At the Helm: Finding success by embracing the ‘risky’
By Adam Quandt
The world of today and the world of tomorrow moves fast. News available 24/7; you can tell (or show) the world what you’re eating at the press of a finger; you can sell or buy a car online and have it picked up by the next day. The list goes on and on.
But when CNN launched the first 24-hour news network in 1980, when Facebook and Instagram launched during the social media boom, when Carvana launched in 2012, there was a risk that these new ideas to the world would fail miserably.
Today, CNN has an estimated net worth of $6 billion, Facebook has 2.9 billion monthly users and its net worth stands at $545 billion, and Carvana is valued at $27 billion.
Often times to find success in today’s ever-changing world, one must be willing to embrace the risky and take a chance. This is especially true as the recreational boating industry pits itself against plenty of other options for consumers’ discretionary spending.
While this issue of Boating Industry highlights embracing the risky through innovation in the form of this year’s Top Products, a column from NMMA president Frank Huglemeyer and this month’s Marketing Strategies for Growth from Mark Overbye, there’s much more to taking risks than just innovative products. It’s taking a risk and stepping up to bring a new idea, or on the flip side, listening to one of your team members’ ideas and giving the chance to run with it. It’s finding a partnership where you think it’s least likely to find one for the betterment of the industry. Overall, it’s looking at the mantra of “that’s the way we’ve always done things” and blowing it up completely.
Now is our time as an industry to take risks and break away from the way we’ve always done things. From boat designs to team culture and everything else in between, now is not the time to rest on laurels, now is the time for change, the time to take risks and help propel the industry further to unprecedented success.
Boating Industry’s Top 100 Program for 2022
On the theme of breaking away from “the way we’ve always done things,” I’m so excited to announce that there are some very big changes coming to Boating Industry’s Top 100 program for 2022. First and foremost is a slight name change for the program. For the last 17 years, the program has officially been called the Boating Industry Top 100 Dealers. Starting in 2022, the program will officially be the Boating Industry Top 100 Awards.
I know, subtle change for the name, but it comes with HUGE changes to the program. The program is evolving to recognize the elite of the elite, not just in dealers as it always has, but the industry as a whole, across all segments. Will we still be naming and recognizing the top dealers across North America? Yes, of course! But along with those awards, we will be recognizing a number of new awards at this year’s invite-only 2022 Top 100 Awards Gala on the final evening of the Boating Industry ELEVATE SUMMIT in Orlando, Fla. While more details about the changes to the program and the new awards will be announced in the coming weeks, I wanted to be the first to formally introduce you to the all-new Top 100.
