Eliza Manningham-Buller headed Britain’s Security Service (MI5) from 2002 to 2007, leading the organisation though substantial change in the wake of 9/11 and the threat from Al-Qaeda. During her time at the helm MI5 doubled in size, opened eight new offices and altered its approach to the professional development of staff with the establishment of a training academy.

Earlier in her career, Eliza led the Service’s investigation into the Lockerbie bombing. She served in Washington during the first Gulf war, returning to establish MI5’s intelligence effort against the Provisional IRA in mainland Britain. She joined the board and assumed lead responsibility for work on Irish terrorism, surveillance, technical collection, finance and IT before becoming Deputy Director General in charge of intelligence operations.

In presentations Eliza draws on her experience in the most demanding of environments to stress the need for leaders in any walk of life to engage in frank dialogue and invite criticism: “Do not try to be something you’re not, take responsibility for your team and remember that praising people takes seconds and can make an enormous difference. And don’t forget that humour can be found even in the most awful situations.”

Eliza Manningham-Buller is an active cross-bench Peer serving on numerous committees including the Science and Technology Committee, and the Chair of the Wellcome Trust, the world’s second largest non-governmental provider (behind the Gates Foundation) of funds for scientific research. She was also chosen to deliver the prestigious BBC Reith Lectures and her analysis of the theme Securing Freedom formed the basis of her book of the same title.

She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath (DCB) in HM The Queen’s 2005 Birthday Honours. HM The Queen appointed her a Lady of the Garter in 2014.

Within a few years, Nora Ikstena became the most famous Latvian writer in the world. Her novel “Mother’s Milk” gained enormous popularity. It is a story about three generations of women in Soviet Latvia, who tries to remain themselves in an atmosphere of Soviet stagnation, suspicion, grievance and meaninglessness. This Soviet reality is perfectly recognizable to all of us in Lithuania. 

Nora Ikstena has published more than 20 books, including fiction, biographies, essays and even a culinary books. She creates a scripts and ideas for movies, music projects and large-scale events. The writer is one of the most noteworthy personality in the cultural life of Latvia: she is a Chairman of the Latvian National Cultural Council and former Head of the Latvian Literature Center. 

Her initiative created the Latvian Literature Center, the International Writers and Translators House in Ventspils and the annual festival Prose Readings. She is a member of the National Cultural Council. Nora Ikstena has received numerous National Literary Prizes, including the prestigious Baltic Assembly Prize and the Latvian Order of the Three Stars.

How do you react when someone triggers you? How do you behave in stressful situations? Perhaps you have noticed that some people react too calmly, indifferently, while others – stormily, emotionally, using expressive body language? The latter like to blame themselves, distress for not controlling themselves? What causes such reactions? What response should be adequate? After all, our behavior and reactions to certain situations determine the relationship with colleagues, family, friends, business partners. A psychotherapist,  „The Invisible Lion“ author will share experiences at the conference on how to understand what is happening to us, how to manage our reactions and not to cross boundaries.

Pluto cracks 24 000 years unbelievably, the same thing happened to me after “Chernobyl”. This movie blew me away totally, and thoughts, reflections, understandings continue, multiply every day like plutonium, ”says Lineta Mišeikytė, the series’ producer in Lithuania, openly sharing her experience. She agrees that “Chernobyl is a recognition of the Lithuanian movie industry, but for her personally, this project had a much more important significance –a change of mindset. Lineta speaks of our inner Soviet construction, which we still cover under the surface of the plastic, about our lost dignity, lack of self-confidence, and the human metronome of truth.

UAB Baltijos filmų paslaugos, founded by Lineta, together with foreign partners, made more than thirty movies in Lithuania. Lineta’s latest work is the historical mini-series “Chernobyl”, created by HBO in Lithuania which has established itself at the top of the IMDb ranking, as well as “War and Peace”, “Nazi Rise” and others.

Arūnas Dulkys describes himself as a former cashier who has spent more than a decade in cash registers, warehouses and banking. We know him better as a former State Comptroller and Head of State with almost 25 years of experience in turning people into teams and leading them toward change.

Every manager leaves a certain legacy to the organization. First of all, his/her mistakes. Lessons from mistakes are also valuable dividends. Still, the most important thing for a manager is not to leave mistakes, but to achieve a result. For a manager who has grown to a leader, it is already important HOW that result is achieved. For a leader it is time to answer the question – HOW to maintain the achieved result and its legacy.

Managers very rarely talk about inheritance because they mistakenly think it is a retreat from their main business activity. Also, they do not want to be accused of caring about their career only. Meanwhile, a career is different from an inheritance. Career is a set of achievements. Legacy is a long-term impact on processes and people. Like a gift from a separate organization to our common world. So how manager needs to manage his/her  time, energy and take care of legacy at the same time? How was it understood in the past and what are the trends now? Arūnas Dulkys will speak about it at the conference “Go Forward!”.

Who is more likely to take a risk – men or women? Why do western women try to avoid competition and in matriarchal societies, on the contrary, women like to compete? How do temperature at the office affects the cognitive productivity of women and men? Agnė Kajackaitė, a well-known researcher and behavioral economist who studies behavioral differences between men and women, will raise intriguing questions about gender differences.

Although the differences between women and men have been debated for centuries, there is still a lot of room for unique research. This was proved by Agnė Kajackaitė, Behavioral Economist, Head of the Research Group on Ethics and Behavioral Economics at the Center for Social Sciences in Berlin. Among scientists, Agnė stands out with her unique laboratory experiments, which aim to understand how people make decisions, why they behave unethically and what determines a person’s decision to lie or not to lie. This study, which revealed different responses to a temperature between men and women, has been published in The New York Times, The Time, The Guardian, broadcast by the BBC and elsewhere. Currently, in cooperation with the publishing house Baltos Lankos, Agnė Kajackaitė is writing a popular science book entitled WO / MEN, in which she reviews the gender differences in the economy, the tendency of women and men to take risks, compete and lie.

Admit it – life often looks like a one-way highway! Beingness, in which you participate, you make decisions, you do what is needed and what is expected of you. There are plenty of bigger and smaller problems that fall on your head and you have to deal with them. And what would change if we make a decision to live life as play? When you stand in the position of a player, you are free – you have the right to make mistakes, bluff, lose, repeat, relax, dance more often, fight less. You are free to ask questions – what is my game about? Who are my partners? What is the purpose of a game? Does my game has an ending? Is it important for me to win? What changes do I expect: internal or external?  Who creates new situations: me or circumstances? Am I a player who creates and controls the circumstances, or am I adaptable and obedient? And finally, what game are we going to play today?-  it will be discussed at the conference by actress, associate professor, rhetoric, respiratory therapy technician Adrija Čepaitė.