Alain Sylvain

Brands used to promise abstract aspirations and fantasies. Now, to succeed, brands need to provide ruthless utility. And much like Queen Bey, great brands have changed to be much less superficial and much more useful.

How guests are looking beyond passive moments of indulgence to more challenging and purposeful experiences.

The worlds of luxury and hospitality are largely driven by mantras like “at your service,” “the customer is always right,” and “it’s a pleasure to serve you.” But what happens when luxury travelers want to serve a purpose greater themselves? People increasingly want to sacrifice, serve others and submit to ideas with real impact. Alain Sylvain, founder and CEO of Sylvain Labs, will draw from client work, pop culture and science to demonstrate how the service industry and the meaning of “service” is changing – guests are increasingly wanting more engaging, active and purposeful experiences in their travels.

How acknowledging the limitations of your own perspective and authentically channeling that of The Other creates new opportunities.

Society is continuing to reckon with a history of discrimination and harassment related to race and gender – as well as other aspects of identity like sexuality, language, nationality, etc.. What often gets lost is the profound value Otherness has in creativity, invention and innovation. The perspective of The Other is rich and often contributes to groundbreaking new ideas, behaviors and cultural phenomena. While the topic of diversity and inclusion is well tread, in this presentation, Alain Sylvain, founder and CEO of Sylvain Labs, will argue that there is an inherent and unique value in taking perspective from the margins.

From diagnosing love languages to harnessing GIF magic, Sylvain Labs helps companies like Google, Blackrock, Spotify, GM, American Express, Samsung, and others develop brands and reimagine products, all while staying true to their value as human beings. Profit and purpose can happily coexist, and the future of capitalism does have a conscience. You’ll leave inspired and armed to use business as a force for good (and fun).

Why today’s digital social advocates must mind the backlash in order to further their causes

For the first time in a long time, societal norms are being challenged. We’re demanding more. Social media and technology in general is fueling the movements that are changing our culture for the better, from #metoo to #blacklivesmatter to the Women’s March. But just as technology enables revolutions, it can also quell them through brutal backlash.

So what does this mean for the progression of today’s social advocates?

In this talk, Alain Sylvain, founder and CEO of innovation consultancy Sylvain Labs, will dissect today’s dominant, digitally-driven activist movements—through the lens of the technology and innovations that have enabled them. He’ll explore the successful, powerful moments, as well as the various forms of backlash that have ensued, from Madison Avenue to Wall Street to Hollywood and back again. And how, throughout this past tumultuous year, the “backlash theory”, as he calls it, is coming full circle.

Finally, drawing from his background as a strategist and entrepreneur, Alain will uncover what it takes to achieve real behavioral change. He’ll argue, through personal experience, professional anecdotes and historical context, that when we mind the backlash, we have the power to further our causes. And finally break that status quo.

Even in it’s frivolousness, pop culture used to be the common language we leveraged to subconsciously discuss and deliberate the issues of the day. The shows and movies we watched, the music we listened to, the sartorial choices we made, and even the foods we ate all reflected our collective perspective. And brands exploited this monoculture to share their stories and influence our habits.

But today pop culture doesn’t exist and brands don’t have a natural right to culture in general.. What is the role of brands when culture is increasingly fragmented, constantly changing and not welcoming to brands? Drawing from history, science and of course pop culture, Alain Sylvain, Founder and CEO of Sylvain Labs, will explain how brands and products have a responsibility to further culture – and not capitalize on it.

How business's obsession with ‘innovation’ robbed the word of its meaning, and how we can reclaim it

As businesses–brands and consultancies alike–we fetishize ‘innovation.’ We’ve thrown the word ‘innovation’ around so much that it’s lost its meaning in a time when the true practice of innovation has never been more essential. And it’s not the first time. Business corrupted terms like “design,” “diversity,” “empathy,” “collaboration” to name a few. So, how can we redeem “innovation" and bring dynamic new life to the practice?

In this talk, Alain Sylvain, founder & CEO of Sylvain Labs, will draw from neuroscience, linguistics, history, pop culture and his experience with clients like Airbnb, Spotify and BlackRock to argue that by liberating the meaning of innovation, we have the power to unleash a new wave of creativity in business. He'll also detail a ‘new code of innovation’ that transcends products and services to impact consumers in new, visceral ways.

They’re touted as famed business celebrities. But is this diluting process?

The cult of the entrepreneur is real. Our culture at large considers entrepreneurs some of the greatest heroes of our time, and we don’t question it. But it’s not just the Steve Jobs and Elon Musks of the world that are idolized -- it’s the everyday entrepreneur. The breadth of conferences, magazines, books, movies, TV shows and podcasts about ‘the entrepreneur’ is never ending. Kids are learning about entrepreneurship as soon as they’re old enough to watch Shark Tank, well into university and beyond. Everyone has a new business idea.

But the idealized version of the entrepreneur, the rags to riches storyline, is almost always unachievable in the way that we’ve fetishized it to be, though that hasn’t stopped people racing towards the persona. This race is good for capitalism, but it’s not always admirable. And sure, it’s all a sexy story for the media to tell, but it’s time to consider that it’s a story that’s been diluted by the zeitgeist.

In this talk, Alain Sylvain, Founder & CEO of Sylvain Labs will get honest about the life of an entrepreneur, and his own experiences as one himself. He’ll explore why our culture has fetishized the entrepreneur, and made everyone think they are one. And finally, Alain will argue that this has put blind faith over informed support of a product, service or person. In a poignant moment in business, it’s time to reflect on entrepreneurship. Alain will propose ways in which we can work to restore its purpose by bringing it back down to size.

Words matter. They affect our perceptions of and reactions to situations, and evoke certain images in our minds. The ways in which we use, understand and interpret language are crucial to our lives, from our consumption of media, to broadcasting on our own social media, personal relationships and working life.

Language is loaded. And when it comes to innovation and branding, it drastically affects how and what we buy into. The food industry in particular has harnessed the power of language when it comes to selling products. Soy milk was once soy juice. Kiwis used to be Chinese Gooseberries. Some of your favorite legacy brands had to learn the hard way that their names weren’t landing (Olay used to be Oil of Olay, and Nike, Blue Ribbon Sports). And newcomer DTC brands like Casper and Warby Parker are using distinguishing human names to resonate.

But in today’s world, where we’re so inundated with brand language, lofty names of new tech products and more consumer goods than we could possibly need, are we confused by all the options? As culture continues to shift, and particularly in the midst of crisis, is the language we’re attracted to changing? What does our subconscious mind want to hear and see in 2020 and beyond? And even further, does the changing landscape of culture (and therefore, language) influence the way companies innovate and brand?

In this talk, Alain Sylvain, Founder & CEO of Sylvain Labs will explore the psychological effects of language and naming and how they influence strides in innovation. He’ll pull from history, pop culture, science and personal experience (see his name, after all) to argue that the power of language and naming has always been remarkable, but that the culture of today has rendered it the most dominant force in our decision-making.

The abstraction of purpose has made it unrelatable. How do we reclaim it?

We are in a purpose-crazed moment. Leaders advocate for it, social media is ablaze with it, employees desperately crave it in their work, and consumers are demanding it. We’re holding everyone -- not just corporations and governments -- to a higher standard.

And while it’s crucial for progress, can the average person actually define that higher standard? An unwieldy amount of talk about purpose has rendered it almost faceless, so lofty in its abstraction that our role as humans is becoming harder to understand.

But people have always organized around a common purpose. Whether that’s a sports team, politics, a non profit, social cause or celebrity. We have a natural sense of our individual purposes. It’s just that now, because of how purpose is currently advertised in our culture, it’s become less relatable to us.

Have we unknowingly lost our feelings of accountability and control? Has all the talk from higher places made us feel too far removed?

In this talk, Alain Sylvain, founder & CEO of Sylvain Labs, will argue for bringing humanity back to purpose. Pulling from psychology, philosophy, history and pop culture, he’ll explore why many have lost their agency, and how we can take it back. Finally, he’ll showcase why it’s down to a collective of dedicated individuals to drive change. Because when we remember that purpose is actually a very personal thing, we bring purpose back down to earth. And when we do that, we can achieve more together.

How the concept has evolved over time and how it might not be cool to be cool anymore.

“Cool” has always been a part of society – from pop culture and high-fashion to high school. Whether that’s through the brooding of a James Dean, the swag of a Billy D. Williams, the unapologetic confidence of a Beyonce, the aloofness of a Kurt Cobain, the vision of a Steve Jobs, the nerdiness of a Neil deGrasse Tyson, or the fashion know-how of a Kardashian. And brands have followed suit, desperately trying to portray an ideal version of themselves that is thoroughly cool. The Marlboro Man, “Be Like Mike,” Dos Equis’ Most Interesting Man Alive, Chanel girl squads, etc.

The perception of cool is, in a way, a primal need – to be desired by the tribe as a modern, attractive symbol. But does this concept even exist anymore? How has cool changed over the years? Is it even cool to be cool anymore? And if not, what’s the alternative? Today it sometimes seems that cool can be about being weird, or nerdy or letting your “freak flag fly.”

In this talk, Alain Sylvain, founder & CEO of Sylvain Labs, will explore the concept of “cool” and how it’s evolved on a personal level and as a branding device. He’ll reference history, politics, pop culture, fashion and more to illustrate how it’s possibly been rendered meaningless.

Why business benefits from a little bit on the side

As entrepreneurial spirit continues to grow as cultural movement, the side hustle has become an outlet for the 'more' that we seek. And not just for the individual, but for big brands like Amazon, Google and Patagonia. It is an essential element in building and keeping momentum, with seemingly small projects actually propelling the wider business forward.

Not only do these projects help organisations through experimentation and shared experiences, they activate people’s inherent motivations to dream big, create something new and drive it to completion. And regardless of whether these side hustles succeed or fail, the organisation and the people within it are made better through a real-life education on hustling to get stuff done. These lessons are absolutely worth chasing, and the chase offers new lessons every time.

Reflecting on Sylvain Labs' vast array of side hustle ventures - everything from premium headphones, documentary films and books, to mobile gaming and hot sauce - Alain Sylvain will demonstrate how the side hustle fuels the main hustle, intriguing the right clients and driving true business traction through innovation and creativity.

Companies are “woke-washing.” Has ‘doing good’ become appropriated for the wrong intent?

The concept of "purpose" has become something of a cliché—a fashion accessory in the world of business. Corporate leaders preach about it, employees desperately crave it and consumers are buying into it more and more. But is it even possible for a company to have a conscience? To have a moral compass or reason for being that is bigger than profit? Has purpose started to be appropriated for the wrong intent?

And what about us? In our day to day work, are we thinking about “purpose” in the right way?

In this talk, Alain Sylvain, founder & CEO of Sylvain Labs, will answer these questions using contemporary examples, history, pop culture and more. He’ll draw from his journey as a founder, his company’s recent experience in joining the ranks of leading Certified B Corporations, and his work with clients including BlackRock, Waze and the WNBA. Finally, Alain will argue that while the need for business with purpose is at an all-time high, many companies today are still exploiting it to drive their own agendas.

Identifying how to grow up and away from a stagnant story. Defining a purpose and understanding how to activate it within culture. These are two key tenets of a brand strategy that provokes progress in today's society. Alain Sylvain, founder & CEO of Sylvain Labs, will share the stories of the WNBA and BlackRock and why these distinct brands set out to create real change, how they did it, and the long-term effects their brand strategies continue to enact today.

For brands in a recession, it’s a poignant time if we can activate the right instinct.

Let’s face the truth. Moments of crisis are scary. They’re triggered by external shocks and leave us all in a state of heightened anxiety. And we’re right in the middle of one.

It’s important to look back as we try to move forward. Throughout modern history, crises have served as platforms and incubators for new products, innovations, ways of thinking and deeper senses of purpose that have played monumental roles in progressing human societies. It’s moments like these that spur the creative constraints we often need.

But that doesn’t mean these moments of uncertainty don’t get to us. Global leaders, corporations, brands, education systems and families alike are all wondering how they should be managing through and responding to the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. What world will emerge on the other side of this and how will we handle the change? How can we actively shape it?

In this talk, Alain Sylvain, Founder & CEO of Sylvain Labs will argue that the answers to these questions are dependent on activating the instincts that don’t come naturally during a crisis. He’ll unpack the energy and adrenaline that we must navigate, and the potential it brings if we can activate what we call “The Progress Instinct” over “Fight or Flight”-- an instinct that allows for longer-term thinking and planning. He’ll explore the roles of brands and companies of all sizes in shaping this seminal moment in business, and argue that it’s time to forget lofty words and embrace the true utility of brand purpose in the fundamental needs and wellbeing of people. Finally, he’ll identify the imperatives crucial to provoking The Progress Instinct amidst a recession -- and the techniques we need to get there with the upper-hand.

As we approach the next phase of business and branding in the face of this seminal moment we’re in, laser-focus on new consumer needs is crucial. Brands must address our shifting values by contributing to the solution and living up to their purpose now more than ever -- by forgetting lofty words and embracing their true utility. But in times of crisis, tensions run high. The act of balancing tonality becomes essential in making any of those brand movements worthwhile.

In this talk, Alain Sylvain of Sylvain Labs will argue that brands must actively fight to create our ‘new normal’ needs rather than waiting to see what emerges. But that the balancing of tonality and timing with actions is what will make or break them.

When you discover your unique relationship to power you unlock new potential

We all have inherent relationships to “power”. We either flourish or falter in the face of them. Whether it’s based on where you’re from, your relationship with your parents, partner, friends, or education - the fact is, our unique relationship to “power” shapes every interaction we have.

Similarly to the way in which language has the incredible power to connect us and unlock new realities, our relationships to power have the potential to either hinder or propel, isolate or engage us. Effective interactions and problem-solving are dependent on our understanding of them.

In this talk Alain Sylvain, Founder & CEO of Sylvain Labs will unpack his take on different human relationships to power and their effects on personal and professional life. Using his own experiences and drawing from history, politics, neuroscience, pop culture and more, Alain will encourage the audience to understand their own relationships to power. He’ll argue that through strategically harnessing it, you can unlock a new creative identity, purpose and success in and beyond the workplace.

What happens when we all experience trauma together? And how can brands help us overcome our shared sense of PTSD?

On an individual level, trauma can crush our sense of wellbeing. But on a collective level, trauma takes on a whole new meaning. When society experiences an event that’s distressing for the collective, our individual stress is topped with a crisis of social identity. Our understanding of the world is disrupted, and our place within it can become lost. We’re feeling that more than ever in 2020 as society reckons with health and economic crises, continued police brutality, the passing of revered cultural heroes, trying new work, life and school routines, and actual fires blazing across the west coast. And that's just scratching the surface.

Can brands have a role in helping society cope with its collective trauma?

In this talk, Alain Sylvain, CEO of Sylvain Labs will explore the science and psychology of trauma on the collective psyche. Drawing from history, pop culture, science and marketing, Alain will unpack what happens when we all experience the same distress - and how we cope. He’ll identify the ways in which brands can begin to design and innovate their products and ideas towards the common goal of overcoming our shared PTSD and establishing an enduring way to come together.

Everything is derivative. But it doesn’t have to suck.

Does originality still exist? Isn’t every idea based on something else? And does being creative mean being original?

In fact, everything is derivative. But in a culture obsessed with innovation and independence, the fear of being unoriginal can drive us crazy. We fear being cliche, stale, or ordinry.

Our capacity to imitate and build off preexisting ideas is actually a natural human instinct. But the thing is, derivative ideas don’t have to suck. And that as ideas pass through your worldview and frames of reference, they become authentically yours.

In this talk, Alain Sylvain, Founder & CEO of Sylvain Labs, will explore the myth of originality in the context of human and brand creativity and argue that while most ideas are derivative, they can still be not just stimulating, but actually move the world forward. He’ll reference examples from social psychology, business, pop culture, art, and copycat cultures around the world to argue that you don’t have to be original to be creative. In fact, you might just be onto something if you’re not.

When we remember that tech is a tool of culture, new potential emerges.

We idealize technology. Our society has put it up on a pedestal, we’ve dedicated thousands of conferences, books, podcasts, movies and more to it. We’re constantly exploring it from every possible angle. We ask questions like: how is technology changing us? What is technology’s impact on the world and culture at large? It’s become ingrained into the shape of our culture.

It makes sense. Technology enables so many parts of our lives. But we often forget that technology is actually subservient to culture. Its progress is based on our needs as humans in an ever-evolving society.

In this talk, Alain Sylvain, Founder & CEO of Sylvain Labs come together to explore the relationship between culture and technology. They’ll pull from history, pop culture, brand examples and their personal relationships with the immigrant experience to showcase that when you take a step back and remember that technology is a tool of culture versus a dictator of it, new potential will emerge.

What does it mean for the future of work?

Business loves to debate about Gen Z ad nauseum. We hear a lot of negatives: they’re addicted to technology and social media. They have short attention spans. They’re susceptible to loneliness and anxiety about the future. But we also know they’re more sensitive, self aware, confident, and more diverse than previous generations. They’re expected to fundamentally change the world of business.

Why? Because they’ve learned first-hand from the mistakes of generations past. Technology has provided young people the platform and freedom to experiment and explore. The tools to enable earlier-stage success and adulthood have always been available to them. They’re perhaps the savviest generation when it comes to risk, creativity and invention.

But with that savviness comes a natural subversion to the rules. They feel they know better because they have the receipts to prove it (look at Billie Eilish vs Britney Spears. Billie has completely subverted the pop convention). As our culture continues to shift, they rightfully question everything. And they’re no longer reliant on others to learn -- they’re absorbing knowledge themselves in a way that used to be impossible. Where teachers, parents, siblings, and religious institutions used to play God, now Google is God. YouTube is God. The Internet and its wealth of information is the only authority they subscribe to.

In this talk, Alain Sylvain, Founder & CEO of Sylvain Labs, will explore the gusto of Gen Z and how it will affect the future of what we think of as ‘work’. He’ll argue that people and institutions aren’t an authority over Gen Z, so they naturally subvert it. Their unprecedented levels of information are empowering them to forge their own paths in a way that today’s workplace will have to reckon with, and soon.

Brands spend endless brain power and countless dollars on trying to understand Gen Z. But there is no getting to know this generation. Gen Z is everywhere and nowhere. Quiet and loud. And the things we can identify contribute to their complexity as a group even more. They’re shapeshifters, change-hackers, rule-benders.

You can’t label what you can’t see, and so we must embrace Gen Z as the ‘anti-definition’; one that ultimately transcends what marketing labels can accomplish.

In this talk, Alain Sylvain, Founder & CEO of Sylvain Labs will explore the myths and realities of Gen Z across the fluid facets of their lives and ask, if you can’t hack them, why not hack with them? Drawing from ideas in science, history, psychology, pop culture and current brand examples, he’ll unpack the ways in which brands can join forces with Gen Z’s inherent rebellion against any standard rulebook. And finally, he’ll argue that while you may end up hacking your own system in the process of reaching them, maybe that’s just what you need.

Losing a shared office space has wide-ranging effects on team dynamics that are just now starting to come into full view. In distributed work, leaders must intentionally design for cohesion—the unified feeling of togetherness critical for productivity, collaboration, and alignment around common goals. With concerted effort, the infrastructure that holds our teams together can be made even stronger by investing resources into the distributed equivalents of four key domains of the contemporary organization: environment, culture, technology, and rhythm.

We’re all in pursuit of our own forms of progress that (we hope) will cut through the saturation of uncertainty we’re facing today. But how can we balance our knee-jerk reactions to recover and stabilize with proactive, visionary thinking that will ultimately take us further?

At Sylvain Labs, we believe the first step towards progress is through the exchange of ideas with those outside our everyday realities. And in turbulent times, leveraging our inherent dichotomies can not only work to our advantage, but may just be our most valuable asset.

So how do you perfect the balancing act between strategic vision and action; between intuition and data?

We see this as an opportunity to gather and share personal insights and tensions with those we wouldn’t normally interact with. To codify a new path towards efficiency in a world fraught with ambiguity. To create a cohesive strategy that will see us through the Catch 22 we find ourselves in today, to the next phase that comes after.