Doctoring calves is never easy. Doctoring lots of calves is a nightmare. For producers, nothing takes more time or creates more stress than seeing sick cattle. So how do you get ahead of the problem and address herd health and immunity before it's too late?

In a recent webinar, Dr. Kate Jacques, Alltech’s director of nutrition, shared how to bolster herd immunity and increase profitability.

Strike Out Scours, Fight Down Stress Webinar

Key tips for bolstering your herd’s immunity

Identify stress points

When it comes to boosting immunity, “Stress is the enemy,” said Dr. Jacques. Scours, respiratory issues or decreases in dry matter intake are all indicators that cattle may be stressed.

The first thing to do is identify the source of stress. Common stress points include:  

• Weaning
• New pens, chutes or feed bunks
• Movement through marketing channels
• Shipment – both to pasture and feedlot
• Diet changes

Keeping cattle healthy and maximizing growth means getting them through a number of crunch points before finish. Rethinking how to best handle these stressors is a continual process, but it is critically important to do so to keep immunity high.

Boost gut health through nutrition

Feeding some form of starch, fiber, protein and mineral is typical in most rations, but realizing the opportunity other nutrient forms can play shouldn’t be overlooked. 

Bio-Mos® provides a new perspective on carbohydrate nutrition. Bio-Mos is in a unique class of functional feed ingredients able to play a positive role in gut health.

“If you can reduce challenges to the intestine, you can promote a healthy gut, and that’s exactly what Bio-Mos does," said Dr. Jacques.

For over 20 years, Bio-Mos has been Alltech’s trademark technology. Studied in more than 733 research trials, it has been proven to aid nutrient uptake while also binding potentially harmful gut bacteria to drive growth and performance at all stages of production.

Put a plan in place; Act on it

At the end of the day, there’s a tension between knowing something is a best practice for your operation and actually doing it.

Dr. Jacques stressed that producers need to be strategic and that waiting to spot a problem means that profits have already been lost. To best boost immunity, analyze your operation’s potential stress points and use technologies like Bio-Mos in the ration before a gut health or immunity challenge. 

Trust that with proper management and nutrition, profits will follow. Like thousands of others across, producers such as Clifton Goff of B-Gee Angus in Nebraska have seen the benefits of having a plan and using Bio-Mos. He explains that by using Bio-Mos they’ve, “got a healthy herd of calves running, and I haven’t dealt with anything respiratory.”

By being proactive, you can fight a mess of stress in your operation and boost your herd’s immunity. To learn more about how Bio-Mos might benefit your beef cattle, visit bio-mos.com or contact beef@alltech.com.

Have a question or comment?

The diversity of a pig’s microbiome, or their gut’s “ecosystem”, varies along the different regions of the gastrointestinal tract, with some regions having less tolerable conditions and containing reduced microbial diversity in comparison to regions that are more favorable to microbial growth.

The challenges of modern production practices can restrict the diversity of the gastrointestinal microflora, in some instances resulting in an unhealthy imbalance, which can lead to the development of a vicious cycle of pathogen colonization and recolonization.

Producers must utilize nutritional strategies, with additional improvements in hygiene and husbandry to address the issue of antibiotic use in animal production.

During a webinar held in conjunction with Pig Progress, Dr. Richard Murphy, research director at Alltech’s European Bioscience Centre in Dunboyne, Ireland, discussed the nutritional rehabilitation and repair of the intestinal microflora in pig production.

“Gut health and its management is an intricate and complex area governed by numerous factors, including nutrition, microbiology, immunology and physiology,” said Murphy. “When gastrointestinal health is compromised, nutrient digestion and absorption are affected, feed conversion becomes reduced and susceptibility to disease is heightened, ultimately resulting in a negative economic impact.”

Diversify and repair the pig microbiome for strengthened immunity

Murphy highlighted that the diversity of the microbiome plays a critical role in gut health, with beneficial microbes forming a protective barrier lining the gut that prevents the growth of pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, Clostridia and Escherichia, amongst others.

Microbial diversity: The key to gut health

Murphy discussed four ways to rehabilitate the intestinal microbiota:

• Normalize gut microflora: Enhance microbial diversity
• Shift the balance: Reduce pathogen load
• Break the cycle: Decrease antimicrobial resistance
• Feed the recovery: Enhance nutrient digestibility

One way to address microbial repair is to use a feed supplement that focuses on diversifying and stabilizing the gut microflora. Mannan-rich fractions (MRFs) isolated from the yeast cell wall as a functional ingredient are currently being used for microbial control.

“The effects of MRF supplementation on health and performance have been studied comprehensively, and they have proven effective at improving weight gain and feed conversion efficiencies while also protecting against pathogen colonization of the gut,” stated Murphy.

Optimal pig performance begins in the gut

By making changes in the overall microbial diversity within the gut, we can aim to repair and rehabilitate gut microflora, thereby reducing pathogen load, enhancing resistance to pathogen colonization and reducing the abundance of antibiotic-resistant strains.

Improving our understanding of how changes in the gastrointestinal tract’s bacterial composition contribute to host health and performance is critical.

Alltech’s Antibiotic Reduction Programme supports European producers as they transition their animals to minimize antibiotic usage while maintaining health and productivity. The programme includes preventive medicine, management and nutrition solutions to minimize antibiotic use on pig farms. If you would like more information on the Alltech Antibiotic Reduction Programme, please click here.

To watch Dr. Richard Murphy’s microflora webinar with Pig Progress, please click here.

I would like to learn more about supporting pig health. 

The smell of bread baking in the oven. The pop of a peach skin. The sweet lick of a summertime ice cream.

Food — it awakens our senses to memories, to moments, to the people who’ve mattered most in our lives.

For Alltech dairy specialist Tom Lorenzen of Wisconsin, a poppy seed pie evokes sweet remembrances of mom.

Tom began working for a registered milking short-horn dairy as a child. For 17 years, every other day he brought home fresh milk from the dairy to his mother in tin milking cans.

And that’s when mama would work her magic.

She skimmed the cream off the top of the milk to make whipped cream for a host of delights, including her popular poppy seed pie.

The pie, featuring butter and whole milk fresh from the dairy, was the highlight of family gatherings and holidays. Even when it wasn’t a special occasion, her grandchildren would ask her to make it, a request that Tom recalls them making just about every visit!

Today, Grandpa Tom serves slices to his grandchildren, sharing the story of a special mother whose love lives on through the treasured family recipe.

Grandma Lorenzen’s Poppy Seed Pie

Crust

2 packages of graham crackers (crushed into crumbs)

1/3 cup sugar

¾ cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all the ingredients together and pat into a 9” x 13” pan.

Bake for 10 minutes at 275º F. Cool.

Custard

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoon cornstarch

4 egg yolks

1/8 cup poppy seeds

3 cups whole milk

1 tablespoon butter

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla

Mix the first four ingredients together.

Gradually add 3 cups whole milk over medium heat.

Continue stirring constantly until thickened. Add the butter and vanilla. Cool, stirring occasionally.

Once cooled, pour the custard over the crust, and you're done! If not serving right away, refrigerate. 

Topping

8–16 ounces whipping cream

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix ingredients together in a chilled bowl. Beat at high speed until thick.

Cover the entire pan with whipped cream, or add a dollop of whipped cream to each slice of dessert. 

As planting begins, or continues, across various regions in North America, we should all be preparing to do the one thing that can have a significant impact on making or breaking our crops: scouting. Crop scouting is important for numerous reasons, but most importantly, it gives insight on the next steps you need to take to ensure you get the most out of your crops.

Three ways to tell if your crops need a boost:

1. Plant health

Overall plant health can be difficult to identify. The main indicators to look for include plant growth uniformity, patches of discoloration across the field and any signs of lodging. If observed, the crop may not be as healthy as it needs to be to thrive.

Soil and plant testing can identify nutrient deficiencies and other causes of decreased plant health.

2. Disease pressure

There are two key indicators of the level of disease pressure you may be dealing with: the crop’s leaves and the roots.

If the leaves are discolored and the bottom ones are beginning to wilt, you may need to speak to your agronomist about what your crop needs to get back on the path to high yields and overall crop quality.

After digging up a plant, examine the roots and look for consistent color. Also, if you have been experiencing wet weather conditions, the roots may give off a foul odor. Root rot can be caused by fungi attacking the root system, poor drainage, lack of oxygen to the root system, and phytotoxicity.  Treatment will depend on the cause, ranging from the use of fungicides to aeration, but if left untreated, root rot will eventually kill the plant. 

Increasing nutrient availability to the plants and improving plant health can  improve their ability to resist disease pressure.  Healthy plants are more likely to reach their full genetic potential of productivity.

3. Soil health

Your soil is a great storyteller. If it begins to get too dry, it will begin to crack. If it gets too wet, it turns to muck.

When you are out scouting your crops, remember to check your soil. If it is showing the indicators mentioned above, or if it lacks soil structure when you pick it up, you may want to give your agronomist a call.

If your crop scouting brings to light any of the issues listed above, ask your local trusted agronomist to thoroughly scout your field. By catching problems early, you may be able to get your crop back on the right track to achieve its full potential.

Have a question or comment?

The world seemed convinced that 2016 was the worst year in history, a theme that media outlets from The New York Times (“2016: Worst. Year. Ever?”) to The New Yorker (“The Worst Year Ever, Until Next Year”) featured profusely at the end of the year. John Oliver, host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” even blew up a giant “2016” during his season finale.

When we take a closer look at the overwhelmingly negative stories filling the news — from war and disease to poverty and inequality — it’s not hard to understand why we feel so pessimistic about where the world is heading, because it’s all we seem to hear.

Peter Diamandis, however, couldn’t disagree with this paradigm more, pointing out that the technology currently in the hands of billions of individuals today illustrates a power that only countries and governments possessed 20 years ago.

“I want to give you a view of the world that impassions me,” Diamandis, founder of the XPRIZE Foundation and co-founder of Singularity University, said at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference (ONE17). “It’s clear that the world is getting better at an extraordinary rate.”

What’s the key thing driving this lightning-fast change? Exponential technology.

Below are the five exponential trends that Diamandis says will change the world (and you).

1. The world is going linear

While humans have evolved to think and live in a local and linear fashion, putting one foot in front of the other in measured, baby steps, Diamandis said that today the world is global and exponential.

“Things are changing year to year, not century to decade,” he explained. “This can be disruptive stress or a disruptive opportunity, depending on your point of view.”

He pointed to the example of Facebook buying Instagram in 2012, the same year that Kodak, ignoring the digital photography trend, went bankrupt. Technologies are doubling in power every year, giving rise to increasingly powerful exponential technology. In fact, the rate of disruption is so fast today that the average life of the company has dropped to 15 years.

“The question is, as you’re starting companies and solving problems: Are you basing these on exponential trends?” asked Diamandis.

The technologies that are evolving today and changing the world are riding Moore’s Law, he said. In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore noticed that the number of transistors per square inch on circuits had doubled every year since they were invented. This trend is continuing and can be applied to all technology. In fact, it’s right on schedule and is enabling us to innovate and make progress at increasingly faster rates. 
 

2. 6Ds of exponentials

Diamandis described the way that exponential technology follows Moore’s Law and explodes onto the scene, much as apps such as Snapchat have done in recent years, in six steps, or the “6Ds of exponentials.”

He explained the first three steps in the following way:

 “In the early days of digitization, that growth is rather deceptive,” he said. “But all of a sudden, 30 doublings later, it’s a billion times better, and it becomes disruptive.”

After the initial three steps, technology reaches the last three critical steps:

• Demonetized. Think Uber and Airbnb, which don’t have to create products from scratch.
• Dematerialized: Technology that once filled entire rooms can now fit into your pocket, such as iPhones.
• Democratized: Demonetization and dematerialization enable you to offer your products to billions of people around the world.

Importantly, Diamandis noted that by 2022, 3 billion new consumers will be online and consuming those products, representing tens of trillions of dollars flowing into the global economy. They will buy technologies that continue to connect the entire planet digitally via ventures such as Google’s Project Loon, further increasing the rate of exponential technology.
 

3. An explosion of sensors and networks

A key element driving exponential technology to new heights includes the sensors and networks connecting people, places and things globally, from drones and satellites to the smartwatch on your wrist, taking images and collecting data on everything imaginable. This connectivity is propelling us from a period of time when we’ve virtually been “blind” to one in which we have an unlimited supply of information.

“This, for me, blows my mind,” said Diamandis. “It means that these sensors will allow us to know anything we want, anytime, anywhere.”

Furthermore, this technology is experiencing massive price reductions. Huge sensors that were millions of dollars in the 1960s are only $1 today and are molecular in size. This trend is showing no signs of slowing down, and Diamandis predicts that soon we’ll all be proud owners of such tech, such as augmented reality glasses we simply can’t live without.
 

4. Exponential technology will transform every industry

Faster, cheaper computing power is leading to unexpected consequences, Diamandis said, in which technologies such as robotics, 3D applications, virtual reality and artificial intelligence are combining to produce even more groundbreaking products. This is causing a paradigm shift in which every industry will soon be revolutionized by more efficient technology, such as self-driving cars and Watson, an artificial intelligence (AI) program that won an episode of “Jeopardy!” in 2011.

Some skeptics are worried about the negative consequences these new technologies might have.

“I’m not worried about AI as ‘The Terminator,’” said Diamandis. “I’m worried that AI is going to transform job markets. It’s the rate of change that we need to deal with.”

5. Moonshot thinking

The last, and arguably most important, of Diamandis’ five exponential trends is “moonshot thinking,” or thinking about how you can impact more than a billion people with a single venture.

The phrase, coined by Google, is the idea that today, any one of us can think about achieving 10 times more growth while the rest of the world is only focused on growing by 10 percent. Diamandis said that this requires a shift in mindset, since we have been trained to accomplish 10 percent more by merely working hard.

“When you ask yourself to go 10 times bigger, it forces you to think in a radically different fashion,” he said. “It forces you to throw out all that you’ve done before.”

He said that, personally, he focuses on “What’s the moonshot?” at the beginning of all of his new ventures, such as Human Longevity Inc., which aims to make being 100 years old the new 60 years old.

“I think, ‘OK, this is impossible; now let’s figure out how to make it happen,’” said Diamandis.

The news may continue to beat us down with up-to-the-minute, anxiety-inducing doom and gloom, but by using exponential technology, we can take matters into our own hands to change the world for the better.

“We’re living in the most exciting time in human history, a time when you as an individual have access to more capital, more computational power than experts in any time, ever,” said Diamandis. “You can solve any problem you put your mind to, and, ultimately, it’s the power of your passion and your mind that’s the most powerful thing on the planet today.”

“It turns out that in agriculture, we have some big problems we’re trying to solve, and we have some people with technologies that could really help us,” explained Aidan Connolly, chief innovation officer at Alltech. “But we really have to help them to help us.”

With the population steadily rising, it is important to find sustainable ways to nourish the masses. At ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference (ONE17), 10 ready-for-market companies took the stage by telling a crowd of 4,000 potential investors and business partners what their plans are to disrupt the industry.

How can these companies change the way we farm and the way we eat?

Agrilyst: Determined to help indoor farmers save money and increase yields through data collection, Agrilyst aims to be an at-home digital agronomist pushing farmers to achieve year-round revenue.

AgriWebb: Optimizing farm efficiency and looking to solve a $25 billion issue in agriculture, AgriWebb supports farmers by tracking their data and accreditation needs.

 “I wanted to solve real problems for real people,” Kevin Baum, co-founder and CEO of AgriWebb, told the crowd.

Alesca Life: As a company that allows commercial-scale farming anywhere, Alesca Life saves water, promotes urban farming and meets the demand of fresh produce and organic food. Because farms are available in a shipping container, Alesca Life CEO Stuart Oda said that his company provides “local food production by anyone, anywhere.”

eFishery: Overfeeding at shrimp and fish farms is a big issue in aquaculture, especially when 80% of the total cost at farms is feed. eFishery senses a fish’s appetite, adjusts the amount of feed needed and automatically distributes it to reduce a farmer’s cost by up to 21%.

Greengage: When light can affect a chicken’s physiology, behavior and productivity, farmers should look to Greengage for a solution. Their LED lights that can last 60,000 hours can reduce mortality rates, increase yields and lead to more productive chickens.

Hargol FoodTech: As the world’s first commercial grasshopper farm, Hargol FoodTech is disrupting the industry by proposing a new, sustainable grasshopper protein. With 72% protein, essential amino acids and a neutral taste, it has the potential to become a power protein player in providing solutions to our world’s future food crisis.

MagGrow: An astounding 70% of what is sprayed does not reach the target crop, and as the CEO of MagGrow, Gary Wickham, said, “It’s waste,” particularly when 80% of the world’s available water is being used for agriculture.  By using a magnetic spraying system, MagGrow disrupts the status quo by reducing water drift by over 80%. It is “truly using less to grow more, and that’s what the world needs,” explained Wickham.

Moocall: Using calving sensors to measure contractions, Moocall can predict when a cow is going into labor. This innovative device will text and email a farmer an hour before the cow gives birth, marginalizing the $2 billion loss farmers experience per year due to cow and calf death during birth.

SkySquirrel: Utilizing the disruptive technology of drones, SkySquirrel has created a technology used for monitoring crop health. This invention can save the wine industry $15 billion per year by detecting diseases in the vineyard.

Tevatronic: “What do you think will happen with a system that will decide for you?” Oleg Koral, Tevatronics CEO, asked the crowd. The company, which is revolutionizing the future of irrigation, has developed an autonomous system that knows when to start and stop irrigation on crops so they receive just the right amount of water at the right time.

The culmination of a 15-week program called The Pearse Lyons Accelerator, the 10 companies (which were chosen out of almost 200 applicants) have been provided with mentorship and new industry connections. They also received over €300,000 in software perks from Google, Amazon and Softlayer.

“Since starting The Pearse Lyons Accelerator 100 days ago, we have doubled our revenue,” Agrilyst CEO Allison Kopf enthusiastically told the crowd.

Connolly, one of the mentors of The Pearse Lyons Accelerator program, gave future and current entrepreneurs a piece of advice before ending the session.

“You have to be passionate about what you do, but the focus is absolutely critical,” he said. “The business is not going to come to you; you have to go and find the business.”

One thing is clear: with disruptive ideas from around the world and a growing interest by investors in agriculture, a sustainable future seems more possible than ever before.

“In many ways, there’s nothing we do that has a bigger, more negative impact on the planet than agriculture, and yet, there’s nothing more critical for our daily survival,” said Jack Bobo. “The challenge we have is how to maintain and grow the benefits while reducing all those negatives.”

Bobo, chief communications officer at Intrexon, is very optimistic about the ability of scientific and technological advances in agriculture to reduce those negative impacts even as the population surpasses 9 billion.

Agriculture’s impact on land and water

Currently, agriculture takes up about 40% of the Earth’s land area. The total amount of cropland is roughly equivalent to the landmass of South America. Pasture takes up about the same area as Africa.

As agriculture demands more land, the inevitable result is deforestation, with agriculture and deforestation combined responsible for 25% of our greenhouse gas production.

Agriculture’s water consumption is an even more serious problem. Nearly 70% of the Earth’s freshwater is used for agriculture. Lakes across the world are being depleted, and the Colorado River no longer flows to the ocean. Some of our most important aquifers are being drawn down past the point of recovery.

Ag-tech: Savior of a hungry, malnourished and growing world?

With so many resources going to agriculture, how is it possible that people still go to bed hungry?

According to Bobo, 9 million people die from hunger and malnutrition each year, far more than any other cause. That means that 25,000 people die each day from hunger and malnutrition. And we will need to produce 60% to 100% more food by 2050.

So, why is Jack Bobo optimistic? Because agricultural technology has made incredible improvements in the last few decades.

We are producing more food with fewer resources than ever before. Bobo compared corn production inputs per bushel for 1980 and 2011.  The improvement was striking:

• 40% less land
• 60% less erosion
• 50% less water
• 40% less energy
• 35% fewer greenhouse gases

It seems the ability to produce more food with fewer resources should make everyone optimistic about the future of agriculture. Clearly, that isn’t the case. According to Bobo, “consumers have never cared more, nor known less, how their food was produced.”

Farmers make up roughly 2% of the U.S. population. Consequently, very few people even know a farmer today, and they have very little knowledge of how their food is actually grown.

“If people don’t understand your industry, then it’s up to you to change that,” said Bobo.

Some food companies actually compound the problem by using outdated imagery of very small farms to market their products. Or, some will market to misperceptions because it is more in their interest to cater to that belief than to eradicate it.

Distrust of agricultural science and technology can result in regulations that will make it difficult to meet the challenge of feeding 9 billion by 2050.

It’s important, according to Bobo,  that scientists work to gain people’s trust by telling their stories and explaining why they do what they do instead of just presenting the science.

“If people don’t trust you, the science doesn’t matter,” said Bobo.

Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech, took the stage with an enthusiastic smile — a smile that was clearly concealing an exciting secret. Luckily for the 4,000 attendees in the audience, ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference (ONE17) was just beginning, and the secrets of how to be a disruptor were about to be revealed.

The theme of the conference, “Disrupt the Disruptors,” is about changing the status quo and shaking up the industry by developing and embracing products and ideas that save time and money, improve efficiency and are user friendly.

Aidan Connolly, chief innovation officer and vice president of corporate accounts at Alltech, emphasized the importance of agriculture embracing new, disruptive technologies on-farm.

“If you don’t embrace disruption, you’ll go out of business,” he explained.

Welcoming disruption becomes synonymous with welcoming the future, and the future of agriculture features more efficient farming, faster results and money saved.

Connolly detailed the eight technologies that have the power to transform agriculture through disruptive innovation:

1. 3D printing
2. Robots
3. Drones
4. Sensors
5. Artificial intelligence
6. Augmented reality
7. Virtual reality
8. Blockchain

“Innovation is key to disrupt an industry,” said Connolly.

While it is important for businesses to accept disruption, what does it take for them to achieve disruption in a competitive, ever-expanding market?

Dr. Lyons made his message very clear: “Mainstream companies sell products; great companies sell dreams.” 

To be a disruptor in its industry, a company must sell not only what they are interested in producing, but what the consumer wants; it is a two-way street.

“Being a disruptor is about having the dreams of your people aligned with yours, and your dreams aligned with theirs because, ultimately,” said Dr. Lyons, “they’re the ones who count.”

In addition to realizing dreams through disruption, he explained that these dreams and ideas are not enough — companies must also have ideals. Laying out the roadmap for successful disruption, Dr. Lyons explained the non-negotiable ideals of Alltech:

1. Remaining a privately owned company
2. Reinvesting time and money into our companies, products and employees
3. Speed: Don’t get it right, get it going
4. Having fun

By starting with a dream, innovators and entrepreneurs can begin their journey of disruption. Disruption, after all, begins with just ONE great idea.

“Sometimes you think that to change the world, you need to do the impossible,” said George Blankenship. “I look at it differently. It’s not impossible  —  it just hasn’t been done yet.”

In April 2017, Tesla bypassed General Motors to become the most valuable carmaker in the U.S. Although it only held the top spot briefly, this tech-savvy, boundary-pushing company is not only turning the automotive industry on its head; its innovation is also causing far-reaching disruptions in fields like energy storage, which is critical to the future of renewable energy.

How did a seemingly fringe enterprise blow by some of the most iconic carmakers?
 

According to Blankenship, former executive at Apple Computer, Tesla Motors and GAP Inc., who spoke at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference (ONE17), it is absolutely critical to assume that someone is going to redefine your industry.
 

“Whoever does is going to hold the world in the palm of their hand,” he said.
 

The disruptive tactic that Blankenship employed at Apple and Tesla focused heavily on giving customers something they couldn’t live without, before they even knew they wanted it. The clearest example is our modern dependence on smartphones, not for the phone itself, but for the wealth of apps that allow us to lead more efficient lives.
 

The key, Blankenship said, is to create a long-term customer relationship.
 

“What can you do that will keep customers wanting to come back again and again?” he asked.
 

Apple now has one of the most loyal communities of customers in the world. Blankenship said the three most important things a company can do to ensure long-term customer relationships include:

1. Letting people know they are important.
2. Letting people know they will be taken care of.
3. Letting people know that you will be available to help them.

Blankenship first executed this strategy at Apple by transforming the company’s brick and mortar stores from simple retail sites to engaging venues where customers could connect directly with a product. They also became the home of the Genius Bar, where customers could stop by to ask for advice about the Apple products they already owned (and purchase even more once they were on-site).
 

Now that greater connectivity and the internet are making it more convenient to learn about products and order them online, the physical stores themselves should be the place where experts make a difference by giving customers time, attention and an experience.
 

Today, this is exactly the stratagem that Tesla is employing. It is redefining the car buying experience by becoming the first car manufacture to put the brand into shopping malls, where families are visiting, taking selfies with their children inside the cars and, of course, asking how soon they can buy the latest model.
 

“You will know if your store is successful and you’re doing a great job if everybody leaves smiling,” explained Blankenship.
 

To excel, Blankenship said it is vital to cultivate a disruptive mindset by doing the following five things:

1. Simplify: Focus only on what’s important.
2. Courage: Don’t listen to outsiders.
3. Alignment: Demonstrate conviction.
4. Celebrate: Successes and failures.
5. First step: Take it!

“So, who in this room is ready to close their eyes, envision the possible opportunities of the next 10 years, and then make a difference that will change your industry forever?” asked Blankenship. “Somebody is going to do it. The only question is: Will it be you?”