eradicating corruption.
- Emphasizes ruthless prioritization: knowing what to kill and what to keep.
- Actionable: Evaluate and enhance organizational structures and priorities for better execution.
---
Empathy as the "Secret Sauce"
- Empathy is misunderstood as only putting oneself in others' shoes; it also requires choosing to believe and validate others’ feelings and feedback.
- Empathy is a sensor for better decision-making involving people.
- Leaders must allow vulnerability and accept challenges to their views to foster innovation and trust (e.g., Steve Jobs hiring smart people to tell him what to do).
- Provides a personal leadership story about crisis management in Cambodia involving asking for help, teamwork, and generosity from volunteers, which led to successful outcomes and further opportunities.
- Actionable: Practice true empathy by actively listening, validating others’ experiences, and being willing to be vulnerable and ask for help.
---
Closing and Final Exercises
- Speaker leads the audience through relaxation and breathing exercises to reduce nervous energy and improve connection.
- Reiterates the four principles with audience participation:
- Clarity of Vision: Lead into what you can see.
- Design Culture: Relationships require ongoing work.
- Exceptional Organization: Be ruthless and prioritize.
- Empathy: Sincere empathy builds followership.
- Encourages attendees to take responsibility ("It starts with me") for leadership improvement.
- Offers to share additional resources and materials on LinkedIn.
---
Key Actionable Items
- Clarify and communicate your vision distinctly; test understanding with open-ended questions.
- Design and continuously redesign team relationships; engage in co-creating KPIs and KPQs.
- Ruthlessly organize and prioritize resources; learn from efficient models like Singapore.
- Practice empathy fully: listen carefully, believe your people, accept vulnerability, and be open to feedback.
- Engage in self-awareness activities and seek help when needed as a leader.
- Use intentional exercises to improve personal and team alignment regularly.
3 First Principles of Business Leadership
15:20 - 15:50, 27th of May (Tuesday) 2025 / LEADERS STAGE
Take note on the most fundamental leadership insights across the last decade that have been summarised into three first principles for leaders in bootstrapping startups to giant MNCs.
G has spent almost two decades studying, practicing and coaching in leadership from large organisations such as the United Nations to Under Armour, to over 200 startups across the world that have both raised and razed millions. This speech will bring insights found in his soon to be released book, 'Business Sustainability First Principles' set to release Q3 this year.
This talk has been in paid demand from Google.org funded startups in the EU to the NZ Government, and now the the ASEAN and Japanese Government for their startup ecosystems this year. Don't miss out the chance to see him in person!
TRACK:
Growth
Leadership
TOPICS:
Industry Focus
Startup
