Milken Conference Delivers the Next Big Ideas in Business

By the last day of the Milken Institute Global Conference, Russ Riendeau is exhausted. He’s spent three 16-hour days listening to some of the world’s sharpest minds exchange thoughts and ideas on everything from shifts in the global economy, the political landscape and pubic policy to emerging technologies, trends in education and scientific advancements.

Shortly after he gets on the plane to head back to Chicago, he’s out and his brain is drifting into recovery mode. But Riendeau describes it as a “great tired” because what he’s learned over those few days will have an immediate and lasting influence on his work as an executive search consultant and as a Vistage member and speaker.

The impact was so direct a couple of years ago that he was compelled to revise parts of a book that he was co-authoring with another Vistage member. The book was about the issues CEOs were dealing with in the midst of the recession. The topics discussed during the Milken conference were so stimulating and relevant that many of the ideas in the book were built around concepts presented during the event.

“If you’re not sure which direction you want to take your business in or where it’s going, you need to get to L.A. and attend this conference and learn about the next best thing because all of the big thinkers are there,” he says. “Not only will you learn from them, but just by sitting in a room of brilliant minds talking you’re going to learn more about yourself.”

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The first year he attended Riendeau went with the mindset that he would go as just an observer. But he quickly realized that he could do more than just listen. Over the past three conferences, he has talked one-on-one with WebMD CEO Wayne Gattinella, Google’s chief economist Hal Varian and music producer Quincy Jones.

The face-to-face dialogue with such famous names does more than just make for good stories to recount at cocktail parties. Interacting with Nobel Laureates and political leaders has become an effective tool when Riendeau is meeting with CEOs and making his case for why they should choose him as their executive search consultant.

“Not only is it inspiring to talk with these people and shake their hand up front, but to be able to go back to other people and tell the story is beneficial from a marketing standpoint,” he explains. “If I can walk into a CEO’s office and tell stories of what I learned from the chief economist at Google or the CEO of WebMD, it keeps their attention a little bit longer so that I can tell my story.”

The conference is also valuable to his work with Vistage because he’s able to share what he’s learned with other CEOs who can then pass it on.

Equally as important as the effect the conference can have on the overall direction of a business, is the sense of community it creates. For the most part, everyone who attends is there for similar reasons, which mainly involve getting information. So because people are there with a common purpose, Riendeau says there’s an extraordinary sense of community that encourages thought and dialogue.

“I’m a lot smarter. I’m a lot more informed. And I’m a lot more confident by having attended three of these events, not only in terms of what I learned, but you get comfortable going up to the CEO or the controller of a major company and striking up a conversation,” Riendeau says.

“The Milken Conference gets your head spinning to the point that you’ll be able to make better decisions because you’re going to have more information.”

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More on the Milken Conference:

How the Milken Conference Grew From 60 Experts to Presenting More Than 500 Thought Leaders

A special invitation for the Vistage Community: 48% off Milken Conference registration, May 1-4, 2011.  (Promo Code for Vistage Community: Vistage-MMX) REGISTER NOW!