Printing Industry Leaders Show Up and Share All

“Remember, people seek and fear change at the same time. But you as a leader … there's no insignificant acts when you're a leader. It doesn't mean you have to be perfect, it doesn't mean you have to have all the answers, but you have to show up.” —Mike Robbins, keynote speaker

Showing up is exactly what approximately 100 printing industry leaders did this week for the PRINTING United Leadership Summit in San Diego, California, at the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort, Golf Club and Spa. The PRINTING United Alliance member-only event provides printing industry leaders the opportunity to “talk shop” with their peers in an intimate and structured format. Beyond educational sessions and the opportunity for 1:1 chats, the event provides value with a format that includes an exclusive two-hour breakout discussion with small groups of leaders at printing companies across the U.S. and Canada diving into the most challenging and exciting topics that are top of mind.

Before the breakout sessions commenced on the second day of the event, Mike Robbins, keynote speaker and leadership author, engaged with the attendees on opening night in his keynote session “Authentic Leadership in Times of Change.”

He shared there are three areas to focus on: growth mindset, authenticity, and appreciation.

“Growth mindset is about looking at everything that comes our way as an opportunity to learn and grow — even and especially challenges,” he said.

One way to do that is in challenging times to ask “why is this happening for me,” rather than “why did this happen to me.” It helps to reframe the situation, make a leader more resilient, and encourage them to look for the opportunities that will come from addressing the challenging head on.

He then noted that authenticity comes from a place of conviction and not self-righteousness, stressing that leaders should lean into vulnerability and understand the difference between recognition and appreciation.

“I want to briefly talk about this really simple but incredibly powerful concept of appreciation, distinct from recognition,” he said. “This one thing to me unlocks teams and culture and performance more than almost anything else, even and especially when things are uncertain and stressful. … Recognition is about outcome and appreciation is about people. Recognition is about performance and appreciation is more about our relationship and caring about people.”

So what does that mean to those in a leadership role? He broke it down into some actionable steps:

• Look for growth opportunities … all around.
• Reach out for support from others in a courageous way.
• Be willing to have “sweaty-palmed conversations.”
• Admit when you don’t know something or make a mistake.
• Give appreciation generously and receive it generously.

Leadership Summit Unlocks Potential

Although Robbins’ keynote got attendees' leadership juices flowing, the day two keynote led by Claudia St. John, founder and CEO of The Workplace Advisors, kept it going with her keynote address “Workplace Vibes: Communication Tips to Building Thriving Teams.” She focused on company culture, and the importance of emotional intelligence, empathetic connection, and communication.

The morning then transitioned into a session moderated by the Alliance’s Amy Servi-Bonner, vice president, Consulting – Applied AI & Printing Technology, featuring Christian Quinn, managing principal of Fulcrum Innovation. The two used their combined experience to cover cyber security in the session “Safeguarding Success – Cyber Risk Management in the Age of AI.”

In the afternoon, Peter Schaefer, partner of New Direction Partners, walked attendees through "Printing M&A and the Impact of AI and Technology Investments," which led into a riveting panel by Adriane Harrison, vice president of Human Relations Consulting at the Alliance. She spoke with three printing industry leaders about strategies in workforce development, sharing tips and tricks for fellow attendees.

The final day of the event concluded with a panel highlighting top challenges from the peer breakout session — moderated by Alliance Media Brands editorial director Denise Gustavson, featuring Ira Jackson, president of Perfect Image (Marietta, Georgia); Jed Siefert, co-founder of Stakes Manufacturing (Eastlake, Ohio); Eric Blohm, president and CEO of Freedom Graphic Systems (Milton, Wisconsin); and John Sommers, president of Allied Printing Services (Manchester, Connecticut) — and a series of AI-focused sessions, including:

• "Making Sense of AI Tools for Sales Organization" led by Emily Yepes, vice president of Sandler, where she explored practical tips and tools printing industry salespeople can use to drive growth and success.
• "Lessons from AI Leaders: Practical Tips for Adoption Success" led by Nathan Safran, vice president of research at Alliance Insights, who explored how printing leaders adopt — and succeed with AI.
• "Peer Leader Spotlight Panel: PRINTING AI" led by Servi-Bonner.

Doubling down on the topic of AI, for the first time this year, the event programming was followed by a PRINTING AI Workshop led by Servi-Bonner.

The PRINTING United Leadership Summit is an Alliance member-only event. If you're interested in becoming a PRINTING United Alliance member, visit printing.org, or if you're interested in applying to attend the Leadership Summit next year click here.