"Brain supplements": Fake identities, digital customer management and true efficiency

An American con artist turned FBI advisor, a Belgian digital customer management expert and a Swedish efficiency researcher. This was the unlikely trio that lectured at Bestseller PR's spring seminar "Brain supplements" on May 11 at Stockholmsmässan. Generic Mobile was there - as usual together with some invited customers. This time from Swedish Radio, Tele 2 and Telia Company.

Those who have seen the movie 'Catch me if you can' starring Leonardo DiCaprio will be familiar with Frank Abagnale and his unlikely life. For five years in the 1960s, the then young man eluded the FBI and police with false identities. He cashed $2.5 million in fake checks across the US and in 26 other countries. He managed to get hired as a doctor, a lawyer and an airline captain - without any training whatsoever. When he was eventually caught, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but was released after four in exchange for agreeing to work for the FBI, which has since exploited his unique talents. He is also a security advisor to several major corporations.

Frank Abagnale was candid in telling his incredible story and how he has since used his experiences in the service of society. He also gave practical advice on how to minimize the risk of fraud, counterfeiting or embezzlement for yourself or your company.

Belgian Steven van Belleghem opened the day. He is a successful entrepreneur, an expert in digital customer management, and talked about how to manage relationships in a modern digital world. One of his books, "The Conversation Manager" has won the award for most innovative marketing book. Steven spoke about the future of marketing in an inspiring and provocative way under the title "When digital becomes human".

Niklas Modig, a Swedish researcher at the School of Business, Economics and Law, who is an expert on lean and has also lived and researched in Japan, the home of efficiency, ended the half-day by talking about what he calls the efficiency paradox. Niklas Modig believes that we often have a wrong view of what true efficiency is. In our quest to be efficient, we maximize resource utilization, work in islands in our operations, and are driven by "busy-ness". But the busier we are, the more inefficient the whole becomes. Waiting, lack of overview, lack of information and wrong incentives make us focus on the wrong things, says Niklas Modig. So what is the solution? You could summarize it, very simply, in "together".

"This was, as it usually is at Bestsellers' seminars, a very inspiring day!", said Ivar Uttergård, Business Area Manager for Generic Mobile's Messaging Services, after the seminar at Stockholmsmässan. "Apart from the fact that it is always some of the world's most famous and sought-after speakers who appear in areas that are relevant to many industries - but also generally interesting, sometimes almost philosophical - it is important and fun to go to it together with our customers. That's half the fun," says Ivar Uttergård.