World-renowned ‘futurist’ Anne-Lise Kjaer opened eyes, broadened outlooks and stimulated minds at a recent event organised by Unlocking Potential.

As part of its Future Focus programme, the day not only featured Kjaer, but also drew on the expertise and experience of various Cornish businesses who all, in their different ways, have adapted and innovated to meet the many needs of a fast-evolving business landscape.

Introducing the event, programme director, Allyson Glover, described a world much changed in recent years, and urged delegates to forget for a few hours their own business’s day-to-day challenges to focus on a mindset where 2030 was more important than the rest of 2022.

She also acknowledged how Cornwall’s geographically peripheral status has always meant its business leaders have had to outperform their peers elsewhere and challenged them to be not just the best in the world but the best for the world, too.

Anne-Lise Kjaer outlined her own personal journey from young designer to her current status, and went on to discuss, the importance of curiosity, creativity and emotional intelligence, and how the speed of digital development has become a major disruptive factor across all industries.

Glover described the day, held at FibreHub in Pool, as “absolutely amazing” and said: “Anne-Lise took us all on quite a journey and showed us that the things which are quite scary for business are actually the same as the most exciting things, and where the big opportunities lie.

“At UP we know a lot of outstanding business leaders who are doing brilliant things, week in, week out. I’m very confident they, as well as those who follow them, will rise to these many challenges, and very pleased that we, at UP can say that we’re helping equip them to do so with events like this and speakers like Anne-Lise.”