It was gratifying to hear, among VM readers who attended our annual Global Leadership Summit last month, so much talk about how our program’s theme of innovation, new technology and disruptive competition resonated so strongly with them as they thought of their own businesses’ future.

As the Summit’s opening speaker, MAYA Corporation’s Mickey McManus, put it, “People are not always able to catch up with the ever-changing wave of technology. But this is where innovation can happen, when you figure out how to close the gap between the information and the people.”

McManus pointed out, “Design is the opposite of luck.” Taking control, developing ways to manage through change—knowing that change is a permanent constant in the world—is really one of the few ways to stay “human” in the midst of so much rushing technology and new ideas.

Many times, those within the vision care space are focused on their own traditional challenges, and can view any new idea with trepidation or skepticism. But today’s business mandate is really to determine how your team can learn to develop core values and service processes, recognizing that not dealing with the new, that preferring the new to go away or stop, is not a realistic or pragmatic answer.

It’s part of the nature of serving the consumer and being involved in such an important thing as helping people to see better and appreciate their vision that things will change and shift and grow. Yes, it’s critical to manage the day-to-day of getting things done. But being mindful of innovative ideas, learning how to incorporate them or devise them in your company’s culture, is starting to become an essential value for many businesses, including vision care and optical.

This is translated in other ways in this month’s Cover Story which takes a look at how new ideas, technologies and processes are revolutionizing The Patient Experience.

Innovations—creating them, devising them, being “wowed” by some and “threatened” by others—is today’s new business “normal.” ■

maxelrad@jobson.com