Ideas Fest: What Did You Miss?

This year, the Operations Team at The Wellbeing Company decided to do something different. We stepped away from our laptops, left our exhibitor hats at home, and fully immersed ourselves as attendees at Ideas Fest 2026.

Last year, we spent our time networking, showcasing our work, and meeting incredible businesses. It was productive, but this year, we wanted to listen, absorb, and truly soak in the experience. And what two days they turned out to be. We listened to so many inspiring talks but here’s what stood out to us.

Kindness as a Business Model: Simon Squibb’s Powerful Message

Simon Squibb’s talk on Kindness as a Model for Business wasn’t just a highlight. It was a challenge to rethink how we measure success. In a world obsessed with metrics and KPIs, Squibb reminded us that kindness isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s a strategic advantage. He shared real-world examples of businesses that built their success on empathy, from treating employees like family to prioritising customer well-being over short-term gains. 

For us in operations, this struck a chord. We live and breathe efficiency, but Squibb pushed us to ask: Are we optimising for kindness as much as we optimise for speed? It’s not about grand gestures. It’s about small, intentional changes. Like streamlining processes to reduce stress for colleagues or ensuring our vendors feel valued. We left his session with a challenge: How can we keep embeding kindness into the way we work? Not as an afterthought, but as a core principle.

Scaling with Purpose: Rachel Harris on Strive X and Xero Chat

Rachel Harris, CEO of Strive X, led a session in collaboration with Xero that focused on how AI can take care of the “boring bits” of business. She spoke about how important it is to use AI to automate repetitive tasks. Freeing teams to focus on what truly matters.

For us in operations, this was eye-opening. We’re already exploring how we can use AI to offload time-consuming tasks. The goal isn’t to cut jobs but to elevate the work we do. Rachel’s message stuck with us: Focus on what matters, automate the rest, and never lose sight of why you started.

The AI Marketing Debate: Finding the Balance

No Ideas Fest would be complete without a healthy debate, and this year’s AI in Marketing panel did not disappoint. The panel was split. Some argued AI was the future of personalised marketing, while others warned against over-reliance on algorithms.

Our take on this was that AI is a tool, not a replacement. It can analyse customer data to suggest trends, draft ad copy, and even personalise emails at scale. But it can’t replace human creativity or empathy. The best marketers, we learned, will be those who know how to guide AI, not just use it.

For our team, this means experimenting with AI-driven insights while keeping the human touch at the heart of our campaigns.

Why Ideas Fest 2026 Was a Turning Point for Us

Stepping back from our laptops and fully immersing ourselves in Ideas Fest 2026 was one of the best decisions we’ve made as a team. We connected with speakers, swapped stories with attendees, and left feeling inspired and refreshed. Thank you to Ideas Fest for such a great couple of days!