Our 90 Ideas in 90 Minutes event drew a record crowd of 600, and many audience members would have made fine panelists themselves. I talked to a few people before the event to get words of wisdom they live by in their own work. Here is what I learned from a couple of them.

Patton via Hildebrandt 
Local marketing guru Ben Hildebrandt, whom I first met when he was working for the local chamber of commerce, now the Greater Des Moines Partnership, under chamber President Michael Reagen, invoked both the military and Hy-Vee. 

“The philosophy I live by — and I’ve stolen this phrase from [General] George Patton — ‘Pressure builds diamonds.’ I learned that from Mike Reagen,” Hildebrandt said. “It’s one of those things that these folks [the 90 Ideas panelists] always shine when it’s hardest. I’ll never forget [Hy-Vee exec and community leader] Randy Edeker saying, ‘Culture eats strategy for lunch every day.’ I love to be put under pressure, and with my family, I usually am.” 

Help others, don’t just gather
Agricultural businessman and environmentalist Bob Riley said whatever words of wisdom we follow, we should have an eye toward helping others. “On the bottom of my email is a quote by George Eliot that says, ‘What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?’ So when we talk about these great ideas, I hope that they really reflected that the concept that we are trying to be helpful, as opposed to just gathering more stuff.”

Here are all the videos from the event.