He was all of 19 years when he was kicked out of school, was hanging around with the wrong type of company, was out of work, and did not know what his dreams and aspirations were.

But the enlightenment that three books gave him, which he read in six months, made him find his Kairos moment that would change his life forever, and eventually make him the person he was today – Sam Cawthorn, Chief Executive Officer of ‘Empowering Enterprises’, a motivational speaker and who likes to call himself a thought leader.

Describing his Kairos moment – the moment within a moment, that supreme instant when a drastic change takes place – Mr. Cawthorn said that it happened during one of his toughest stages of life when he was 19. That not only brought a paradigm shift in his mind and personality, but also made him strive to be a “greatest leader that one could possibly be”.

It was on becoming that greatest leader that he was talking to participants about at the third edition of the International Conference on ‘International Marketing in Asia Pacific – Issues and Challenges’ (ICIM 2015), being held at The Residency on Friday, with the theme “Globalisation, Innovation, Leadership”.

Addressing a cross-section of attendees via video conferencing from Sydney, Australia, Mr. Cawthorn said that it was this change that happened 16 years ago that made him tide over a near-death accident when he was 26 years old, which left him with an amputated right hand.

Showing his bionic arm close to the camera he said that anticipation and curiosity were the two drives that were responsible for him to walk again after a five month hospitalisation and one year wheel chair confinement.

“I was always anticipating a positive change. What we focus on is what we get. Optimists have a positive mindset; they are the only ones who can change the world because only they can anticipate a bright future. If I did not anticipate to walking, I would not have walked again,” he said.

Pointing out that the Kairos moment still continued to rule his life, he said his mantra always was to bounce forward and not bounce back. All his six books have been focussed on that single note of bouncing forward.

“We have trained more than 5,000 speakers, high performance communicators, all around the world. Each of them have spoken close to 50,000 people, as on-stage presenters or through an online medium, and hence directly or indirectly influenced 275 million people, all because of this one Kairos moment in my life,” Mr. Cawthorn said.

He ended his talk on the note “there could be a moment within a moment in your life. You should anticipate that that will make a difference in your life. After that Kairos moment, your life will no longer be the same”.

The conference is hosted by GRD Institute of Management and GRD School of Commerce and International Business.