About Festival of Thought

Festival of Thought

Your City. Your Workplace. Your Questions.

Festival of Thought celebrates questions of truth and purpose in business. Questions of meaning, morality, integrity, faith and culture. Questions we wish could be addressed more often but seem to have so little opportunity to consider most of the time. Does integrity matter at work? Where is the meaning and purpose in my career? How can I bring my whole self to work? Festival of Thought is dedicated to the search for answers.

Hosted at your workplace and facilitated by world-class thinkers and speakers from RZIM, these questions are addressed in ways which often bring new insight, alongside perspectives from the Christian world-view. Festival of Thought is specifically designed to accommodate those of all faiths or none, so our events are often viewed as incredible learning opportunities, a way of enhancing understanding of values in business and as a contribution to Continuing Professional Development for attendees. The period of open Q&A at the end of every event is always a highlight.

Festival of Thought emerged from a series of events hosted by banking and financial institutions in Canary Wharf, London in 2015. Some of the world’s largest banks, professional advisory firms and global industrial companies took part. Since then, Festivals have taken place in several global business centres, with the cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town planned for April 2018.  If you’d like to see Festival of Thought take place in your city, or to enquire about hosting a one-off event in your company, please click here.

Why does it matter?

Business and the people who work there never stop accelerating – and why should they? In a world where time is money and profits are king, Festival of Thought creates space for driven individuals and high-performance companies to reflect on the deeper questions of life in contexts where they thrive.  It’s an opportunity for mutual understanding, as we seek to bring our ‘whole selves’ to work – an opportunity to evaluate our own senses of meaning-purpose and the things which really motivate. Festival of Thought is an opportunity for businesses to better understand their own underpinning values.

WHAT PEOPLE SAY 

‘I think Festival of Thought is enormously worthwhile, simply because I watch people change their minds about deep and basic things and find principles they will go back and apply.’

Professor John Lennox, Associate Fellow Saïd Business School, Professor of Mathematics, Green Templeton University of Oxford

 

WHAT PEOPLE SAY

“In the world now there is a thirst to explore different views in a much more personal way.”

Jeremy Anderson, Chairman KPMG Global Financial Services. Hosted Festival of Thought Event 2015

 

 WHAT PEOPLE SAY

‘My manager and I went to the talk today, on 'Does integrity matter in the workplace?’ - if I can get an answer I’ll be able to add so much value to our business.’

Moses Nwanji, Barclays London, Attended Festival of Thought 2015

WHAT PEOPLE SAY

'I’ve seen Michael give his talks and it’s incredible, it really resonates in the Business world and helps us understand how such truths apply to what we’re doing.'

Dave Breseman, Senior Vice President Silicon Laboratories. Hosting upcoming Festival of Thought events 2018.

WHAT PEOPLE SAY

‘Executives and professional people can be very successful, but still have serious questions about life: Why are we here? Does all the work I do have meaning? Festival of Thought is a welcome injection of intellects, an injection of faith, an injection of enthusiasm from the outside and provides a platform for addressing all these questions.’

 

Stephen Lam OBE, Former Chief Secretary of Hong Kong