I had a fantastic opportunity to attend the ASAE 2015 Annual Meeting for the first time in August 2015 - and what an opportunity for learning, networking and sheer inspiration. The professional field I live in is health care, so the ASAE meeting was a brand new audience for me.
As a health care professional, skill, training, expertise, and education are essential to my job as a clinician, but I quickly learned, early on, that those traits aren’t enough for advancement. To be successful, to grow your business, to be sustainable, you need to be innovative, think outside the box, and not be afraid of what you do not know. How do you do that? Bring your whole-self to your profession and actively listen and learn. That was my first impression of walking into the ASAE 2015 meeting.
The opening general session with Josh Linkner, a business leader and venture capitalist, engaged storytelling as a means of presenting a number of business case studies of success and failure. I could immediately relate to the business examples Josh presented: The Dollar Shave Club and Cleveland Whiskey. Josh also cited the simplicity of a five year old child, who is never satisfied with an answer to his question of “why?” He reminded us to challenge ourselves, like a five year old, and keep asking the simple question: Why? - OR - Why not?
Josh took us on his journey of becoming an innovative thinker, and how he became obsessed with creative thinking, citing disruption as the change agent for success. In Josh’s presentation, he identified five steps of innovating thinking:
1. Get curious.
2. Crave what’s next.
3. Defy tradition.
4. Get scrappy.
5. Push the boundaries
This is where my connection to “thinking like an innovator” hit home. Josh reminded me of the power of storytelling and how it is a reliable method of learning. He also reminded me of how meaningful a simple exchange of a story resonates with all people, across all professional settings, across all life spans. No matter where you are – you can relate to a story, if you bring your whole-self to the conversation and actively listen and be open to learn. By attending the ASAE meeting, I was able to take this journey of education and inspiration. I certainly recommend ASAE’s meeting for anyone looking for that spark, to reignite your self-innovation.
