I’m getting my mind around some of the ?speakers and presentations at the Society for Marketing Professional (SMPS) conference in Indianapolis, and will dig into a few of the themes in through the next week after I have some time to digest the thinking and connect the dots.
The opening speaker, futurist David Zarch, provided some insights about how we need to think beyond momentary and transitory thoughts — to the longer range trends, and even more permanent principles, which could perhaps be equated (my words) into values.
Afterwords, at a SMPS Fellows Leadership Session, five senior owners/leaders communicated with experienced marketing and business development leaders and as I parsed the notes, I realized that the basis here aren’t too complicated: If you want to succeed at the higher levels, you’ll need a supportive culture, and appreciate that the seller-doer (rainmaker) model is now very much recognized as the primary way architectural, engineering and construction businesses uncover new business. (You might say, ‘So, what’s new here?’ and I’ll agree, because there are no magic bullets that will change the story.)
Other than the fact that we are certainly embarking on a time of extreme technological change, and that we need to realize that you will need to find people who can grapple with and adapt to the change or be left behind — and there isn’t much time to waste.
I’ll synthesize these thoughts more clearly in the next few days. In the meantime, after a a break, I need to return for the evening sessions and the awards presentations with the Marketing Communications Awards.
