Join Us for Conversations You Won’t Want to Miss

During Conversations for a Changing World, a global digital event on Oct. 20, we’ll discuss some of the most difficult challenges we face in both business and society, with speakers that include Trevor Noah, Serena Williams, Reese Witherspoon, CEOs and other executives from leading global companies, and Workday’s leadership team.

Throughout a turbulent 2020, many business leaders are leaning on their peers. We brainstorm on how we can support our employees, help heal our communities, and move our organizations forward as we grapple with big challenges and enormous change. These peer connections build optimism, too, since conversation provides the path to progress.

At Workday, we put our heads together this summer to see how we could help facilitate important conversations among business leaders both across and beyond our customer community. The result is a global digital event this fall that I’m very excited to share more about, Conversations for a Changing World.

During this event, we’ll bring together global leaders and changemakers to share ideas and inspiration, so we can pour even more of our collective energy into driving the kind of change that will lead us into a brighter future. 

We’ll hear diverse perspectives from a number of speakers, including:

  • David Cameron, former prime minister, United Kingdom
  • Adena Friedman, CEO and president, Nasdaq 
  • Alan Murray, CEO, Fortune
  • Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft
  • Trevor Noah, comedian and host of The Daily Show
  • Soledad O’Brien, award-winning journalist, entreprepreneur, and host of Matter of Fact
  • Chuck Robbins, chairman and CEO, Cisco
  • Serena Williams, tennis champion, entrepreneur, and philanthropist
  • Reese Witherspoon, Academy Award-winning actress, producer, and founder

We’re committed to hosting an event where speakers and participants take on some of the most difficult challenges we face in both business and society.

And, with our customers being the most inspirational people we know, we’re delighted to share that C-level executives of finance, human resources, information technology, and diversity and inclusion will be leading conversations during the event. We’ll also hear from Workday’s leadership team, including our Co-CEOs Aneel Bhusri and Chano Fernandez, and experts within our partner ecosystem. 

What will we talk about? We’re committed to hosting an event where speakers and participants take on some of the most difficult challenges we currently face in both business and society. Here are the topics we’ll cover, featuring executives from the following companies: 

  • Digital acceleration. As digital acceleration continues to transform organizations, how will it affect today’s economy and investment strategies? (Cushman & Wakefield, Deloitte, John Muir Health)
  • Planning in times of uncertainty. How do business leaders navigate change while balancing short-term decisions that protect employee health with long-term investments that grow their business? (G6 Hospitality, KPMG, Microsoft)
  • The skills movement. As technology evolves, jobs will look different than they do today. How do we reskill workers and ensure equal access to meaningful careers?  (Mastercard,Telstra)
  • Delivering on diversity. Diversity and inclusion is taking center stage as both a business and societal mandate. How are effective companies taking this moment and turning it into a movement for lasting results? (Dow, Home Depot)
  • Conversations from Europe. In today’s changing world, European companies are facing unique challenges. How are they adapting their leadership and business strategies to emerge stronger? (Absa Bank, ThyssenKrupp Steel)
  • Conversations from Asia-Pacific. How are today’s challenges impacting companies throughout Asia-Pacific and Japan? And what are business leaders doing to navigate them? (City Developments Limited, The Salvation Army)

The global broadcast of Conversations for a Changing World will start at 8:00 a.m. PT/16:00 BST on Oct. 20, with the option for our Asia-Pacific attendees to join us for a second broadcast on Oct. 21 at 10:00 a.m. SGT. Most of the content from the event will be available on-demand through Oct. 31. 

The event is scheduled to run three hours, and you can choose which conversations to join depending on your areas of interest. And we hope you won't just watch, but will join in the conversation through our live chat and polling features. What’s more, we see this event as just the beginning of the conversations we can help facilitate for C-level executives (including CFOs, CHROS, and CIOs), and we’ll be sharing more on our plans to help them stay connected in the months that follow.

I’m incredibly grateful for our Workmates, customers, partners, and speakers who’ve embraced the opportunity to create this unique event to inspire collective action for lasting change. We hope you’ll join us for Conversations for a Changing World, where we can start to work together toward a better future for all.

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