Q. Why get involved with GIFT's workshop and webinar series?

A. GIFT delivers workshops and web-based sessions as a platform for participants to gain insight into the changing business landscape. GIFT asks the tough, open-ended questions and guides participants to draw their own conclusions, free of ideological biases. Sessions are customised to your industry, regional interests and organisational objectives.

Q: How do you get your management teams and future leaders to become more aware of the massive changes currently taking place in the global business environment?

A: You have to confront and de-construct their worldview and create discomfort.

Q: Where will they go to gain exposure to the most important issues shaping policy, markets and the business? 

A: Not in classrooms of the instructors promoting 20^th century models.

Q: Most importantly, how will you deliver this in a candid, unbiased and intellectually honest way and which is also relevant to your company? 

A: Only by being bold and discarding the old narrative.

Organisations by definition cannot provide objective insight to their next generation of leaders. Their views are filtered through the lens of organisational culture and past successes.

Core Topics

New markets, new business.  With a focus on Asia, GIFT has facilitated more than twenty immersive learning projects throughout the region.  Projects involve working closely with local governments, business partners and household consumers in some of the furthest corners of the region.  It is only through an acute awareness of the reasons for the massive shifts taking place in the world economy that leaders are able to understand and capture future business opportunities and move into new markets successfully.  Building on recent case studies and bespoke in-house research this can be delivered as a series of webinars or one to two day workshop.  

Beyond green, what is sustainability?  According to a UN Global Compact study 96% of CEO’s believe that sustainability issues should be integrated into strategy and operations of a company.  A Google search reveals 95,000,000 web pages dedicated to the term and yet the majority of executives would not be able to articulate its relevance to their company in a meaningful way.  There is a great deal of obfuscation; clarity is needed.   The ability to understand, apply and articulate issues related to sustainability will be one of the most important new skills for business leaders of the next generation.  GIFT does not offer the conventional definitions nor the easy answers.  In one of the most sought after GIFT sessions, delivered as an interactive workshop or through the web-based platform, participants are pushed to think hard about their business and its role in our changing global society.     

Impact investing. Is an ethos that governs the selection of investment projects that benefit local communities and the environment in addition to providing returns.  Investors pursue investments that offer a high social return and reasonable expected financial return.   This is an increasingly attractive strategy for companies and foundations particularly as conventional charities and philanthropic projects receive greater scrutiny into questionable operational and fundraising efficiencies.  This session is relevant for companies looking to bring more meaning and effectiveness to employee engagement, volunteering or its foundation activities.  It can be delivered as a workshop or series of webinars.

Consumptionomics.  If car ownership in Asia reaches current OECD levels of approximately 800 cars per 1000 persons, there would be three billion cars in Asian cities, four times the current number in the entire world.  Statistics around water, food, forests and waste are equally disturbing.  Rising consumption in Asia is praised as the panacea for a faltering global economy.  Yet, given expanding populations and a shrinking resource base, this can only lead to disaster.  What does this mean for business and growth?  How will your leaders stay intellectually prepared to respond to the inevitable disruptions and policy response from Asian governments?  Author and internationally acclaimed speaker Chandran Nair leads this session which can be delivered in workshop or webinar format for up to 100 participants.