Earlier this week I posted an article about why you should attend Sage Summit and mentioned that several sessions will help you bring innovative ideas back to your company. Here is a list of what I think are the “must attend” sessions.  They are a mix of some in which I’m presenting and some that I will be attending.

  • C-184: Making Your Business Antifragile (Wednesday, July 24, 8:30am-10am, Chesapeake G) – Based on the work of author and professor, Nicholas Taleb, this session will raise the question of how we can apply the abstract concept of antifragility to strengthen our businesses and make them less susceptible to uncertainty. It will be a collaborative dialog between attendees and Ed Kless (Senior Director, Sage), Robert Wood (Owner, DDF Consulting Group), and me. The concept of antifragile is “beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.”
  • C-185: Creating Strategy in a Small Business (Wednesday, July 24, 10:30am-12pm, Chesapeake G) – Even small organizations can create and execute meaningful strategic plans. However, to reach that goal requires us to say “no” to stuff we usually say “yes” to. Ed Kless invites you to an open dialog about how best to go about creating a strategy for your small organization.
  • C-183: Top Ten Business Myths (Wednesday, July 24, 2pm-3:15pm, National Harbor 11) – If you are interested in having a conversation about business myths, examining our most deeply held beliefs, and how to either dismiss them or at least think differently about them, join Ed Kless for this session.
  • C-186: Panel: The Strategic IT Leader (Wednesday, July 24, 3:45pm-4:45pm, Chesapeake G) – If you are an IT leader or have one in your organization and would like to increase the strategic value you provide to your company, attend this panel session to learn from other IT leaders how they have increased their value by thinking differently from how they have in the past.
  • C-188: On Why Managing Sucks and How to Fix It (Thursday, July 25, 2pm-3pm, National Harbor 13) – Almost five years ago, I read Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson. They described a concept they call a ROWE (results-only work environment). They were right, it was the perfect answer for making work not suck. I implemented a ROWE in my company and it has produced great results. The basic premise is I changed my mindset to focus on real results and not on efforts. In this session, I will lead a conversation about Cali and Jody’s new book, Why Managing Sucks and How to Fix It. We will look at the ROWE environment from a management perspective and talk about how to implement a ROWE in your organization.
  • C-189: Initiating a Project in a Small Business (Thursday, July 25, 3:15pm-4:15pm, Chesapeake C) – Ed Kless and I would like to start a conversation around the idea that, in small organizations and teams, projects are rarely initiated properly and thereby achieve less than optimal results. We will open a dialog with you about how best to initiate new projects in your organization.
  • C-201: In Defense of Business (Thursday, July 25, 4:30pm-5:30pm, Chesapeake G) – Is business a noble yet frequently rebuked calling? With the constant bombardment from the media questioning the nobility of business, it is oftentimes difficult to see how businesses profit not only themselves, but all of society. So much so that the notion of having to “give back” to the community is redundant. If you are interested in learning more about this defense of business and the market, please join the conversation with Ed Kless.

Mark these on your calendar.  You will not regret attending these great sessions.  I hope to see you there!