See BRAND MINDS 2019’s amazing edition!

BRAND MINDS 2019 has been an amazing edition in every aspect.

Each speaker delivered valuable keynotes pack-full with actionable insights, inspiration and tips & tricks to advance our attendees’ business, career and personal development.

☑️Over 4200 world-changers
☑️6 amazing business sessions
☑️Tremendous energy levels

Thank you, world changers, for choosing to take part in this life-changing business experience!

We’re looking forward to seeing you in 2020!

Who is Denise Jacobs?

Denise Jacobs is a speaker, author and creativity expert who consults with companies worldwide.

She held a speech on Banish Your Inner Critic: Transform Self-Talk to Elevate Performance at BRAND MINDS 2019.

Watch the video and find out more about her!

Join the Conversation

We’d love to hear what you have to say.

Get in touch with us on Facebook Group and Twitter.

BRAND MINDS 2019: What You’ve Missed

BRAND MINDS 2019 has just ended and it was an amazing event!

Our 7th edition of BRAND MINDS filled Sala Palatului to capacity: 4200 people breathing in unison.

They were entrepreneurs, CEOs, middle managers, salespersons, trainers, marketers etc – World-Changers each and every one of them!

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If you didn’t attend our conference this year,

here’s what you’ve missed:

• One full-day of intensive business strategy training;
• A live experience like you’ve never seen before;
• Learning how to take your business to the next level;
• Opportunity for high-level networking through the BRAND MINDS app;
• Making new connections;
• Laughs, good food and great energy on and off the stage;
• A life-changing experience overall.

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18 Insightful Takeaways from BRAND MINDS 2019

Each and every one of our speakers has delivered amazing keynotes pack-full with actionable insights, inspiration and tips & trick to advance your business, your career and personal development.

Here are a few of the most insightful takeaways from BRAND MINDS 2019:

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ROBERT CIALDINI @ BRAND MINDS 2019
The Power of Persuasion

1. People want more of those things they can have less of;
2. If you mention a weakness in your speech, people will find you trustworthy;
3. Pre-suasion is the practice of getting people sympathetic to your message before they experience it.

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GRANT CARDONE @ BRAND MINDS 2019
High Performance in Sales

1. Branding should come before advertising;
2. Wherever your attention goes is where your money goes;
3. People buy from people they know. Not people they trust.

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DENISE JACOBS @ BRAND MINDS 2019

Banish Your Inner Critic: Transform Self-Talk To Elevate Performance

1. Our brains are actually one of the biggest untapped resources on the planet;
2. The inner critic is actually a protective mechanism;
3. Creativity feels a lot like magic, but it isn’t.

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HITENDRA WADHWA @ BRAND MINDS 2019
Inner Mastery. Outer Impact.

1. The more you operate from your inner core, the more you create the conditions for outer impact;
2. To be true to yourself, you should be able to freely express yourself: thoughts, feelings, values, personality, desire;
3. Commit yourself to a journey of continual learning and growth – to awaken to your true self.

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GUY KAWASAKI @ BRAND MINDS 2019
The Art of Innovation

1. Great products and great people polarize people;
2. Changing your mind is a sign of strength and cleverness;
3. Innovation is a process. Not an event.

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YUVAL NOAH HARARI @ BRAND MINDS 2019
The End of Homo Sapiens: When do humans cease being human?

1. Many people confuse the brain with the mind;
2. It’s easier to manipulate a system than to understand it;
3. In the future, your mobile phone can be incorporated into your body with functions as analyzing your emotions, feelings, your state of the body. We will operate with 2 brains, your current one plus the bionic brain.

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Goodbye BRAND MINDS 2019 – Hello BRAND MINDS 2020

For the past four editions, our conference has been sold out 3 months in advance leaving many people joining the waiting list in the hope that someone will not be able to attend the event and relinquish their ticket.

To make sure we meet the ever-growing demand for tickets to our conference, we changed the location and date of BRAND MINDS 2020.

BRAND MINDS 2020
Date: 4th of May
Location: Romexpo
Participants expected: +6000

BRAND MINDS 2020 – Confirmed Speakers

Malcolm Gladwell – World’s Top Journalist
Martin Lindstrom – World’s Top Marketing Expert
Michio Kaku – World’s Top Scientist

More Guest Star Speakers to be announced soon!

In the following months, we will update our speakers’ lineup so follow our social media accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter) to be the first to know!

Join us in our mission of Uniting the Business World and enjoy a life-changing business experience!

Who is Jeffrey Rogers?

Dear attendees, fans and supporters of BRAND MINDS, we have wonderful news!

Our panel of amazing speakers required an equally amazing host. After an extensive and thorough search, we are hereby delighted to announce that this year’s edition of BRAND MINDS will be hosted by Jeffrey Rogers.

TOP MODERATOR at SINGULARITY UNIVERSITY

Singular University is a global learning and innovation community using exponential technologies to tackle the world’s biggest challenges and build a better future for all.

Jeffrey Rogers is the Director of Faculty & Facilitator Development at Singular University.

Since 2017, he has been a top moderator of the Singularity University Executive Program and International Summit.

He also frequently speaks and leads workshops globally on future thinking, creative problem solving & leadership.

Recently he was appointed a guest lecturer and workshop facilitator at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, the Empowerment Summit in Lausanne, and the Stanford d.School.

SOCIAL SCIENTIST

A social scientist by training, Jeffrey has a knack for future-thinking.

He deeply believes in the transformative potential of emerging technologies as tools to de-risk experimentation, accelerate learning and create change.

CONNECTING FORTUNE 500 PROFESSIONALS

Jeffrey believes that better conversations and better collaborative experiences are key to creating better outcomes and a better world.

As a top facilitator at Singularity University, he regularly connects dots, ideas & people for Fortune 500 companies.

It’s wonderful to see Jeffrey speak about interesting topics such as future-thinking, the challenges our world faces today and how to address them.

Why is Jeffrey Rogers the best host for the 2019 edition of BRAND MINDS?

Because his beliefs perfectly reflect the life and work of our speakers.

Here is how:

1. Learn to think exponentially

Jeffrey Rogers states that we are living in an exponential world of accelerating change.

According to Moore’s Law, technological growth doubles every two years since the late 1960s leading to exponential changes which we can see today.

Technology has infused and changed every aspect of our lives. In this world, says Jeffrey, each tomorrow will be radically different than its respective yesterday.

We need to learn to think exponentially as a habit of mind. When we design new tools, we need to think it through. We need to take a step back and picture the consequences of bringing these tools into our world, both intended and unintended. We need to realize that when we design new tools, we are actually designing the tools that will design us.

Yuval Noah Harari is the ultimate representative of exponential thinking. His insights into the future of mankind reveal concepts and ideas such as the hacking of humans, digital dictatorship and life without death.

2. Every challenge is an opportunity

For many of us, our world might feel a lot to deal with, overwhelming at times and difficult to adapt to. This world brings a challenge at the human level, the organizational level and the society level. The solution is not to run away and hide; the solution is to adapt and take every challenge as an opportunity.

Not giving up when life gets hard is Grant Cardone’s life story. Through hard work, constant learning and setting goals, and in a short period of time, he became one of the world’s top sales training expert.

When Guy Kawasaki received the task of growing Apple’s community, he realized it was a challenge. He took it and turned it into an excellent opportunity to influence and inspire the said community thus becoming Apple’s Chief Evangelist.

Why do people behave in a certain way? What are the psychological motivations behind people’s behaviour? These are some of the questions which have set Robert Cialdini on the path to discovering the principles of human behaviour. These principles come together to form Cialdini’s Theory of Influence.

3. Breaking away from linear thinking

In the face of today’s innovations and changes, we have two options: to live forever in bewilderment or learn to think differently. Needless to say, Jeffrey supports the latter.

The first step towards thinking in a new and different way is to break away from linear thinking. In our evolution as a species, linear thinking was the foundation on which humans thrived and evolved.

In this age and era, linear thinking is leading us to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run. We need to look at known issues from a new and fresh perspective.

Dr Brené Brown applied this principle in her work. She looked at leadership through a new and surprising set of lenses: courage, vulnerability and shame. Thanks to her extensive research today’s leaders have improved leadership skills and abilities.

Professor Hitendra Wadhwa has noticed a common problem exhibited by overachievers in the business environment. He too is a supporter of different thinking which allowed him to find the best solution for this particular problem: reconciling business and personal values through personal and pro-social leadership.

We are happy to welcome Jeffrey Rogers into the BRAND MINDS family and we value his contribution to our event as the host of the 2019 edition!

Join the Conversation

We’d love to hear what you have to say.

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BRAND MINDS Conference – A Life-Changing Experience

Are you looking for a life-changing experience? Come to the BRAND MINDS Conference!

You might say

Oh, I am not going to believe you because you are biased. Everything about BRAND MINDS is amazing in your eyes.

You are totally correct! I am proud of our conference and I’m sure the rest of the BRAND MINDS team feels the same.

Our conference is the result of a 12-month hard work. Starting with the selection of the best keynote speakers of the moment, to planning the entire logistics process, communication strategy and each detail that is meant to enhance the participant’s experience – everything is designed in great detail to ensure you have the best conference experience yet.

[bctt tweet=”BRAND MINDS: Everything is designed in great detail to ensure you have the best conference experience yet.” username=”brand_minds”]

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Here is why BRAND MINDS is a life-changing experience:

Growing With Each Edition

Our conference has been growing with each edition. The attendees have increased in number year after year: from 300 in 2015 to 3000 in 2018.

The 2019 BRAND MINDS conference will host over 4200 attendees.

We have a lot of surprises prepared for these amazing world-changers and we’re looking forward to welcoming them.

Committed Partners

Our partners are leading companies in their respective fields and share our commitment to organize the best conference of the year.

They provide for BRAND MINDS attendees high-quality experiences in between speakers sessions, raising the bar with each edition.

Our conference wouldn’t be the same without them!

Valuable Insights – No Fluff Content

Don’t you hate it when you attend a conference and realize you could have found better use of your time? No valuable content, nothing you haven’t heard before. It’s so disappointing!

We receive positive feedback following every edition of BRAND MINDS. Many of the attendees share the same story: they tell us how they walk into the venue with high expectations and return home at the end of the event having their expectations met and even exceeded.

No fluff content at BRAND MINDS!

We are aiming for the most valuable content. At the end of the day, our attendees leave with actionable insights, latest trends and overall a life-enriching experience.

Life-Changing Experience

We’re not saying this just to impress you.

Following the 2017 edition of BRAND MINDS, one of our attendees made a bold move: he closed his ongoing business at the time and started a new one which turned out to be highly successful. Later on, he told us he was able to switch gears and follow a different path thanks to the inspiration he had received while attending BRAND MINDS.

This is what BRAND MINDS is all about: changing lives for the better!

Relevant and Insightful Speakers

BRAND MINDS is a business-focused conference. Business is about entrepreneurship, leadership, vision, courage and life-long personal development.

Therefore we carefully select our speakers to make sure they all provide relevant knowledge into each facet of any entrepreneur’s life.

Check the speakers of our 2019 edition and judge for yourself!

Fresh and Talented Speakers

We know all successful conferences rely on the star power of their speakers. But we are not like any other conferences. Inspiration lies in diversity and sometimes the less travelled road leads to a surprising discovery.

Yes, we strive to bring on stage widely-known speakers: Gary Vaynerchuk, Seth Godin, Grant Cardone, Brene Brown, Guy Kawasaki and so on.

But our work also consists of finding fresh and talented speakers who are just getting started. That was the case of our 2018 speaker – Shed Simove.

Many raised their eyebrows in disbelief because they didn’t know who he was. Well, let me tell you – they certainly know him now!

Shed rocked the stage and made a lasting impression on everyone at the conference: attendees, camera crew members, volunteers and technical staff. He wasn’t a risk, he was our ace in the sleeve.

Here is Raluca Kisescu, Brand Consultant talking about Shed’s speech:

If any of our speakers are unknown to you, tell yourself this:

I don’t know them but if they have been selected by the BRAND MINDS team to speak at their conference then they must be worth the spotlight and my time.

And last but not least:

The Live Experience Is The Best Experience

Reading Seth Godin’s book is great, but nothing compares to seeing him live, on stage, delivering his speech. Sitting just a few steps away from him, you can feel his passion, laugh at his witty comments or think about his words deeply and purposefully.

It’s an amazingly engaging experience that you just can’t get anywhere else.

These are my arguments for BRAND MINDS being a life-changing experience.

But don’t take my word for it.

Come to BRAND MINDS and see for yourself!

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Join the Conversation

We’d love to hear what you have to say.

Get in touch with us on Facebook Group and Twitter.

10 REASONS Why You Should Attend BRAND MINDS 2019

Bright lights flood the stage and colourful projections fill the screens. The man walks briskly up and down the stage capturing everyone’s attention. He speaks passionately and his messages resonate with the audience. Their faces are all alight with interest, questions, thoughts. There’s no empty seat in the venue; some are taking notes, most of them are taking screenshots whenever an interesting idea or statistic shows up. He invites them to question their limitations and fears. He pushes them to reframe their failures. He encourages them to think bigger, to become better, to help more, to lift others and themselves higher.

This is how every BRAND MINDS event feels like.

It’s a roller coaster of knowledge, insights, amazing speakers, and overall an incredible experience.

Here are 10 reasons why you should attend BRAND MINDS 2019:

1. You will have the chance to see live WORLD’s top Brilliant Minds:

YUVAL NOAH HARARI, GRANT CARDONE, BRENÉ BROWN, GUY KAWASAKI, ROBERT CIALDINI and PROF. HITENDRA WADHWA.

With each new edition we strive to bring to our audience only the best and the brightest of world-renowned professionals with proven accomplishments.

Yuval Noah Harari is one of world’s top bestselling author. His books have been translated in 50 languages and sold in over 12 million copies around the globe. He explores various subjects of interest: the future of humans, life without death, digital dictatorship a.s.o.

With 30 years of sales experience, Grant Cardone is world’s top sales training expert. He is also a skilled and successful businessman: his companies bring in over $100 million in annual revenues. He is a New York Times bestselling author and was named #1 Marketing Influencer to Watch in 2017 by Forbes.

Brene Brown’s 20-year research changed the lives of millions across the world, including her own. She discovered a surprisingly powerful trait of leadership: vulnerability. Her TED talk on the power of vulnerability had an amazing impact: 35 million views. She is a best-selling author and her company helps individuals, teams and organisations develop leaders.

Guy Kawasaki knows everything about building brands through customer connections. Apple owes its strong relationship with the Apple community to Guy and his innovative work. He is a bestselling author and a Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist.

The Godfather of Influence, Robert Cialdini is an award winning psychologist whose research into the theory of influence has changed forever how we see the human behaviour. The seven principles of influence can be leveraged in all areas of human interaction: sales, marketing, communication etc.

Hitendra Wadhwa’s teachings help leaders change the world by changing themselves first. He launched Columbia’s first executive education online courses – Personal Leadership and Driving Strategic Impact. In 2011 he founded the Institute for Personal Leadership, a program that is focused on training individuals and organisations on self, strategic and people leadership. He has received numerous awards for his work in business education.

2. You will join THE BUSINESS SUMMIT OF THE YEAR in Central and Eastern Europe in 2019

BRAND MINDS 2019 is The Place To Be if you are a leader, an entrepreneur, business developer or business person.

Andy Szekely, Entrepreneur and Public Speaker

I think BRAND MINDS is putting together people with potential of game-changers! People who are able to improve what they’ve done in the past and make it better in the future. They’re those individuals who have high standards.

3. Over 4000 world changers will attend this edition. Will you be one of them?

Each attendee to our business conference is a world changer. Our audience grew steadily with each edition since the first BRAND MINDS, 6 years ago. The team spared no effort in bringing high-quality speakers and offering the best experience to each and every world changer. They are our inspiration to push forward and become even better than the previous time.

There are 4000 world changers attending BRAND MINDS 2019. I hope I will see you there as well.

Anca Ungureanu, Identity & Communication Director at Unicredit Bank

Every year they go beyond their limits. The organisation is impeccable!

4. You will connect with C-LEVEL PROFESSIONALS and ENTREPRENEURS from 40 countries all over the world.

The high-quality content delivered by our speakers helped BRAND MINDS achieve authority and trust among C-Level professionals and entrepreneurs.

These professionals attend our summit every year knowing they will receive trustworthy information and valuable insights. They regard BRAND MINDS as an investment in their own development.

5. You will get a full-day intensive BUSINESS STRATEGY TRAINING with World’s Top Experts.

BRAND MINDS is a business summit, so we have invited speakers who are world’s top experts in their fields. They achieved success in business by applying various strategies and they are sharing their tips and recommendations with you.

Bogdan Comanescu, Entrepreneur and Sales Trainer

The best organized event of this kind in Romania. Everybody in that room has the opportunity to make a step forward in life’s game. I admire them.

6. You learn how to enhance your IMPACT and build up your LEGACY

As all great business leaders say: if money is the main reason driving your business forward, you will win in the short-term. But if you want to win in the long-term you need to think in terms of lasting impact and leaving a legacy behind.

Every successful business in history set out to change the lives of people for the better. And you find them twenty or thirty years later still going strong and influencing people’s lives.

Think about it:

What is your legacy?

What is your business’s impact on clients, employees, environment, society?

Come to BRAND MINDS and learn how to enhance your impact and build your legacy.

Lorand Soares Szasz, Entrepreneur and Business Coach

The level of people who join the event is high. It’s very good for networking! Plus, very good content from top speakers.

7. You will learn how to SCALE YOUR BUSINESS and take it to the next level.

Entrepreneurs have to answer questions and make tens of decisions every day. It can feel lonely at times. Being an entrepreneur is a 24 hour job and statistics show that it can take a toll on your private life and emotional balance. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

At BRAND MINDS you will have the opportunity to receive answers to your questions, you can learn from the best how to scale your business and take it to the next level.

8. You will learn how to ACCESS your FULL POTENTIAL

What do people regret most? People regret not being all they could have been.

Knowing you didn’t achieve your full potential is soul wrenching and can lead to depression. The reason is: achieving one’s full potential is the highest psychological need of humans. Maslow named it self-fulfilment. Happiness is strongly related to feeling fulfilled on a professional and personal level. And we all want to be happy, don’t we?

The speakers who will rock the stage at BRAND MINDS 2019 all have a deep understanding of the journey to self-fulfilment.

Nina Bratfalean, Marketing Manager, BMW Group Romania

As inspiring, as complex, as unique as BRAND MINDS there is nothing in the country. Everyone who’s important in the city is here.

9. You will find NEW IDEAS to grow your business.

It takes a lifetime of personal growth to become the best leader for your team. And the growing never stops. You can strive to learn everything there is to learn about a particular subject. Learning means having access to new information which leads to new ideas. But there is so much you need to learn that you may sometimes feel overwhelmed or discouraged. How are you going to get new ideas otherwise? Meeting new people means exchanging new ideas.

BRAND MINDS is about diversity and new ideas: our speakers come from various professional backgrounds and have different life experiences.

10. You will discover the latest BUSINESS TRENDS from all over the world.

BRAND MINDS 2019 is a conference focused on the Central and Eastern-European business community. One of its goals is to cater to the needs of the business community and to provide entrepreneurs with the necessary tools to develop themselves and their businesses. Information is power. Knowing what lies in the nearest future is the best way to prepare for it.

Anamaria Diaconescu, Director of Hellenic Romanian Chamber of Commerce

Feeling motivated to lead with passion and compassion, taking care of my mindset, heartset, soulset and healthset. Thank you!

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Buy your ticket to BRAND MINDS 2019: here.

A New Year, A New Me – 7 Effective Steps To Achieve Growth in 2019

Picture your favorite tree. In order to grow tall and develop a rich and lush canopy, the tree needs strong roots.

It’s the same for your business. Your business’s development and ultimate success are linked to your own personal growth.

Growth is the conscious pursuit of expanding self-awareness, knowledge and improving personal skills.

Here are 7 effective steps to achieve growth in 2019:

1. Monitor your self-talk

According to Psychology Today, your self-talk combines your conscious thoughts with your unconscious beliefs and biases. It’s an effective way for your brain to interpret and process your daily experiences.

Acknowledge your self-talk and monitor it: what does it tell you?

Do you tell yourself you can’t do something, that you’re stupid, ugly or that you’re not good enough?

If you do, know you have a negative self-talk and you need to work on yourself to change it.

Is your negative self-talk self-grown or is it something that has been told to you repeatedly while growing up? If the latter is true, your negative and deprecating self-talk is not really yours so why carry someone else’s emotional problems? Let go! Seek professional support to help you get rid of your emotional burden.

Learn more about negative self-talk and how to improve your life:

Self-Awareness: 5 Tactics To Improve It

2. Improve your discipline by adopting a No. Excuses. Mindset

I’m tired…I don’t have any money… I’m too old to start a business of my own… It’s too cold outside to go running… I’m not ready…

Have you ever told yourself any of the above or something along the lines? Although you’ve set yourself on the path for achieving your goal, you find yourself making excuses for not doing the work you need to do.

Excuses are exits signs off the freeway of life. Every time you make an excuse you basically stop where you’re going and you’ve delayed that vision, that destination that you so anxiously wanted to get to. When you’re making excuses you’re exiting from your dream.

Johh Maxwell

Why do we make excuses?

The main reason is fear. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of changing our lives, fear of making mistakes while inertia and complacency get the better of us.

Do you want to stop making excuses?

Here’s one single argument that will surely drive you right back: regrets. Having regrets of not doing everything you could have done to reach your full potential is painful and emotionally tormenting.

This is the conclusion latest research has revealed: people regret not being all they could have been.

We have one life. Stop making excuses. Or else you will spend your twilight years feeling regret for not becoming the person you know you could have become if only you had tried.

[bctt tweet=”Growth takes time. It’s all on you. You may have people around you supporting your pursuit of growth, but you will do all the work.” username=”brand_minds”]

3. Read the right books. Educate yourself.

Once you have decided the area on which you need to grow (whether it’s improving your communication skills, soft skills, develop a particular ability or nurture your talent), make a list of all the books that can help you reach your goal.

The most successful entrepreneurs didn’t wait for school classes to teach them, they were self-taught. Elon Musk, Jan Koum and Stewart Butterfield learned how to program by reading books and manuals on the subject. All three of them are now running billion dollar tech companies.

[bctt tweet=”Growth is painful. Change is painful. But nothing is as painful as staying stuck where you do not belong. N. R. Narayana Murthy” username=”brand_minds”]

4. Exercise self-awareness

What is self-awareness? Search for an answer to this question on Google and you get 453 million results. It’s a huge number which shows high interest for this subject.

Here’s another interesting number: a 2011 report estimated that there are 8.7 million species on Earth. Out of which only eight have self-awareness. These species are: humans, bonobos, orangutans, dolphins, orcas, some elephants, magpies and trained pigeons.

You would think self-awareness is a common ability among humans, the most intelligent species on Earth. Actually as dr Tasha Eurich has discovered, self-awareness is on short supply.

Dr. Tasha Eurich is an organizational psychologist and executive coach, with a 15-year professional experience witnessing the power of self-awareness in leadership. Dr. Eurich found a surprising discrepancy between believing to be self-aware and actually being self-aware: even though most people believe they are self-aware, only 10-15% of the people we studied actually fit the criteria.

To achieve growth in the area of your choosing, you need first to know and understand your own self.

Self-awareness gives us power. We might not always like what we see, but there’s a comfort in knowing ourselves. There’s a ton of research showing that people who are self-aware are more fulfilled, they have stronger relationships, they’re more creative, they’re more confident and better communicators. They’re less likely to lie, cheat and steal; they perform better at work and they’re more promotable. And they’re more effective leaders with more profitable companies.

Dr. Tasha Eurich

Listen to Dr. Eurich talking about how you can increase your self-awareness with one simple fix:

5. Learn to set goals correctly

In his book, The Motivation Myth, author Jeff Haden shows that motivation is not the secret ingredient of success. In fact motivation is a result of the process which leads to success, not the cause. The path to success is not paved with motivation, but with goals. Only not everyone knows how to set goals correctly.

Here is how to set goals in order to achieve growth successfully according to Jeff Haden via his article:

• Make your goal tangible, specific and easily measurable;
• Make your goal meaningful to you, not to others;
• Make your goal a positive goal;
• Focus on the daily process.

[bctt tweet=”Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together. James Cash Penney” username=”brand_minds”]

6. Discover mentors online and connect with them offline

[bctt tweet=”If you ask any successful businessperson, they will always (say they) have had a great mentor at some point along the road. Sir Richard Branson” username=”brand_minds”]

We grow faster and become successful when we receive support and guidance from a more experienced person. Sometimes we cannot find the answer to our questions in books so a mentorship is the best solution.

Sir Richard Branson had Sir Freddie Laker, the entrepreneurs who revolutionized the airline industry by offering the first low-cost commercial transatlantic flights to guide him through rough times at Virgin Atlantic. The relationship between Bill Gates and Warren Buffett is well-known and both of them learned from each other. Mark Zuckerberg turned to Steve Jobs for advice on how to build the best team capable of changing the world.

There is a lot of information on how to choose the best mentor for your needs and where to find this mentor. You can also learn how to approach your chosen mentor and how to build a great relationship. You can start looking on LinkedIn or dedicated resources such as micromentor.org or going to industry events and conferences. You may not find your mentor tomorrow, but hang in there, my young padawan! If you are resilient you will find your Yoda.

source: foundr.com

Another way to grow is to become member of a mastermind group.

Napoleon Hill introduced the concept of mastermind groups in his 1937 book Think and Grow Rich. Mastermind groups are peer-to-peer groups whose members support, teach and help each other grow and solve problems. The appropriate mastermind group is very powerful and can take you to the next level.

Here are 5 benefits you can take advantage of when joining a mastermind group:

• High quality experience and knowledge;
• Support and advice provided by the group’s members;
• Collaboration between each of the group’s members;
• Extended network;
• New opportunities for business and for learning;
• No one is alone and we all grow faster with a little help from our peers.

[bctt tweet=”Surround yourself with people who are going to lift you higher. Oprah Winfrey” username=”brand_minds”]

7. Come to BRAND MINDS 2019 – The Central and Eastern-European Business Summit of the Year

If I were to compare BRAND MINDS to anything it would definitely be a famous rock band concert – packed venue, excellent performance on stage, everyone breathing in unison.

At the 2018 event we had 3000 attendees: professionals, high profile CEOs, media and online personalities. It was a huge experience for everyone attending the business conference. Every speaker gave 120%: they provided knowledge, actionable information, inspiration, laughter and answers to questions.

Ever since the first event six years ago, BRAND MINDS is focused on delivering the best growth experience to its attendees.

BRAND MINDS 2019 is certainly fitting this description. Our speakers are world-renowned experts in their fields: Yuval Noah Harari, Guy Kawasaki, Brene Brown, Robert Cialdini, Grand Cardone and Hitendra Wadhwa.

Make 2019 the year of your growth!

Join the Conversation

We’d love to hear what you have to say.

Get in touch with us on Facebook and Twitter.

In 2019 invest In Education! Stop wishing and start doing!

BRAND MINDS’ core mission is to Unite the Business World by encouraging education investment and access to great resources of self-development and self-improvement.

Here are 4 reasons why you should invest in education in 2019:

1. Investing in education is better than investing in stocks and bonds

Is investment in education/self-education a good investment to make?

Many believe that only financial investments like putting your money in stocks and bonds, gold or real estate can influence your bank account balance in a positive way.

Prof. George Psacharopoulos set out to find the answer to this question and conducted a research on this subject. He shared the result in his article published on the World Bank Blog: investing in education and self-education pays a higher return than a financial investment in stocks and bonds.

• For one extra year of schooling globally, the average individual return is 9%;
• By comparison, the investment in US stocks and bonds yields only 2.4% return.

What does it mean?

It means higher-paid jobs than people with lower education, increased financial security and overall peace of mind knowing you can always rely on your skills and abilities to get back on your feet.

Here’s another point to support education investment:

While placing your money in financial investments doesn’t guarantee you will get it back, let alone double it, with education investment you know where you stand: 0% losses and 100% gains.

2. Investing in education is not limited by age

Never stop learning – that’s a good strategy for improving one’s life. The great thing about this strategy is that we can keep learning no matter how old we are. Don’t believe the saying You can’t teach an old dog new tricks – science says it’s simply not true.

Experts in psychology and neuroscience have found that our brains have an amazing ability to learn new things and acquire new abilities regardless of your age. This happens thanks to the brain’s neuroplasticity which can be extended beyond childhood as detailed in this BBC article: The Amazing Fertility of The Older Mind.

3. Education protects us against unemployment during recession

Following the 2009 recession, data gathered in many European countries showed the paramount importance of having high-skill training and education: youth have been significantly more affected by the crisis, and this impact is even stronger for lower-skilled youth.

When citizens suffer, the whole country suffers. The same data also showed that growth in labour income among people with higher education contributed nearly 0.4% to the GDP of most European countries overall. In contrast, the contraction of labour income that year among people with a medium level of education reduced the GDP by 0.8%, while shrinking incomes among people with lower levels of education trimmed another 0.5% of GDP.

Economists say the next recession is upon us, pointing to the year 2020. This means the time to invest in education is now!

Education represents an important long-term personal and social investment. This carries on in later life: unemployment is always higher amongst less well educated workers.

Invest In Education

4. Investing in education brings new opportunities

Change your paradigm, change your life

When we invest in ourselves, we open ourselves to growth. When we take the time to grow our mind, new opportunities come our way: we become more creative, we develop new ideas, we meet new people.

What we can achieve in our lives is only limited by how strongly we believe in ourselves. It’s closely influenced by our level of self-confidence and self-awareness.

Education fuels our self-confidence and helps us do more and do better. Through education we can change our mindset and go from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset which leads to an improved quality of life.

Everyday stand guard at the door of your mind and feed it something good.

Tony Robbins

Conclusion

• Investing in education pays better than investing your money in bonds and stocks;
• Education investment means all gains, no loss;
• Learning never stops – don’t let your age hinder your growth;
• Acquiring new skills means running lower risks of unemployment during recession;
• Education is a long-term personal investment;
• Set new standards for your personal and professional life;
• Change your mindset from fixed to growth;
• Investment in self-education is the only investment that doesn’t loses its value over time.

With 2018 coming to an end, this is what we encourage you to do in the new year:

GO THE EXTRA MILE!

Don’t just buy that course, go directly to that event and meet your favourite mentor!

Don’t just friend request people on LinkedIn, go and meet them over a coffee!

Don’t just read about marketplaces in Asia or India, go and live there for a month and experience it yourself!

This Christmas take one step closer to the future you want for yourself (or for your beloved ones) and invest in education!

Get your ticket for BRAND MINDS 2019 here and enjoy the BRAND MINDS Success Box for Free!

*Campaign only available in Romania. The BRAND MINDS Success Box will be delivered as a bonus in seven working days after the payment for the ticket is received. For more details read the Terms and Conditions here.

BRAND MINDS’ Guide to Successful Digital Marketing in 2019

Do you want your digital marketing to be successful in 2019?

Use BRAND MINDS‘ Guide to Successful Digital Marketing!

The world of marketing, especially digital marketing, is fast paced and ever changing. Blink and you might just miss the next big trend.

Implement the following 8 tips for digital marketing success in 2019:

1. Use Digital as a Key Component to TTL Campaigns

The important thing to remember with marketing today is that it’s no longer just about marketing digitally. Digital marketing has transitioned to marketing in a digital world, which creates more scope for campaigns.

I believe that digital marketing should be used as part of TTL marketing campaigns, so that your message gets attention from both ATL and BTL audiences. Online or offline, all areas should be explored when it comes to positioning your brand and aligning it with your audience. This will help you to maximise your reach and generate more leads and conversions.

It’s important to remember that by advertising across a variety of different platforms, you are expanding your audience. Some people believe that to be a good marketer, you should focus on one platform and do that right, but I believe that by advertising in as many places as possible, you gain increased visibility and generate stronger branding.

PR and Digital Marketing are also becoming ever more intertwined, with brands gaining exposure and building links across a variety of platforms. Co-marketing and influencer marketing are also great ways to increase reach and awareness.

[bctt tweet=”Use Digital as a Key Component to TTL Campaigns” username=”brand_minds”]

2. Personalisation

Clever personalisation is the key for effective marketing in 2019.

Gone are the days when a blanket email campaign would suffice. It is vital to segment your audience into relevant sub categories and to target the relevant cross sections with the most relevant offers and information.

Generating personal recommendations on your page is also a great way to get more sales. Link sell by showcasing popular items purchased by others after searching on the page that your user is on. If consumer behaviour is anything to go by, you should definitely see an increase in your conversions. This tailored user journey is also easy to navigate and enjoyable for your customer.

[bctt tweet=”Clever personalisation is the key for effective marketing in 2019″ username=”brand_minds”]

3. Chatbots

Chatbots and AI have become essential tools for online customer service. Save on time and money by implementing chatbot technology to answer FAQs quickly and effectively.

Over the next five years, the use of bot messengers will be ramping up and chatbots will perform 80% of all communication with customers. Chatbots can be connected to websites, apps and social media platforms to answer customer enquiries and to gather important user information that can be used to create better marketing strategies.

Learn more: How To Use Chatbots To Increase Sales

Grand View Research did a study in to the global chatbot market and discovered that the market had a 24% annual growth rate which amounted to $1.2 billion last year alone. 45% of end users also prefer using them as a primary mode of communication in customer service too apparently.

[bctt tweet=”Save on time and money by implementing chatbot technology to answer FAQs quickly and effectively” username=”brand_minds”]

4. Voice Search

Voice interfaces are becoming an ever more common feature in modern homes and people are using voice searches and features to search quickly and to share information via soundbytes.

According to Google nearly one third of the 3.5 billion searches performed on Google every day are voice searches. Personal assistant devices are used for the majority of these searches.

Like any form of SEO, voice search gives precedence to high ranking sites. Being an authority in your industry, responsive search functions and active social channels will help to boost your ranking. According to studies content with high levels of social engagement performs well on voice search, with content with over 1199 shares on Facebook and 44 on Twitter featuring more predominantly in search.

Other factors to consider are the use of https instead of http and remember to pay attention to your snippets. You’re increasing your chance of being discovered in voice search if your snippet becomes a featured one.

Take care to tailor your description of what your page is about for good ranking. Backlinko state that 40.7% of voice searches come from featured snippets which is staggeringly high. Be sure to use this to your advantage.

[bctt tweet=”Optimise your website for voice search” username=”brand_minds”]

5. Social Stories

With popular culture reigning supreme, Stories have quickly become the marketing choice for savvy marketers.

Since the launch of Snapchat back in 2011, social media users everywhere have been getting to grips with advanced technologies such as filters, augmented reality, boomerangs and superzoom to allow them to get creative and to generate captivating and engaging stories for their followers.

Learn more: 3 E-Commerce Brands Using Instagram Stories Effectively

Instagram Stores and Facebook Live became pivotal tools for story-telling in 2018 and will continue to do so in 2019.
According to Instagram, one in every five organic stories prompts at least one customer message. This is probably because these ads appear native in their format and are less interruptive than other social media ads. Either way the potential is huge.

[bctt tweet=”Be smart in 2019 and use Stories to your advantage.” username=”brand_minds”]

6. Video

Video will continue to grow in 2019.

Live video is being used more and more to showcase and raise awareness for important brand moments. Videos have 135% times more organic reach than your typical Facebook post with 1200% more engagement than image and text posts (Forbes).

Learn more: How To Increase Conversions With Video Marketing

The stats below show the importance of video for brand:

• 70% of consumers say that they have shared a brand’s video (via Wyzowl);
• 72% of businesses say video has improved their conversion rate (via Wyzowl);
• 65% of executives visit the marketer’s website and 39% call a vendor after viewing a video (via Forbes);
• 52% of consumers say that watching product videos makes them more confident in online purchase decisions (via Invodo).

The important thing to remember is that several companies have created 360 videos in the past year – especially for showcasing things like weddings and interiors. This trend will continue to grow in 2019.

The full capacity of 360 video has yet to be uncovered. This is just the tip of the iceberg and what’s to come will be even more exciting.

[bctt tweet=”Use 360 videos to showcase your products” username=”brand_minds”]

7. Micro Moments

Google’s research teams have uncovered a new type of consumer behaviour called the micro moment. These moments seemingly occur when people reflexively turn to a device to either learn something, do something, get to know something or buy something.

Google have coined these moments the:

• I-want-to-know
• I-want-to-do
• I-want-to-go
• I-want-to-buy

Users experience these moments 150 times a day according to Think with Google. The trick with this is to target consumers with exactly what they want at that right moment to increase conversion rates.

[bctt tweet=”Leverage the Micro-moments to increase conversion rates” username=”brand_minds”]

8. AR/VR

Both augmented reality – which layers virtual components on a real life backdrop, and virtual reality – which creates an entirely virtual world that can be accessed via a headset, will become a bigger part of experiential marketing in 2019.

These tools aid in the decision making process for products that need to be visualised before purchase. The AR/VR experience is incredibly beneficial for interior design, weddings, clothing and beauty products to name but a few.

Learn more: 3 Snapchat Campaigns Powered by Augmented Reality

Clothing giants Gucci and Zara have both used AR in their marketing campaigns over the past year. Gucci launched the ‘Gucci Hallucination’ in 52 of its stores, while Zara introduced AR screens that showcase their lookbook in 120 stores. These screens have sensors that interact with mobile devices to facilitate easy shopping in one simple click, bringing a truly futuristic element to their marketing and marking a significant increase in conversions.

[bctt tweet=”Use AR/VR to shorten your customers’ decision making process” username=”brand_minds”]

Key Takeaways

• Marketing today is no longer just about marketing digitally;
• Use digital marketing as part of your TTL marketing campaigns;
• Clever personalisation is key for effective marketing in 2019;
• Save on time and money by implementing chatbot technology to answer FAQs quickly and effectively;
• Optimise your website for voice search;
• Pay attention to your snippets: 40.7% of voice searches come from featured snippets;
• Use Social Stories to your advantage;
• Use 360 videos to showcase your products;
• Leverage the Micro-moments;
• Use AR/VR to shorten your customers’ decision making process.

Join the Conversation

Now that you’ve read our BRAND MINDS’ Guide to Digital Marketing in 2019, we’d love to hear what you have to say. What will you be implementing in your marketing plan for the coming year?

Get in touch with us on Facebook and Twitter. We’d love to hear your views!

This December Invest in Education!

In an interview, Elon Musk said I was raised by books. Books and then my parents. As a young boy he would spend 10 hours a day reading. As an entrepreneur he is reading books focused on AI and technology. I am convinced his reading habits supported him into becoming the bold visionary he is today.

Another example of an avid reader is Bill Gates. Bill Gates is said to read 50 books a year. On his personal blog, gatesnotes.com, the father of Microsoft has dedicated a category of blog posts to books. Here he writes reviews for the books he has read, he shares the latest additions to his bookbag and he recommends books for his blog readers. I can only imagine the sales spikes these books receive as a result of being mentioned by Bill Gates!

So ask yourself:

Why do all these successful leaders and entrepreneurs still feel the need to read?

It’s because reading is the best way to expand their knowledge and their mind. And most importantly it is the best way to come up with new ideas for their businesses.

That’s why this December we are supporting this healthy habit through a surprise that we’ve been preparing these days!

Buy your ticket to the BRAND MINDS 2019 Conference in December and get the BRAND MINDS Success Box as a BONUS!

The BRAND MINDS Success Box is comprised of the following 5 best-selling books (translated in Romanian):

Start with Why – Simon Sinek
12 Rules for Life – Jordan Peterson
21 Lessons for 21st Century – Yuval Noah Harari
Grit – Angela Duckworth
Crushing it – Gary Vaynerchuk

Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action is the cornerstone of business books every aspiring leader and entrepreneur should read.

Our mindset is the most powerful tool in the world, supporting the entrepreneurs to reach their goals. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, by Jordan Peterson, a clinical psychologist is the perfect book to help you start 2019 with improved leadership skills.

Yuval Noah Harari is one of world’s top bestselling author and you can see him live at BRAND MINDS 2019. He is one of the authors recommended by Bill Gates. His book 21 Lessons for 21st Century helps entrepreneurs look for answers to essential questions we should all be asking ourselves today.

What do all successful leaders and entrepreneurs have in common? Discover the answer by reading Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by renowned neurobiologist and psychologist, Angela Duckworth.

In 2016, Gary Vaynerchuk’s company VaynerMedia grossed $100 million in revenue. Crushing It! How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence—and How You Can, Too is Gary’s sixth book. In this book, Gary offers lessons and inspiration to help you support your goal of building a thriving business and an extraordinary personal brand.

BRAND MINDS’ core mission is to Unite the Business World by encouraging education and access to great resources of self-development and self-improvement.

So this Christmas take one step closer to the future you want for yourself (or for your beloved ones) and invest in education!

Get your ticket for BRAND MINDS 2019 here and enjoy the BRAND MINDS Success Box for Free!

*Campaign only available in Romania. The BRAND MINDS Success Box will be delivered as a bonus in seven working days after the payment for the ticket is received. For more details read the Terms and Conditions here.

Guy Kawasaki at BRAND MINDS

Guy Kawasaki is one of the best brand experts and he was a keynote speaker at BRAND MINDS 2019.

BRAND MINDS is The Central and European Business Summit taking place in Bucharest, Romania.

Guy Kawasaki is the Brand Expert of Canva and an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley). He was the Brand Expert of Apple that enforced and maintained the Macintosh cult for years.

In 2013, Guy Kawasaki became a special advisor for the CEO of  Google’s Motorola division. Two years later, in 2015 he was appointed to the board of trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Kawasaki is charismatic, open and honest, often breaking myths on business and entrepreneurship. He helps first-time startup founders and all aspiring entrepreneurs understand the nitty-gritty of entrepreneurship with humour and witty comparisons.

Best-Selling Author of 8 Books on Entrepreneurship

Guy Kawasaki wrote 13 books of which 8 are focused on marketing, communication, business development and entrepreneurship.

Here they are:

1. How to Drive Your Competition Crazy

Whether you are launching a new product or service or trying to hold your own against a competitor with greater resources, this is a comprehensive blueprint for success because Guy delivers on the promise that the best defence is a good offence.

2. Selling the Dream

Selling the Dream is a handbook and workbook for putting evangelism into action. Kawasaki charts a complete blueprint for the beginning evangelist that covers such topics as how to define a cause, how to identify good and bad enemies, how to deliver an effective presentation, and how to find, train and recruit new evangelists.

3. Rules for Revolutionaries

Rules for Revolutionaries explains how to create products and services and introduce them to the marketplace. The intended reader is anyone who wants to catalyse innovation and change. Many large companies have used the book to re-energize their product development and research functions.

4. Reality Check

This book is a compilation of Guy’s best wisdom, wit, and contrarian opinions in handy book form. From competition to customer service, innovation to marketing, he shows readers how to ignore fads and foolishness while sticking to common-sense practices.

5. Enchantment

Enchantment can happen during a retail transaction, a high-level corporate negotiation, or a Facebook update. And when done right, it’s more powerful than traditional persuasion, influence, or marketing techniques.

6. APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur–How to Publish a Book

APE is 300 pages of tactical and practical inspiration. People who want a hype-filled, get-rich-quick book should look elsewhere. If you want a comprehensive and realistic guide to self-publishing, APE is for you.

7. The Art of Social Media

To write this book, Guy teamed up with Peg Fitzpatrick, a social media expert. With over one hundred practical tips, tricks, and insights, Guy and Peg present a bottom-up strategy to produce a focused, thorough, and compelling presence on the most popular social media platforms.

8. The Art of the Start 2.0

This book is the de-facto standard for learning how to start a company. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, small-business owner, intrapreneur, or not-for-profit leader, there’s an over-abundance of advice. The Art of the Start 2.0 solves that problem by distilling Guy’s decades of experience as one of the most hardworking and irreverent people in business.

Serial Startup Entrepreneur

His time with Apple inspired him to change his life and turn to entrepreneurship and the world of business.

Here are the companies which Guy Kawasaki co-founded:

1995 – Fog City Software, a company that developed email software for Macintosh

1998 – Garage Technology Ventures, a venture capital firm that has made investments in Pandora Radio, Tripwire, The Motley Fool and D.light Design.

2007 – Nononina, the owner of Alltop, a website that provides information collected from news websites and blogs.

2007 – Truemors, a website that allows users to post information about people and events and have them rated by viewers; acquired by NowPublic, a global crowdsourcing social news website of ordinary citizens.

Guy Kawasaki at BRAND MINDS 2019

Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist

I’m a marketer. Hopefully I can recognize visions that can sell.

Guy Kawasaki

Although he defines himself as a marketer first and foremost, Guy has found a new passion and career: investing in startups. As a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, he is always on the lookout for the next Google or YouTube or CISCO.

He listened to many aspiring entrepreneurs pitching their startups ideas and turned his experience into easy to implement recommendations on how to deliver a successful pitch.

A very necessary skill for young entrepreneurs: brevity and speed. You must do everything fast and to the point.

Here are the organizations that Guy has invested in or advises:

• Evernote is a suite of software and services that allow users to capture, organize, and find information across multiple platforms; the company is valued at $1B and raised $290M.
• BagTheWeb offers a service that allows users to organize the links they find most interesting into a cohesive unit.
• Enthrill Distribution is a digital rights management platform for publishers, providing device-agnostic, direct delivery of eBooks to consumers; it raised $4.2M.
• Paper.li is a content curation service; it raised CHF150K.
• Sixense has designed the ideal control platform for interacting intuitively with digital media in homes worldwide.
• TicketLeap, an online ticketing platform enabling event organizers to sell, market and manage their events in one place; it raised $10.3M.
• uStream provides a live interactive broadcast platform, acquired by IBM, raised $103.8M
• Visible Measures provides internet video publishers and advertisers with solutions that help measure the video-content consumption of users; it was acquired by AcuityAds and raised $71.8M.

As a long time entrepreneur, innovative marketer and venture capitalist, here are 6 pieces of knowledge for startup founders:

1. The two essential roles in a startup – someone who can make the product and someone who can sell it.
2. It’s the soft skills that are hard to learn, not the hard stuff. You can always hire an accountant.
3. Put aside market-driven data and create the product you want to use.
4. Sales fixes everything.
5. The purpose of any company is to create customers and to create customers you need to finish your prototype. So focus on finishing your prototype and creating customers.
6. The opposite of success should be learning.

Guy Kawasaki – the Apple Evangelist

The tech evangelist is ‘a person who builds up support for a given technology, and then establishes it as a standard in the given industry.’ (venturebeat.com)

In Guy’s own words, evangelism means having the other person’s best interest at heart.

He was the first to coin the term and the first to take on the role of Chief Evangelist. Apple owes its strong relationship with the Apple community to Guy and his innovative work.

He described his role at Apple as “to protect and preserve the MacIntosh cult by doing whatever I had to do.” Through his activities, he managed to influence and inspire the Apple community at a time when the company’s image was on a downward spiral.

One of the successful strategies he used in his new role was the EvangeList, a mailing list that brought together all Apple fans around the world with the purpose to support and defending Apple’s products and brand image. At that time, it was an innovative approach that completely changed how organizations handled PR and communication.

His honesty and transparency about Apple facilitated a lifelong relationship between the brand and its customers who became evangelists themselves.

In 2014, he resumed his role as Chief Evangelist for Canva, an innovative graphic design platform that acquired 10 million clients in 10 years without any paid advertising (learn how by reading our article).

Everyone in the company should be evangelistic.

Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki is a family man, an inspired marketer, a best-selling author and a successful venture capitalist.

In his spare time, he likes to go surfing and play ice-hockey.

In a New York Times interview, he was asked what he would like people to say about him.

This is what he answered:

I hope that people say I was a good husband and father. After that, I hope that they say I empowered entrepreneurs to make

the world a better place. After that, I hope that some people say that they’re glad I’m gone because they don’t have to worry about me tripping them on the ice.

Guy Kawasaki

Yuval Noah Harari at BRAND MINDS

Yuval Noah Harari is one of the world’s top bestselling author and he was a keynote speaker at BRAND MINDS 2019.

BRAND MINDS is The Central and European Business Summit taking place in Bucharest, Romania.

Prof. Harari is a #worldchanger supporting humanity’s leaders look around the corner and see the breakthrough changes coming our way.

One of World’s Top Historians

Yuval Noah Harari is a historian and a tenured professor in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Prof. Harari received his PhD degree in medieval history and military history at Jesus College, Oxford. He is currently focussing on world history, macro-historical processes and humanity’s future.

Numerous International Awards

Yuval Noah Harari is a two-time winner of the Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality, in 2009 and 2012. In 2011 he won the Society for Military History’s Moncado Award for outstanding articles on military history. In 2017 his book Homo Deus won Handelsblatt’s German Economic Book Award for the most thoughtful and influential economic book of the year.

His books have been translated in 50 languages and sold in over 12 million copies around the globe

Prof. Harari has published seven books, of which the latest three have achieved international recognition and became best-sellers.

ynharari.com

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind was published in 2014 and by 2017 eight million copies had been sold and the book was translated into nearly 50 languages. It was listed on the Sunday Times bestseller list for over six months in paperback and was a New York Times top 10 bestsellers.

Recommended by Barack Obama, Bill Gates & Mark Zuckerberg

Sapiens was recommended by Barack Obama, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.

ynharari.com

In 2016, Prof Harari published his second book, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. Within less than two years, four million copies of the book had been sold worldwide and it was translated into nearly 50 languages. Homo Deus is a critically acclaimed book that examines the big future projects facing humanity in the 21st century.

ynharari.com

After exploring deep into the past and then the future, Yuval Noah Harari published 21 Lessons for the 21st Century in 2018. Here he stopped to take the pulse of our current global climate, focusing on the biggest questions of the present moment: What are today’s greatest challenges and choices? What should we pay attention to?

Worldwide Speaker

Prof. Harari lectures around the world on the topics explored in his books and articles. Various prestigious magazines have taken interest in his work and published articles exploring his insights, such as The New York Times, The Guardian, The Economist, The New Yorker, Financial Times, Times Higher Education, The Wall Street Journal.

He was interviewed by Christiane Amanpour and was a conversation partner of Christiane Lagardere, Natalie Portman, Russell Brand.

He spoke at the 2018 World Economic Forum meeting raising questions about the future of mankind.

youtube.com

Here are some of Prof. Harari’s insights regarding the future of mankind.

The future of humans is becoming gods

History began when humans invented gods and will end when humans become gods.

Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens

Prof. Harari envisions a not-so-distant future when humans are going to upgrade themselves into gods. By becoming gods he means humans “will acquire abilities that in the past were considered divine, such as eternal youth, mind reading, and the ability to engineer life.”

The god-like nature of future humans doesn’t seem so far-fetched if we keep in mind that researchers have been using CRISPR technology to edit out genetically inherited illnesses for the past ten years.

Life without death

A few serious scholars suggest that by 2050, some humans will become a-mortal (not immortal, because they could still die of some accident, but a-mortal, meaning that in the absence of fatal trauma their lives could be extended indefinitely).

Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens

Is the prospect of a never-ending life possible for humans? The latest developments in bioengineering and nanotechnology bring a compelling argument in favour of this prospect. It’s not only possible, but it’s actually highly probable.

Digital dictatorship

Prof. Harari says free will is fantasy.

For a long time we have believed we are in control of our minds and no one can manipulate us. But the digital era has proven us wrong: search engines, algorithms and AI learn everything about our behaviours online. This vast amount of data can be used to manipulate and influence us – see fake news, the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, Google’s databases.

Prof. Harari predicts that digital algorithms will know details about ourselves even before we do.

He sees the authority already shifting from humans to the algorithm. We already trust Amazon to show us what to buy, or a music-based AI algorithm to show us what clothes to wear.

Humans can be hacked

Prof. Harari believes that in the future it will be possible for algorithms to hack humans.

He gives the following explanation:

To hack humans you need a lot of data (which Facebook and Google already have), a good understanding of what’s happening inside the body and the brain, and a lot of computing power to analyse the data and come up with insights.

What does Prof. Harari worry about?

His worst worry is related to technology and the place it is taking us to.

He believes we will change and upgrade before we can really understand the full capacity of homo sapiens.

We actually know so little about ourselves and it’s a very bad idea to start upgrading something which you don’t really understand.

Yuval Noah Harari

Yuval Noah Harari at BRAND MINDS 2019

In our blog articles dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs improve their leadership skills, we have often written about the importance of looking beyond.

Prof. Harari helps the world’s leaders look beyond humanity’s horizon and see the rise of a different homo sapiens. This changed humanity means we will be facing spiritual, moral and ethical questions about AI, gene editing, re-engineering of the human body and mind and digital dictatorship.

Are you a #worldchanger?

Come to BRAND MINDS 2020!

Here are our first confirmed speakers; we will be announcing more speakers in the coming months so stay tuned!

Malcolm Gladwell, Martin Lindstrom and Michio Kaku