21 Mar 5 Tools Business Brokers Need for a Rapidly Changing Future with Glen Cooper
Business Brokerage Press was joined earlier this month by business broker legend and frequent BBP guest, Glen Cooper. Cooper has been a full-time business broker for an amazing 43 years. In that time, he has sold 600+ businesses, met with over 20,000 buyer prospects and has turned down at least 2,500 listings. To state that Mr. Cooper has some considerable experience under his belt is most definitely an understatement.
This was the first of a 7-part webinar series entitled, “5 Tools We Need for the Years Ahead.” The purpose of this webinar series is to help business brokers and M&A advisors prepare for a rapidly changing future. To view this webinar, please click here.
The Future Explosion
Cooper, like many experts, believes that the rate of change in most, if not all, industries is set to simply explode. Now, more than ever before, you will need to not just work harder, but will need to focus on lifelong learning, exploring new technologies and concepts and integrating those new ideas and concepts into how you do business.
Tools You’ll Need
In this upcoming 7-part series, Cooper will cover 5 important tools that business brokers will need to move forward. These include the Self-Teaching Tool, Business Definition Tool, Differentiation Tool, Time Control Tool and the (mysteriously named) Time Travel Tool. The 7-part series will wrap up with “Making Future Predictions Work for You.”
Lifetime Learning
Cooper has decided to present this 7-part webinar series now as he believes that the world and, of course, business brokers stand at a unique period of change in transition. He has a lifelong interest in change and how it will impact the world and his own profession. Importantly, he notes that he believes he has remained relevant over his four decades plus career due in large part to the fact that he has always embraced learning. Moving forward, it will be critical for business brokers to embrace learning on a permanent basis.
Integration of Artificial Intelligence
In 2011, Cooper created a list of 7 business trends for the future. Topping that list was “Change is Getting Faster.” With the release to the general public of such technologies as ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence platforms, it is safe to state that this prediction was indeed accurate. Business brokers, and indeed all businesspeople, must realize that the rate of change is accelerating. As Cooper states, “no one is keeping up.” Yet, to stay ahead of the curve choosing a lifetime of learning is nothing short of essential. Summed up, Cooper strongly believes that artificial intelligence will directly change how business brokers do business
In our next article, we’ll take a closer look at the steps business brokers can take to both deal with the future and prepare for it. We will look more closely at the 5 tools Cooper will cover and also examine the interesting story of their origins.
