Global thought leaders headed for South Africa as part of the 2014 Discovery Leadership Summit

Discovery today announced the prominent line-up of global thought leaders who will be attending this year’s Leadership Summit, to be hosted on 5 March at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg. The Summit has become a prestigious event on the business calendar, attracting the likes of Al Gore, Richard Branson and Malcolm Gladwell in past years. This year’s event promises to be equally thought-provoking with Starbucks Chairman, President and CEO, Howard Schultz, renowned American economist Joseph Stiglitz and British Olympian champion, Lord Sebastian Coe confirmed.  An announcement on additional speakers will be made in due course.

Adrian Gore, Group CEO of Discovery, commented, “South Africa has an immense opportunity to be one of the leaders of the future global stage. Having vision is necessary for us to succeed as a nation and leadership ability in all spheres of society is critical. This is what the Discovery Leadership Summit aims to achieve. We want to expose our leaders to global thinking on issues relating to business, economics and government.”

The theme of this year’s Summit is Intellectual Capital. Shared – a theme that encapsulates the wealth of knowledge and insight to be shared by the stellar line-up of speakers.

Lord Sebastian Coe is an Olympic champion, British politician and former chair of the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. Using his refined political skills and strategic know-how, he famously led London’s bid to host the Games, beating Paris, Madrid and New York. Seven years later, the Prime Minister thanked him for “lifting the hearts of the nation” and for organising the “most successful Games of modern times”.  It was this determination combined with a positive attitude that had earlier helped him become one of the greatest athletes of his generation.

Global thought leader and educator, Joseph Stiglitz is a renowned American economist, prominent professor at Columbia University New York and co-chair of the university's Global Thought Committee. He is also the co-founder and co-president of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia. He was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his analyses of markets with asymmetric information in 2001. He was also a lead author of the 1995 Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Four years later, Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Howard Schultz is chairman, president and CEO of Starbucks Coffee Company. He is celebrated for using his powerful presence and platform to build a great, enduring company that strikes a balance between profitability and social conscience. Under his sharp leadership, Starbucks today has more than 17 000 stores worldwide and opens a new store every 12 hours; serving close to 44 million customers a week. Schultz was awarded the International Distinguished Entrepreneur Award, presented to him from the University of Manitoba in Canada.

Attendees of the Summit will this year again support leadership development at grassroots level. A percentage of this year’s ticket prices will be invested in the Umthombo Youth Development Foundation, a South African NGO with an innovative model that supports the training of medical professionals in rural KwaZulu Natal.

For more information on the event or to buy tickets, contact the event organisers Synchronised Marketing and Event Agency on 0861 000 749 or visit the official event website, www.dils.co.za.