Artificial Intelligence. Crisis Leadership. AML. Digital Growth & Engagement. Crisis Management. Cybersecurity. Innovation in Real Estate Investing.

Quite a mouthful, right? I know.

With that said, I’m grateful to say that I received the opportunity to hear from top leaders in the above mentioned areas of specialty, where they willingly shared their knowledge, and experience at the annual No Boundaries Conference hosted by the Canadian Association of Urban Financial Professionals. The line up of speakers was simply phenomenal, including Senior Executives in the Financial and Tech space.

We were challenged with the idea of being a pragmatic optimist (where leaders should combine pessimism and optimism, taking the positive from both) to not letting perfection get in the way of excellence. Nuggets were shared on the future of AI to being challenged with the question:

How do you lead when everything is on the line?

Key Takeaways Include:

• Leaders are needed the most in times of crisis.
• As a leader you have to have a crystal clear vision, which is the foundation of leadership. Crisis attacks this and makes the vision blurry.
• There is the Art of Speaking and The Art of Being Heard. The former involves merely uttering words because you have to or without being conscious about what you are communicating. On the other hand, the latter involves speaking with intentionality, consciousness, and boldness so that your ideas and opinions are acknowledged. This requires courage.

MichaelAngelo Model of Vision

• Purpose: What is your vision? What is your chisel? What can you do where you don’t realize time is passing? Crisis takes this chisel from you.
• Creativity: When you have a vision you are creative.
• Growth: Crisis inhabits, tightens, and destroys growth. Your vision is stuck in the crisis. Use your chisel to get it out!

As a Digital Creative Leader, I was challenged and reminded that I should focus on curating experiences that are relevant to the clients’ needs and not to be afraid to be bold with the ideas that I bring to the table.

Once more, to be in the room with all these brilliant minds was humbling and awe-inspiring. Leaning into conversations like these always bring to mind a mantra I live by:

“The sky is no longer the limit for me, because there are horizons waiting for me to tap into.”