It's one thing to hear about all the innovation and excitement occurring in the industry right now; it's another to experience it in person.

In subsequent weeks, I recently covered conferences presented and attended by some of the most disruptive and forward-thinking minds in benefits.

“This room is filled with some of the smartest and most innovative benefits advisors in the industry,” Nelson Griswold told attendees at ASCEND's Agency Growth & Leadership Summit in Nashville. “And most of you are prepared to talk to each other—that's where the magic happens. The key is collaboration.”

Over the next few days, the conference buzzed with those conversations, as attendees shared and discussed ways to lead a “benefits revolution,” including technology solutions and innovative strategies to not only help clients control costs, but to begin to change the very way American health care works.

At the Q4Live member conference in Tampa the following week, there was a similar feeling of excitement and teamwork in the air, as Kevin Trokey stated, “I believe the greatest time to be in this industry is right now; the greatest opportunities we've ever been afforded are still out there ahead of us, but those opportunities look different than they ever have before, and the way we have to work toward them is also drastically different.”

Attendees then received a detailed crash course in a variety of cutting-edge strategies to “break the status quo,” including transparent medical markets, value-based care, and advisors tying their compensation to improved results.

At the end of my whirlwind week, I was left with pages of notes and a head full of ideas. And if I'm honest, I was also left feeling a little overwhelmed. Witnessing a sea change is exciting; but it can also be intimidating.

In last month's column, Kevin Trokey suggested advisors who are experiencing success with new ideas shouldn't forget peers who aren't as far along in the process and may be feeling paralyzed or left behind.

During a conference break, I was chatting with a couple of advisors about everything we'd heard. One said, “I'm going to be completely honest. When I hear all these ideas, I sometimes feel like a kindergartner sitting in a room full of graduate students.”

The other replied, “I know exactly how you feel. We're starting to see success with a lot of this, and I'm always happy to answer questions or tell you more about what we've done.”

Big, exciting changes are happening in our industry. Believe me, I was there.

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