There is still time to register for ACE2017, IMA’s® (Institute of Management Accountants) premier educational event to be held in Denver, Colo., on June 17-21, 2017. This year’s Conference, themed “Elevate Your Perspective,” promises more than 65 educational sessions on a range of topics, including keynote speakers that will shape your views on change, innovation, and leadership.
Featured speakers include Terry Jones, founder of Travelocity.com and founding chairman of Kayak.com, who will present “Disruption Off-Innovation On!” - which explores the fundamentals of innovation and gives leaders simple but powerful ideas they can use to create a more innovative organization.
Here’s just a sample of Terry’s views on today’s most pressing issues:
On business disruptors:
“I believe artificial intelligence will be the most disruptive technological advancement in the next five years. Whether it’s powering robots and drones, preparing legal discovery, finding the right travel destination, or predicting jet engine maintenance, I don’t think there’s any part of business that will not be affected.”
On the key to being a successful start-up:
“The most important thing is that you must accept risk. By that, I mean not necessarily enjoying risk or taking undue risks, but understanding that to succeed you must fail, and there are many failures on the road to success. You must take failure seriously, but you can’t be hobbled by it. You have to pivot and try again.”
On incorporating innovation into daily activities:
“Most employees are afraid of innovation, because they are afraid to fail. Failing might get them off track for a promotion or, worse, get them fired. You have to convince employees that whether they succeed or fail, they will be supported. If you do this, ideas will flourish.”
On overcoming resistance to change:
“I once worked with a team of 1,000 people who had been beaten down so much by requirements for uptime that it was impossible to get them to innovate or change. So we changed their incentive payout. They had to achieve lower defects, less downtime, and a higher percentage of new products in order for the incentive to get funded. Once the incentive was funded, it was then up to individual managers to select the payout for each individual. Individuals who had uptime responsibility could be rewarded for that, and those who did new things were rewarded for that. The key was that all of the teams had to work together so they were all rewarded. Things changed!”
Other keynote speakers who will offer their insights at ACE2017 include:
- Daymond John, founder and CEO of FUBU, co-star of ABC’s Shark Tank and CEO of The Shark Group.
- Laurie Brlas, CMA, CPA, former executive VP and CFO of Newmont Mining Corp
- Tony Byers, Ph.D., former global director of diversity & inclusion at Starbucks
For a complete list of speakers, click here.
You can also view video highlights from last year’s conference in Las Vegas, Nev., and follow the conversation on Twitter at #IMA17ACE. For full conference details, including registration information and a detailed schedule, please visit www.imaconference.org.