Companies worried about disruption need science and technology to stay relevant in the 21st century, but speakers at the fifth annual Smith School Business Summit pointed to soft skills as the real competitive advantage. “If you get leadership, management and culture right, everything else takes care of itself,” keynote speaker David Williams told an audience of more than 300 faculty, staff, students and working professionals gathered Oct.

Participants did more with less at the fifth annual Smith School Business Summit, a signature event from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business on Oct. 28, 2016, in Washington, D.C.

Success in a VUCA World: Leading in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous Times Friday, October 28, 2016 • 2-6:30 p.m. Omni Shoreham Hotel 2500 Calvert Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20008 We are living in a VUCA world - and no business or industry is exempt. Successful companies and organizations are all identified by their ability to look forward, plan forward and move forward - in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous times. Is your leadership ready? Are you?

Organizations will need to do three things well to thrive in 2025, keynote speaker Calvin G. Butler Jr. said Nov. 13, 2015, at the fourth annual Smith School Business Summit in Baltimore.

The Center for Leadership, Innovation, and Change (CLIC), in partnership with Smith School Associate Dean Joyce Russell, co-sponsored a panel, “Business Athletes” for the Smith School Business Summit in Baltimore on Friday, Nov. 13, 2015. Dean Russell led the panel discussion featuring Cathy Reese, UMD Women’s Lacrosse Head Coach, Carolyn Covey Morris, founder and CEO of QMobius, and Donna Meachum Blackman, Senior VP of Finance for BET Networks.

Meeting current customer demands won’t be enough in 2025, keynote speaker Calvin G. Butler Jr. said on Nov. 13, 2015, at the fourth annual Smith School Business Summit in Baltimore. “Meeting the current demands of customers is only part of it,” said Butler, CEO of Baltimore Gas and Electric Company. “You need to think about where your customers are going, and you need to meet them there.”

The Center for Leadership, Innovation, and Change (CLIC) at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is sponsoring a panel on the “Business Athletes” leadership model at the Smith School Business Summit on Nov. 13, 2015, in Baltimore. The panel will feature Senior Associate Dean Joyce Russell and leaders from a variety of professions – from marketing to sports to finance – to foster a discussion on the qualities that great athletes share with great business leaders.

The fourth annual Smith School Business Summit will be Nov. 13, 2015, at the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards. The event will explore “Workplace 2025: Emerging Trends That Will Redefine Modern Business in the Next Decade.”

On March 28, 2014, at the North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in Bethesda, Md., students, faculty and business professionals met for the third annual Smith School Business Summit.  This year’s theme looked at innovation as an essential building block for the prosperity and survival of corporations. With more than 600 registered attendants, it was the largest Summit yet.

Successful businesses thrive on innovation. It’s the key to a competitive advantage and should be part of every business strategy and strategic vision.  Discover ways to jumpstart your innovation strategy in 2014 and beyond. Join us for the third annual Smith School Business Summit, presented by the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business on Friday, March 28, 2014 at the Marriott North Bethesda.