This past Friday, February 26th I dared to venture out into another snow storm to the Wharton School of Business for a day long conference on Retailing. http://www.whartonflc.com/wharton-retail-conference/ I never had the initiative to get a real MBA so I thought this was my chance. In truth, Dave Larkins, NetPlus V.P. of Marketing was participating on an ecommerce panel and the program seemed quite impressive so plenty of great reasons to go. There was also a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship with a lively panel dedicated to that.
In addition to Dave and folks from Target, BazaarVoice and other well known players in the industry there were two powerful keynoters from different ends of the business; Allen Questrom and Tomm Hilfiger. Jay McCarroll of Project Runway fame also participated. Some of you may also recognize Jay as the face in some of the DebShops promotions created by NetPlus. He was great fun and a wonderful storyteller!
While the panelists, faculty and other professionals in attendance were engaging…It was also particularly delightful and energizing to talk to the MBA students – their passion, intellect and drive were palatable.
Some of the potent take-aways were:
*Even the most creative and best ideas cannot succeed if you ignore the business of the business.
*Successful business ideas can come from anywhere and anyone – and sometimes when you aren’t looking for them.
*Ecommerce is here to stay and will only continue to further impact the future of retail.
*Social media is having a huge influence on retail.
*True organizational change and enterprise integration is happening but it will not truly reach it’s potential for the industry as a whole until the next generation is in a stronger leadership role within these organizations.
Do I get my MBA now?
