Speech is silver, but silence is golden. Often, including in business and personal relations, it is better to listen than to speak. Have though had the pleasure and privilege to speak and keynote at a variety of events in many countries. Do not have the same time for that today with four small children, but I still try to get in a couple of external keynotes a year.
November 2022
Creativity - Hartmanns Academy
Altid en kæmpe fornøjelse at være sammen med, privat eller som her dele scene med, Professor Lene tanggaard. Dette forstærket af, at vi ofte taler om, og som også blev til en bog, ‘I Bad Med Picasso’ kreativitet og hvordan det at evne at tænke og agere kreativt, som menneske og som virksomhed, er noget af det allervigtigste ift. at skabe vækst, men måske endda også ift. at skabe rigere liv (det viser undersøgelser iøvrigt også) på et individ plan, men også når det drejer sig om planetens ve og vel, geopolitik og andre globale udfordringer.
Evnen til at komme op med nye løsninger og ideer, der skaber værdi er altafgørende og vejen (herunder tankerækken derhen) dertil er kreativ i alle fald ud fra vores definition af begrebet. Så lyt til, stol på og fokuser på jeres indre kreative motor derude.
November 2022
25 strong - EY Entrepreneur Of The Year
En stor fornøjelse at være hovedtaler ifm. EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Landsfinale og så endda til prisens 25 års jubilæum.
Et flot flot arrangement; som et Oscar show for erhvervslivet med over 800 deltagere og så super hyggeligt at min kammerat Felix Smith tilfældigvis var vært.
Et stort tillykke til alle vinderne.
September 2022
Creative Summit
God måde at starte morgenen på; session hos Dansk Erhverv på Børsen om digitalisering i de kreative hverv. Et spændende og vigtigt emne; aggregering af datastrømme, forbedring af content og kundeoplevelser, produktudviking og designoptimering på ryggen af digitale instrumenter og platforme, 3D rederinger og digitalt indsalg mm. Alt uden at glemme det at give vores kollegaer mulighed for også at slow thinke og producere nogle alpha hjernebølger = der hvor vi danner nye associations rækker og ofte får de gode ideer.
September 2022
I Stand For Peace
I have spent a lot of time coming up with a series of questions for Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, whom I have the pleasure of interviewing and talking to tonight on stage at the Folketeatret. Hopefully Ravi Shankar, as the audience, will find it interesting. A spiritual leader for many (about 2.5 million turned up physically for his last anniversary), non-religious and working for peace and does humanitarian work around the world. And he has developed and contributed to a number of extremely powerful yoga, meditation and breathing techniques, including Sudarshan Kriya.
Looking forward to it!
August 2022
SMUKFEST 22
Skønt at være på scenen sammen med disse to dejlige fyre og venner til en god snak om livet; lykke, arbejde, familie og dengang på Bergheim i 94. En stor tak til de mange der kom og stillede top gode spørgsmål.
May 2022
EN NY TID
Man går ud i sit køkken henter kakaomælk til sin spinkle søn, men når man vender tilbage er han blevet for gammel til kakaomælk kræver øl, piger og revolution. En ny tid.
Havde fornøjelsen af at lægge vejen forbi Marie Kronquist og Tinas Bilsbos konference ‘EN NY TID‘ i sidste uge. En spændende diskurs var på agendaen; det nye lederskab, en evt. ny måde at arbejde på, work-life, nye arbejdstager generationer og hvad der skal til for at fastholde og tiltrække dem mm. Og så kom vi, selvfølgelig, også qua Maries primære virke, ind på instrumenter som meditation og breathwork, som jeg selv er rigtig glad for.
April 2022
Business Power 22
Aabenraa er efterhånden blevet second home for os i hummel, da vi der er igang med et større +20.000 m2. stort logistik- og distributionscenter byggeri. I den forbindelse havde jeg fornøjelsen af at lægge vejen forbi Aabenraa i går for her at tale med og for nogle hundrede passionerede og spørgelystne forretningsfolk og iværksættere fra området. Anne Sophia Hermansen, som det altid er en inspirerende fornøjelse at være sammen med, ledte slagets gang til UG med kryds og slange. Dvs. til 12 på den nye karakterskala for jer unge kids.
November 2021
Mesterlære Live
In dialogue with the master at Mesterlære.
Great to share the stage with Professor Lene Tanggaard again. A while back, I had the pleasure of writing "In Shower with Picasso" together with Lene. At Mesterlære Live, we came together again in slightly different auspices when Mesterlære – a learning platform – held its first live event in Michael Obel's beautiful hall; Moviehouse in Hellerup.
June 2021
Nordfyns Erhverv & Turisme
Nowadays, I rarely give external lectures, why it was a very nice way to end the day yesterday, especially since my lecture at Nordfyns Erhverv & Turisme general assembly centered on place marketing, an area I have occupied myself with throughout the years. My lecture was mainly about branding and positioning of beautiful and wild (and low-price houses – a house by the beach at DKK 2. Mio. Anyone?!) North Funen, where my family spend quite some time.
May 2021
TEDxCopenhagen
I had an enjoyable and interesting online session with Caroline Sehested from TEDxCopenhagen on the topic: Profiling our future leader - the new skill set. You can listen to our TED talk here
Enjoy!
December 2019
Dansk Industri - Fødevarer Årsdag
We haven't entered the market of vegan hamburgers – yet. But it is super interesting what is happening at the moment on the food- and food tech front. For which reason, it was with great pleasure that I keynoted at Dansk Industri – Fødevarer Årsdag (an anniversary event celebrating the Danish food industry). When looking at the population growth close on 9.7 billion people on the planet in 2050 and that a large part of the population growth will come from a growing middle class – this fact, reinforces the business opportunities in food, but also the great responsibility that lies with the food industry due to correlations between industry, geopolitics, global warming, macroeconomic movements etc.
November 2019
Aarhus Symposium
I had the pleasure of stopping by Aarhus University to give a keynote speech in connection with Aarhus Symposium, which for me probably is the country's foremost platform of its kind. Incredibly accomplished by the talented students and super for us who have businesses in Aarhus city to have such a talent pool in the backyard. Good job!
Photo credit: Thorsten Iversen
June 2019
Ingen Shortcuts Live
The day before the day. And what a way to end this fierce election campaign; in good company at Ofelia Plads, in Copenhagen. Tommy Ahlers is a good friend and former business partner, but he has also proven to be an outstanding politician. Had he been running in our constituency, I would definitely have ticked off the box with his name. Just saying.
May 2019
Nordic La - Heartland Festival
At Heartland Festival, Kristian Riis hosted a super conference with and for international as well as Danish entrepreneurs under the auspices of NordicLA, which the renaissance man Kristian, among other things, engage himself with when he does not play guitar in a large Danish band. I had the pleasure of speaking at NordicLA’s event and participate in a dialogue with Sasha, an Austrian from Palo Alto, who was one of the first employees at Facebook. Our talk was moderated by the always sweet and talented Ane Cortzen.
May 2019
Yes, Mr Minister
Had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Tommy Ahlers at the Presidential Summit. I just have to say that it's always a pleasure, to spend time with Tommy - privately or like here in a public context, and it's not a state secret that I think Tommy is doing a terrific job as minister. Someone who has been there before - both as a student and a businessman/entrepreneur, is at eye level, intelligent, impassioned and with an important non-self-righteous twinkle in the eye. Good job.
March 2019
SEEDSTER 2.0
It was a pleasure to attend Seedster in Spain for a few days; to keynote, and more importantly, meet many impassioned entrepreneurs - including entrepreneurs and founders from some of the venture companies that I have invested in. Jesper Buch was so sweet to mention that we might have broken the audience record when I keynoted – a big thank you to everyone who showed up.
I talked about, among other things, why I invest in startups, the fundamental criteria of an investment etc., but also about how 'putting things into action' is a way of thinking and a modus operandi that also must function in a more corporate and larger structure such as THORNICO.
February 2019
Retail Summit in Dubai
Sir Richard Branson closed the door yesterday, and I had the pleasure to reopen it; day two at this year’s Retail Summit in Dubai.
November 2018
University of Copenhagen
A couple of pictures from Thursday's debate at the University of Copenhagen between the Danish Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, and my friend and former business partner, now the Danish Minister for Higher Education and Science, Tommy Ahlers; About entrepreneurship, education and what skills are being sought after in a future where many jobs with repetitive tasks will be taken over by robots and AI. Very interesting and important discourse.
September 2016
Kuala Lumpur
In Sanovo Technology Group, we were the main sponsor of this year´s Galla Dinner in Kuala Lumpur for our share of the food industry. A great evening where I enjoyed talking to approximately 400 key stakeholders, including many customers from around the world. Additionally, our CEO Michael presented a check for the project in Swaziland - Heart for Africa - where we are a founding partner. As always, we try to differentiate in a small way as here where all 400 guests, among other things, got a handmade Karma figure they could take home. Differentiation is often in the detail.
June 2016
THORNICO building talks
June 10, THORNICO hosted the first THORNICO Building Talks. The main occasion of the event was the renovation of the THORNICO Building located in Rotterdam and the acquisition of the famous neighbouring building of Joost Kühne, renamed "THORNICO T(W)O". I and the five other speakers, Peter Kreiner the CEO of Noma, Erik Legernes, Senior Creative Director of LEGO, David Zahle partner at BIG and the super architect Winy Maas, discussed how innovation, inspiration and creative ideas can create positive change in the world - an evening filled with architectural, culinary and sustainable inspiration.
April 2017
Entrepreneurial Inspiration Day
During the Easter holidays, I attended EID - Entrepreneurial Inspiration Day - at Rotterdam Science Tower in Holland. I started as an opening keynote speaker at EID followed up by a panel discussion on how startups shape the future, together with a strong woman; voted as the most influential woman in Holland, namely the President-Director of Shell Netherlands Marjan van Loon.
June 2016
EO Unlimited, Rotterdam
I was the closing keynote at EO Unlimited, an entrepreneur organization, speaking to passionate entrepreneurs from a multitude of countries. EO Unlimited 2016 ‘Magic No 7’ was about growth and the chances and opportunities over the next seven years.
May 2016
Hartmanns Academy - DR Koncerthuset
Within the framework of the company Hartmanns, I had the pleasure of speaking in beautiful surroundings in DR Koncerthuset, to a lot of dedicated leaders. Hartmanns Academy is a forum for competency development and knowledge-sharing in the areas of leadership and the labour market. Hartmanns Academy is an exclusive network consisting of Hartmanns’ trusted clients and business partners. Highly qualified and inspiring speakers, who include leading lights in the fields of business, sport and culture, researchers and experts, give talks on current topics such as the labour market, HR and leadership etc.
April 2016
IEC business conference, Warsaw
Keynote at a foods conference in Warsaw for the International Egg Commission, where the talk among many things was also about Harvard Business Review's findings about purpose and meaning driven companies; that they simply do better and earn more. Furthermore, it was also about our newest Company Karma project in Swaziland within the Sanovo Technology Group and finally about Mät Foods. As a final touch, we handed out Mät bars to the audience.
November 2015
TED x KEA
I had the privilege of being the closing keynote at TED x KEA at the Black Diamond in Copenhagen. The subject of my speech was “Closed Door = Open Door”. What you think might be your biggest flaw can actually turn out to be your most unique skill. People and businesses alike can reap tremendous benefits from learning to treat what they perceive as their shortcomings as an opportunity.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx - a program of local, self-organised events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At TED x KEA event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group.
March 2015
MCH Messecenter Herning
Lecture at MCH Messecenter Herning for more than 1000 people. A great evening, where I gave a lecture about creativity and innovation. I understand that musicians and comedians may attract up to 1000 people... However, I found it fantastic and heartening that so many people wanted to come and was interested in hearing me talk about something which in its essence is about running a business, especially with the future of Denmark in mind (big words I know). A big thank you to everyone who came.
February 2015
Books and companies Hellerup
I had a cosy night at the book café "Books and Company" in Hellerup, which had an extra focus on me and Lene Tanggaard's book "In the Shower with Picasso." It was a relaxed talk, and Q&A about the book's concepts with many interesting discussions about creativity, taking place in the unique atmosphere of this local and charming little bookstore.