Yesterday I attended the MHTA Spring conference. I always enjoy the conference, but I thought it was especially good this year. It started with a keynote from Stanley Hubbard. He set a nice tone in terms of recognizing that Minnesota has inspired entrepreneurs for generations. He spoke about the early days of television, the role of the FCC back in the day, the role of friendly animosity between St Paul and Minneapolis (OK I added friendly – but I like the idea of the animosity driving both towns forward!) and the importance of integrity.

Mr. Hubbard noted that he’d rather invest in people than ideas, a sentiment that I heard repeated throughout the day. Funny, I’m always looking for the connection to technology but what really struck me was the role and importance of people! Hubbard (and others) noted the importance of having people who are visionary and people who can deploy the vision. (I can’t think along those lines without mentioning my favorite TED talk by Derek Silvers on How to Start a Movement.)

I listened to folks at HB Fuller talk about Building an Open Innovation & “Possibility Thinking” Culture. In short, the idea is to get employees thinking about new ways to solve problems – but defining problems, looking at possible solutions inside and outside the company and working with resources (inside and outside the company) to test, assess and iterate solutions. From a technology perspective I think we’re looking at the impact of the flattening company org chart. I think the first flattening of companies happened when suddenly anyone could email the boss (or board chair). There was some benefit and I’m sure some annoyance in that flattening. The current phase of flattening really provides a platform for employees to work together and to share work. This seems especially valuable in a large company. In a small company innovation can happen at whole staff lunch breaks – technology can replicate and focus interaction.

I also listened to folks from Accenture and Avande talk about shifting from disruptive technology to being the disrupting technology. I like that focus on leading disruption! The discussion really looked at how technology is/can change the market – any market. They discussed a few key observations:

• Mobility: digital apps can help businesses meet consumers where they are.
• Social: consumers are going to their friends for product recommendations via social channels; advertising is a distant second best option
• Big Data: the focus really is on right data, learn from the consumers and iterate to improve the experience
• Cloud: allows for device-computer neutral experience. The focus is on content/experience regardless of platform

There was also a panel of CEO that included folks from Eagle Creek Software, HealthEast and Digineer. They repeated many of Mr. Hubbard’s themes. They try to provide a fulfilling experience for employees, they look for people who fit the culture and they are happy with new recruits today. They did note that schools could do a better job of helping students learn to use or recognize the value of their skillsets in different settings. So if you’re a biology major, you might be great with taxonomy in and out of biology settings. One topic that came up was diversity. People were pretty frank about noting that diversity is a tough challenge.

If you want more specific of the day, I suggest checking out the Tweets. People were good about sharing the notes via Twitter.