Print Sales & Marketing Executives (S&ME) Conference Tackles the New Realities of Business Survival in Challenging Times

(Pittsburgh, PA, November 7, 2009)—Creating positive strategies that address the new realities of a challenging business climate via people, process, culture, and technology will be center stage at the S&ME annual conference, May 17–19, 2010 at the Baltimore Hilton in Baltimore, Maryland.

It’s Your Ship…according to D. Michael Abrashoff, opening keynote speaker, “Organizations perform at their best when people feel safe and confident about their ability to navigate in troubled times. In Navy terms, combat readiness is a matter of life and death—every crewmember’s contribution matters.”

When Abrashoff took command of the USS Benfold, the ship’s performance ranked at rock-bottom. Worse—the crew didn’t feel safe should they be called into action. Determined to improve performance, but without the power to hire, fire, or promote personnel, Abrashoff focused on what he could change: the ship’s culture. He broke from the traditional command-and-control leadership style and sought to see the ship from the eyes of his crew—creating a guiding set of principles he calls Grassroots Leadership. When crew members asked Abrashoff to solve a problem, his response became, “It’s your ship—what would you do?” The result was an empowered and engaged team that turned the ship into the Navy’s top performer.

People at every level in business can relate to Abrashoff’s dilemma: being held accountable for results without having the ability to make the rules. His results-oriented approach bestows a sense of ownership and creates accountable teams that adapt, innovate, and accomplish more with less.

The S&ME annual conference is the premier printer-to-printer sales and marketing event offered within the printing industry. The program is tailored to meet the needs of the sales and marketing professionals, regardless of company size or process. The S&ME annual conference focuses on you, your business, and your employees at all levels.

For more information on the conference, please contact Laurie Reynolds at 412-259-1802 or lreynolds@printing.org.