Claire Burge is a tech entrepreneur who understands that work as a concept is broken. Spurred on by the resounding belief that if people are going to spend 90% of their lifetime at work, every effort should be made to make it a positive environment.
Her work has inspired a number of leading companies including PwC, Kia, KPMG, EY, Opel and Johnson & Johnson to consider the future of work, redefine their corporate culture and cultivate productive teams. It has also led to her joining some of the world‘s leading thinkers and business people on stage at the Founders Forum in June 2015.
After taking the leap herself three years ago to abolish emails from her companies, she has now joined forces with We Quit Mail to pioneer the world‘s first No Email week in November 2015. This is a global movement that is gaining more and more traction as the benefits of a life without email become clearer to companies after they‘ve experienced Claire‘s effects on their bottom lines.
Claire‘s experience of the workplace began aged 12 when, eager to earn some extra pocket money, she began working for an accountancy firm in her native South Africa. She continued to work for the company for the next six years and it provided her with an initial insight into how changes to established working practices are essential to drive a company forward.
Having obtained a degree in Psychology from the University of Pretoria in South Africa, she was subsequently selected to study for a Masters in Entrepreneurship alongside a number of high powered executives, including the CEO of De Beers Diamonds. She continued to build on her knowledge of people, systems and ways to create success through her ground breaking research on Deliberate Practice, which was presented to the leading United States business school, Babson College.
After selling her first tech business at the age of 26 she has continued to pioneer her state of thinking and displayed her all out geeky side, as CEO and founder of This is Productivity which houses training, change consultation and e-learning programs.
Claire‘s passion to improve the work place and to make it more productive than ever before, provides the basis for her inspirational keynote addresses. Her keynote topics include:
1. The Future of Work: What are the essential characteristics of a future forward thinking organisation?
2. Collaboration and Productivity: They‘re different but equal.
3. Workplace Transformation: The relationship between humans, technology, systems and space and how they can work together to make a more productive work space.
4. Digital Transformation: Is email essential or can we survive without it?
5. Creating a Happy Workplace: An environment that is essential for employers and employees to survive and prosper.
Claire is about to launch her own online magazine, Chaos and Rocket Fuel which will offer readers a curated exploration into the areas of technology, science, productivity and human behavior.
"Claire did a fantastic presentation at our Administrators Conference today. Her talk was engaging, topical and delivered at the right level." Roche Products - March 2016