Economics consultant; Author Reframe: How to solve the world’s trickiest problems

Presentation:
Reframe: Solving the world’s trickiest problems (November 29, 9.45am)

Eric Knight is an economics consultant and the author of bestselling new book, Reframe: how to solve the world’s trickiest problems. It has been described as the Freakonomics of politics – the story of how we make big decisions in a world with short attention spans.

Reframe unpicks the way we think through wicked problems – from immigration to terrorism, financial bubbles to climate change.

Eric currently advises business and government clients inside one of the world’s most prestigious consulting companies. He has previously worked as an independent consultant to the OECD and the World Bank. He holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford where he was an Australian Rhodes Scholar. He has written for the major Australian newspapers and is a regular commentator on television and radio. Reframe is his first book.

Li is Mao’s Last Dancer

Presentation:
Mao’s last dancer: lessons of creativity and courage (November 30, 3.30pm)

Li Cunxin’s journey is simply remarkable. He was born into utter poverty in Mao’s communist China, at a very young age he was selected to train in Madame Mao’s Beijing Dance Academy. So began Li’s journey. The 7 years of harsh training regime at the Beijing Dance Academy taught him discipline, resilience, determination and creativity. Li’s astounding drive and relentless hard work made him one of the best dancers in the world. He won numerous prestigious dance awards including the Princess Grace Award for Dance, two silver medals at international ballet competitions and the Green Room Award for Best Male Dancer.

The inspirational story of Li’s life is recounted in his memoir Mao’s Last Dancer, which quickly rose to No. 1 on the Australian Non-Fiction Best-Seller List and won the Book of the Year Award in Australia and receiving the Christopher Award for Literature in the USA. It went on to become an international bestseller. It’s in the 52nd reprint and sold in over 30 countries. Mao’s Last Dancer is now a blockbuster film.

Li’s experiences are real, his journey is incredible and he is a living example of overcoming adversity and achieving excellence in life.

[youtube width=”310″ height=”240″]http://youtu.be/sMzQ0S2Agnc[/youtube]