Andrew B. Clark of CreateWOWmarketing interviews Jim Collins, author of “Good to Great” and “Great by Choice.”

CreateWOWmarketing was honored to be asked to document the 2012 ABI “Taking Care Of Business” Conference in Des Moines, Iowa. Along with streaming amazing breakout sessions and documenting the trade show, we had the privilege of hearing the Keynote speaker, Jim Collins, author of “Good to Great” and “Great By Choice.”

While Mr. Collins didn’t fail to deliver on the keynote (more on that later), we were ultimately BLOWN AWAY by his comfort in allowing us to take a handful of his extremely valuable time to give us his thoughts on the business environment in Iowa.


Some immediate takeaways from Jim Collins and the ABI Conference:

  • Iowa’s business culture is RIPE for Small to Medium Sized Businesses (SMB) due to its natural entrepreneurial base.
  • With Iowa’s agricultural history, being entrepreneurial is in our blood!
  • Like entrepreneurs, farmers and ag businesses are forced to CARVE a living out of virtually nothing.
  • Even in the harshest, uncontrolled environments, farmers are productive!
  • The history of Iowa’s ag work ethic assures a strongly supported entrepreneurial environment and success for startups and small / medium sized businesses.
  • Iowa Business is good business.
  • Jim Collins is a POWERFUL visionary (…but you should have known that already)!

This video is a quick edited-down version of his interview after his keynote. You can see more of Jim Collins’ speech later on the CreateWOWmarketing, LLC website as well as a full recap of the ABI Taking Care Of Business Conference at the ABI website.

Keep Cooking,
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef