What an experience to blog from the 2009 World Business Forum at Radio City Music Hall in New York City (see official Bloggers Hub in photo at right) to bring you insights from the world's foremost thought-shapers and opinion-makers. From Bill Clinton to Pat Lencioni, from George Lucas to T. Boone Pickens, there was no shortage of unique insight or rich perspective. From their powerful speeches and personal stories emerged four main themes.

1. Fail to succeed. Failure is a must-stop on the road to success. Several of this year's speakers failed at or quit something before finding their path and reaching the heights of their success.

• T. Boone Pickens quit his job at a petroleum company at 26 years old. He ultimately started his own, shaping not just the oil industry but the concept of "corporate raider."
• George Lucas was "up to no good" racing cars, before pioneering filmmaking magic.
• Bill George left a potential (and much coveted) CEO position at Honeywell to run a much smaller (and at the time, much less proven) company in Medtronics. He eventually became a storied corporate executive, Harvard Business professor, and renowned leadership expert.
• David Rubenstein quit his job as a lawyer in his late 20's without resistance from his bosses. He also failed in the Carter administration where he was responsible for fighting inflation and "got it down to 19%." All before starting one of the world's most successful and influential (if not controversial) private equity firms.
• Pat Lencioni felt like he failed at Bain & Company for not being a numbers guy. It's that experience which led him to pursue organizational management and become one of the world's leading experts of it.

Failing and quitting - two things we're taught at an early age to avoid - were not only good, but necessary for these industry titans to, in fact, become industry titans.

2. Be human. Aligning what we do to who we are is critical. How we work must better reflect who we are as human beings - more emotion and creativity, less reason and structure.

• Gary Hamel believes we're in the midst of a revolution in corporate management and leadership because corporations aren't human. They're not as adaptive or creative or engaging as we are, as people. They have to be to survive.
• Kevin Roberts thinks emotion is actually more important than reason, particularly with customers. Reason leads to conclusion, but emotion leads to action.
• George Lucas believes art - to be true art - is about emotional connection; It's about telling a story in a meaningful way. The same can be said of business, specifically the thing at its very core: persuasion. There's no such thing as persuasion if not for telling a story in a meaningful way.
• Pat Lencioni believes that the emotional intelligence of an organization is its true competitive advantage. So many companies focus too much on how "Smart" they are and much too little on how "Healthy" they are.

The challenge here is how: How do we become more human as professionals, as leaders? As Jim Estill put it - he's a blogging colleague from the Forum, former CEO, and current Board member of RIM (the maker of the Blackberry) - "Leadership is messy." We want to know it in rational terms but we can't because it's not. Realizing that is the first step.

3. Challenge short-termism. We all know that taking the long term view trumps the short-term one. In fact, this year's World Business Forum opened with a Hollywood-style short film containing sage advice from proven leaders about taking the long-term view. But how do we do it in today's 24/7 world? It boils down to one thing: Leadership. Specifically, three key ingredients: Courage, Faith, and Commitment.

Take the case of Bill George, whose remarks opened this year's World Business Forum. When he was CEO of Medtronics, he did not shy away from telling his investors that if they were looking for a quick buck, they could invest elsewhere.

• Courage. He had the courage to take the long-view, sacrificing potential short-term wins for long-term payout.
• Faith. He had the faith to believe that, in the end, long-termism would win.
• Commitment. He had the commitment to stick with it, even, when competitors with the short-term view might have appeared to be fairing better than his own company.

Ultimately, Bill's leadership paid off. In 10 years with Medtronics, he took the company's market value from $1B to $60B. It's no wonder his book, True North, about authentic leadership, is a critically acclaimed best-seller.

4. Do One Thing. In a more interconnected world, the little things we do have an even bigger impact. Several headliners at the Forum captured the spirit of this concept.

• Kevin Roberts started the "Do One Thing" (D.O.T.) campaign at Saatchi & Saatchi where he has challenged employees to commit to doing one thing to positively impact their environment.
• Jeffrey Sachs called for global scale cooperation for our global scale problems, particularly in finance. Because one thing that a banker in New York City does can collapse entire economies (see Iceland), oversight needs to be broadscale and shared.
• Bill Clinton spoke at length about "shared costs and shared benefits" in an increasingly interdependent world: "No matter how constrained we are, we all have a role to play." He drove the point home with a story about a young man in Haiti who secured excess sawdust and paper from community businesses to make cooking brickettes. In doing so, he was able to sell them at just 1 cent a piece, down from 5 cents a piece. This young man - in collaboration with others - reduced the cooking bill for many by 80%. In a country where the average income is about $1/day, that makes a huge difference.

In the fabric of this year's World Business Forum lie true success secrets... personally, professionally, and as a global community: Be human. Take the long view. Embrace failure. Do one thing.

If we can do that, we can change the world.

Krass in style and powerful in message, Kevin Roberts, CEO of the one of the world’s leading creative organization, Saatchi & Saatchi, took the stage at the World Business Forum at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Tuesday, dawned in all-black, traditional zen garb with a keen interest for The Rockettes and a strong Scottish-versioned New Zealand accent. Needless to say, he made an impression. I can’t explain it very well. But that’s exactly the point of his presentation. He’s in the business of eliciting an emotional response from us in a way beneficial to his clients (e.g., Procter & Gamble, Toyota, General Mills, Visa to name a few). Say what you will about his style and his purpose, but his talk at the Forum was entertaining, edgy, and most importantly thought-provoking, with frequent use of his firm’s ads to make his point.

One ad was an affected amateur style video. The scene: Balcony view of modern-day Liverpool train station in England. People rushing to their trains, meeting loved ones, or simply lost. Hundreds of them. Suddenly, music blasts over the loud speaker. Good music. Confusion ensues. A few people stop what they’re doing and dance – clearly professional dancers, young hipster types. Many others are confounded. As the music continues, more dancers – likely professional still. As time passes and the music mix varies, even more dancers – but this time, innocent by-standers moved enough to join in. The crowd grows. As the songs change, more and more people join in… even the ones who are on their phones in disbelief, watching, mouth agape. Grandmas, dads, singles. Black, white, brown. It’s incredibly engaging. And you can’t explain why at this point even you are caught up in the moment, dare we say, emotional. Everyone in the train station is now dancing. Incredible. You are emotional and vulnerable - ripe for impression. Then, the company logo flashes on the screen: T-Mobile. The connection to T-Mobile doesn't make sense to us, rational sense anyway. Perhaps it’s about human connection and using T-Mobile to share in life’s random moments. Perhaps it’s simply a brilliant idea executed flawlessly to engage the viral generation. Either way, it touched us - and got over 10 million hits online in just three days.

I will always remember this ad. I might not switch my telecom provider, so perhaps the genius of it is misapplied. But what’s clear is that we are moving into what Kevin calls a participation economy which is driven by inspiration, unlike today’s attention economy which is driven by information. Heading into tomorrow, it’s not about marketing but a movement. Kevin explains that while reason and rationale lead to conclusion, emotion leads to action. In fact, he shared this insight as pretext for his seven ways to win in this new world we’re entering, a world in which companies and entrepreneurs need to drive “loyalty beyond reason.”

Here are Roberts’ gems, in his fragmented staccato style:
1. Face the truth. World is ugly now. Need to get along with less. Consumer research is worthless because consumer is in a different place. Deliver priceless value, not just price. “What are you giving me that’s emotionally priceless?” Purpose-inspired, benefit-driven brand.
2. Reframe beliefs about value. “When you buy a prius… it’s not about better MPG or reliability… you’re making the world a better place!”
3. Measure only what matters. Advertising – only two questions matter: “Do I want to see it again?” and more importantly, “Do I want to share it?” Don’t sell by yell. “Consumer is not a moron, she’s my wife.” Consumer has become the biggest medium.
4. Participation vs. Attention economy. Consumers are now their own medium, they’re their own creator. 14-17 yr-olds call themselves “Creatives”… they’re creating their own medium, their own world. Today, we’re in attention economy – it’s about information. Return on investment. Tomorrow, we’re in participation economy – it’s about inspiration. Return on involvement. Not through marketing, but movement. Not a brand, but a lovemark. Not price, but priceless value.
5. Let emotion rip. Rationale leads to conculsion. Emotion leads to action. We’re in the business of action.
6. Brands vs. Lovemarks. Brands are owned by companies; Lovemarks are owned by people. Brands built on respect; Lovemarks built on respect and love. Brand – for a reason. Lovemarks – beyond reason. Lovemarks drive loyalty beyond reason. Make brand irresistible, not irreplaceable (everything now is irreplaceable). Brands are about performance, reputation, trust. Lovemarks are about mystery, sensuality, intimacy.
7. Be true blue. Blue oceans, blue skies, be sustainable. Role of business is to make world a better place for everyone. Move from green to blue. Green is about fear; Blue is about optimism. Green is about “what is there to be done?” Blue is about “What can I do?” DOT – do one thing.

Roberts closed with another ad, perhaps the 7th or 8th of his presentation. The ad was for a New Zealand telecom company, but don’t let that off-put you, it was moving. Home video of son and dad over the past 30-40 years – first steps, fishing triumphs – grainy colored moments frozen to black-and-white stills marking the passing decades. Fine skin to wrinkles and white hair. Slow motion in parts, pleasant music throughout, strong bond clear. The last image goes up, full of color but also despair. It’s just the son, all grown up, standing on the front lawn. Sun is up but head is down. What’s missing – rather, who’s missing – is palpable. The music stops. On the screen appears: “Keep in touch.”

With an audience moved, Roberts closed his time with just one more line, “When this is done, don’t call your office, call your dad.”

Hi Kernels. Are you ready to pop? Just two more days until the 2009 World Business Forum. The headliners this year are impressive. Be sure to check in for real-time insight and inspiration from: