Imagine being surrounded by leaders from Fortune’s “Fastest Growing Companies” along with CEOs and executive team members of the country’s leading midsized firms. OK, are you there? Now imagine a line-up of speakers and presentations from some of the world’s leading business authors and entrepreneurs. As imaginative as I am, I prefer the real thing. Thanks to our forward-thinking approach at Inovateus Solar, I was able to participate in such an event, the 2016 ScaleUp Summit that took place in Atlanta last month.
TJ Kanczuzewski, president of Inovateus Solar, with Molly Wendell, author and speaker, and Tom Brown, Inovateus’ VP of strategic research.
The conference, organized by Gazelles—an amazing company led by the equally amazing Verne Harnish—brought together an excellent lineup of speakers. Among those we listened to and learned from were Aubrey Daniels (“Bringing Out the Best in People”), Molly Wendell (“The Networked Organization”), Erik Qualman (“What Happens in Vegas Stays on YouTube”), Verne Harnish (“Scaling Up”), David Butler (“Design to Grow”), Marshall Chiles (“Your Presentation is a Joke”), Ari Weinzweig (“Building a Great Business”), and Denise Lee Yohn (“What Great Brands Do”).
My personal highlight was listening to the wisdom of General (Ret.) Stanley McChrystal, author of the bestselling book, “Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for A Complex World.” He described how our great military had to adapt its tactics in a dramatic way to face the threat of modern terrorism. As a former Marine, I am so appreciative of those educated, forward-looking thinking people in charge of the precious lives of the women and men who volunteer to step into harm’s way on our behalf.
General McChrystal helped us see how his management style and ability to adapt to a new kind of warfare wasn’t too dissimilar to how modern companies must face the realities of an ever-changing business world. His team of teams approach provides a great primer for structuring the kind of flexible and adaptable business we all need to embrace, if we want to scale up and compete.
As an avid reader, I believe that learning is a continuous and necessary process if you want to stay relevant in a world that is experiencing the most rapid technological changes in history. If you are still doing business the way your parents or grandparents did business, it might be time to pack up your office. Disruptive technologies and business techniques are coming at such a pace that many people, companies and even industry sectors will be irrelevant within a few years.
In hindsight, who would have wanted to own a carriage company when Henry Ford started his little enterprise? If you own a hotel chain, a taxicab company or even a utility, change is coming because of Web-based businesses like Airbnb and Uber and the technological advancements resulting from the rapid deployment of renewable energy and storage. Sure, you can fight to hold on to what was, but your 1980s and ‘90s business practices are calling on that rotary-dial phone and the message on the other end is from a cassette recording of Journey’s “I’ll be Alright Without You.”
No person is so smart that he or she can stop learning, no business too successful to stop adapting, and no industry isolated enough to avoid disruption. I would encourage everyone to keep reading or better yet, to find a community of like-minded learners.
Finally, I want to mention one more very important person who joined us during the summit—our business coach, Will Ditzler, from the River Birch Executive Advisors group. Thanks for your support, Will!
For more information on similar events, click here.
By Mauricio Anon, brand ambassador, Inovateus Solar
