Critic’s Corner
What defines a leader?
By Dale Laszig, DSL Direct
Like baseball trading cards, company names and titles are constantly reshuffled but trademark traits such as astute analysis, team-building and strategic planning, remain indelibly linked to a leader’s identity and personal brand.
A company appoints a proven leader to drive growth, innovate product or help build a team. Sporting a new title on a tradeshow badge and LinkedIn profile, the newly minted executive shares a vision with members of the press and the industry leans in to watch the new show.
Historic pairings of leaders and brands have led to major breakthroughs in payments, many of which have been unveiled and celebrated at our conference. Like many leaders who have graced our stage, year after year, our show has changed its name and may do so again.
For years, we were known as The Mobile Payment Conference. Then mobile payments became deeply embedded in daily business and life, so we changed our name to MPC: The Digital Commerce Event, and updated our website to reflect the MPC family of brands.
This year, when we get back together in Atlanta, we’ll have new innovations to celebrate and crisp new stories to tell. The challenge for me, as a writer who covers technology innovations, is to keep finding language that’s as fresh and compelling as the new technologies it
describes.
And this is why I’m thinking we may never be done with new name badges and show titles.
See you in Atlanta!
Dale S. Laszig, founder and CEO at DSL Direct LLC, covers emerging technology trends for payments industry clients and trade publications. Laszig, a payments industry veteran and member of the Electronic Transactions Association’s Cybersecurity Committee, previously led sales teams for leading POS manufacturers and served on committees for ETA, U.S. Payments Forum, and the Northeast chapter of PayTech Women. She holds graduate and post-graduate degrees from The State University of New York and Argosy University.
