For three days in November San Luis Obispo locals heard from Richard Branson and Kevin Spacey, among others, about the importance of breaking down old narratives and creating new stories, and how surrounding yourself with great people can change your life.

The SLO Chamber’s Insight Studio took nearly 30 community members to New York City to attend the World Business Forum and hear from international business leaders like Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, Jim Collins, former Stanford faculty and author of “Build to Last”, Herminia Ibarra, professor of leadership and learning at INSEAD, as well as great story tellers such as the Oscar winning Spacey.

Going into the forum we asked four attendees to report back and share what they plan on taking back to their business and implementing. Their answers are below.


Scott Dawson

Scott Dawson

“Jim Collins’ notion of ‘who luck’ resonated with me most significantly… Kevin Spacey incorporated ‘who luck’ into his speech when he shared that Jack Lemmon happened to be in the audience when Spacey performed at an early age. Lemmon put his arm around Spacey and told him that he had talent, which was a turning point for Spacey.

“I believe that faculty members probably have the greatest opportunity to supply ‘who luck’ than anyone else, but they seldom realize the huge impact a simple comment, conversation, recommendation or gesture can have on the lives of students…. Collins described his ‘who luck’ as a faculty member at Stanford who advocated for him to take an entrepreneurship course, which completely shaped the future of his career.”

– Scott Dawson dean of the Orfalea College of Business at Cal Poly


Kris Yetter

Kris Yetter

“As a lifelong data-nerd, I have always viewed sharing numbers, graphs, and charts as enough to illustrate a story. Listening to the various speakers at the forum, I realized that most people speak English, rather my native data-nerd language, and I need to strive to better translate the stories I am trying to convey.

“Now more than ever, our increasingly connected world provides businesses, entrepreneurs and leaders with more opportunities to stand out, spread messages and make change through storytelling. Rather than letting the data speak for itself, storytellers—including myself—need to harness data, text and every tool at our disposal to weave a cohesive story that will reach out to our listeners and inspire them to action.”

– Kris Yetter, president and general manager, Promega Biosciences


Ziyad Naccasha

Ziyad Naccasha

“The biggest tools I am bringing back to implement with my team was to be more curious in my life and business, and to lead from outside of my comfort zone, whether I’m networking or finding a business solution. Don’t just do what we’ve always done!

“Coming back from the conference, I focused on how meaningful words of encouragement can be (Jim Collins described a handwritten note of encouragement, penned some 30 years earlier by his wife’s high school running coach, that his wife took with her to her IRONMAN competition which said “Your time will come!”), how investing time into your team members and helping them recognize their strengths and excel in leadership positions are so important for building a successful team, life and business.”

– Ziyad Naccasha, managing partner and co-founder, Carmel & Naccasha


Noreen Martin

Noreen Martin

“For myself the WOBI conference reinforced that everyone can become a leader and a story teller of their cause, their professional career and their authentic selves.

“‘Act like a leader, Think like a leader’ is a phrase that has developed within me a renewed conviction in the power of emotional relationships and what they can accomplish. Good leaders that agree to respect passions are the leaders that will work through challenges to success.

“If we allow our, possibly outdated, leadership style to evolve, we can realize that we learn through action, less through introspection and less through systems we may be used to. A leader will allow an increase in their perspective, always striving for the greater good to positively impact the community they live in.

“By increasing our action so others see us as a leader, we do not lose our authentic self, even though we may feel that we have moved out of our comfort zone. In fact, we enhance our authentic self by allowing new experiences that allows us to develop additional knowledge.“

– Noreen Martin, CEO Martin Resorts