Welcome! Here is where I quickly recap my experience at the Collision Conference in Toronto from May 20-23, 2019 by sharing my Top 10 favourite quotes and takeaways with you. Check out Part 1 and Part 2.
Generalists change the world. Specialists perfect it.
Graham McDonnell, International Creative Director of the New York Times delivers an incredible keynote In defence of the ‘Jack-of-all-trades’ that pushes back on the negative perceptions of being generalists. It’s easier to see the value of specialists (ex: doctors or lawyers) because they charge top dollar for all of the knowledge that they’ve acquired. However, what happens to all of those specialists whose niches have become irrelevant in today’s ever-changing world? McDonnell highlights that generalists are adaptable problem solvers who can tackle diverse situations and cross-pollinate their ideas. Generalist thinking is important because “if the only tool you have is a hammer, then every single problem looks like a nail“… For example, an O&G engineer who founded seismic processing technology changed his career path and went into the music industry where he developed the beginnings of autotune!
Don’t enter to exit. Enter to stay in the game.
Adi Tatarko, CEO & Co-Founder of Houzz sends a message out to all entrepreneurs that you shouldn’t be starting up your businesses with the end goal of becoming acquired by giant corporations. Instead, you should believe in your abilities to make it big and keep it big without having to pass the baton over to someone else. Tatako also advises that you should make decisions based on what’s right for you going forward, and not base decisions off past decisions and experiences.
Hire for culture adds, not culture fits.
Joel Flory, CEO & Co-Founder of VSCO states that it is important to build an internal community of diverse employees that represent the external community that your brand is serving. When it comes to building a global content community, VSCO develops a framework that allows both creators and community (users) to win. As a result, creators are incentivized to keep creating and users are willing to pay more than once because the products add value to their lives.
This concludes my 3 Part Series of the #CollisionConf recap.
Thank you for reading!
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