CEO Forum at the Practice Court of Quicken Loans Arena

I’m at the “CEO Forum” in the Practice Court of Quicken Loas Arena. I thought’s I’d blog the notes that jump out at me.

First Speaker:
Len Komoroski, President, Cleveland Cavaliers
Here are some live notes of his as I’m hearing him speak.

The title of his speech is:
“Creating a Winning Team Through Leadership”
He starts talking about Culture. His slide says: “It all starts with and ends with Culture”

“Always raise the level of awareness”
He talks about misspelling in signs, typos, the Toyota Arena has some lights out.
The jist is that there are details that people overlook that are causing a larger disconnect.

These are all coming from the new owner of Quicken Loans, Dan Gilbert.
There are two video clips in his presentation about a pumpkin patch that has a sign with an arrow pointing the wrong way. They come back a year later and the sign is now pointing the right way. The guy at the pumpkin patch goes on to say that this is the best year of pumpkin sales. This video series is done by the owner of Quicken Loans.

The concern here is really the obsession of the Quicken Loans owner. This presentation is all about mistakes and how they are the secret cause of your failure. Granted, these small mistakes don’t help. But the importance of this is overstated. This seems OCD to me.

“It’s not about WHO is right, it’s about WHAT is right.” is the next point. “No ‘Yes” Men around here.

“A penny saved is a penny.” He’s saying you should focus on revenue and not expenses.

“Innovation is rewarded. Execution is worshipped.” He talks about changing the color of the seats has had drastic effects on the whole feel of The Q. They’ve added “The Diff” to the scoreboard and how this is great execution. This really is not insightful to me.

They are in the Top 100 best places to work. That’s awesome.

I’m sure Dan Gilbert is a smart guy. But the fact that the points presented are his foundation are really mundane and unimpressive. But on the othe rhand, I’m just not a detail obsessed guy.

My battery is dying. This is all you get from me unless I can find a power outlet.

I’m back and should be networking now. But here’s a quick rap up.

Mark Kornegay was from Microsoft. It was just a big commercial about Microsoft. “Technology drives growth.” I don’t really believe that but it’s a convenient catch phrase for Microsoft.

While both key note speakers have impressive titles, neither was particularly interesting or “innovative.”

That said, I sat in on a session with Cathy Panzica, “Awakening a Sleeping Economy: Leadership Styles that Drive Change.” She had some great things to say.

She had 10 points that she went over. But what really struck a chord with me was her thoughts on leaders being in tactics. Her point was that leaders involved in tactics loose passion, get caught behind the eight ball and eventually die. “Concept not Content.” When you loose passion, you loose being a visionary… you loose your mantra… YOU LOOSE YOUR PASSION. When the head of an organization looses passion the entire organization is vulnerable.

I probably like that just because it strongly supports my belief that I need to get out of tactics. It resonates because I really do get passionless when I’m barried in tactics.

Alright… there you go. I’m off to get a Diet Coke and I think I smell some weinies.