September 11, 2024
Back in 2009, I gave an interview in which I had reflected on my days as a player for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies basketball team. The interesting thing about sports is that beyond the game itself, the lessons you learn being part of a team remain with you for the rest of your life, and you never know when these important insights will emerge in the everyday. One of the most important lessons, I learned was the role that teamwork and role players play in winning and achieving success.
Not that long ago I found myself sharing an elevator with ten industry colleagues including the global head for a large multinational organization. Usually, a ride that lasts at most 20 seconds turned into 30-minutes when we found ourselves stuck between floors.
For years, I’ve told people that we need to have our elevator speeches ready to go if you get stuck in an elevator with your CEO. My time in the elevator made me crystalize my elevator speech. I inevitably turn to the challenges surrounding Canada’s digital transformation, and more specifically how competitive and productive we are as a nation.
In the nine months since I became CEO at Long View Systems, it has become clear to me that complexity – both real and perceived, is an obstacle to be overcome if we are to help businesses realize the full digital promise. Specifically, and while it is in our nature as Canadians to be risk-averse (although I like to think of it more as risk aware), we must first bridge the gap between complexity and digital reality if we want to transform Canadian business. I see that as one of our primary objectives at Long View; to create a clear path that reduces complexity for our customers and our partners. Or to put it another way, and being “great simplifiers” we have to remove complexity in the ecosystem making the difficult clear and simple.
Unfortunately, leadership teams are struggling to balance reinventing their cost structures while at the same time transforming their business models and customer experiences. The situation is complicated further by the fact that there is a significant industry talent gap or shortfall. However, it is in these challenges that I see an amazing leadership opportunity emerge for Long View and our partners.
Source: Nimbus Ninety
No different from my days on the court, teamwork and building relationships are the keys. What this means is that as the technology and what it has to offer advances, we also have to prepare to advance client resources – which includes people, to make the transition from a tactical mindset to a more strategic one. Long View looks forward to playing our role and bringing our partners and customers together at Activate Digital 2019. We hope to make Canada as productive as we can for many years to come.
While last year’s conference, which brought together for the very first time in one place the then new leadership from Microsoft, Cisco, and HPE, created awareness, this year Activate Digital 2019 will take “digital transformation” in Canada to a whole new level of insight and understanding. It is the ultimate opportunity for you to collaborate, communicate and cooperatively work together towards achieving your digital objectives, and I am pleased to extend this invitation to you to join us in Mississauga on February 28th, 2019. Use the following link to register today, as space is limited.