Last summer, the Printing & Imaging Association of Georgia (PIAG) conducted a book group for its members using Disrupting the Future: Uncommon Wisdom for Navigating Print’s Challenging Marketplace by Dr. Joe Webb and Richard Romano. For at least one member of the group, this session, facilitated by Jerry Scher and Dr. Joe Webb, the session was a wakeup call and a spur to the transformation of his business. I had the opportunity to speak with Bill Cole, CEO of TRI-C Enterprises and PIAG Chairman to get the story firsthand. If you are concerned about the future of your business, this is a story you will want to read.

WTT: Bill, I understand your participation in last year’s PIAG book group was a life-changing event for you. Tell us a little about that.

BC: I have always been a person who liked to look to the future, but I hadn’t done the research that Dr. Joe had done. So I didn’t really know what that future looked like. I did know that it was not as rosy as it had been, and like everyone else, I thought, surely this will turn around and we will get back to the boom time again. For me, sitting in those sessions with Dr. Joe and Jerry last year was a wakeup call. The biggest takeaway for me was that this is the new reality. It is not going to get better than this. In fact it will probably get worse from here.