Technology Revolution: The Future of Now

The buzz: "79% of sales people that use social media outsell their peers" [Forbes]. Social selling is at a tipping point, "that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, spreads like wildfire" (Malcolm Gladwell). It is impacting how sales and marketing teams collaborate, do business and engage customers. But the laggards – organizations just now joining the social bandwagon – are in "reactive" instead of "proactive" mode. How can they incorporate social selling into their company's DNA? The experts speak. Brynne Tillman, Vengreso: "Social does not take the place of a handshake, but it turns a handshake into a hug" (Brian Fanzo). Mario Martinez Jr., Vengreso: "Just remember, you can't climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets" (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Kirsten Boileau, SAP: "There's a way to do it better – find it" (Thomas Edison). Join us for Social Selling at the Tipping Point – Part 2.

The buzz: "New research provides compelling evidence that diversity unlocks innovation and drives market growth" (hbr.org). With the commoditization of technology, your company may have focused on improving efficiencies. But if you used a cookie-cutter approach to reshape business processes, organizational models, data and architecture, you may have an unwelcome by-product: the inability to innovate. How to fix? Build-in diversity at every level–systems, data, processes, ecosystems, people and skills across your entire organization. The experts speak. Bronwyn Hastings, SAP: "Dreams and dedication are a powerful combination" (William Longgood). Darwin Deano, Deloitte: "Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future" (Deepak Chopra). Jodie Stahly, Deloitte: "The real secret of success is enthusiasm" (Walter Chrysler). Join us for Redefining Innovation to the Power of D: Multiple Layers of Diversity.

The buzz: "Today thoughtful people everywhere are trying to understand the implications of a protocol that enables mere mortals to manufacture trust through clever code. This has never happened before" (Don and Alex Tapscott). Just when the switch to digital money threatens the banks' cash-handling function, blockchain technology is attacking their role as a trusted intermediary. This is just the tip of the blockchain iceberg. Blockchain is emerging across other industries and lines of business. How to distinguish wishful hype from concrete cases to re-think business processes of the future? The experts speak. Raimund Gross, SAP: "There are no fast followers in a paradigm shift–only winners and losers" (T. Smith). Dr. Gideon Greenspan, Coin Sciences: "When you come to a fork in the road, take it" (Y. Berra). Kris Hansen, Portag3 Ventures: "We look at the present through a rearview mirror. We march backwards into the future" (M. McLuhan). Join us for Money's Digital Makeover–Part 3.

The buzz: "Male VCs—obviously most are—are very comfortable now giving female entrepreneurs capital for 'girl stuff'" (Vivoom). Don't be fooled. Sexual harassment and discriminatory treatment toward women are not a Silicon Valley-only problem, nor can they be undone by men's "nice" blogs. Female-founded businesses are out-performing male-started businesses 5 to 1, boosting the US economy by $1.6T. Yet only 2% of funding has gone to women startup founders. What will it take to lift these gender barriers? The experts speak. Adam Quinton, Lucas Point Ventures: "Power's not given to you. You have to take it" (Beyoncé). Victoria Pettibone, Astia: "You've got only one lift to live. You can either make it chickens**t or chicken salad (Cousins). Dr. Patti Fletcher, SAP SuccessFactors: "What has destroyed every previous civilization has been the tendency to the unequal distribution of wealth and power" (Henry George). Join us for Don't Start with Me: Funding Female-Founded Startups – Part 2.

The buzz: "Motivation is an art, not a science" (Dan Tyre). If you're regularly paying sales incentives to customers and partners but getting nothing in return, you know the challenges of juggling an array of programs and pressure to achieve bottom line visibility. Wouldn't it be helpful to learn how to optimally manage complex partner programs for contracts, pricing, rebates, incentives, and more? The experts speak. Cara DeGraff, Vistex: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them" (Albert Einstein). Gary L. Adams, Vistex: "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts" (Winston Churchill). John McDonnell SAP: "While physics and mathematics may tell us how the universe began, they are not much use in predicting human behavior…I'm no better than anyone else at understanding what makes people tick…" (Stephen Hawking). Join us for Target Incentive and Rebate Programs: Driving Digital Transformation.

The buzz: "You can invent alone, but you can't innovate alone" (G. van Wulfen). Business leaders have long pondered whether culture impacts an organization's evolution and growth. If culture is the "personality" shaping the ability to drive innovation, what type of culture will spark new ideas while disrupting old models? Will multiple personalities fight each other? The experts speak. Dan Seewald, Pfizer: "Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something" (S. Jobs). Ingo Rauth, PhD, Rotman DesignWorks: "If you want a robot to maneuver aggressively, it has to be small. As you scale things down, the 'moment of inertia' - the resistance to angular motion - drops dramatically" (V. Kumar). Jennifer Ford, SAP: "I don't go by the rule book.I lead from the heart, not the head." (Lady Diana) Join us for Innovation Culture: Is Your Business A Split Personality?

The Buzz: "Tax complexity itself is a kind of tax" (Max Baucus). The confluence of global trade, new technologies and governments' increasing need for tax revenue is impacting the global commerce landscape, challenging you and your competitors. To stay afloat, you need to understand, prepare for and stay on top of changing tax and regulatory compliance rules, as well as new technologies and platforms – including blockchain, machine learning, and big data. Got your lifejacket ready? The experts speak. John Viglione, Vertex: Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose" (Bill Gates). Robert Kugel, Ventana: "The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing" (Jean-Baptiste Colbert). Camilla Dahlen, SAP: "Strength lies in differences, not in similarities" (Stephen Covey). Join us for Global Commerce, Tax and Technology: Navigating Rough Waters Ahead.

The Buzz: "Disruption is a process, not an event, and innovations can only be disruptive relative to something else" (Clay Christensen). Rapid change has forced today's visionary business leaders to replace conventional growth models with a Disruptive Solutions mindset. Say what? This creative thinking methodology enables leaders to anticipate and quickly react to industry disruptions, identify unplanned opportunities, and move past internally-directed core competency thinking to leverage open innovation. We'll tell you how. The experts speak. Bryan W. Mattimore, Growth Engine: "If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old" (Peter F. Drucker). Erica Dhawan, Cotential: "If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun" (Katharine Hepburn). Denise Fletcher, EZassi: "The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it" (Mark Weiser). Join us for Disruptive Solutions Mindset 101.

The Buzz: "Don't annoy science fiction writers…people who destroy entire planets before lunch. Think of what they'll do to you" (John Scalzi). Think a beach day with a sci-fi page-turner is an escape from reality? Not! Sci-fi could prepare us for the possibilities of tomorrow hurtling at us via tech advances like AI, robotics, IoT. Should it be mandatory reading for business leaders? The experts speak. Gray Scott, Futurist: "Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not" (Isaac Asimov). Brenda J. Cooper, Sci-Fi Author: "Change is the principal feature of our age and literature should explore how people deal with it. The best science fiction does that, head-on" (David Brin). Dan Wellers, SAP: "For me science fiction is a way of thinking, a way of logic that bypasses a lot of nonsense. It allows people to look directly at important subjects. (Gene Roddenberry). Join us for Sci-Fi, AI, Wi-Fi: What's the Story?

The buzz: "It's actually women who are creating and leading some of the most established and promising companies overall" (@DrewAHendricks). Female entrepreneurs' accusations of sexual harassment from male VCs and others, are symptoms of entrepreneur ecosystem gender bias. Female startup founders received $1.46B in VC funding (2016) vs $58.2B to males. Does Silicon Valley mirror global tech-intensive industries? How to access power and capital for all? The experts speak. Adam Quinton, Lucas Point Ventures: "[In politics] If you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman" (Margaret Thatcher). Sharon Vosmek, Astia: "Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible (Dr Maya Angelou). Dr. Patti Fletcher, SAP Successfactors: "There is no female mind. The brain is not an organ of sex. As well speak of a female liver" (Charlotte Perkins Gilman). Join us for Don't Start with Me: Funding Female-Founded Startups.