The element: How finding your passion changes everything
Sir Kenneth Robinson

What does it take to achieve personal success and feel like you are in your element? World-renowned innovator Sir Ken Robinson argues that it is not natural talent that drives personal success, but rather a delicate interplay of talent, passion, attitude and opportunity that moves people to achieve their highest levels of success within their organization.

Based on his newly released and highly acclaimed book The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, Robinson takes audiences on a compelling tour of what can happen when passion and talent meet. Sir Ken draws on the personal stories of high achievers in many fields, and with a wry sense of humor, he helps audiences understand how focusing on “the element” can transform education, business and communities to meet the challenges of living and succeeding in the 21st century.

Finding and keeping the best employees lies in revolutionary approaches to unlocking creativity in your talent. Sir Ken Robinson helps organizations of all types understand the core principles and strategies to developing sustainable approaches that foster creativity and innovation. He pushes leaders, managers and educators to think differently about their talent, showing them how to recognize and develop each person’s unique talents so that the whole organization can innovate and thrive in our post-industrial economies.

He is the author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative and The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, which was published in 2009.

Click here to see Sir Kenneth Robinson's biography

Managing human capital in times of uncertainty
Pat Milligan, President, Mercer Human Capital Practice
Alvaro Marquez, HR Director, Citibank Latin America

We live in a complex and uncertain world. Market forces continue to create unprecedented challenges. Organizations are being forced to operate, prepare and plan their talent strategies in an external environment of significant uncertainty. They face all kinds of challenges related to their workforce: competitiveness, talent issues, changes in legal and political frameworks, and budget constraints, all of which place huge demands on today’s HR professionals.

We are delighted to welcome Pat Milligan to lead the opening plenary session of Forum 2010. In this session, Pat will review some of the results from surveys and work Mercer has done with clients and provide some key findings about the lessons we have learned managing talent in times of uncertainty. In addition, Pat will look ahead to the talent issues your organization must be prepared to address as the global economy recovers.

This recession began in the financial services sector and many of the world’s major banks have faced huge challenges during the last two years. Citibank is no exception. We are delighted that Alvaro Marquez has accepted our invitation to present a case study on Citibank Latin America. Alvaro will discuss some of the key HR issues and challenges Citibank has faced since mid-2008 and provide a personal perspective on how he managed through the crisis as HR Director of the region.

Pat Milligan is president of Mercer's Human Capital practice, which serves clients in the areas of workforce strategies, human resource effectiveness, business transformation, talent and rewards and executive compensation. She is based in New York.

Alvaro Marquez is the HR Director for Citibank South America, Central America and the Caribbean and is based in Miami. Alvaro is also responsible for talent management for Citibank’s operations throughout Latin America.

What will the economic and business landscape look like in Latin America after the recession?
John Price, Managing Director, Business Intelligence, Kroll-InfoAmericas

We are delighted to welcome John Price as a lunchtime speaker for our closing plenary session. John will discuss what the future economic fundamentals will look like in the region. He will also explore the risks the new economic paradigm will present for your business and how these will affect the way you manage your workforce to ensure success in a changed business landscape.

John is an expert in the field of market intelligence in Latin America. He joined Kroll in early 2008 when Kroll acquired InfoAmericas, the leading independent market intelligence firm in Latin America. As a Managing Director of Market Intelligence Services at Kroll-InfoAmericas, he is a strategic advisor to clients, providing advice on market positioning, market entry, competitive trends and partnering.

John is a recognized regional thought leader in the areas of Latin American business climate and market strategy best practices. He has authored more than 100 articles on these subjects, published by leading regional and national journals.