Brooklyn entrepreneurs plug in to Synergy Global Forum

Joined 7,000 attendees from around the world

October 31, 2017 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group. Eagle photos by Mary Frost

Share this:

Brooklyn entrepreneurs and business execs were inspired by what they heard from a lineup of world-class speakers at the Synergy Global Forum New York on Oct. 27 and 28.

The business and networking event featured legends such as Sir Richard Branson (founder of the Virgin Group), Jack Welch (former General Electric CEO), Steve Forbes (chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media), Nassim Nicholas Taleb (author and professor of risk engineering at Downtown Brooklyn’s NYU Tandon), Malcolm Gladwell (author of “The Tipping Point”), Ray Kurzweil (inventor and futurist), Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia founder) and others.

These leaders shared their business advice, visions of the future and philosophies with the more than 7,000 attendees at Madison Square Garden.

Talks ranged from the nuts and bolts of closing sales, as described by the “Wolf of Wall Street” Jordan Belfort, to theories on the physics of economics by NYU Tandon’s Taleb, author of the “The Black Swan” and “Antifragile.”

Systems that can gain from disorder are antifragile, Taleb told the crowd. In general, something small is less fragile than something larger. If you throw both a mouse and an elephant off the stage, he said, the mouse will fare better.

A “robust” system is actually in the middle between fragile and antifragile systems, Taleb said. “Like people in Brooklyn.” Robust systems are solid, “Like the Brooklyn Bridge,” he added.

Aurora Morfin

Forum attendee Aurora Morfin, a Williamsburg resident, is a creative director with years of experience at top agencies. She has now struck out on her own as the founder of Aurora Olam.

Morfin designs flags and patches representing concepts like freedom, inner peace, courage and love to replace the world’s “expired” old flags. While attending the forum, Morfin wore a jacket bedecked with 12 colorful flag patches.

“The intention of these flags is to shine a light on who we are, what we stand and strive for, and what I wish for the world. I’m in the business of developing inner technology for people,” she told the Brooklyn Eagle. “Each flag stands for a different value.”

Morfin said the forum provided her with “a lot of inspiration, and opened up possibilities in my own mind.” Her goal is to make her business bigger, she said.

“Actually, my goal is to bring these flags all over the world. I’m now getting all this inspiration and believing that it is possible,” she said.

Monte Harry

Kensington resident Monte Harry works for Synergy Global Forum and said he was enthused about the contacts he made while working the event.

“We have people here from over 50 countries,” he told the Eagle. “I’ve met everyone from professional MMA fighters to CEOs, people from all walks of life.

“I mean, these are people who are most influential thought leaders of our time,” he said. “The knowledge they’re imparting now is invaluable.”

Merika Jones

Brooklyn resident Merika Jones told the Eagle she is a mentor-in-training “in what we like to call the four pillars of life: health, relationships, spirituality and finances.” Her own mentor gave her tickets to the forum as a gift.

Jones said she was inspired by what she heard from the experts.

“It’s a matter of just thinking outside of the box and not listening to the naysayers,” she said. “It’s good if you get naysayers because that means you are doing something pretty big.”

“There was one quote I really liked,” Jones said. “We talked about whether the glass is half empty or half full. And it shouldn’t matter. What matters is whether or not you’re going to fill it.”

She added, “I took a lot of notes and I plan on bringing this back and sharing these nuggets with everyone because I enjoy adding value to each and every person I interact with.”

David Markovich

David Markovich, CEO of PR firm Jumping Squirrel, lived in Brooklyn for two years — “two of the best years!” — and will likely head back someday, he said.

“The conference so far has been nothing but phenomenal,” he said. “People underestimate how hard it is to throw something of this magnitude … They brought in an amazing lineup.”