Christa

Jim Carroll delivered the keynote address at a Pella Windows & Doors corporate leadership meeting in Pella, Iowa in February 2013, speaking to the senior management team of one of North America’s most respected window and door manufacturers on the structural transformation underway in their industry. The talk explored how the key trends redefining the broader manufacturing sector — rapid concept generation, rapid prototyping, extreme customization, data-driven production, and the Tesla Motors model of software-defined product development — were directly applicable to the future of Pella’s business. Carroll challenged the leadership team to see past the immediate pressures of the housing market recovery and engage with the longer horizon: a world in which the 20th-century mass production model was being replaced by highly customized, uniquely designed, rapidly developed products that met individual customer needs in ways previously impossible. The message resonated with a company that had built its reputation on craftsmanship and was now navigating the digital transformation of that craft.

Jim Carroll delivered the opening keynote address at the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) Summit 2013 in Toronto on February 13, 2013, sharing the stage with former GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and Obama’s “Car Czar” Steve Rattner in a high-profile program examining the future of the automotive industry and retail. Carroll’s talk, “The Future of the Automobile and Automotive Retail,” argued that the most significant shift in the automotive world was that the pace of innovation had migrated from Detroit to Silicon Valley — a seismic and irreversible change with profound implications for every dealer, OEM, and supplier in the room. He challenged Canada’s dealer network to embrace the opportunity in this disruption: “Some people see a trend and see a threat. Real innovative people see the same trend and see opportunity.” The talk explored the transformation of the vehicle itself — from software-defined powertrains and autonomous features to connected car services — and the equally profound transformation of the retail relationship between dealer and customer.