About Skills Matter
Skills Matter is a dynamic community-driven platform designed to empower tech professionals, particularly developers, through expert-led resources such as conferences, training courses, hackathons, and meet-ups. Founded as a start-up, it has grown into a global network of over 200,000 individuals. Skills Matter fosters continuous learning, offering opportunities for members to enhance their skills and stay ahead of industry trends, ultimately enabling them to write better software and collaborate more effectively across the tech community.
Nik and Chris addressed highly skilled and diverse technologists at Skills Matter, London, in a dynamic, interactive, brainstorming session.
Technologists must change the way they develop products, then lead. They must allay growing public anxiety on what they do and why.
Nik and Chris addressed highly skilled and diverse technologists at Skills Matter, London, in a dynamic, interactive, brainstorming session as part of the Leadership Matters series.
They highlighted how booming technologies like robotics and AI are accelerating at such a speed that leadership is struggling to cope with new unthinkables which are now unpalatables. In the cabaret set-up they urged technologists to think far more radically and transform their organisational leadership.
How was the presentation and discussion received?
A rating of 3.5 out of 4.0. One attendee wrote:
“It was great to hear you speak last night… I thought you raised lots of interesting points and I would love to continue the conversation around transformation in leading organisations”.
What did others appreciate?
”Full of Rich Content, Really enjoyable to listen”; “The presentation slides”; “Very insightful and confirms my sentiments”.
At Nik’s suggestion, the aim was stimulating, energetic debate and engagement. It was informal and dressed down – a departure from Ditchley’s usual norms.
The session exceeded all expectations and created a buzz of energy all day.
Nik persuaded 35 of the 150 young people people to give their views in just 55 minutes of brainstorming. He brought speakers in at a high rate of interventions, capturing the findings on a white board to create the springboard for intense, radical discussions throughout the festival.
Ditchley provided a unique opportunity for participants to engage with like-minded peers on fundamental questions about the kinds of lives that they want to lead.
The festival’s other aim is to introduce Ditchley to the likely leaders and thought leaders of tomorrow. They are curious about the world in which they live and open to new ideas and challenges to current patterns of thinking.
Our Latest Client Examples
Explore the latest from Thinking the Unthinkable. From global conferences and summits, to town hall meetings. Click on an example below to learn more about the work we do.
Exeter Climate Forum | Exeter, 2026
Thinking the Unthinkable partnered with the University of Exeter to deliver a thought-provoking session exploring one of the biggest barriers to climate action: how to communicate effectively in an increasingly polarised and misinformation-rich environment.
UK Nature Summit | York, 2026
The UK Nature Summit 2026, was hosted by Environment Bank at the historic Castle Howard Estate in North Yorkshire and moderated by Nik Gowing. The event brought together business leaders, investors, sustainability professionals and nature experts to examine how organisations can move from nature ambition to meaningful action.
CWZ Climate & Nature: Achieving Restoration at Scale | Zurich, 2026
At the opening of Climate Week Zurich 2026, Nik Gowing was invited to moderate a flagship session focused on one of the most persistent challenges in climate action: how to move from knowledge to implementation at scale.
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