Silver Linings: Business lessons from the time of Covid

A year on from the first Covid-19 lockdown a unique business innovation speaker showcase celebrates the companies and people who not only survived Covid’s worst impact, but thrived.

Drawing on the extraordinary stories captured in the new book ‘Silver Linings’, co-authored by David Downs and Joe Davis, a diverse and accomplished group of speakers will converge on Auckland’s Waterfront Theatre on Friday 26^th March to discuss their experiences and set an optimistic and powerful vision for New Zealand’s future.

The special event, presented by Vodafone Business, will mark one year since New Zealand entered a nationwide lockdown, throwing organisations, businesses and communities into the unknown.

The speaker line-up features stories of heartache and success, innovation, and surprise, from the companies and people who managed to not only survive the worst of Covid’s impact – but to thrive.

The event is organised by Nanogirl Labs, which lost a full 18-month work calendar over a few days before the Covid-19 Level 4 lockdown. Founders Joe Davis and Michelle Dickinson (Nanogirl) could have closed but they made a choice to change direction and four days later launched a brand-new, entirely online learning program for families.

Joe Davis, Nanogirl Labs CEO, says that the inspiration for the book came from a place of optimism and wanting to understand the fundamental elements for overcoming adversity.

“While the world around us was completely turned upside down, I kept hearing these incredible stories of triumph in business and the community. Whether it was creating a new charity in an afternoon that helped thousands of companies around New Zealand; or making music from your lounge that went to tens of thousands of homes, business leaders got busy. We’re really excited to bring together a selection of some of these stories for Kiwis to learn from.”

Other speakers at the event include:

Sir Ian Taylor, Founder & Managing Director, Animation Research
Annah Stretton, Founder & CEO, Annah Stretton
Cecilia Robinson, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Tend
Craig Hudson, CEO, Xero
Simon Smuts-Kennedy, CEO, Hill Hats
Greg Cross, Co-Founder & CBO, Soul Machines
Rachel Taulelei, CEO, Kono NZ
David Downs, Co-Founder, SOS Business
Dale Clareburt, Co-Founder & CEO, Weirdly

In all, up to 16 speakers will appear through the day-long event. As well as learning lessons from these business leaders, and hearing their key insights, attendees can also expect to hear from Dr. Siouxsie Wiles, the voice (or tweet) of wisdom to the masses; Pat MacFie, who set up Manaaki.io to help businesses around New Zealand; and the people keeping Aotearoa connected at Vodafone.

Lindsay Zwart, Chief Enterprise Officer at Vodafone New Zealand says, Covid-19 accelerated digital adoption by two to five years. “We picked up new skills and used technology to work, learn, play and keep in touch with loved ones throughout the various alert levels. At Vodafone we saw incredible innovation in businesses as they pivoted to continue operating and many are now reaping the benefits of being online and enabling free-range working for their teams.

“As tough as the last year has been, there is so much we can learn from the business response to the pandemic, and we now have the opportunity now to rebuild our future workplaces through modern ways of working. We look forward to hearing inspiring stories of transformation from New Zealand’s business leaders at Silver Linings.”

For the full list of speakers and further event information, visit silverlinings.nz.