IMI CONFERENCE TAKES TO THE STAGE - The Irish Management Institute's annual National Management Conference takes place today and tomorrow in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow. Management guru and actor Richard Olivier, son of Sir Laurence, will later this morning use William Shakespeare to inspire the business leaders. Taking the example of Henry the Fifth, Mr Olivier says that Henry tells his people a clear picture of the future, he gets them united behind him and is also able to motivate his troops when they get depressed and keep them buoyant in the midst of difficulty. On a personal level, he has great resilience and is able to endure 'the dark nights of the soul' and come out re-inspired.
The management guru says that if Shakespeare was at today's conference he would tell the 300 people at it that 'all the world is a stage' and that all the men and women are merely players. They have their entrances and exits and one man in his time plays many parts.
David O'Meara, who runs a physics-software games company Havok, says that - business people can learn how to go global from the Havok story. He says that core to that success on the international stage - apart from all the cool technology the company has - is that the firm understood its customers - Disney, Warner Brothers - really do not want to take risk. He says that Havok removed the risk of buying 'sexy cool' products out of the equation.
With regard to Irish businesses competing with cheaper innovation overseas, author and innovator Dan Pink says that Irish firms should not compete on price. He says that today Irish businesses have to be able to do work that is difficult to outsource, difficult to automate and ensure that it delivers on the new demands of a very abundant age. He says this calls for skills which exist at the right side of the brain - artistry, empathy, inventiveness, big-picture thinking. He says one such company is getitback.com.
Philip Nolan, chairman of IMI, says that today's conference presents a great opportunity to reflect on where we have come from and where we might go. He says that business leaders should not lose sight of what is really at important here at home in Ireland. He says one aspect of the Irish story that has escaped some attention is the fact that the first period of economic growth was export-led, while our recent growth has largely been through the domestic economy - growing the population and growing the amount of people at work. He says the country has one big advantage over its competitors - it is still relatively under-populated. Compared with really successful developed economies like Switzerland and Austria, they have several times the population densities of Ireland.
