Interview
A disrupted vision of leadership
SPEAKER AND EMCEE , HOLLY RANSOM , WHO HOSTED THE RECENT PCMA CONVENING LEADERS GATHERING IN SAN DIEGO , SHARES HER PHILOSOPHY OF EFFECTIVE ENGAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
H olly Ransom ’ s journey into public speaking began at a young age when she was involved in non-profit projects . She won an international award at a microfinance project in Kenya and was also , for a time , the world ’ s youngest Rotary president . “ I found myself sharing stories and strategy and had a real knack for sharing ideas in a way that helps other people learn and improve and apply their own capability to tackle problems .” Then came the step into a corporate setting . She says she fell into keynoting , including an early appearance alongside Sir Richard Branson when he was in Australia , and the Virgin founder subsequently asked her to come to London and host Virgin Disruptors . “ Sir Richard really took me into the world of hosting and emceeing ,” she recalls . Ransom went on to work with many CEOs , carving out a reputation as ‘ a different thinker ’. It was an experience , she says , that made her also aware of her blind spots and to think more deeply about inter-generational engagement and different ways of approaching a problem . Ransom also founded Canada ’ s eminent energy summit about energy disruptors where she developed her passion for creating ‘ collisions of unlike minds ’ in order to create incredible experiences .
Hosting for PCMA “ Hosting PCMA has been incredible ,” she says . It is a job that is already six years and counting . Ransom clearly feels part of the PCMA Convening Leaders family and says the experience of curating at PCMA has equipped her to deal with people from across a variety of geographies who face very different challenges when creating their business events . They are events created gainst varied backdrops of regulatory realities and government responses . One of her philosophies is the power to “ truly listen , reflect and join dots and make meaning of new information .” If we don ’ t do that , she says , we aren ’ t closing what she calls ‘ the knowing and doing gap ’. “ We do a lot of knowing and we don ’ t do much doing , because in reality we ’ re not creating the space for ourselves , the white space , to be able to reflect on information that we ’ re taking in and apply it .” Ransom explains her PCMA work is all about building community . “ My lens ,” she says , “ always comes from deeply understanding my audience . This entails considering what might they be challenged by . “ Sometimes you ’ re interviewing people where it could be easy for them to say , ‘ Fine for you to say that . But you ’ re not in my kitchen feeling my heat . So , how can you tease out some of those objections and assumptions ?’” She believes we ’ ve historically underestimated the role of place in the design of our events and talks about taking people out of a ‘ habit loop ’. Ransom talks about interrupting mental patterns that can lead to a very
“ In Canada she developed a passion for creating ‘ collisions of unlike minds ’.” different set of conversations and advocates planners thinking more deeply about the role of music and experience , and about place in events . Recalling her work on disrupting North American energy conferences , Ransom talks about a landscape that was very siloed . “ You would have oil and gas meeting at their conference , the renewables conference meeting , and a solar meeting at one place and a geothermal meeting somewhere else , and nuclear in yet another location . The energy transition doesn ’ t happen if we continue to sit in these siloed conversations . We thought about how we bring everyone together and create a really cross sectoral dialogue . Also , we talked about the need to inject some people into this sector whose perspectives could be invaluable , and who probably hadn ’ t been heard from .” She lists such people as Erin Brockovich on people power ; Adam Grant on how we need to think again , and Richard Branson on entrepreneurship and smart risk taking – all powerful outside voices and challenging external thinkers . Ransom says she likes to see a ‘ healthy tension ’ in planning but notes the importance of being really clear around what ’ s most important to achieve in terms of prioritisation , and making sure the focus is on investment in those areas .
“ Make sure you have an innovation budget ,” she adds .
Challenge yourself Disruptive strategy , for Ransom , includes the opportunity to actively challenge yourself . If we see things being incapable of being challenged it speaks to a brittleness , she believes , saying we need to keep retesting our base case . “ We typically underestimate as businesses the disruption that ’ s going to come from within our own industry , and assume it ’ s coming from outside ,” she adds , and urges leaders to be open
36 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / ISSUE 130