Overview from her company, Fierce Inc:

In her talk titled: “The Case for Radical Transparency”, Susan said, “If you’re a leader, understand that it is not lonely at the top. Or shouldn’t be. You will not, cannot single handedly cause or prevent success…The answers are in the room. We have them. Get the right people in the room and ask for our help.”

The idea that it is not lonely at the top connects directly to the idea that we can all learn once we engage in conversation – ask the people in the room. If it’s lonely at the top, you’re doing something wrong.

Speaker after speaker came back to the theme that we learn through conversation.  If the person who is “at the top” is having “versations” (one-way communication), the learning process is not fostered. 

Her talk eloquently speaks to the growing education issues in our country and how kids’ big dreams deserve high expectations. She contends it starts with grownups’ willingness to learn from children as much as to teach.

Her talk should be mandatory viewing for anyone in the education field, as it points out the education crisis is not just an adult issue to fix. Perhaps, the most important people are not being invited to the table: the students. 

This theme is one of many that resonated with us and continues to fuel our passion for the work that we do here at Fierce. The conversation is the relationship, and we learn from each other both upstream and downstream. It’s such a simple idea, but in our current world not simple to do. However, the stakes are high.