When I talk to business leaders, usually I can determine quickly whether that person has an entrepreneurial mindset. Not everyone does, and not every company needs that type of person at the helm.
However, Yaromir Steiner, founder and CEO of Steiner + Associates, who created Easton, is clearly an entrepreneur. Our discussion on innovation got philosophical at times, but he also shared some interesting ideas about how technology could play a role in Easton’s future.
I’m not always an early adopter of new technology. Even though I’m a millennial, I’m more likely to take a wait-and-see approach. I want someone else to work out all the bugs.
But as much as we complain about technology — how hard it is to keep up with — sometimes it’s just so useful and exciting, like somehow I’ve walked into an episode of Star Trek. (I mean c’mon, the Red Sox are stealing baseball signs with an Apple Watch.)
One example Steiner gave me, which didn’t make it into the article in this month’s issue, involves delivering lunch to the 30,000-40,000 workers around Easton. They don’t want to drive to restaurants because they’ll lose their parking spots, and lunch delivery systems such as UberEATS can be confusing.
So, Steiner wants to create a system where every meal from participating restaurants might be $10 and 800 calories or less. There’s no tip, no delivery charge. You just pick what you want, pay for it and it’s delivered by golf cart, bicycle or whatever method is the most efficient.
Technology can make this idea a reality, but customers will just see the finished product that makes their lives easier. As Steiner says, it’s a matter of connecting different dots to solve problems — and technology is the tool to help you do it.
Dr. Seuss once wrote: “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” Today, it may be more accurate to say, “You have brains in your head. You have apps in your hand. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”
