Webb outlines how retailers can navigate an uncertain future in Industry Issues Summit keynote
Asking attendees to look at present situations to confront the future, futurist and author Amy Webb kicked off the 22nd Drug Store News Industry Issues Summit Monday with an extensive discussion on what the future might hold.
To view the full keynote on demand click here.
Webb, the founder and CEO of the Future Today Institute and a professor at the Stern School of Business at New York University, gave a digital keynote speech for more than an hour on “How to Think Like a Futurist.” The keynote was sponsored by the Emerson Group.
Webb identified three things that retailers and suppliers, as well as anyone, need to consider. The first is confronting cherished beliefs, followed by identifying signals of change and prioritizing the next steps. “I want to show you three ways to steer (forward),” she said. “In the process of doing this, learn how to start rethinking your future.
“By the end, I am hoping you will have some grounding and strategic foresight and a new perspective on how to lead your organization into the future.”
Webb earlier gave a shout out to the mass retail industry and drug stores in particular, noting that without “drug stores and the people making the products and offering the services, the mess we are in would be far more profound.”
The four-day Industry Summit event continues on Tuesday with a fast-tracking presentation on “Retail Pharmacy’s Healthcare Role,” where panelists will explore how COVID-19 has accelerated change at retail pharmacies, what the industry has learned in the last nine months and how retail healthcare strategies will change. The digital panel will begin at 1 pm EST. Wednesday will feature HRG's Dave Wendland leading a discussion on patient-facing care and the event will close out on Thursday with a panel led by Mack Elevation's Dan Mack about “Building Strategic Supplier and Retailer Partnerships."
To register for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday's panels, click here.