Business Confidence —Polischuk

The Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute (TLMI) held another successful annual meeting last month in Scottsdale, Ariz. In today's very difficult business environment, one measure of an association's value to its members is participation at events such as this. In this regard, TLMI is doing well, as the meeting was well attended by both converter and supplier members. Another obvious measure is the change in the number of member companies. Dave McDowell, TLMI Membership Committee chairman and the 2009 TLMI Converter of the Year (see the October issue of packagePRINTING), reported a small decrease in membership of just greater than two percent (net change of seven companies). In an environment in which companies are looking especially hard at all discretionary spending, I think this can be chalked up as a successful year.

The theme of this year's meeting was "From Crisis to Confidence: Capturing Opportunities out of Volatility." As is typical of TLMI meetings, the speaker lineup came with impressive credentials and provided a wealth of advice that could be helpful in both business and personal dealings.

This year's keynote speaker was Tim Sanders, former chief technology officer and, later, leadership coach, at Yahoo! Inc. He is also the author of several books, including, Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends and Saving the World at Work.

Sanders' presentation was focused on the theme that recessions are opportunities. One of the foremost challenges during times such as these, however, is to develop business confidence. An approach he offered was to "feed your mind good stuff by managing what you put in your head." One way of doing this is by reading. An association for book retailers reported that sales of business books were down 80 percent from October 2008 to May 2009. According to Sanders, this is precisely the time when business people should be reading books, especially "keeping an eye toward future trends that others are not paying attention to," he said.

In addition to reading, Sanders said to be mindful of the conversations you have, especially avoiding what he called a "chicken little culture" that creates a lack of confidence. "Change your timing," said Sanders. "Spend the first ten minutes every morning looking for good stuff. Express appreciation and gratitude to people you work with."

Sanders' 90-minute presentation was both informative and uplifting. He definitely sold me on one thing: I'm going to read his latest book.

Tom Polischuk, Editor-in-Chief

We welcome your comments regarding any part of packagePRINTING. They can be addressed to Editor, packagePRINTING, 1500 Spring Garden St., 12th Flr., Philadelphia, PA 19130, or tpolischuk@napco.com.