Kevin Cottam

Said Zaki, a proud Berber nomad from the Southern Sahara Desert says Berbers see “everything as an opportunity.” Would you be able to see an opportunity if it was starring you in the face? Signposts are everywhere. One of the signposts of opportunity for you and your organization is to discover your dominant mindset. Kevin takes you on a colorful, image-rich, story-driven journey to Mongolia, Kenya and Morocco to discover and unearth what nomads have known for centuries, that we may have forgotten - the nomadic mindset that moves within all of us. He shares the qualities and behaviours that typify a nomadic mindset beneficial for leadership today such as adaptability, agility, freedom, creativity and more. He discovered many valuable signposts of opportunities along the way and one was the revelation that we all have three broad mindsets, the nomadic, builder and settler mindsets, that live not only within each of us, but also within our organizations.

As a former sportsmen, contemporary dancer and filmmaker you realize very early on that you are never not moving – everything is in constant movement. For leaders, organizations and all humans you need to embrace the fact that migration or mobility or growth is all about movement and movement is about constant human change – which leads to never settling for too long. This is a necessity for survival. Whether that change or migration be a new job, or location, or family member or innovation or thought … this is what leads to vibrancy, fluidity and abundance to life and work. During my nomadic cultures and executive research for my book, The Nomadic Mindset: Never Settle…for Too Long, I was told the meaning of nomad is ‘the movement of the mind’. This is the driver of existence. This colorful image filled, story-driven keynote, helps you become more comfortable with change, migration or mobility from a nomadic lens adapted to today’s organizational environment.

There is definitely something missing in leadership today. There are perhaps as many leadership books and processes, techniques, tips as there are cheerios in a Cheerios box of cereal … or more. There is a new lens needed to traverse our complex society. A simpler answer is possible. That is to explore and focus your leadership lens on nomadic wisdom. Ancient nomadic wisdom has many simple behaviours and paths that can adapted to clarify and inspire a rich modern leadership path forward. In this colorful image filled, story-driven keynote, Kevin takes you on a metaphoric journey to discover ‘the intelligence of a nomad’ or behaviours that are necessary for leadership success in Industry 4.0. You will come to understand the value of communication and rapport through the Moroccan tea ceremony; discover your dominant mindset; learn the importance of following the rain in the Sahara desert (intuition); become aware of the truth about building trust and lead like a Maasai warrior.