so the year was 1982 and as a good
Catholic girl I was immersed in the
ritual of confession now imagine
yourself as a small child stepping into
a cold dark wooden box with a scary old
man adorned in a white gown quite
frankly this concept terrified me so I
asked my teacher what’s the point it’s
fair to say that her response took my
fear to a whole new level if you need to
ask questions like that then clearly you
are not ready I would be held back and
when I was ready which of course meant
asking no further questions I would then
be allowed to confess alone now I ask
you how would you feel if this were you
because I can tell you as a small child
I was completely devastated fear has
long been used by authority figures to
control our thinking and our behavior
we’ve been led to believe that fear
should be used as an alarm bell to run
away rather than lean in to opportunity
but do you think retreating from fear
help the likes of Nelson Mandela Elon
Musk Ellen DeGeneres
or the amazing Rosa Parks realized their
big dreams for change the answer is no
what if I told you fear was the greatest
lever you have to create the life that
you wanted I’m not that different from
the average person I spent 16 years
working my butt off in pursuit of the
dream until one day there was an
internal voice that was shouting at me
this is not your definition of success
it’s somebody else’s see
his change was required change that
would place me firmly into the great
unknown but I made a choice I stepped
into the fear and within a seven-month
period I turned my life completely
upside down in pursuit of happiness what
does that look like well I left a 16
year career as an executive with a
global giant at the absolute top of my
game I relocated my family from Perth
back to Melbourne left an 18-year
relationship and started my own Purpose
Driven company be kindred with the sole
intent of positively impacting the lives
of others this is what life looks like
now present humanly connected and
leaving the world just a little better
than what it was when I arrived now I’m
not asking you to do what I did
in order to test your appetite for fear
I’m challenging you what one change
would you make tomorrow that you know
would make your life happier if fear did
not exist and what is it when you’ve got
that in your head what is it that’s held
you back fear of failure the judgment of
others or everyone’s favorite financial
instability how would your life be
different if you no longer allowed fear
to act as a barrier between what you
want and taking action let’s unpack a
very topical fear at the moment that’s
on the minds of many so topical in fact
it was the number one point of
conversation amongst global CEOs at
singularity University at the NASA
Research Center which I attended two
weeks ago the loss of jobs associated
with the exponential growth in
technology 57% of you may not have a job
in the next 10 year
what would that look like well it would
look like more than half the people in
this room having to go out and unpack
purpose if they haven’t done that
already and re-skilling in something
fundamentally different from what you do
today how does that make you feel a
little fearful perhaps fear is firmly
embedded in our future especially if we
realize a rate of unemployment more than
double that of the Great Depression and
what if the next generation sixty-five
percent of the jobs that exist today
will not exist when my eight-year-old
gets into the workforce what is it the
gens e fear at the moment well I can
share with you what they’ve told me they
fear an education system that is not
skilling them to ask questions not
teaching them how to embrace and create
change how to have difficult human
conversations they fear a lack of
opportunity in a world where robots do
the bulk of the work and perhaps most
disturbingly some fear the eradication
of humankind at the hands of artificial
intelligence we’ve created which is why
nihilism is currently trending with this
generation which is a belief that life
has no meaning change is the only
certainty in the future and it is only
going to get faster and even more
disorientating now am I trying to
instill fear hell yes and why would I do
that because so many of us seem to be
suffering from what I kindly term
ostrich syndrome hoping that if we bury
our heads in the sand the future will
work itself out but burying our heads in
the sand is a surefire way to ensure
so how is it that we prepare for this
infinite unknown I like to look to the
wise words of dr. Zeus who doesn’t love
dr. Seuss unless someone like you cares
a whole awful lot nothing is going to
get better it’s just not we know the
future is uncertain but it is equally
the greatest opportunity we have ever
had the future is not here yet it is up
to us to create it we need to step into
the great unknown learn to dance with
the fear in order to realize that
absolutely anything is now possible who
does this resonate with obviously a few
do you know that we suffer more in our
own imagination than we do in real life
and yet fear is not fat did you know
that anxiety and excitement are
extremely similar emotions according to
data science the only difference between
the two is that anxiety focuses on the
outcome being negative so what if we
sought to reduce the anxiety associated
with fear what if we started talking
about the things that scared us most
more openly well I’ve done exactly that
with thousands just like you and here’s
what I found when we create a safe space
for fear we realize that the fears we
have many of us share we normalize fear
and rather than judge one another we
seek to understand empathize and quite
quickly we move into problem-solving
which allows us to come out the other
side of that fear just a little better
but most beautifully we are
lock the door to innovation possibility
and greater happiness I have learnt that
the more we step into the discomfort of
fear the more likely the outcome will be
game-changing to give you an example not
so long ago I was asked to speak as I
often am at a conference for
professional women the topic was tactics
for happy change so I was challenged
I had like today the graveyard shift and
they were serving wine at lunch time so
how was I going to keep them awake but
equally how was I going to get those
women to walk out of that room looking
at fear through a different lens this is
I stood on that stage
I dropped my bohemian wraparound dress
and with a body built for comfort not
for modeling I said love me or hate me
you will not forget me and if there is
only one thing that you take away from
today it’s that happy change is found
when we learn to get comfortable with
discomfort and I can honestly tell you
it doesn’t get any more uncomfortable
than this there may have been a swear
word in there stepping in to fear and
vulnerability in that way changed my
life in a way that was unimaginable the
moment went viral on LinkedIn with over
50,000 views who even knew that was a
thing LinkedIn it created a global
movement called naked for change where I
was getting emails from people all
around the world telling me how this had
encouraged them to step into some of
their greatest fears but most amazingly
when I stood on that stage for the very
first time in 41 years I realized that I
no longer sought the validation of
others the only validation I needed in
my life was my own and I cannot tell you
how empowering that is so to close this
out I want to share with you a brief
story there was a palliative care nurse
called Ronnie where she spent 15 years
with the dying asking them on their
death prep beds what their regrets were
this is the number one regret of the
dying I wished I’d had the courage to
live a life true to myself not the life
others expected of me do you think these
people stepped into fear on a daily
basis could this be you do you want this
to be you because if the answer is no I
challenge you to walk out the door today
step into the great unknown and know
that now is your time to make fear your
future thank you very much [Applause]
Catholic girl I was immersed in the
ritual of confession now imagine
yourself as a small child stepping into
a cold dark wooden box with a scary old
man adorned in a white gown quite
frankly this concept terrified me so I
asked my teacher what’s the point it’s
fair to say that her response took my
fear to a whole new level if you need to
ask questions like that then clearly you
are not ready I would be held back and
when I was ready which of course meant
asking no further questions I would then
be allowed to confess alone now I ask
you how would you feel if this were you
because I can tell you as a small child
I was completely devastated fear has
long been used by authority figures to
control our thinking and our behavior
we’ve been led to believe that fear
should be used as an alarm bell to run
away rather than lean in to opportunity
but do you think retreating from fear
help the likes of Nelson Mandela Elon
Musk Ellen DeGeneres
or the amazing Rosa Parks realized their
big dreams for change the answer is no
what if I told you fear was the greatest
lever you have to create the life that
you wanted I’m not that different from
the average person I spent 16 years
working my butt off in pursuit of the
dream until one day there was an
internal voice that was shouting at me
this is not your definition of success
it’s somebody else’s see
his change was required change that
would place me firmly into the great
unknown but I made a choice I stepped
into the fear and within a seven-month
period I turned my life completely
upside down in pursuit of happiness what
does that look like well I left a 16
year career as an executive with a
global giant at the absolute top of my
game I relocated my family from Perth
back to Melbourne left an 18-year
relationship and started my own Purpose
Driven company be kindred with the sole
intent of positively impacting the lives
of others this is what life looks like
now present humanly connected and
leaving the world just a little better
than what it was when I arrived now I’m
not asking you to do what I did
in order to test your appetite for fear
I’m challenging you what one change
would you make tomorrow that you know
would make your life happier if fear did
not exist and what is it when you’ve got
that in your head what is it that’s held
you back fear of failure the judgment of
others or everyone’s favorite financial
instability how would your life be
different if you no longer allowed fear
to act as a barrier between what you
want and taking action let’s unpack a
very topical fear at the moment that’s
on the minds of many so topical in fact
it was the number one point of
conversation amongst global CEOs at
singularity University at the NASA
Research Center which I attended two
weeks ago the loss of jobs associated
with the exponential growth in
technology 57% of you may not have a job
in the next 10 year
what would that look like well it would
look like more than half the people in
this room having to go out and unpack
purpose if they haven’t done that
already and re-skilling in something
fundamentally different from what you do
today how does that make you feel a
little fearful perhaps fear is firmly
embedded in our future especially if we
realize a rate of unemployment more than
double that of the Great Depression and
what if the next generation sixty-five
percent of the jobs that exist today
will not exist when my eight-year-old
gets into the workforce what is it the
gens e fear at the moment well I can
share with you what they’ve told me they
fear an education system that is not
skilling them to ask questions not
teaching them how to embrace and create
change how to have difficult human
conversations they fear a lack of
opportunity in a world where robots do
the bulk of the work and perhaps most
disturbingly some fear the eradication
of humankind at the hands of artificial
intelligence we’ve created which is why
nihilism is currently trending with this
generation which is a belief that life
has no meaning change is the only
certainty in the future and it is only
going to get faster and even more
disorientating now am I trying to
instill fear hell yes and why would I do
that because so many of us seem to be
suffering from what I kindly term
ostrich syndrome hoping that if we bury
our heads in the sand the future will
work itself out but burying our heads in
the sand is a surefire way to ensure
so how is it that we prepare for this
infinite unknown I like to look to the
wise words of dr. Zeus who doesn’t love
dr. Seuss unless someone like you cares
a whole awful lot nothing is going to
get better it’s just not we know the
future is uncertain but it is equally
the greatest opportunity we have ever
had the future is not here yet it is up
to us to create it we need to step into
the great unknown learn to dance with
the fear in order to realize that
absolutely anything is now possible who
does this resonate with obviously a few
do you know that we suffer more in our
own imagination than we do in real life
and yet fear is not fat did you know
that anxiety and excitement are
extremely similar emotions according to
data science the only difference between
the two is that anxiety focuses on the
outcome being negative so what if we
sought to reduce the anxiety associated
with fear what if we started talking
about the things that scared us most
more openly well I’ve done exactly that
with thousands just like you and here’s
what I found when we create a safe space
for fear we realize that the fears we
have many of us share we normalize fear
and rather than judge one another we
seek to understand empathize and quite
quickly we move into problem-solving
which allows us to come out the other
side of that fear just a little better
but most beautifully we are
lock the door to innovation possibility
and greater happiness I have learnt that
the more we step into the discomfort of
fear the more likely the outcome will be
game-changing to give you an example not
so long ago I was asked to speak as I
often am at a conference for
professional women the topic was tactics
for happy change so I was challenged
I had like today the graveyard shift and
they were serving wine at lunch time so
how was I going to keep them awake but
equally how was I going to get those
women to walk out of that room looking
at fear through a different lens this is
I stood on that stage
I dropped my bohemian wraparound dress
and with a body built for comfort not
for modeling I said love me or hate me
you will not forget me and if there is
only one thing that you take away from
today it’s that happy change is found
when we learn to get comfortable with
discomfort and I can honestly tell you
it doesn’t get any more uncomfortable
than this there may have been a swear
word in there stepping in to fear and
vulnerability in that way changed my
life in a way that was unimaginable the
moment went viral on LinkedIn with over
50,000 views who even knew that was a
thing LinkedIn it created a global
movement called naked for change where I
was getting emails from people all
around the world telling me how this had
encouraged them to step into some of
their greatest fears but most amazingly
when I stood on that stage for the very
first time in 41 years I realized that I
no longer sought the validation of
others the only validation I needed in
my life was my own and I cannot tell you
how empowering that is so to close this
out I want to share with you a brief
story there was a palliative care nurse
called Ronnie where she spent 15 years
with the dying asking them on their
death prep beds what their regrets were
this is the number one regret of the
dying I wished I’d had the courage to
live a life true to myself not the life
others expected of me do you think these
people stepped into fear on a daily
basis could this be you do you want this
to be you because if the answer is no I
challenge you to walk out the door today
step into the great unknown and know
that now is your time to make fear your
future thank you very much [Applause]
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