speaker news
July 12, 2024

A Paradigm Shift in Retail: 4 Ways to Gain an Edge by Adding Value—Not Extracting It. Retail Futurist Doug Stephens

We stand on the brink of a new era of competition. Is your company ready?

Today, retailers gain a competitive advantage by winning on things like customer service and price. But in the new era we’re approaching, your company will need to contribute value in creative ways to gain an edge. Futurist Doug Stephens reveals the four new pillars of competitive advantage—and what it will take for retailers small and large to win.

The era of companies extracting value from our social systems is over, Doug says. “We have crossed over into a new era where competitive advantage will come not through further extraction of value, but rather through contribution of value.”

One of Lavin’s most requested speakers, Doug is a bestselling author and internationally renowned retail futurist whose work has influenced the world’s biggest brands, including Walmart, Google, Disney, and Estée Lauder.

In his vital new talk, Doug lays out the business case for adapting to an era where businesses will need to contribute value in order to compete. You’ll learn:

How cutting-edge brands like Amazon and Google are laying the foundation for what promises to be the greatest leap in competitive advantage in modern history;
Why every brand will eventually need to adapt in order to survive (and how getting a head start today will ensure a sustained edge over your competition);
How investing in your workers and their education will pay massive dividends in the long term;
How to use the 4 pillars of new competitive advantage—rethinking democracy, rethinking capitalism, rethinking industrialism, and rethinking education—to boost your bottom line;
and much more!

Doug’s talk is a dynamic call to action for retailers and leaders who want to not only adapt for the future but actively shape it. One client raved that his keynote “left our audience buzzing long after it ended.” Audiences walk away excited and inspired to get ahead, with a new perspective on the very essence of what it means to compete.

The era of companies extracting value from our social systems is over, Doug says. "We have crossed over into a new era where competitive advantage will come not through further extraction of value, but rather through contribution of value."

One of Lavin's most requested speakers, Doug is a bestselling author and internationally renowned retail futurist whose work has influenced the world's biggest brands, including Walmart, Google, Disney, and Estée Lauder.

In his vital new talk, Doug lays out the business case for adapting to an era where businesses will need to contribute value in order to compete. You'll learn:

How cutting-edge brands like Amazon and Google are laying the foundation for what promises to be the greatest leap in competitive advantage in modern history;
Why every brand will eventually need to adapt in order to survive (and how getting a head start today will ensure a sustained edge over your competition);
How investing in your workers and their education will pay massive dividends in the long term;
How to use the 4 pillars of new competitive advantage—rethinking democracy, rethinking capitalism, rethinking industrialism, and rethinking education—to boost your bottom line;
and much more!

Doug's talk is a dynamic call to action for retailers and leaders who want to not only adapt for the future but actively shape it. One client raved that his keynote "left our audience buzzing long after it ended." Audiences walk away excited and inspired to get ahead, with a new perspective on the very essence of what it means to compete.