Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 25th April 2024 Issue no. 1111
Your industry news - first
The original and best - for over 20 years!
We strongly recommend viewing Cleanzine full size in your web browser. Click our masthead above to visit our website version.
Soapbox: The biggest game changer to hit our industry
Stan Doobin, President of Harvard Maintenance, discusses what he believes the 20th Congress of the World Federation of Building Service Contractors means to the industry
"Over the past 24 months I have been involved in a project that has both excited and scared me sometimes both at the same time. Almost three years ago I raised my hand to host the 20th Congress of the World Federation of Building Service Contractors (WFBSC) 6th - 9th April, 2014, in New York. What does this mean to you? I'll get to that in a second.
When I joined Harvard Maintenance in 1983 we were a small to medium sized BSC and frankly I didn't know much about the business or how to grow. So I dedicated myself to getting as smart as I could and learning from the best in the business. How? By attending conferences, joining executive coaching groups and networking all the time...
What happened was that I began learning things that my competitors wouldn't even think of. While they were in their offices 'taking care of business'... doing basically the same things they had done before, I was learning... trying new things, finding what worked and growing.
It's always tempting to stay in the office. There's a ton to do and it's often pretty important stuff. But let me ask you a question. Where do you want to be a year from now? Doing the same 'important stuff' or managing the excitement and the 'fun work' of a growing business?
I volunteered to host the WFBSC Congress because I wanted to give back to organisations that have helped me grow immensely. I designed the programme to expose the people who attend, to some of the best thinkers in the world:
- Jim Collins, author of 'Good to great' and five other management books will be there and doing a rare Q&A session
- Steve Forbes will be talking on the global economy and how you can manage it rather than it managing you
- Peter Diamandis - a successful serial entrepreneur and author of the Book 'Abundance - the future is better than you think' - well his ideas alone will blow you away and transform how you do business!
Plus there will be presentations by industry and subject leaders who will help you transform you business in the areas of:
- People: manage them better and make them your best asset.
- Business Strategy: where is this industry going and how can you be there before your competition
- Cleaning for Health: it's a big topic in our business. Learn how to make it work to grow your business.
Lastly - and probably most importantly - networking. The Congress will have leadership from ISS, ABM, OCS, GDI, Sealed Air, Karcher plus a ton of great, smart people in our business. Introduce yourself. Build your network and it will build you.
And here's the deal. Go to www.wfbsc2014.com you'll see everything about the Congress you'll need to know. Plus if you register you can attend a Bonus Session on Thursday , April 10th free of charge. It's a half day Executive Coaching Session with Vistage. This organisation has helped me with some of the most perplexing challenges I've had and I want to benefit from their thinking.
So take action now. You and your business will be better for it.
27th March 2014