Anders Sörman-Nilsson

Anders Sorman-Nilsson (LLB MBA) is the founder of Thinque – a strategy think tank that helps executives and leaders convert these disruptive questions into proactive, future strategies.

As an Australian-Swedish futurist and innovation strategist he has helped executives and leaders on 4 continents map, prepare for, and strategise for foreseeable and unpredictable futures. Since founding Thinque in 2005, he has worked with and spoken to clients like Apple, Johnson & Johnson, Cisco, Eli Lilly, SAP, IBM, Xerox, ABN Amro Bank, Commonwealth Bank, McCann Erickson and BAE Systems, across diverse cultural and geographic contexts.

Anders is an active member of TEDGlobal (Oxford 2009 / Edinburgh 2011), has keynoted at TEDx, guest lectured at Sydney University and University of Technology Sydney Business School, and Anders is on the prestigious 2013 Million Dollar Roundtable roster. He is a member of the University of Sydney Global Executive MBA cohort, and has completed executive education at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.

His latest book Digilogue: How to win the digital minds and analogue hearts of tomorrow’s customer – is hot off the press, and is featuring in top end business media like BRW, The Financial Review, Sky News Business, Qantas Magazine and ABC National Radio.

Anders’ 2 most popular keynote topics globally are a. Digilogue: the convergence of the digital and the analogue & b. Waves of Change: global trends that will disrupt your slumber.

- Digilogue: the convergence of the digital and the analogue

As some organisations careen recklessly into the digital future and others are left behind by remaining steeped in the ways of old, thought leaders are coming to realise there is an important middle ground. Most often that’s where your customers and clients want you to be, the place where digital and analogue converge - the ‘digilogue’. In the digilogue it is understood that digital satisfies a customer’s mind while analogue soothes the heart.
Knowing where this place is demands:
• an understanding of the parts of your business that simply cannot be allowed to go digital
• an intimate knowledge of the customer experience, of the touch points that thrill them, that speak to their hearts and not their heads
• an understanding of how your organisation tells its story to its public
• a recognition of the artisanal skill, or customer service, that keeps customers coming back

Consider Apple, then imagine the brand without its experiential retail outlets. Its entire business could be carried out online, and much of it is. But the Apple stores create a vital relationship tool that allows brand supporters to touch, feel and live the brand.
Or consider the feeling of ringing a customer service line only to be sent through a number of computer-operated, voice recognition menus, compared to the feeling of being immediately answered by a competent human being.
Dive into digital 100 per cent and you’ll struggle. Stay off the digital wave and you’ll disappoint your customers. We expect you to make great coffee at your café, but we also expect an app to tell us how to get there. Every business must know where its middle ground lies, where the old-school artisan meets the efficiency and power of the future. This customised presentation will help your people find where that place is.

- Waves of change: three global trends that will disrupt your existence

Waves of change are rolling towards us and you’d better be prepared.
• But how do you spot the waves, or identify what’s going on in the market?
• How do you sense the direction of the currents, or establish what it means for your business?
• And how do you best position yourself so you’re not washed away, or choose a market position and ride the wave?
Will you surf to success or drown in a riptide on an unpatrolled beach, while swimming outside the flags?
Unfortunately for business leaders today, change doesn’t care whether you like it or not. It happens ceaselessly without your permission.

The waves of change threatening every business are:

1 Digital Disruption – managing the tension between the analogue and digital touch points
2 Media Madness – realising that every company must think like a media company
3 Data Driven Dominance – working out how to turn data into competitive knowledge
The ignorant and apathetic are swamped and go belly-up, but those that know how to recognise opportunity, innovate and welcome change will soar. Plus they’ll enjoy every moment of the journey.