Categories: Articles

YES Montreal – Youth Employment Services Artists Conference – Beautiful Success

Yesterday was the YES Montreal (Youth Employment Services) Artists Conference. I have had the pleasure of attending this event nearly every year since its genesis. The sold-out crowd of over 250 inspired and aspiring artists all seemed to be having an amazing time. You can read a previous Blog posting here, YES Montreal – Youth Employment Services Artists Conference – This Monday.
As a Board Member of YES Montreal and also a guest speaker that day (along with Robert Gervais of Pre2Post Technologies where we spoke about the Art Of Networking – How To Connect With People And Grow Your Business), I was particularly impressed with the morning’s panel discussion where the two key ingredients that kept resonating were: understanding your personal brand and its value along with the immense importance of networking and surrounding yourself with the right people. As the panel discussion went on, and as Gervais and I prepared to take the stage, it became very visible to me how important those two skills are for an entire company.
We always discuss the power of the brand and the power of networking. But how many companies actually put this front and center? Literally right next to strategic vision, corporate culture and sales? The ones that do have billions in market share. That’s why it is so critical for that kind of passion to be transmitted and practiced right down to the individual. That’s what I believe and actually doing it is fine art.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.