PRSM does many things well, but to be even better, we must focus on what we do best.
The Retail Revolution Continues. In 1995, I came across a magazine called Fast Company, a magazine with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, world changing ideas and design. Alan Webber and Bill Taylor, two former Harvard Business Review editors, founded Fast Company on the premise that a global revolution was changing business, and business was changing the world. Today, Fast Company continues to chronicle how changing companies create and compete, and highlights new business practices. It also showcases the teams and individuals who are inventing the future and reinventing business.
A Change in Mindset is Necessary. Regular reading of Fast Company built my interest in the concept of the “entrepreneurial mindset.” There are many definitions of this “mindset,” but there are shortcuts to finding a true definition. Most directly, find those visionary entrepreneurs and find out what they know. In the early 2000s, the pages of Fast Company introduced me to a budding entrepreneur named Gary Vaynerchuk, who was making his name in the world of online wine sales. Since that time, Gary’s popularity and influence have grown exponentially. His VaynerMedia LLC operates as a brand consulting agency. Its services include creative and production, paid media, account management and strategy, social analysis, community management and consumer insights. With more than one million fans / followers / viewers of his social media efforts, Gary lives in the rare air of social media icon.
@garyvee. Gary’s podcast is a must-listen for leaders at all career stages – especially if you desire to lead in this digital age (www.garyvaynerchuk.com/podcast/). He is king of the blunt assessment – he pulls no punches. Gary is also the rare CEO unafraid to deliver his message and predictions with verve, energy and candor. Those of you who will be joining us in Nashville at PRSM2018 National Conference will have the opportunity to see him in person. In this time of reinventing retail, Gary’s message is exactly the right message for the moment.
When Doing Less = More. In 2011, Morten T. Hansen, a professor of management at the University of California, Berkeley, decided to try to answer the question of why some people outperform others. He recruited a team of researchers with expertise in statistical analysis and began generating a set of hypotheses about which specific behaviors lead to high performance. He then conducted a five-year survey of 5,000 managers and employees, including sales reps, lawyers, actuaries, brokers, medical doctors, software programmers, engineers, store managers, plant foremen, nurses and even a Las Vegas casino dealer.
The widespread practice Hansen found among the highest-ranked performers in the study wasn’t a better ability to organize or delegate. Instead, top performers mastered selectivity. Hansen’s new book, Great at Work: How Top Performers Do Less, Work Better, and Achieve More, explains in more detail his findings. This concept of delivering more effectively by doing less better is directly relevant to PRSM. PRSM does many things well, but to be even better, we must focus on what we do best.
PRSM 2018 Focus. PRSM is a successful association, but we must continue to evolve operations to keep up with the ongoing retail revolution and serve PRSM members most effectively. PRSM has partnered with Strategex to conduct a Voice of the Customer (VOC) analysis and strategic plan development. One major change for PRSM operations will be a renewed focus on what PRSM does best. Vaynerchuk puts it this way: “Whether you’re 9 or 90, stop trying to fix the things you’re bad at, and focus on the things you’re good at.” There are parts of PRSM that will always need fixing, but our strategic efforts in 2018 will narrow our association focus to what we do best – and attack those objectives with an entrepreneurial mindset and energy.
I look forward to seeing you in Nashville at PRSM2018 National Conference.
By: Bill Yanek
