Speakers and Trainers at Consulus

• Asian Innovation – From our experience with different Asian organizations, many people talk innovation but few would dare to risk it all to pursue it to the end. That is why the challenge is not in the ideas but how to make innovation work.
• Organisational Change – The preference for personality over institution means that family names matter and strong leaders tend to stay in power longer. In a fast-changing world with a more educated workforce, this limits Asian organizations from becoming truly powerful institutions. For all of Asia’s advantage in terms of heritage and size, the organizations that shape today’s world in terms of innovation, business thinking and cultural influence are still distinctively Western.
• Asian Business – As Asia rises, our appetite for ambition and patience for failure lessens. While some Asian companies have begun to dominate in technology and innovation, many others are satisfied with keeping the status quo. They are making money, so shaping the future and taking control of their own growth destiny is not that important. Many are happy to be contractors and not invent to determine the future of the world. This is an alarming trend because we should be at a stage where ambition, risk taking and thirst for knowledge are rising. Asia is in a good place, but it can be better.
• Design – At the end of the day, design is not about variety and constant change. It is about conditioning the user to recognize it, link it to the brand so that it can raise the perceived value of the product or service.
• Organisational Development – Here in Asia, unity is a desired trait, as it is the most preferred core value whenever we ask management and staff to think about essential values for success. While unity is preferred, few have a strategy and structure to encourage collaboration to profit from it.

Lawrence Chong moved the energy level of the group to a high level with his presentation… He stated that the 1% who shape the world think deeply about meaning, are restless to change the status quo, and have a strong sense of obligation to their industry, their country or the world that supersedes everything else in their lives. Judging from the ovations and cheering by the end of his talk, there were a lot of students who want to be among those 1%ers.

– R. Craig Lefebvre, PhD, an architect and designer of public health and social change programs, in his personal website post about the WMS. He is the chief maven at socialShift, the social|design, marketing and media consultancy located in Sarasota, FL. Read his full comment on Chong’s presentation and other points from the WMS.

• Building purpose-led Asian companies to meet the obligations of a changing world, World Marketing Summit
• Designing organisations for innovation – World Brand Congress
• Spark an Innovation Revolution to Shape the World
• Why Designers need to be better entrepreneurs – Singaplural
• What is Vietnam’s Brand of Leadership?
• A Dragon for our time
• Future of Asian Dynasties
• What is Myanmar’s Brand of Leadership?
• What is Asia’s Brand of Leadership?
• How to create successful Asian brands by challenging the convention
• Symbols, Icons and Brands: How Design Builds Longevity
• Will Vietnam shape the world?
• Time to build iconic product brands for Vietnam
• Can Chinese brands shape the world?
• Sustainable Branding

• Building a Winning Team – Even a nimble business entity needs an organisation chart that tells you what kinds of professional skills and expertise you need for each position. Hard skills and knowledge can be acquired easily, but hiring a person solely on qualifications and job experience is insufficient. Personal traits should stand at the top of the list of requirements for any job advertisement for your company.
• Leadership Ascension – For MNCs such as Google, Siemens, L’Oreal, Schneider Electric and Lafarge, it seems easier to put in place internal leadership development programmes that often include an overseas assignment to cultivate promising leaders in emerging markets. For SMEs or family-owned business, this may sound like a luxurious investment. However, the key success factor here is not about the budget. It is about knowing where you want the company to grow, sharing that vision with your talents and developing a succession plan to groom them in stages.
• Asian Branding – A brand model designed to become a global representative of Vietnam will definitely help you benefit from the rise of Vietnam. It is also easier to secure trademarks globally if you were to use an Asian name. Therefore if you aspire to be a global brand, get it right and go Vietnamese, it will reap tremendous benefits going forward into the future.

• World Company Day, Asia Connection
• Nurturing Leaders within Our Organizations
• A New World Order is Here. Are Vietnamese Brands Ready?
• Will Vietnam shape the world?
• Time to build iconic product brands for Vietnam
• Business Ethics in Vietnam
• Unity for Innovation
• What’s next for Vietnam

• Leadership Competencies for Industry 4.0 People and technology are connected across the globe in ways never before imagined. A new brand of leader is needed to address the challenges and pursue the opportunities brought about by the fourth industrial revolution. To be a positive force, leaders will need to be able to improve the lives of people with their products and services and create sustainable economies. How to develop these competencies is a topic that leaders can use whether they are in small, medium, or large enterprises.
• Leadership Development as a Life-Long Endeavor Leaders must be life-long learners, because what they knew when they began their leadership journey will continue to change. New information, research, methods, technologies and cultural changes require leaders to be transformative, regardless of their role. Development is not only attained by attending workshops and reading books and articles. Experiential learning is a key to ongoing leadership development.
• Holistic, Person-Centered Leadership Research shows that workers who feel their supervisors and leaders take a personal interest in them and their development are more engaged, productive and committed to organizational goals. Leaders, like everyone, bring their whole selves to work, and the impact they have on people is critical to their success. Leaders who are most effective are self-aware and understand people and work – they are holistic, and person-centered.
• Spirituality in the Workplace Recognizing the fact that the whole person—body, mind and spirit—comes with us to work provides a greater opportunity for personal as well as organizational transformation and development. Just as our physical self enables us to complete tasks, and our mind allows us to think, judge and act, our spirit gives us the capacity to bring our passions, deeply held values and motivations into our work. Organizations that treat people as whole human beings find their employees experience deeper meaning in their work, discover more of their gifts and talents, and grow personally and professionally.
• What’s Your Leadership Style Much research has been done on the effectiveness of various leadership styles. What if leaders could adapt their style to the situation, rather than lead with their default style? Research shows this is a critical leadership competency, and that when it is intentional the leader can transform even the most difficult situations into wins.
• Appreciative Inquiry as a Leadership Best Practice Appreciative Inquiry is more than a methodology or a process – it is a philosophy that involves a strength-based approach to life and work. It starts with a belief that in any organization, team, leader and person there is something that works. By focusing on the best of “what is,” we begin to discover ways to duplicate positive results and expand these best practices to things that have not worked so well for us in the past.

Jim Funk has excellent insight into the important aspects of successful leadership skills and team building. He is a master presenter, and has the ability to engage audiences in the subject matter he is presenting. He has a genuine spirit and is passionate about people and sharing his knowledge about leadership.

– Blake Dye, President, St. Vincent Heart Center of Indiana

Because Jim Funk’s appreciative approach seeks what is good, leaders are challenged, motivated and inspired to bring meaning and purpose to their work, while fulfilling their innate calling to become a servant leader.

– Loraine Brown, Interim Chief Mission Integration Officer, St. Vincent (Indiana)/Ascension

• North America Focolare Movement. Building Unity: Resolving Conflict (2016 and 2018)
• Economy of Communion North American Association School. Entrepreneurial Vocation Discernment (2017)
• Economy of Communion North American Association. Holistic Leadership for Economy of Communion Companies (2017)
• Vincent Hospital Physicians. Keeping Healthcare Human (2017)
• Vincent Hospital Physician Residency Faculty. Leading Change (2016)
• Vincent Hospital and Health Care Center. Virtuous Servant Leadership (2016)
• Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Coaching for Pastoral Leaders (2016)
• Economy of Communion North American Association. Relationship Building and Conflict Resolution (2016)
• Indiana Family and Social Services Administration. Leading for Transformation: Looking Back, Looking Ahead (2015)
• Aquinas Institute of Theology. Appreciative Inquiry (2010)
• Economy of Communion North American Association. Building Strength-Based Strategy (2010)
• Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis. Inspired Leaders and Virtues at the Cutting Edge (2009)
• Arizona Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors. Inspired Leadership (2008)
• Ascension Health Information Services. Art of Negotiation (2006)

• Delivering IT Efficiency through IT Optimization As Digital disruption caused by Industry 4.0 forcing many companies to shut down, businesses still operating with inflexible legacy IT systems and complex IT Infrastructure face challenges in controlling the rising cost of IT expenditure and keeping the legacy systems up-to-date. The purpose of IT Optimization is to reduce IT costs through consolidation, software standardization and business process integration. Greater IT efficiency allows companies to focus on new business opportunities. A people focused approach is one of the key success factors in achieving IT efficiency.
• Cloud implementation in the financial sector Many traditional banks have raised concerns about cloud technology. Their concerns focus mainly on the risk of Security breaches where a client’s data is compromised. The banks also worry about how to meet strict standards with respect to Regulation and Compliance for data protection and access to the bank’s applications in a cloud environment. These concerns are valid. These challenges can be overcome with a Hybrid Cloud Solution such as the one designed by Michael for one of his clients. The security access control was enforced by segmenting the network, application and data layers with strict user access and policy control between the Public Cloud network over the Internet and the Private Cloud network residing inside the corporate network.
• Biometrics for User Identity Verification Data and Identity Fraud is rising where personal data and credit card details being hacked and stolen. Biometric Technology is widely available and deployed by the Healthcare and Financial sectors. Biometric Technology Tools (using the specific client’s face, finger, iris and voice) are being deployed to verify the identification of a client before granting access & control to financial and health data. With such a variety of Biometric Technology Tools available in the market, it is important for companies to acquire a good understanding of these tools first before choosing a suitable Biometrics Solution for their business.
• Understanding Business Continuity Plan and Disaster Recovery Plan for your business Often, businesses have insufficient knowledge of how to design and plan a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) for their businesses. After 9/11, many businesses started to realize the value of having a BCP and DRP to avoid the complete disruption caused by a natural disaster or terrorist attack. The fundamental question for companies to ask is whether their business will continue to operate to normal capacity after a natural disaster has impacted on their business premises and how long it will take for the IT Infrastructure and IT operations to be restored at the DR site to enable the business to maintain their operations.

• IT Optimization Strategy and Planning for Financial Institutions
• Leveraging Cloud Technology for business advantages
• Challenge of choosing Biometrics Identification Tools to prevent Identity Fraud
• To survive the business disruption with Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and Disaster Recovery Plan (DCP)

• 16th Shanghai Retail Banking Forum, October 2015
• 15th Shanghai Retail Banking Forum, April 2015
• 14th Shanghai Retail Banking Forum, August 2014

• Social Impact and Economy of Communion, World Company Day, Taiwan, 2017