<p>The former Chief Evangelist at WeWork and the founder and CEO of Guide, Tim Salau’s nickname is “Mr. Future of Work.”</p><p>Tim has forged a dynamic career as an innovator, global tech leader and humanitarian. As Chairman, co-founder and CEO of the global lifestyle brand Guide, his mission is to equip every creator with the skills, mindset and opportunities for a fulfilling career. In past roles, he has championed inclusive innovation and led product development at top Fortune 500 and hyper-growth companies including Google, Facebook, WeWork and Microsoft.</p><p>With the Guide life skills training app, Salau’s goal is to help low-income high school students learn essential life skills from their favorite creators — because he’s been there. Nigerian-born, Salau was raised in Southwest Alief, Texas — an area just outside of Houston that locals call “the SWAT,” because of the area’s levels of gang violence. As a first-generation college student at Texas Tech, he developed an interest in design thinking and user experience and went on to complete his master’s in Information Science at the University of Texas at Austin. According to Tim, the biggest lessons of his life so far have been that the only constant is change; and that adaptability, resilience and curiosity are the most essential skills of the 21st century.</p><p>Tim Salau is devoted to making the tech industry a more inclusive space for under-recognized leaders, women, and those pursuing technology with unconventional backgrounds. He's been recognized by the <i>Wall Street Journal</i>, <i>Forbes</i>, SXSW, Young Presidents Organization Opportunity Hub, LinkedIn, Google, The Millennial Mogul and other major media platforms for his work as a global tech influencer, community leader and expert on the future of work and innovation. Tim believes that businesses can architect solutions with deep intent and compassion by ruthlessly focusing on customers and the communities they serve. He strengthens communities by fusing digital literacy, culture, and purpose to create opportunity and sustainable resources for underserved and marginalized people in San Francisco and at global scale.</p>
Future of Work Expert and Former Chief Evangelist at WeWork
<ul><li><strong>Crafting the Workplace of the Future</strong></li><li>The Future of Work is here and it's changing faster than most orgs can adapt or fathom, even for big tech.</li><li>With the rapidly shifting technological landscape, every student, organization, and professional must find a way to adapt in a dynamic future where change will remain the only constant. A future in which technology, in fusion with human intellect, ingenuity, and potential becomes exponential and beyond.</li><li>Most discussions about the Future of Work only discuss the role of AI and Automation. The power of human potential is often an afterthought or joke. It's time we discuss how we craft new working structures, conditions, and standards to effectively support and scale both within your organization and beyond.</li><li><strong>The 7 Habits of Zen Leadership</strong> </li><li>Your organization doesn’t need more command and control. The leadership skills and habits necessary to lead a distributed workforce in a dynamic future are human skills, not technical skills. Leaders that want to build trust, inspire action, and nurture innovation must act as zen coaches, mentors, and guides, not dictators. </li><li>Leaders are no longer leading or learning in the Milton Friedman era, they are leading in an era of constant volatile change. Being able to build community, show compassion, and nurture trust within your team and organization are the habits and skills of zen leadership. The Future Leader is Zen. In order to be a dynamic leader, you must adopt habits of zen and the willingness to lead with authenticity, not a position title. This is the way. <strong>Building a Culture of Customer Obsession</strong></li><li>Companies that succeed in the global market don't succeed without driving a culture of customer obsession with their people. With examples from favorite big tech enterprises such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google to top restaurant franchises Chick-Fil-A, Hopdoddy and Tim Horton's, Salau shows audiences that customer-centricity isn’t just about being customer-focused, it’s about placing customers at the very heart of everything you do. Whether it's branding, marketing, product or — most important of all — community, your business should revolve around your customers. You should start with the customer and work backwards to offering the best experience. But how do you do this in a way that scales? How do you inspire your people, no matter their role, to remain customer-centric? How do you map the ideal customer journey? It all begins with developing a purpose-driven culture, creating holistic organizational structures and simply co-creating with your customers every step of the way. In this talk, Tim Salau shares a framework for building a culture of customer obsession that will allow you to rally the leaders within your organization to always think customer-first.</li></ul>