Henry Wong

Good for larger legacy organizations, government bodies or companies in which the culture is non-existent or needs renewal.

With his experience of shaping scores of start-ups across financial, food, tech and manufacturing, Henry shares his insights into the creative thinking and innovation that has made start-up companies a success. As a creative director, his business is one of being innovative and fresh. Drawing from the elements that have made for creative thinking, Henry shares how to bring that into any type of organization.

Henry Wong touches on how to create the right culture for fresh thinking, understanding the power of failure, rethinking the hierarchy, how to invert problems to get to ideas and solutions, and how wrong thinking can actually be good for an organization. Through it, he shares his perspective on why mission statements should be retired when thinking like a start-up doesn’t work, how to hire the right people and bringing all the elements together that managers and leaders can apply successfully.

It seems, being a Yoda makes one a better leader. Studies show that mentors are six times more likely to be promoted than managers and employees who don’t mentor.

This is just the beginning. While people tend to view mentorship as a way to help and guide the less experienced, the benefits to those in a leadership role are more profound.

This keynote offers insights from Henry’s 30 years of being on both sides of the mentoring fence. In his talk, he covers how mentoring can improve one’s own practical skills and create a sure-footedness in one’s leadership. Henry outlines how reverse mentoring can be used to a leader’s own benefit and why it’s important to mentor for the benefit of the greater good.

In addition to inspiring leaders, Henry Wong delves into practical points to maximize the mentor/mentee relationship with guidelines on how to be a proper mentor, understanding active listening and being present, why a suitable environment is important, and how being ego-free is not a weakness.

This talk has benefited a broad range of personnel from leadership and entrepreneurial groups, and managers in both government and corporate sectors.

These days, mindfulness is very on trend with living a more fulfilling, stress-reduced life. What happens when it’s applied to actual corporate life and job performance?

While it may be easy for yogis and mindfulness leaders who live outside a stress-filled job, Henry has been applying practical meditation skills longer than he has had a career. Having spent time in the stress-induced environment of the advertising industry and business leadership, Henry shares his perspective on enhancing performance both physically and mentally (drawing from his notches as a CrossFit champion and an award-winning creative director and writer). He has studied and taught Chinese martial arts for over 40 years, employing the ancient practice of qi gong, breathing and meditation practice to calm the mind and spirit.

Henry Wong shares his views on first identifying the type of leader you are, the neuroscience of mindfulness, and how decluttering the mind can improve leadership skills. Rather than the belief of removing yourself from workplace challenges, this talk promotes jumping into chaos while being able to withstand the forces that work against you. It’s not just taking a mindful break, it’s being able to manage it fully in the 9 to 5.

Finally, he outlines how to build a mindfulness practice in the workplace, understanding the strength in yielding, gaining clarity and inspiring one’s team. By using it to create focus, decisive decision-making and problem-solving, and gaining a better EQ, for many, this practice has led to broader benefits in life. The practical part of this keynote includes leading participants through actual practice and demonstration.

Mindfulness for better creativity

A variation of this would be adapted for creative groups and creative thinkers like design firms, ad agencies, and artistic groups. With improvements in brain performance, maximizing attention and concentration, the decluttering of the mind can lead to better, more lateral thinking and creativity.

Did you know there are over 60 million Wongs in the world? But it’s more than a surname run amok. It’s a family clan united by a common ancestry and experience that has led to the creation of “clubhouses” throughout North America. What started as a solution to assisting new immigrants facing impossible odds in a country during a challenging and racist period of history (Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act) also lead to compassionate mandates of kindness, benevolence and charity. Through a common bond, Wongs created family associations. Within organized collectives, they provided refuge, guidance, translation as well loans to those who came to a new world with little other than a desire for a better life. The contributions to society have led to recognition by the Canadian Heraldic Authority through the creation of an official coat of arms, and by Heritage Toronto with a historic plaque acknowledging the milestones and contributions of the Wongs.

The organization, the Wong Association, is today a family foundation of which Henry Wong sits as director. Drawing from stories from the history of Wongs in North America, he shares insights into how commitment and selflessness can help companies and organizations improve their purpose and mission, how a community is more a state of mind, what’s needed to create a group bond, and the importance of honouring those who came before us. It’s an inspiring talk on perseverance, forgiveness and charity.