Transforming The Way We Work: The New Rules of Engagement
Recertification Credit: General
Schwartz will provide a highly actionable blueprint for a new way of working and fueling a fully engaged workforce. Demand in our lives is increasingly relentless. The way we’re working isn’t working. Nearly 75% of employees around the world feel disengaged at work every day. Far too many organizations expect their employees to operate in the same way as computers do: continuously, for long periods of time, running multiple programs at the same time. Schwartz will show you how to work (and live) in a way that is more productive and more satisfying, the secret to renewing your energy when demand is high and time is scarce and will offer a clear understanding of the four needs you must meet in order to perform at your best.

About Tony Schwartz
Tony Schwartz is President and CEO of The Energy Project, a company that helps individuals and organizations perform better and more sustainably. He spent the first part of his career working as a journalist. He is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review (HBR) and is one of HBR’s most popular bloggers.

General Session featuring Blake Mycoskie
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
8:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.             

Conscious Capitalism and the Future of Business
Recertification Credit: General
In this visionary talk, Blake Mycoskie shows how to succeed in a new era of relentless competition and heightened social awareness. He also shares his secrets for starting, growing, and sustaining new businesses.  He answers the following questions: How do you make money and do good simultaneously? How do you turn ideas into great businesses? And how do you create businesses that people love, and love to talk about? At TOMS — a self-sustaining, for-profit company — the act of giving is the cornerstone of its business model, integral to its financial success. In a behind-the-scenes look at how it all works, Mycoskie shares counterintuitive ideas ("In tough times, give more!") that you can apply to your own business. His bold, winning strategies are proven, and have been talked about by Bill Clinton, the Obama administration, and the hundreds of thousands of customers that have joined the TOMS Movement by buying a pair of shoes. Inspired, inspiring and most of all practical, Mycoskie presents a new direction for business, offering TOMS as his prime case study. After hearing him speak, you too will know why giving just makes sense.

About Blake Mycoskie
Blake Mycoskie is the Founder of TOMS. Upon learning that most children in developing countries grow up barefoot, he created TOMS Shoes with a simple promise: to give a pair of new shoes to children in need with every pair sold. The One for One business model harnesses the power of consumers for good and has become the hallmark of social enterprise, now taught in universities around the world. TOMS has given over one million pairs of new shoes to children through giving partners around the world in 28 countries. This June, TOMS launched its second One for One product, TOMS Eyewear, to help save and restore sight to people in need.

Last fall, Blake launched his first book, Start Something That Matters. He offers his own amazing story of inspiration, and the power of incorporating giving in business. He references other companies and individuals who have been motivated and inspired to integrate philanthropy into their profession as well as their personal lives.  

TOMS received the 2010 Footwear News Brand of the Year Award. In 2009, Blake received the Secretary of State's 2009 Award of Corporate Excellence (ACE). Established by the State Department in 1999, the award celebrates companies' commitment to corporate social responsibility, innovation, and democratic values worldwide. At the Clinton Global Initiative University plenary session, former President Clinton introduced Blake to the audience as "one of the most interesting entrepreneurs (I've) ever met." People Magazine featured Blake in its "Heroes Among Us" section, and in the Bill Gates Time Magazine article "How to Fix Capitalism," TOMS Shoes was featured.

Blake is an entrepreneur who grew up in Texas, and has created five businesses since college. His first was a successful national campus laundry service; his second start-up, Mycoskie Media, caught the attention of Clear Channel Media and was bought by the company. Between business ventures, Blake competed in the CBS' primetime series, "The Amazing Race", in 2002.

General Session featuring Gina Rudan
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Practical Genius: Change the Game for You and Your Business
Recertification Credit: No Credit Awarded
Most people consider genius to be a gift, a lightning bolt from the gods that strikes folks like Einstein or Mozart but not the rest of us. Not true! Practical Genius argues that every one of us has a capacity for genius—a unique, instinctive, everyday genius that is waiting to be unleashed on our own lives. In this high-energy, interactive keynote, Rudan takes you on a transformative journey that is both inspirational and practical, showing you how to use your personal power to open doors, attract opportunity and succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

About Gina Rudan
Gina Rudan is the President of Genuine Insights Inc. a contemporary professional development and training practice whose mission is to leverage the genius within every individual and organization. Gina spoke on the subject of genius at the 2010 TED Global conference at Oxford University and is the author of PRACTICAL GENIUS: The Real Smarts You Need to Get Your Passions and Talents Working for You which was published by Touchstone/Simon & Schuster in the fall of 2011.

Gina has been a guest lecturer, trainer and strategist for organizations including Merck Co., the BET Network, the Interpublic Group, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Stern School of Business at New York University among many others. She is the curator of TEDxMIA, an independent movement to spread genius in southern Florida and is a member of the Visionary advisory board for the Wolfsonian – FIU Museum. Before launching her own practice, Gina held management positions at Fortune 500 companies including Avon Products and PR Newswire, where she was responsible for spearheading multicultural and international marketing efforts.

In 2010 Gina was selected as one of Poder Magazine’s top “20 Under 40” Hispanics in the United States. A native New Yorker, Gina graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Binghamton University and is a National Urban Fellow holding a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Baruch College in New York City.