21st Century Citizenship
The digital revolution means we need to think differently about how to behave in this world – and certainly in business. In this 25 minute presentation, John focuses on the paradigms, values, skills, practices and outcomes of acting as a 21st century citizen. He traces back through his own career to highlight the importance of personal relationships, and the importance of finding a balance between the electronic connections made through our screens, and the physical and emotional connections made through our face-to-face interactions.
Leadership in the Digital Age
Elaborating on his ideas about how our world has changed in the last two decades, John proposes keys to leadership in this globally competitive business environment. Drawing on his background in Hollywood, arguably one of the most competitive and unpredictable industries, as well as his degree in spiritual psychology, John formulates strategies for leaders to use. Starting with our personal lives and our inner beliefs, John traces a set of pathways to translate the inner leader into an effective and dynamic leader in the external, professional world.
- 5D Conference: the Future of Immersive Design, Cal State Long Beach, September 2008 (See Video)
- National Association of Business Economics, 50th Annual Meeting October 2008
- Johns Hopkins University, “Learning, the Arts & the Brain Summit” May 2009
- Tribeca-Flashpoint Academy, Chicago – Commencement Address, June 2009 (See Video)
- Communications University of China, AniWOW Student Animation Festival, October 2009 – Keynote
- Long Beach Community Foundation, Digital Media Summit, November 2009 – Keynote (See Video)
- Autodesk Education Summit at SIGGRAPH, August 2010
- Association of Film Commissioners International, annual Cineposium Conference, November 2010 – Keynote
- XMedia Lab Global Media Ideas Conference, June 2011 – Keynote
5D Conference
John moderated a panel at the 2008 5D Conference at Cal State Long Beach called “Reality and Hyper-Reality,” which focused on this question: If the audience is becoming blase about the extraordinary ability of visual effects to create immersive worlds, how do we keep them engaged?
Panel participants included Gore Verbinski, Scott Robertson, Evan Douglis and Lance Williams.
Flashpoint Commencement Speech
John delivered the 2009 commencement speech at Chicago’s Tribeca/Flashpoint Academy.
Long Beach Community Foundation
In October 2009, the Long Beach Community Foundation, in association with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, organized a Digital Media Summit to discuss strategies on becoming a business hub for digital content creation. USC’s Henry Jenkins gave the opening keynote, and John gave the closing keynote.
John suggested that Long Beach should not expect established Hollywood companies to open satellite offices in Long Beach, but that the community should develop its own infrastructure, using local schools, businesses and government to incubate content creation for local arts, advertising, and entrepreneurial businesses.
