Event Keynoter Urges Attendees to Have the Guts to Stand Out

“It takes guts to lead with love and trust!”  So began Dr. Kevin Freiberg’s passionate and energetic luncheon keynote presentation at CompTIA’s Annual Member Meeting on Thursday, April 8th.  Based on his book entitled “GUTS! Companies that Blow the Doors Off Business-as-Usual” Freiberg’s presentation was an impassioned plea for attendees to decommoditize their businesses by thinking creatively and taking risks to stand out.

To illustrate this point, Freiberg asked attendees to consider if clients would miss them if they suddenly disappeared or if someone similar would quickly fill in the gap. “Do you stand out in the eyes of your customers?” Freiberg asked. “Are you hungry for change? Are you setting the pace for others?”

Citing examples from local car dealers to major airlines, Freiberg urged the audience to overcome what he called an “incumbent’s mentality” and think about what it would take to be radically different. “We naturally want to protect the things that got us where we are,” Freiberg said.  But winning companies have built a culture that makes it safe for employees to try new things and constantly innovate.

Using example from sports, telemedicine and agriculture, Freiberg told the audience to leverage technology to get better and smarter, faster than their competition and to use digital connectivity and access to information to brand themselves as a “junction box of knowledge in the mind of clients.”

“It takes guts to stand out.” Freiberg said.  “The world isn’t changed by people who are unwilling to take risks.”