The personal benefits of attending external events such as conferences include more time for clear thinking. “Sometimes you
need some quiet time for your mind so that creative ideas can
emerge and develop,” says a senior executive at a small company.
“Giving your mind some space enables this most powerful tool. It
can then draw upon past knowledge and experience without being
cluttered with day-to-day business drama.”
Though spreadsheets and business plans are essential for the
business to operate, it is the interactions with people on the outside that can provide a better knowledge base from which to create those spreadsheets and plans. Current market knowledge can
provide individuals and their companies with a more reality-based
approach to conducting business. (Plus, many of those external
conferences are much more interesting than those repetitive
internal meetings with the same people!) Tough management
requires this external focus so that the results that are sought are
on target.