Bill Hortz, Dean of the Institute for Innovative Development, believes in accelerating innovation development, creativity, enhanced strategic thinking and keener presence of mind for financial advisors, practice management leaders, corporate leaders, strategic account/business development professionals, and small business owners. Pivot is a word we're hearing more often this year because most business owners were forced to do that to survive the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Learn how Bill's Institute focuses on helping encourage strategic thinking as change happens more rapidly every day. Learn more about our podcast at www.theluckiestpeopleintheworld.com
Website for Bill Hortz: www.innovationdevelopment.org
Transcript:
Diane Dayton 0:02
This is Changing the Rules, a podcast about designing the life you want to live, hosted by KC Dempster and Ray Loewe, the luckiest guy in the world.
KC Dempster 0:13
Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Changing the Rules. I'm KC Dempster. And I'm here with my co host Ray Loewe. And it is we've we've had a little hint of the upcoming fall season this morning. had to put a jacket on when we left the house.
Ray Loewe 0:28
Yeah, so it's wonderful outside.
KC Dempster 0:30
So just briefly reminding our listeners that Changing the Rules is a podcast about how people handle change in their lives and how they handle rules. And we're given rules from the day we're born. And most of the time they are intended to keep us safe and help us learn how to live successfully in society. But over time, as we get to be adults, many, many of the rules are not relevant to us anymore. And in fact, they can actually inhibit what we want to do. need to do in order to be successful. So we have what we call the luckiest people in the world. And one of the things that the luckiest people in the world do successfully, is they change the rules to fit what they need to do so that they can achieve the successes that they do.
Ray Loewe 1:16
You just enjoy expounding on that, don't you?
KC Dempster 1:19
Just pushed that button.
Ray Loewe 1:20
Well, you know, I think what it is, is you were raised as a little Catholic girl and you're good and you never broke rules. And now all of a sudden you get to break rules. And and you know why the people that break the rules tend to be some of the luckiest people in the world. And I've been following luckiest people in the world now for 45 years, trying to figure out how I can hang out with more and more of these people because they're fun people and the luckiest people in the world have one big characteristic and a whole lot of little ones. But the big one is that they personally designed their own lives. And once they've designed them, they step into them and they live it to the fullest, and we have a guest today, we're gonna take a break first. So don't panic over that KC, you get your break. But But when we come back and talk about our guest, our guest has done several things. I think he certainly handles rules really well. And he came out of one industry that was fraught with rules and into a new business where the rules can be bent and broken and all kinds of things are based on innovation. And that's what we're going to talk about. The other thing that Bill, our guest yhat's his name bill is does is he tends to follow things that are fascinating and motivating. And that's always been one of the things that I've admired about him. He doesn't get bogged down into details, he goes where the action is, and we'll find out about that in a couple minutes. So, Taylor, we need a short break.
Diane Dayton 2:56
You're listening to Changing the Rules with KC Dempster. and Ray Loewe the luckiest guy in the world. We will be right back with more exciting information.
KC Dempster 3:06
Welcome back, everybody. And before we get into our interview, I wanted to take a quick moment to thank our sponsors for our virtual Friends Connection conference happening tomorrow. And our first sponsor is an organization called Springpoint Choice, and their generosity is allowing us to bring the conference to our participants at no no cost. Springpoint Choice is a membership based program for adults aged 55 and older, which offers the option to continue to live in their own home, protect their income and assets against future long term care costs, and have the added assurance of quality care when needed. If you want more information you can call Springpoint Choice at 866-778-3255. That's Springpoint Choice and we're so glad to have them as part of our Friends Connection family. Our second sponsor is to Passero'ss Coffee Roasters, and we want to thank them again for their generosity which is helping us in supporting our event tomorrow. And Passero's Coffee Roasters has three locations in the Philadelphia region. It's not only a family run business, but it's been serving the Philadelphia region for more than 30 years. And they also roast and sell their own organic coffee beans online. So I will attest personally that I have tasted one of their coffees. It's called Black Dog, and I have to say it is the best coffee I've ever had. So again, thank you to Passero's Coffee Roasters. You can find them at passeroscoffee.com. That's p a s s e r o s coffee.com.
Ray Loewe 4:53
Okay, we get to go on, right. Okay, well, we certainly are thankful to our sponsors and without them, we wouldn't Be able to continue to do all these things at no cost. But today we have a great guest. And it's a gentleman that I've known for a good number of years. In fact, I've spent quite a bit of time traveling and giving presentations with him throughout the financial law planning and financial advisory services business. And Bill Hortz when I met him was a regional sales manager or national sales manager for Oppenheimer mutual funds. And the next time I met him, he was running an outfit called the Institute for Innovation Development. And his title was dean
KC Dempster 5:44
not president but
Ray Loewe 5:45
not not president, not CEO, Dean and Bill Hortz Say hi to everybody.
Bill Hortz 5:51
Hello, everybody. And as to the dean title, I just couldn't help it, but wanted to be the Dean Wormer...I just had the opportunity and I took it.
Ray Loewe 6:08
Oh I think it's a wonderful title, and it's a sign of your creativity and the way you think outside the box which is one of the reasons why I know you're one of the luckiest people in the world. The first question I want to ask you here, is you left the world of financial planning, financial advising a very structured world, and you developed this Institute for Innovation, what caused yo to do this and what happened here because it's a big change in your life.
Bill Hortz 6:42
But in very good stead in starting up this, this new Institute to be able to work across businesses and partner strategic partnerships and, and the like, but when I was at Oppenheimer funds, you know, a major industry, a major player in a major industry, there was set ways of doing things, you know, very, very set ways of doing things. And we were always trying to push the boundaries to see how we could do it a little better, more interesting. And I started going to global cross industry, Business Innovation conferences, and very interesting organizations that just lit a fire under under me when I was talking to them. And so in your industry, how do you do what you do? What do you mean you did that? You know? What do you mean you didn't talk to the CEO in the development of this innovation initially What do you you know, it just started bringing out that one, there is a very different dynamic that's business dynamic that's starting globally cross industry. And the fact that there are new tools and ways to deal with this new dynamic, and that's what really led me to really explore this more fully. And, and the key thing I determined is the biggest challenge in financial services and these financial services industry, as well as every other industry is that there is this new dynamic of an accelerating rate of change. There are other challenges. There are plenty of them. But nothing is so fundamental. This is the ground by which on which businesses are standing On is going through this tectonic change. It's a new dynamic. It's, it's, we always had to deal with change. But it used to be generational, you know, in two, three years, right? A whole industry can go mammoth, mammoth change. So that was the first thing when I started the Institute, it was for it to be a a platform or a magnet, right? a central place where I could start curating what what are the what is to deal with this type of acceleration? There's coolbox called innovation. So let's really try to curate and find out exactly what is innovation. And how are other industries doing it and let's try to share these ideas, these these these ideas with you You know, with with others in the financial services industry, which is where I focus now, but this is true of any industry, these tools can help any industry. But I did focus in continuing financial services by focusing this institute in business innovation.
Ray Loewe 10:19
You know, one of the things that you hit me with at first when I started talking to you, since you took over this institute or created this institute, is when I went to business school, the Wharton School used to tell us well, you're going to go into business, you got to have a 25 year plan. Right? Well, 25 years so many things happen anymore. And and then I talked to you and you're working with businesses that have a three month plan, maybe right or a six month plan. So yeah, the world is not the same and and we have to we have to move with it or is gonna leave us behind.
Bill Hortz 10:56
Well, you know, the, the thing that the institution The good news. I mean, the challenge the institute is is trying to be strategic strategic is you got to focus on what what is the biggest, major challenge for businesses today. And that's the accelerating rate of change. And if accelerating rate of change, other things follow from that, you know, you need tools to address that new dynamic. And that's where I'm focusing on business innovation, tools, approaches, ways of thinking that are different, which help you how do you how do you compete, how do you operate in an environment that is changing so quickly? And like you mentioned, a business plan, you know, there's a there's an old saying that says a business plan after months of delivery of formulating it, getting the hundred pages and all that and putting in binding it and all that kind of stuff, you know, doesn't you know, doesn't exist beyond the first you know, the very first contact wth the client. It's building from your head but then you're going into the real world, and all of a sudden so you have to build from the client, not from your head. And that's why new companies are using a new tool which is called the business model canvas, and it's a great tool because if you're running any kind of company, it doesn't matter, size, scope, industry, one page, nine blocks, it forces you to look at your business strategically, who exactly are your key clients, what exactly is the value proposition you're giving them, what are the tools you're using to deliver that value proposition, what are the costs, what are you charging and it's visual and you can collaborate with other people in your firm, and it teaches you how to pivot, which is a big word today, if, if the environment is going to keep changing, you can't come out with one idea you're done, you know, and focus on competitive advantage in this one space. It's going to keep changing. So you need to know how to keep pivoting or changing or experimenting. And there's these great tools like a business model canvas that makes being more innovative in how you run your company, and much more easy to do than even using the traditional tools. You know, doing one year, your strategic plan or you know, business.
Ray Loewe 13:46
Now, you know, that's particularly evident in the last year because those people that had the 30 or 100 page business plans have major renovations to do in their plan.
KC Dempster 13:57
They're probably using it as a door stop
Ray Loewe 13:59
Yeah. I think the whole idea is it got torn up and thrown away and, and so here's the perfect example of we all know the world is going to change. You know, we we all look not only at the virus thing we look at the forest fires, the climate issues that are going on the the hurricane that's about to hit your house next week Bill, and, and all of those things that we have to pivot with I love that word pivot. So take a minute if you can, and give us a couple of insights of some of the things that you think are going to change just because the world has changed so much for us in the last several months.
Bill Hortz 14:40
You know, the, the nature of what's gonna change is the problem. We don't know, right? How do We know, you know if there's a dynamic who changed though, and that's what you focus on. So the institute is really trying to focus on this dynamic Which means that have to, the most important thing you have to do is build your business plan your model your way of, of doing business, from your clients, not from your head, not from your corner, not from your experience. See, in the old days, experience and expertise was Hey, this worked before this will work again, this is a different dynamic, okay, things are changing so, so quickly that you have to keep very close to your clients. That means talking to them that surveys that but deep dive, I mean really talking to them, you know, what are your fears? What are your goals, what, what types of things could you ask for us, you know, have advisory boards of your clients, I mean, so the most important thing to address what's going to change is stay very, very, very close and your clients in Build and innovate, you know from them. Now, let me give you a working definition of innovation of what this process is, you know, when when you say innovation, the way we've defined it as a working definition, right? innovation is the ongoing execution of new ideas that create client value. We break that up, okay? ongoing, if we're in if we're in an environment of ongoing change in accelerating change, that's not stopping. It will not stop. It'll keep, you know, building on itself. So. So innovation is a mindset or a commitment to ongoing consistency. Not you came up with one great idea, you're done. No. All right. What's your next step? You have to have an ongoing nature, plus to execution, ongoing execution. You have to try things you got to put it into the world. You have to you know, Take that idea, you know, and use it and see if clients really are responding to it. So it's the ongoing execution of new ideas. And it's not just ideas, it's new ideas that create client value. So you're going to innovate. When people start saying, boy, I like that idea that's different, or I like it's easier to work with you. Or, boy, you're really talking my language and explaining things different ways. So it's when you really create the value for the client that you're going to get innovation. So to deal with change. That's the way you should have a mindset of having this ongoing execution of new ideas that create value and this way, you're on top of change no matter where it's going. Because you're you're you're you're working in lockstep with it. Or at least you're executing your resources as a business owner, to be more of an entrepreneur. Moving with that change.
Ray Loewe 18:03
Yeah, you know, that's a great definition. And that really helps clarify things. Everything is client centric. Everything is based on flux. You got to pivot with what's going on in the world. And, and, you know, I want to thank you for your time, unfortunately, our time is over already. It just flies on this time period. And, and evidently, we didn't pivot fast enough.
KC Dempster 18:31
But one of the things that I just want to emphasize is communication. And I know Bill mentioned it, but communication is probably at the root of most problems that we face today. And, and I think that, as business owners, they didn't use to communicate with their customers as much because they felt like Well, I have the product that they need. But now it's not. It's not that easy. You have to, as you say, bring value and help them To understand why they need your product,
Ray Loewe 19:02
yeah, and what are you doing today when you can't go out and have lunch with them? You know what what are the things are going on in the background and you know, Bill's got a host of great ideas on he's well published and we can't give you the list on the on the air. It's just not going to work. But we will put in our notes about the podcast, how you can reach bill how you can find down about this whole concept of innovation that that he's putting in in a different way through being the dean. I, you know, I'll never get over that Bill. But, you know, I want to take a minute and thank you for being with us. And you know, we'll have to have you back again, as we come out of this cya environment that we're in and see what the new innovations are as we go. But thanks for being with us. And I think everybody that's listening to this interview, can see where Bill is certainly one of the luckiest people in the world. He pivots well Let's take a quick break and come back and close up.
Diane Dayton 20:06
You're listening to Changing the Rules with KC Dempster and Ray Loewe, the luckiest guy in the world. We will be right back with more exciting information.
KC Dempster 20:16
Welcome back, everybody. And I have to say that I really enjoyed our interview today with Bill Hortz. And just want to remind everybody that we are having our Virtual Friends Connection conference tomorrow, September 16, at 12 noon, and if you want to join at the last minute, we might have a couple of seats still open, go to our website, theluckiestpeopleintheworld.com and click on the button to register.
Ray Loewe 20:44
Yeah, and sign up. We're gonna have an exciting person to talk to us a little bit, and then we're going to close up with our mixologists coming in and inventing for us a luckiest people in the world cocktail. So why See you guys next week. Everybody have a safe time.
Diane Dayton 21:02
Thank you for listening to Changing the Rules, a podcast designed to help you live your life the way you want and give you what you need to make it happen. Join us in two weeks for our next exciting topic on changing the rules with KC Dempster and Ray Loewe the luckiest guy in the world.