In this stimulating, fun and eclectic interview Annemie Ress shares with host Michael Banks how creativity can unlock peoples’ innovative potential to produce accelerated business growth. Annemie’s philosophy is “CONNECT and then see what happens!”

We cover the early days at Skype when Annemie was working with the original founders and they were pioneers in the field, her podcast for Afrikaans speakers around the world, how her company, ‘Purple Beach’, is willing to just TRY something (like a TV Box set and an on demand radio station) and then listen and learn from the responses coming back.

Annemie talks about how she uses a NASA astronaut to teach creative leadership, Yoga nidra sessions for organizations coming out of lockdown, and an innovative approach to attracting young talent to very traditional companies.

Finally we discuss how ‘People Innovation’ done well leads to product and service innovation, and how the corporates can partner with startups to accelerate their growth in the networked companies of the future.

Annemie Ress has wide-ranging experience in designing and implementing significant organisational change and transformation in multi-national businesses. She draws extensively from her experience as Global HR Director at Skype, Global Head of People Innovation at eBay, and Senior HR Director at eBay & PayPal Europe.

Annemie is known for approaching organisational, leadership and strategic challenges from a very different and unique perspective and results-driven perspective. She has extensive executive leadership and board-level experience in a wide range of technology businesses at all stages of maturity.

Annemie currently co-leads the development of a diversified €350m energy innovation and technology investment portfolio for a large German multinational including sourcing, evaluating and managing investment opportunities in the UK, Israel, Germany and the United States. She has a vast direct network of personal relationships in the technology sector covering C-suite executives, hardware and software experts and thought leaders.