Yudu - April 2013

PCMA EDUCATION CONFERENCE PREVIEW

weeks. The self-importance of people in organiza- tions is, I think, absolutely ridiculous.

What role do you think conferences play in organizational reinvention? A big error in judgment on my part was that about five or six years ago, I thought the whole thing was going to become virtual. I thought keynote speeches were going to go away. I thought for every speech, I would go to a studio in San Fran- cisco or maybe even be in my home office. I love technology. I try very hard to be an early

adopter in all I do. But I am more convinced than ever before that conferences are not going to dis- appear. I think they’ve been changed, and I don’t ever think they’re going to go back to where they were. I don’t think you’re going to see $3,000 ice sculptures anymore. I don’t think you’re going to see registrants showing up and being given a bag with spa gifts totaling $500. I don’t think you’re going to see four-day conferences anymore, with morning work sessions and afternoons devoted to leisure and the spa and golf and horseback riding and winery tours. That has all been changed. The conferences that I see today are two days, two-and-a-half days. Generally they include a week- end day of travel, so the participants are traveling on a Sunday. And they’re meeting Monday and Tues- day and they’re back on the job on Wednesday. So I think conferences are shorter. I think people have started to ask the question, what is the good busi- ness reason for spending money on this ice sculp- ture? What is the good business reason for spending money on this $100-a-plate dinner? I mean, people will just get fat, clog their arteries, and be drunk. It’s unhealthy, so why in the world would we do this?

› Jason Jennings will be the Opening General Session speaker at the 2013 PCMA Education Conference, which will be held in Denver on June 24–27. For more information, visit pcma.org/ educon. › To learn more about Jason Jennings, visit jennings-solutions .com.

ON THE WEB But the fellowship and camaraderie, learning

from your peers, one on one — that absolutely will never be replaced with technology. People who have similar interests, people who are like- minded, trying to work for a common unified goal or strategic objective, they need to get together once in a while.

If everyone who reads your book or hears you speak were to come away with only one idea, what would you want it to be? That any business that is going to achieve its full economic potential, any business that is going to withstand the test of time in the marketplace, any company that is going to be able to embrace change and is going to be able to direct change and be good for all the constituencies — they all have one thing in common. And what they have in com- mon is they all have a noble purpose. And a noble purpose is not about making money. I mean, what did Google say? Google said,

we’re going to organize all the information in the world. Well, if you’re young and savvy, what the hell would you rather do? That would be so much fun to me: “I’m going to California to organize all the information in the world.” Apple says, we’re going to be a disruptive force that changes the way the world communicates. Well, where would you rather be than changing the way the world com- municates? IKEA says, we don’t build furniture for the few who are wealthy; we design and build fur- niture for the many. Every business that’s going to achieve its full economic potential and withstand the test of time has a noble purpose.

. Barbara Palmer is senior editor of Convene. BOOK EXCERPT

To-Do or Not To-Do According to the Hackett Group, a global strategic consulting company, the average business tries to manage 372 different objectives during the year. Chances are good that number

PCMA.ORG

doesn’t surprise you, because you probably live with nearly as many on your plate. However, Hackett found that leaders at “above average” companies are surprisingly different in this critical measure. They identify an average of just 21 priorities instead of 372. Editing the list isn’t easy, but the payoff is huge. Time and money get tightly focused on the crucial activities that drive the firm’s competitive advantage and everyone has a clearer idea what

to do and no problem deciding who’s accountable. One question that I ask each of the thousand CEOs, business owners, entrepreneurs, and senior leaders I speak with each year in preparation for speeches and teaching is, “What’s keeping you awake at night, and what are the potential stumbling blocks that might get in the way of your business achieving its full potential?” There are some common answers I frequently hear, but one that’s mentioned

in almost every conversation is “staying focused,” and almost all of them add, “There are so many damn initiatives, plans, programs, decrees, and grand announcements around this place that it’s almost impossible to get anything done.”

APRIL 2013 PCMA CONVENE 83