Alex Mahon

What happens to the world, to behaviour, to emotions and reactions when consumers spend more than half their waking day watching video on screens. In the UK adults watch 5 and a half hours of video a day and it seems to only increase. With a combination of original research and behavioural science Mahon will talk about what is happening in Britain today, how different types of viewing make people feel and what we may need to think about as societal impacts increase.

What do a scientist, a face painter, a kitchen porter and a CEO have in common? They are all jobs that I have done and loved, at times, but not always. How do you start off wanting to be an astronaut and then run a TV network. It turns out that who you are precedes what you do and that we all need a decent level of self knowledge. In this talk Alex runs through her background, how she understood what skills and abilities came naturally and how she has used that in her career.

We read endlessly about Generation Z. We are obsessed with how different they are,and mystified about how we should interact with them. They are fundamental to ourfuture yet can seem like a different species. They are the most connected and themost judged in history. They are schooled in video not words. The majority of whatthey consume is controlled by algorithm rather than choice. For those of us over 25,those in companies or creating brands or being employers this is a generation weneed to work with. We employ them, we work alongside them, we sell to them, theyare the consumers and rulers of the future. In this talk you will learn about Gen Z inthe UK today, about what they care about, where they spend their time and howthey react emotionally to their digital world.

Mahon has followed a path of building great value in companies that are in thebusiness of creativity. This has meant working with some of the most creative, themost wonderful and indeed the most complex people in the world. Generally. Thatinvolves both great joy and great difficulty and is all about the management ofculture. The culture is the collective thought and soul of the company. You cannotcontrol it, you cannot hide it, but the right creative cultures have the potential tocapture lightning in a bottle.Whether you will capture the lightning is hard to knowbut it sure isn’t as simple as staying in one place with a few bottles and your fingerscrossed.

In this talk Alex will walk through the key principles of how to embed diversity, inclusion and then equity in your organisation and why it matters. This will use Channel 4 as a world leader in the establishment of a diverse workforce including the impact on society by being a Broadcast network. It also includes instruction on how to do this in other organisations, how to get started and how to handle setbacks. Channel 4 is world renowned as the biggest broadcaster for the Paralympics and has radically changed perspectives on disability in the UK. It was the organisation that eradicated the taboo around the word menopause and caused a run on HRT, it is famous for its representation and fight for the rights of the LGBT and ethnically diverse communities. All of this has been enhanced and amplified under Mahon’s leadership.

In this talk Alex will touch upon her principles of leadership, how she leads, and how that maps to modern leadership in 2023. It will include leading through change, leading through crisis, and what a modern workforce expects from ‘authentic’ leaders. She can talk about her own background and how it improbably led to an establishment job, as well as how she has managed that without losing her sense of self or personality. This can also cover personal drivers, knowing your own narrative and story and tips and principles for leading in the workplace today. Mahon has 4 children so this talk can also be adapted for the challenges of female leadership.