In this presentation, Anthony Vade, Chief Innovation Officer at Strategy Table and PCMA Institute faculty member, recaps his IMEX America session on the “mindset of influence” and previews two certificate programs offered through the PCMA Institute.
The talk is organized around three foundational pillars: mindset, methods, and momentum.
1. Mindset: Flexible Focus and Systems Thinking
- Flexible Focus: Event and meeting leaders are frequently caught in the tactical weeds while needing to interface with executive leadership and boards. Navigating this divide requires “abseiling” between fine details and high-level strategic vision, demanding mental flexibility that must be trained regularly like a muscle.
- The Iceberg Model: Featured in the Strategic Analysis to Action course, this systems-thinking framework explains that visible everyday events are merely the tip of the iceberg. Beneath events lie repeating patterns, sustained by organizational structures, which are ultimately governed by underlying mental models and values. True problem-solving requires addressing these deeper root causes rather than just reacting to events.
- The Experimenter’s Mindset: Teams and leadership must actively understand and embrace experimentation to foster sustainable innovation.
2. Methods: Creative Modalities and Team Trust
- Krebs Cycle of Creativity: Drawing on Neri Oxman’s framework in the Lead with Strategic Influence course, the presentation highlights how teams operate across four creative quadrants: Art (abundant, open exploration), Science (data-driven hypothesis validation), Engineering (streamlined execution and delivery), and Design (human-centric utility).
- The Orchestrator Role: Meeting and event professionals sit in the center of these modalities, pulling different team members in at the right time to keep the creative cycle flowing while ensuring the end product serves human needs.
- The Trust Quotient: Driving influence across diverse working styles requires building and measuring trust across peers and leadership.
3. Momentum: Minimal Viable Prototypes (MVPs)
- Minimal Viable Prototype: Adapted from the tech sector’s “minimum viable product,” this approach focuses on building rapid, testable prototypes in event and meeting design.
- Iterative Utility: Rather than building non-functional components in isolation, teams should deliver a simple working solution that provides immediate utility, iterating in minimal increments to test assumptions, optimize resources, and scale toward advanced solutions.
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