What I Learned at the #ABICON17

The Iowa Association of Business and Industry's annual Taking Care of Business Conference was simply outstanding this year. The Business Record is so proud to be part of this powerful program and association. I had the opportunity to attend with the Business Record's director of sales, Sara Brown. As I returned to the office, many people in the community and at work asked me what we learned. There were so many great points to this year's event who's theme was "Giving Back", that I wanted to share a few of my personal take away's.

I learned that once again, Iowa is an amazing place: We Iowan's already know that. However, every time I have the opportunity to connect with people I don't know, I am always surprised at people's openness to talk, relate, share and form a new business relationship or friendship. Meeting Karn Gregoire was a great example of this. We sat next to each other at a break out session and immediately after, she turned to me and said: "We need to get to know each other". Someone reflected about the ability to have ACCESS to top business leaders that in larger metros would not be so accessible. So true.

Building solid relationships and caring about people is the key to business success: How does your organization foster sustainable relationships? We are officially in a relationship era (vs a product era or consumer era). How do you nurture your relationships with your customers? We are what we do, not what we say we do. Giving back means caring for others, for community and forming deep relationships. How do you go the extra mile to serve others?

Company culture is vital: Does your company have an intentional culture that puts in writing your values, practices, and expected behaviors for your employees in order to enhance workforce engagement? Are you willing to hire and fire based on your values? Hiring practices based around company culture is an important way to make sure your workforce fits well and succeeds within the organization. Hire well, train for skills and empower your people. Work within your company to state what your culture is. Put in place measurable goals for each department that aligns with your culture. If you give employees reasons to believe in their work, they will be shining brand ambassadors for your company.

EQ vs IQ: What is the emotional intelligence of your leadership and workforce? What are the soft skills that your company values? Do you hire individuals with a growth mind-set? Emotional intelligence means getting along with others, allowing to be vulnerable by understanding strengths & liabilities, taking initiatives and motivate, looking at multiple perspective, recovering from setbacks and much more.

Servant leadership - one person CAN make a difference in your organization, community and the world: Give back to your employees by being the leader they want to follow. A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible. When you do well, credit the team. When you don't do well, you take the responsibility for it.

The customer experience: What is the unique value proposition that your company brings to the world? Why should a customer choose you over your competition? How do you promote this and make the experience easy for the customer? How does your company nurture relationships with your clients and prospects and how easy do you make it to do business with you?

When you are on the dance floor, wear boots: We had a wonderful evening enjoying a fun 80's band (brought back LOTS of memories) called the "Spasmatics". I think I got a little too 'jiggy' and the next morning woke up with a swollen foot. BUT IT WAS WORTH IT. Turns out our keynote speaker was a great dancer too and he whipped us up into a frenzy. So much fun! That's what I call team building.

Thank you Mike Ralston and the entire ABI team for a powerful conference. We can not wait until next year.